“Morning, baby.” He placed both cups on my rolling table and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my temple. That small caress of his lips on my skin was enough to make me shiver in reaction to him. Headache or no headache, I couldn’t seem to control my body’s response to this man. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. My headache isn’t nearly as intense as it was last night.” I caught his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. “Have you been here all night?”
“Mostly. I had to take care of a few things, but then I came straight back.” Another kiss to my head and he stepped back, offering me one of the cups. “When I heard the staff switching shifts out at the nurses station I went in search of some decent coffee.”
My stomach knotted up. “Wh-what kind of things?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners and he grinned down at me. “Are you asking if I did something to Harley, baby?”
“Yes. Did you?” He chuckled, picked up his own cup of coffee and walked over to the window to take the extra chair beside of his sister. I tried not to be disappointed that he hadn’t chosen the side of my bed to sit so that he could be closer to me. When he didn’t answer I focused on that rather than the slight sting of disappointment. “Hawk?”
“Harley got his ass kicked and we got him a one-way ticket out of town.” He took a sip of his coffee before nudging Raven’s leg with one booted foot. She grumbled something in her sleep and turned her head away from him, but didn’t open her eyes. “You don’t have to worry about him again. He won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
“Oh.” I let out a long, relieved breath. “Did you hurt him very badly?”
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes crinkling again. “Nothing he didn’t deserve, Gracie. Oh, hey. Can you tell me what your blood type is? Just in case something ever happens, I can help out with your medical information.”
I didn’t call him on the subject change. I didn’t want to talk about Harley at all, but I’d needed to know if I’d been responsible for a man’s death. “It’s AB negative. It’s rare so I have to be careful.” I pushed the coffee away. It smelled good, but I didn’t know if my stomach could handle it at the moment. The orange juice would have to do for now. “What’s yours?”
“I’m ordinary old O negative.” He took a gulp from his cup and nudged his sister again. This time she opened her eyes and glared at him. “Morning, sunshine.”
“When did you get back?” she grumbled, wiping sleep from her eyes.
“Late. You were sound asleep. Bash didn’t want to move you. Why don’t you head home and get some rest? We’re good here, right, Gracie?”
I nodded. “Yes, and thanks for staying with me, Raven. I really appreciate it.”
Yawning, she stood and crossed the small room to my bed. Leaning over she hugged my neck carefully. “You’re family, Gracie. It wasn’t a problem. Are you feeling any better?”
“Still have a headache but it’s nothing compared to last night.” Fudge, I could have still been seeing stars and that would have been an improvement to the pain I’d been in the night before.
Raven gathered up her things, gave me a hug and then left. As soon as the door shut behind her, Hawk was out of his chair and beside my bed in a flash. My heart rate started to double in speed and I nibbled on my bottom lip as I gazed up at the deliciously sexy man leaning over me.
His gaze was hungry; his eyes moving over every inch of my face and then lower. I was wearing a hospital gown that was baggy on me and nothing else. Not even panties underneath it. The sheets and blanket were pulled up over my breasts though so I knew he couldn’t see that my nipples had tightened the instant he’d gotten close enough for me to smell his spicy aftershave.
Hawk lifted his gaze back to my face and our eyes locked. The hunger dimmed ever so slightly and he pressed his forehead carefully to mine. “I thought I’d lost you last night, Gracie.” His voice was rough and gruff, as if he were having a hard time containing his emotions. “I never want to go through that again.”
I lifted my hand that was free of the IV and stroked my fingers through his shaggy blonde hair. His entire body shuddered at my touch. I felt his lips skim over the tip of my nose and closed my eyes, savoring the gentle caress. For a few long minutes we stayed like that, breathing each other in, holding on to a moment in time when everything else seemed to stand still and there was just the two of us in the world.
When he finally pulled back, there was something different in his eyes on top of all that hunger. Determination. “You are mine, Gracie. I know you don’t understand how it is in my MC, but I can teach you all of that. I want you to be my ol’ lady.”
If he’d said that to me four months ago I would have laughed my head off. The whole things seemed almost archaic in a way. The ‘ol’ lady’ tag even sounded a little redneck. Now that I knew what it really meant and what it meant to Hawk’s club family I was beyond moved to have him say he wanted me to be his. His face looked tight, as if he were anxious and I knew that he was worried that I was going to turn him down.
Crazy man. As if I could. “Okay,” I murmured and smiled when he blew out a deep, relieved sigh. “But only if you promise that you are mine just as much as I’m yours.”
“Fuck, girl. You’ve owned me from the first minute I set eyes on you.” His hands came down on the bed on either side of my head, his head lowering as his gaze locked on my lips. “Damn, I want to kiss you so bad, baby. But I know the second my lips touch yours that it’s game over. I won’t give a shit that
a nurse could walk in at any second, all I’m going to want is to crawl into that little bed with you and touch every goddamn inch of your perfect skin.”
Oh, fudge. The image his words put in my head was making my heart and body do all kinds of crazy things. My heart actually quivered at the idea of his hands on me while my thighs became damp and sticky with how much I wanted him. Deep within my body a pulse I’d only recently discovered throbbed to life. I craved his mouth on mine, wanted his hands on my skin with a desperation that went soul deep.
My mouth opened, ready to tell him I didn’t care if one of the nurses came in or not. All I wanted was him and the pleasure I knew he could give me…
The door opened without warning and in strolled a man in a white doctor’s coat and an iPad in his hands. Hawk slowly straightened, his eyes watching the newcomer closely before he relaxed and held out his hand. “Doc, good to see you.”
The doctor lifted his eyes from the iPad and grinned at him before taking his hand and shaking it. “Hawk, how are you?”
“I’d be better if you told me my girl here is okay and can go home.” He winked down at me and I couldn’t help the blush that filled my cheeks.