Beyond Ecstasy (Beyond #8) Read Online Free Page B

muscles, emphasizing their strength.
    He was massive. Unshakable, like a tree with roots that went deep. Except for his eyes.
    His eyes were hungry .
    Her knees went weak, so she leaned against the door and held up the bottle.
    He flexed his fingers as he took a step forward. It seemed like forever before he reached for the bottle, but that made it feel purposeful when his fingers slipped over hers, rough and warm and caressing. He tugged the bottle away and lifted it to his lips.
    His throat worked as he swallowed, and she couldn't resist. She leaned in and touched her tongue to his skin. Hawk groaned and slid his fingers into her hair. She froze, certain for one endless moment that he'd pull her away.
    But he didn't. He held her there, her mouth to his neck, so she licked a slow line up from the base of his throat to the spot just under his jaw.
    His fingers clenched, sending tingles along her scalp and down her spine. His chest heaved. Then he moved, and a thousand different sensations flooded her. The cool metal of the door against her back. The breeze on her skin. The hot, solid wall of his chest pressed tightly to hers.
    There were a hundred seductive things she could say. In the end, she only managed his name. “Hawk…”
    The bottle slipped from his fingers and clinked against the pavement. It rolled away, spilling priceless whiskey as it went, but Hawk ignored it. His hands were already moving, sliding down her body, skimming her hips—
    He curled his fingers under her ass and hauled her up. Her skirt rode up her legs as she wrapped them around Hawk's body. His jeans scraped her inner thighs, underscoring just how little separated them.
    His pants and his self-control. And the latter broke on another groan as he caught her mouth in a bruising, starving kiss.
    His lips were lush, firm, and warm against hers, but it was his tongue that undid her. She'd expected a halting exploration, maybe even with a hint of shyness, but this was something else entirely. He licked his way into her mouth, stroking her tongue with a skill that matched his passion, and everything else vanished. All that was left in her entire world was Hawk, kissing her with whiskey on his lips.
    His skin was hot under her hands, hard and soft all at once. His muscles tensed at her touch, turning the vague, empty ache that had plagued her for weeks into a deeper throb of need. It pulsed hotter when she slid her hand down over his stomach to his belt—
    Hawk caught her wrist and broke the kiss. “Not yet. Not like this.”
    They were words, and she knew they made sense, but not in that order, and not right now. She inhaled to clear her head, but all it did was fill her with Hawk's scent, and she almost moaned. “What?”
    “We have to do this right.” He eased her hand away and tipped her head back so she had to meet his eyes. “I need to get you a collar.”
    The words fell into the space between them, heavy and loud. They were still echoing through her like ripples in a pond when she found her voice. “A collar.”
    “That's how O'Kanes do this, right? That's how they say they want…this.”
    He was staring down at her with such earnest gravity that a laugh bubbled up. She swallowed it and shook her head. “We do what we want, sweetheart. If we want to fuck, we fuck.”
    His seriousness didn't waver. “That's not all I want.”
    Oh Jesus, not another one. Not him . “No.” Jeni pushed at his chest until he put her down, and she avoided looking at him as she straightened her skirt. “You—you what? Want to take care of me? Save me from my life?”
    Hawk blinked, clearly startled. Then his eyes narrowed, and his intensity melted from hunger to danger. “Do you need saving from something?”
    “Hell, no. Absolutely fucking not.”
    He studied her in silence for another painfully awkward moment. “I don't understand, then.”
    The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him, so she took another deep breath and chose her words carefully.