Page 73 of Pretty Lethal
My smile breaks free. “Mm, I do love gifts,” I tease.
“How is your day going?” he asks, phrasing it casually, even though we both know what he really means—how amIdoing?
“I’m holding up.”
Approaching, he sets the coffee cup on the desk and parks his ass on the edge beside me. Leaning forward, he brushes his lips over mine. “And now?”
I smile against his lips. “A little better.”
“Are you still up for training this evening?”
I nod my head with certainty. “Absolutely.”
I’ve asked him and Hadley to both train me regularly in self-defense and handling a weapon, and a new routine has been set up where I run with Kai every morning and train with either Hawk or Hadley in the evenings.
Admittedly, I’m excited about this new change. It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to, not least of all, because I’m hoping it will give me the confidence I need to stop looking for moving shadows in dark corners.
I’m hoping gaining some confidence in myself will help me get past the nightmares that haunt my dreams and keep me awake at night. That will lift some of the tension sitting heavy on my shoulders whenever I leave the house or when I’m alone. That it will quell the fear that sits like lead in my stomach, constantly making me feel nauseous.
I’m not this person—someone fearful of being alone and continuously on edge. It makes me feel weak, and I amnotweak. I’m not a badass like Hadley, but I’ve always considered myself a relatively strong person. I’ve always been fiercely independent, and although I was a bit of a mouse when I was at Pac, preferring to melt into the background and fly under the radar, I grew a spine when Hadley showed up. A spine that I have prided myself in maintaining to this day.
Hadley’s tough-as-nails behavior rubbed off on me. I stopped cowering from the big bad Princes and started standing up to them, frequently going toe-to-toe with an infuriating Hawk. It gave me a confidence I hadn’t known I’d needed, a confidence I lost when I left for Halston that the guys were succeeding in instilling in me once more. However, recent events have caused me to falter.
But I’m not going to lie down and let them win.
I didn’t let Mel win, and I won’t let these elite assholes either.
I’m stronger than I’ve been these last few days, and I know that.
So it’s time I woman up and learn to fight back.
At the conviction in my tone, Hawk’s eyes shine with pride.
“My little badass,” he murmurs reverently. “So strong.”
“You make me strong,” I return honestly. “All of you do.”
He smiles, rewarding me with a slow, languid kiss that is instantly more effective and distracting me from my fears and worries than the tactics I’ve been using all day.
“Do you remember the last time I had you pressed against a desk?” he asks in a sultry tone.
“If anything, you’re the one being pressed against the desk,” I return with a cheeky smirk.
Huffing out a laugh, he easily pulls me from my chair, rearranging us so my ass is resting on the edge of my desk, his thigh shoved between mine as he smirks down at me.
“Better,” he purrs, cutting off any protest I may have with his lips against mine.
“Oh, I get it now,” I say a little breathlessly when he moves to kiss along my jaw and down the side of my throat. “Thisis why you came to check up on me. You wanted to relive our Pac days and screw me in a classroom.”
He huffs out a laugh against my skin. “I figured it would be exactly the distraction you needed.”
Well, he’s not wrong there.
His lips return to mine, his large palms sliding along the top of my thighs and dragging the hem of my dress up until cool air brushes against the damp cotton of my panties. My legs part to allow him to step between them, and I’m forced to lean back, my palms pressed flush to the top of the desk as his chest presses against mine.
Sliding his hands around the back of my thighs, he lifts me until my legs wrap around his waist, my ass perched on the edge of the desk. With one large palm still gripping my thigh, his other skates up my body, cupping the back of my neck until his fingers dive into my hair, holding me to him in a way that is both carnal and affectionate.
I can feel the hardness in his pants as I grind against him, feel that he needs me as badly as I need him, but his firm touch and passionate kisses show how concerned he has been. How deeply he cares—enough to know I was probably struggling today and needed a distraction. Enough to seek me out in the middle of the day to ensure I was okay.
