A Home for her Hawk Read online

  His grip was deep but gentle as he massaged the shampoo into her hair. Long tresses trailed and trapped his hands, but he didn’t mind. Could you call it trapped when you were exactly where you wanted to be?

  Once each strand was coated in white bubbles, he dipped his hands to rinse them. “Now what?”

  Kimber giggled. “Haven’t you ever taken a bath before?”

  “No.” If any foster parent ever gave him a bath, he couldn’t remember. Dan had been taking quick, Spartan showers as far back as his memory allowed. He’d never seen the appeal of baths before or why women seemed to like them so much. He grinned a little wolfishly. He definitely understood the appeal now.

  Unexpectedly, Kimber’s phone chirped. “Oh, crap. Could you check that? It might be Lacey,” Kimber said. She held her breath and submerged herself in the water, letting the shampoo drift away.

  Dan picked up her phone and swiped. “Lacey is on her way over with the baby. He’s hungry and didn’t want the bottle you left.”

  “Crap, crap, crap,” Kimber muttered. She sat up, water sluicing across her skin. She looked up at him, wide-eyed. Appealing. “Can you keep him busy for a minute while I rinse off and get dressed?”

  He nodded but didn’t leave the bathroom until after she turned the shower on and stood. “Go,” she teased with a playful wave of her hand. “Let me finish.”

  Dan nodded. He could already make out Anthony’s fussing wails as Lacey carried him across the courtyard.

  Chapter Five

  Kimber

  They sat in the rocking chair long after Anthony had eaten his full and fallen asleep. Anthony curled into his mother, a bit of drool pooling on her hastily donned T-shirt. His mother relaxed into the solid rock of a man beneath her. Dan wrapped his arms around them as though they were the most precious cargo he’d ever held.

  But still, desire hummed between them.

  It confused Kimber at first. She was Anthony’s mom. Hardly someone ready to have sex at the drop of a hat college student. She wasn’t a sassy heroine in an over the top 1980s old school bodice ripper romance. She was a grown woman trying to figure out her life.

  Dan sighed, his breath tickling the small hairs on the back of her neck.

  A grown woman with an undeniably sexy man aching to be her lover.

  “Are we too heavy?” she whispered.

  “No.”

  Kimber adjusted her seat and felt his hard length pressing into her bottom. “Is that?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

  He chuckled. “Yes.”

  “Oh.” She felt her cheeks flame with color at the solid and lengthy reminder of Daniel’s intention.

  “It’s pretty much been like that since I’ve met you. I’m trying to ignore him.”

  Kimber snorted with a quiet laugh. “Why ignore him? Is he mean or friendly?”

  “Oh, he’s very user-friendly. For the right woman.” His hands slipped to her hips and ground lightly against her.

  “Am I the right woman?” Her breath caught as she waited for his answer.

  Lips brushed tenderly against the nape of her neck. “I think we’ve been waiting for you our whole lives.” A whimper rose in her throat at Dan’s heartfelt words. “But I’m ignoring him because I have no other option. He’ll get his turn. Eventually.”

  Kimber’s heart raced a little faster at the quiet confidence in Dan’s voice. “Help me stand up so I can put him in his crib.”

  They moved in silence as they got Anthony into his bed. Kimber slipped her hand in Dan’s and interlaced their fingers. Nervous, anxious, she was both aware and unsure of what would happen next.

  Still in silence, they undressed each other. Her hands slid up the firm, muscular planes of his chest. Dan’s body was perfect, a physique carved from the finest marble. Broad shoulders tapered to a tight waist before sliding into a firm backside.

  “Kiss me,” she said, needing the connection between them. Unable to stand the distance one more minute.

  Dan hoisted her into his arms as he carried her to the bed. Their lips touched, meeting in sublime satisfaction. Tongues danced in the darkened room as eager hands roamed. His hard. Supple. Possessive. Hers full of caution and exploration.

  Dan lowered his head to her breast, laved it and sucked it into his mouth while she arched beneath him. Kimber moaned low in her throat as she burrowed her hands into his hair. Her skin felt scorched wherever he touched her, and all she craved was more.

  He pressed his cock into her heat and watched her eyes. Her pussy was wet and swollen with need. “Even your thighs are glistening with your need for me.”

  Unable to help himself, Dan brushed his lips against her sex. He traced his tongue alone her plump folds and let the sweet honey coat his lips and chin. Her breath fractured with pleasure as she panted lightly. He licked her. Tasting her. Stroking her with his finger while he sucked her clit between his lips. When he stroked the tiny bundle of nerves, she writhed on the bed and gave a soft, breathless wail that echoed in the quiet bedroom.

  “It’s too much,” she cried, tossing her head as he pushed her higher.

  “Never enough,” Dan said.

  Her moans trailed off into a whimper. Dan held her hips down, toying with her sweet, pink sex. He touched the narrow opening and eased the tip of his finger inside.

  “You’re so perfect. Tight and hot and wet.” He nipped her clit with his lips and began licking her with firm, unrelenting strokes.

  Kimber’s breath hitched as she wailed out her release. Dan’s arms were like iron bands as they held her, anchored her to the bed. He drove her without mercy into her pleasure. Ecstasy made her wild until she arched and keened as she shattered against his tender, agile tongue.

  She sobbed and shook, drained. He rose above her, covering her. Sheltering her. She lay panting beneath him. Her face flushed, lips flushed, hair in disarray.

  Dan cupped her chin, brushing his nose against hers. Her eyes were wide with wonder. His hips sought her heat, his cock nudged her. Seeking entrance.

  “You’re huge.” Kimber shook her head. “I can’t.”

  Insecurity shone in his eyes and made her heart beat a little faster. “Shh,” he crooned. “You can take me, right, baby?” He teased her dampness, letting her pussy have just the tip of his dick. “You’re not going to let a little cock get the best of you, are you?”

  Kimber chuckled weakly. “No, but you don’t have a little cock.”

  “I’ll go slow. You were made for me, Kimber. We’ll make it work.”

  Their eyes met. Grace and greed warred with hunger and desire. She nodded and spread her legs a little further. Giving him all the room he needed.

  Dan

  He paused and inhaled her scent. His entire body tightened in response. Need pulsed through every cell of his body. After a lifetime of searching, he’d found his mate. Now, he needed to do everything in his power to please her and keep her.

  He pressed his cock against her sex. When she sighed and relaxed against him, he thrust inside her warm core, seating himself fully within her.

  “Fuck,” he muttered, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He shook with the effort of restraining himself. She gripped him so perfectly. She was a snug home for a man who’d wandered alone his entire life.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said, not even sure if the words came out as little more than a throbbing grunt. Kimber showed no fear but winced a little as he gave a few shallow thrusts. He wanted to take her hard but restrained himself. He needed to allow her time to accommodate his length and width.

  “Hurting?” he asked between gritted teeth.

  She shook her head side to side and lifted her knees to cradle Dan’s hips. She cried out as he slid incrementally deeper. Kimber closed her eyes and arched, her body in the throes of another orgasm.

  “That’s it,” he crooned. “You get wet and relaxed for me, baby. Make it better for both of us.”

  “You’re deep. I can feel you. Everywhere.” Kimber’s vo
ice was pleasure drunk as she put her hand over her bellybutton.

  “Too deep, baby?” Dan asked, his voice deep and raspy. “Come on. You get on top, love. Yeah?” He put his hand on her bottom and flipped them, so she was on top. Dan reached up and cupped her breasts in his oversize hands. They were perfect.

  Kimber’s head tilted back. “I don’t know what to do,” she confessed. “I’ve never.”

  A fist tightened Dan’s heart at the sweet quake in her voice. “Just do what feels good. There’s no right or wrong.” Her hips moved in a small circular motion, and he bit back a shout at how tight and snug and intoxicating she felt around him.

  “Look at you. Perched so pretty on my cock, sweetheart. You look so good there, I may need to fuck you twice.” She moaned at his words, and he felt her body spasm around him, drenching them both in her honey.

  Panting, she collapsed against his chest and reached for his kiss. His hands threaded through her still-damp tresses as languid joy infused their bodies. Her hips began their slow grinding again as though she were searching for yet another orgasm.

  Dan slid his hands down and lightly restrained her hips. “I don’t think I want to let you come yet, sweetness. What if I make you wait until I can join you?”

  “Dan!”

  “Hmm?” he teased, flipping them again until she was flat on her back. Despite her small whine of distress, he withdrew his body from hers and began kissing and caressing her body.

  Kimber closed her eyes and wiggled in his arms, fingers clinging to the sheets. “Please touch me,” she begged. “I’m so close to another one, Dan. Don’t you want to see me come lots more time?”

  Dan kissed her neck, tracing his lips up to the delicate, sensitive whorls of her ear. “How close?” he breathed. Kimber shivered at the sensation of his fingers playing along the top of her thighs and brushing gently over her sex.

  With a grin that would have melted any panties she would have worn, he dipped his fingers along the seam of her arousal and rubbed her clit.

  “Is this what you want, sweet?”

  Kimber’s head tilted back against the tub as she moaned at his heavenly touch. “Oh yes. More.”

  Dan groaned. “I think those are my favorite three words. Relax,” he urged. “Let me take care of you.”

  Kimber sobbed with relief as his talented, masculine hands when to work. He stroked firmly before stopping.

  “Nooo,” she cried as he tormented her wildly alive body. “Oh, please. Please, don’t tease me, Dan. I need more.”

  His fingers went to work as he whispered all the wonderfully dirty things he would do to her after she took her pleasure. He played and tormented until finally, like a triumphant volcano, her pleasure erupted. With a cry of absolute relief, she shattered beneath his tender touch.

  The waves of ecstasy rolled through her, and she snuggled deep into their nest of sheets and blankets. “That was perfect.”

  His hand lifted, stroking her full breasts once more. “You’re leaking,” he commented. A drop of breast milk pooled on his finger, and he brought it to his mouth to taste.

  “Sweet,” he said, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

  Kimber watched him with wide, cautious eyes. She turned, her generous curves facing him. “Would you like a taste?” she offered.

  He nuzzled one breast and licked at the tender nipple.

  “I’m all yours,” she invited, and Dan was pretty sure he’d never had such a delicious offer in his life. Her breasts were perfect. Taunting him with their sweet plumpness.

  Dan tried to calm the lust that besieged him. He was painfully hard wanted to love Kimber with everything he had.

  “Later,” he promised, giving her a suckling kiss on her other breast. “Now it’s my turn.”

  Chapter Six

  Kimber

  Kimber was amazed at how much she’d managed to accomplish within a week. She’d begun the paperwork to get transferred to App State, found a babysitter, and a job. Flo, the waitress at the Lunchbucket Diner, recommended her niece.

  “This is my cell number,” Kimber said to Jenna Holiday. “If you need me, don’t be afraid to text. I already warned my boss.”

  Jenna giggled. “You’re working at Jaguar Realty, right? That Mr. Chamorro sure is a hottie.”

  Kimber frowned. She wasn’t sure how old Rafe Chamorro was, but Jenna was only nineteen. “He’s old enough to be your dad, at least.”

  “Ew, I didn’t mean that. Yeah, he’s like ancient. But you know Aunt Flo. She’s always talking about all the hot shifters in this town.”

  Kimber smiled. “Yeah, there sure are a lot of them.”

  After kissing Anthony’s velvety warm forehead (and giving another list of instructions to Jenna), Kimber left for work.

  As Kimber got into her car and drove down the mountain, her heart called her back to the little yellow cabin in the woods. For the first time since he’d been born, she was leaving Anthony with a sitter.

  The small voice inside her head reminded her of how often Dan had watched Anthony, but she dismissed it. Dan was different. He was like family.

  After stopping off at the diner for two cups of coffee to go, Kimber got to Jaguar Realtor five minutes before the office opened. “Mr. Chamorro,” Kimber greeted as she walked in the door. She handed him the second cup of coffee.

  Rafe Chamorro was a behemoth of a man. If Kimber hadn’t already been used to shifter-sized men from her brother and Dan, she might have been intimidated by the dark scowl he gave her.

  “I expect you on time, Miss Bromstad.”

  Oh, lordy, she thought. Another one of those military types who think if you’re five minutes early, you’re ten minutes late. “You told me to be here at eight, Mr. Chamorro. I’m here. If you’d like me here at quarter to eight, all you need to do is tell me.”

  Despite the weight of Anthony’s world on her shoulders, Kimber wasn’t going to accept a boss who changed the rules on the first day. She had no issue with her start time, but she wasn’t going to play that game.

  His dark eyes measured her. For a moment, Kimber wanted to fidget like a child but tucked her chin in the air. She was an adult. A mother. An employee. She demanded respect.

  Finally, Rafe nodded. “Quarter to eight would be better,” he conceded, his accent light and melodious.

  “Fine.” Kimber nodded. “I’ll let my sitter know.”

  Rafe took a sip of the coffee. “Have Flo put the coffee on my tab. There’s no expectation for you to pay for it yourself.”

  “Thank you.” Once she passed the initial hurdle of her employment, the rest of the day passed by relatively easily. She was to answer the phones between eight and three with a half hour for lunch. If she called ahead, the Lunchbucket would prepare it for her ahead of time.

  “I don’t normally hire women of child-bearing years.”

  Kimber refrained from rolling her eyes. She was pretty sure if she did, she’d see grey matter.

  Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that, while not old in the strictest of sense, her boss was apparently old enough that his opinions on women in the workforce were almost pre-1940s.

  I don’t normally work for men whose ideas of female equality ended in the 18th century. It was on the tip of her tongue to argue with him, but only through her own stubborn will, she resisted. Kimber needed a part-time job close to home a lot more than Rafe Chamorro needed a receptionist.

  So, Kimber bit her lip, wrote notes on how to use the phone system, and concentrated on keeping her job.

  At just after ten, Rafe came out of his office, wide tanned hands running through his salt and pepper hair. “I have an appointment to show a house. If I’m not back by noon, go ahead and close up the office so you can have lunch. The machine will pick up the phone.”

  “Yes, Mr. Chamorro,” Kimber said.

  He sighed, opened his mouth like he was going to say something and then changed his mind. “The mail should be here soon. Please open it and put it into three
piles. Bills, correspondence, and other. We’ll go over it when I get back.”

  And in a wave of shifter pheromones, he left the building. The only remnant was the distant jingle of the bell over the office door.

  After about ten minutes of silence, the bell over the door jangled. Kimber looked up, wondering if her boss was checking up on her. “Hey, Melody,” Kimber said, startled to see her friend there.

  “Oh, hey, Kim,” Melody greeted, looking suddenly nervous. “I, uh, didn’t know you were working for Rafe.”

  Kimber frowned. “Yeah, just started today. Lacey has been helping me get my life back on track. Jaguar Realty needed a part-time receptionist. So, I’m working here three days a week, I’m lining up classes for the fall semester, so I can finish my degree in Early Childhood Ed.”

  “That’s great news! I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks. Yeah, getting pregnant in the middle of my junior year threw me off my game. I finished, but my grades weren’t really where I wanted them to be.”

  “Yeah, I can understand that. Getting pregnant can do that.”

  Kimber nodded to Melody’s growing baby bump. “I’m saving everything from Anthony. If you’re having a boy, it’s all yours.”

  Melody’s smile turned wistful. “Thank you. I’m not even sure what I’m doing. The chemicals over at the salon are making me so sick. They can’t be good for the baby, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  “Have you talked to the baby’s father yet?” Kimber asked cautiously. After announcing her pregnancy to her friends a month ago, Melody had seemingly taken a vow of silence on the subject.

  Melody shook her long blonde hair. “No. It was just. You know, a one-night stand.” She looked away, her cheeks flushing with color.

  Kimber snorted. “Yeah, sometimes one time is all it takes.”

  Melody looked up between the soft fringe of her hair. “You, too?”

  “Backseat of a Buick.”

  “Well, it worked out for the best, right? You have your son. Your brother and his mate are close. You have a sexy pirate as a neighbor.”