Adrienne drew a shaky breath. “Well … I mean … you are a man …”
“Yes,” he encouraged.
“And very beautiful at that….”
“Mmm … yes?”
“And I hate beautiful men….” Her hands moved over his shoulders, his broad muscled back, and tapered down over his tight waist to his muscular buttocks. She was shocked at her own daring, thrilled by the groan of pleasure she coaxed from him.
“I can tell. Hate me just like that, lass. Hate me like that again. Hate me all you need to hate me.”
In one fluid motion, the Hawk tumbled her gently to the ground and stretched his hard body over hers. Adrienne was amazed; she’d never been this intimate with Eberhard, never experienced anything like it before, this heady feeling of lying beneath a man. How tantalizing it was: the thrust of her breasts against his broad chest; the possessive way he snared and kept one of her legs between his; the ridge of his enormous cock against the curve of her thigh. When he shifted his weight so that rigid muscle rode rock-hard between her legs, the heat simmering between them flared, causing muscles to clench inside her she hadn’t known she possessed. He rotated his hips, rubbing in slow erotic circles against her. She felt light-headed, disoriented by the sensations he evoked. She arched against him, wrapping a leg over him to pull him closer—to trap the heated man of him snug in the ache between her thighs.
He tugged gently at the bodice of her gown and slid it down over her shoulders, baring her breasts for his attentive expertise. “Beautiful,” he murmured, his fingers teasing the puckered crests. When he circled the rosy peaks with his tongue, tendrils of fire radiated through her body, culminating in exquisite heat in her belly, and lower still.
“Oh my God!” Adrienne tossed her head in the fragrant grass and threaded her fingers possessively through his dark mane.
Hawk groaned, his hot breath fanning her breast. “How do you do this to me, lass?” She was all he’d ever dreamed he might one day have, then counseled himself sternly to give up the dreaming as a foolish lad’s fancy.
But now he felt very much like that foolish lad again.
He almost laughed at the rightness of it. After all the women he’d had, he loved this one. The full enormity of his realization astounded and delighted him; he lowered his lips to hers, demanding wordlessly that she love him back. He put every ounce of longing, every shred of roguish seduction at his disposal into that silent plea—he kissed her so deeply, he no longer knew where he ended and she began. Her hips yielded when he thrust against her and rose hungrily to find his when he drew back. Primitive sounds escaped her lips, which were swollen and plum-colored from his fierce kisses.
“Love me, Adrienne,” he commanded roughly. “Love me!”
Her only reply was a throaty moan.
“Tell me you want me, lass,” he demanded hungrily against her lips.
“Please …,” came her choked reply as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. I’ll stop him in just a minute. It will be easier if I don’t look at him.
“Do you want me, Adrienne?” Hawk asked, pulling back from their kiss. Her plea wasn’t enough of an answer; he had to hear her say the words. That even with her eyes closed, she knew it was him on top of her, him kissing her.
But she didn’t answer, and her eyes remained shut.
Hawk groaned and kissed her again anyway, losing himself for a moment in the texture and taste of her sweet lips. But doubt hammered at him. He was aware that if he didn’t push the issue, he might yet carry her to his bed tonight in her sensual, drunken arousal. But he didn’t want Adrienne incoherent. He wanted her wide-awake, fully aware and asking him to touch her. He wanted her to meet his gaze levelly with honest, unabashed hunger, and say the words. Hawk tore his mouth from hers, panting hard.
“Open your eyes, Adrienne.” He forced himself to lie still, his hips rigid against the seductive arch of her body.
A wordless moment of shallow breaths passed, their lips inches apart.
“Look at me. Say my name. Now,” Hawk commanded.
Adrienne’s eyes opened just a sliver. Don’t make me acknowledge this … don’t ask so much! they pleaded. And again, her body quested upward, begging him to move atop her, to seduce her in her drunken arousal so that tomorrow she could pretend it hadn’t been her choice.
“Look at me and say my name.” His voice broke harshly on the words. His beautiful, chiseled mouth hovered only a whisper away from hers.
Adrienne stared up at him mutely. Tears stung her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks.