Page 30 of Burn for the Dragon
Hawke headed to his room. He needed a cold shower. Maybe it would shock some sense back into him. Because right now, his entire being was screaming in anger and denial for what he would have to do.
Chapter 14
Sixteen hours after her dinner with Devon and Kohl, Everly lay wide awake on a strange male’s bed, staring up at the glittering ceiling whose beauty no one else seemed to notice or appreciate.
Kohl made her promise to stay in the room, unless he or one of the other vampires escorted her, for her own safety and for the coven’s. She supposed it was the smart thing to do, and it gave her a lot of time to think, and shower.
She’d told Kohl everything she could remember about her history, most of which was exactly what she’d told Hawke back at her apartment. No, she didn’t know who her parents were. No, she had no idea where she and Matthew came from. No, she didn’t know how Parasupe found out about him. Yes, she knew who kidnapped him because she was talking to him on her captioned phone at the time. Everything that was said had been captioned onto her screen, including the visitor’s identity when he’d introduced himself to her brother.
Matthew hadn’t wanted to go with them, so they’d forced their way in and taken him. On his way out, he’d made sure Everly knew what was going on, right before someone had hung up his phone. The police had been called, but when she’d tried to pull up their conversation to show them, it was gone. Her story had been confirmed with the homeless person who had seen her brother forced from his apartment.
Kohl had promised her they would find out what they could about her brother.
The door opened, and Hawke walked in. His eyes swept the room. Spotting Everly in bed, he came to an abrupt halt.
Everly sat up, swinging her legs off the side of the bed, but said nothing. She didn’t have to. Her pounding heart probably gave her away.
His eyes took her in from her bare toes to her messy hair, and then he turned on his heel and left again.
Panic had her jumping to her feet as she tugged her tank top down over her pajama pants. “Hawke!”
But she needn’t have worried, for he returned a moment later with a tray bearing covered plates and a large glass of orange juice. The smell of pancakes and bacon filled the room, making Everly’s mouth water and her stomach rumble. He set it on the dresser.
“I could really go for some coffee,” she told him as her sudden burst of energy dissipated and she sank back down onto the bed. “Seriously. Is there a coffee shop nearby?” Picking up one of her hearing aids from the table, she put it in her ear.
Hawke turned, spearing her with an impersonal look. “The sun is still up. No one would be able to escort you.” His dark eyes were as cold and deep as the rumble of his voice, the expression on his face carefully blank.
Everly didn’t understand why he was treating her like this. She hadn’t done anything wrong. “I can’t help what I am, Hawke. If it’s even true,” she added as an aside. “And I didn’t force you to…to…contaminate yourself by having sex with me. I don’t deserve this…hatred from you.” There was a twinge in her throat on that last part. Her voice may have cracked. But she didn’t care. “I can’t help who or what I am.”
He froze in the act of removing the plate cover, then he turned, and his hand slowly lowered, though he didn’t put the cover down. Instead, it dangled awkwardly at his side as he glanced toward the door, the muscles of his jaw working. His words, when they came, must have been hard, because he couldn’t face her when he said them.
“Please look at me when you speak,” she told him. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”
His head whipped around, and his expression, so drastically changed, nearly gutted her. The blank mask was gone, and in its place was a male in obvious pain. “I don’t hate you, Everly.”
She jumped to her feet. “Then why are you treating me like this? I may be deaf, but I’m not an idiot, Hawke. And I don’t want to hurt anyone. You didn’t have to turn me over to Devon and Kohl. You could just talk to me, you know,” she finished quietly.
A smile spread across his face, slow and sweet as honey, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Talk to you?”
Everly nodded. “Yes, Hawke. Talk to me.”
His eyes narrowed. Slowly, he twisted around and set the plate cover down next to her breakfast. Or dinner. It didn’t really matter down here.
Moving faster than she could track, Hawke was across the room and standing in front of her. Everly gripped his shoulders as he dragged her up against his hard body. One hand tangled in her curls and pulled her head back until she was forced to look up at him.
Hawke snarled at her, fangs flashing. “Talk? Is that what you think I want to do with you? No, Everly.” He ran his nose up the side of her throat. Inhaling her scent? And then his eyes were travelling over her face, stopping at her mouth. “Talking is the last thing I want to do right now.”
“But…you said we can’t do this.” A thrill shot through her as he bent his head down to her throat and she felt the scrape of a fang. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his upper arms. “Hawke? You said?—”
His eyes, black as night, burned into hers. “I know what I fucking said.”
And then he kissed her.
No, ‘kissed’ wasn’t the right word. He ravished her. Consumed her. Until he was the only thing keeping her on her feet. Because there was no way in hell her knees would hold her upright. Not when her bones were melting from the heat.
He kissed his way down her throat, nipping at her collarbone. Goosebumps rose on her skin, and then her tank top was up and off, and her bare breasts were pressed against the soft linen of his shirt. His warm hands ran up her sides to cup the back of her shoulders and he was kissing her again. But only for a few seconds before he was gone.
Everly was left reeling, hands searching the air where Hawke had stood. Opening her eyes, she looked down to find him on his knees before her. Slowly, his hands slid up the backs of her legs, over her ass, and around her hips. His thumbs grazed the crease where her thighs met and Everly swayed with need as moisture pooled there. Her nipples ached, hard as pebbles, and she felt both free and self-conscious with her breasts bare to anyone who might walk in.
