Page 154 of Songbird: Black Kite
Once I was situated, Hawk’s thighs bracketing my own, he pulled the guitar back across us both and placed it in my hands before he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the exposed skin of my neck.
“Play for me, Bird. Let the music be your voice and show me how you feel. Out here, where it’s just you and me and the moon.”
Taking a breath to hide my nerves, I clutched the guitar—a different one than the Martin I’d first played with him, but no less beautiful—and tried to calm my racing heart. Placing my fingers on the fretboard, I started to play,Scar Tissuejust naturally flowing out of me, almost without thought.
This time, when the time came for the words to start, Hawk began to sing, his deep voice filling me with more emotions than I could name. Running his hand around my middle, Hawk pressed his wide, warm palm to my stomach, the heat of him now surrounding me from back and front.
“Thiswasa lonely view,” he whispered when I reached the chorus. “But not anymore. Never again.”
My fingers stalled, the music dying as I turned to look at him, but before I could utter a word, Hawk took my lips in a fiery kiss. My lips parted automatically, like they just knew to grant him entrance, that there was literally nothing he could ask of me that I wouldn’t give. His hand on my stomach clutched me closer, the fabric of my night shirt bunching in his fist as his tongue took ownership of my mouth.
When he pulled back for a breath, forehead pressed to mine, I closed my eyes, reveling in the moment, the feel of him surrounding me, the softhush hushof the waves lapping at the shore below us, wanting to imprint everything about it in my mind forever.
“My perfect Bird,” Hawk said, then pressed a soft, chaste kiss to my lips before reaching for the guitar. “It’s my turn now.”
Arms around me, Hawk cradled the guitar as he moved closed to me, and I moaned at the feel of his erection pressed into my lower back. His shoulders shook in silent laughter, but he didn’t release me as he settled his fingers and began to play.
At first, I wasn’t sure if I was actually hearing what I thought I was; the sheer improbability of it was too astonishing to even contemplate. My tired, jet lagged brain struggled to make sense of what was happening, but no matter how I tried, I simply couldn’t.
Because there was no way that Hawk Jameson could be playing my song.
Chapter eighty-six
Hawk
Present
"Haunted,"I sang, the lyrics I’d written to the melody I’d gotten from Wren coming out of me low and tortured. I felt the moment she’d recognized the music, her entire body going stiff in my arms, but I pressed on, needing to finish the lyric. “Your eyes make me feel wanted. But baby, I’m daunted by the demons inside.”
Setting the guitar aside, I wrapped my arms around her, her heart racing beneath her ribs as she held herself rigid against me.
“How?”
The word was both a question and an accusation, and I grimaced, reluctantly releasing her when she pulled away from me.
“Bird,” I started, but she took a step back and stared down at me, hurt in her eyes.
“Where did you get that?Whendid you get it?”
“Come here, baby. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you everything, but I want to hold you while I do.”
She eyed me with suspicion, a look I was getting real tired of seeing on her face, before she stepped back toward me, moving her body to take the open space beside me. Not loving the idea of her being even that far away, I caught her by the hips and pulled, biting back a grin when she let out a startled yelp as she lost her balance and fell onto my lap, her legs straddled around mine. Resting her hands on my shoulders, Wren held herself up, as though touching me was a bad thing.
Still not happy, I wrapped my hands around the backs of her thighs and pulled until her hips were flush with mine, the heat of her pussy hot against my dick through our night clothes. I groaned, my fingers digging into the meat of her thighs, and the thought of leaving my fingerprints there had my body tingling.
“Hawk,” she admonished, trying again to lift up, but I clucked my tongue at her and shook my head.
“I let you have your space earlier, Bird, but you still found your way to me. That means the time for space is over. Now, you’re gonna listen to what I have to tell you, and you’re gonna do it sitting right there on my dick. And then when we’re done talking, I’m gonna take you inside and fuck you the way you deserve, so you best be ready for that.”
Her eyes flew wide, those full lips popping open in surprise, but I only smiled wolfishly and kissed her again, hard and fast, before I started talking.
“I told you I had a lot of regrets. Most of them are about that night. The night we met. I regret not getting your name. I regret letting you go without having some way to reach you. And I sure as fuck regret being so high that the majority of our time together is a messy blur.”
I could see the sadness rising in her eyes, a whole host of ‘what ifs’ running through her mind, and I kept going so that she wouldn’t have the opportunity to dwell there again.
“But there are a whole lot of things that stuck with me from our night together,” I said, my gaze trailing over her beautiful face. “I remembered your gorgeous eyes, so innocent but so full of sorrow at the same time. They were eyes that told me you’d been through a whole fuck of a lot and still kept going. But they also told me how much you wanted me. Not because of the fame or the money, butme. The man.” Blinking down at me, Wren’s face softened, and I reached up to cradle her cheek. “I never forgot that look, Bird.”
Her hands slid from my shoulders to around my neck, her fingers tangling in the hair at the base of my skull, and a shiver slid along my skin that had nothing to do with the ocean breeze.
