Page 100 of Restless Hawke

That’s a promise I shouldn’t be making, no matter how much I want to be able to fulfill it.

Not when Satriano looms over me and can make me do his bidding with a single word or snap of his fingers, and it will inevitably be something far worse than fixing games at his casinos.

It will be things that would put Allegra in the kind of danger the Hawkes have been running from for what feels like forever.

Protecting her means pushing her away.

But I can’t when I can see how much she needs something strong to cling to, a place to set anchor and weather whatever maelstrom is swirling around her.

Sheneedsthe spiraling to stop, and I can’t bring myself to walk away from her when she’s like this. Especially not when my entire being screams that I can be her savior. That somehow helping her will redeem me from all the mistakes I’ve made.

Allegra sags against me as if my words have released some sort of tension in her that has held her upright this entire time. Her hands curl around the lapels of my jacket, and I wrap my arms around her, tugging her fully against me, accepting her weight and that of whatever has brought her to this point.

I brush my lips over hers gently, holding her tightly, letting her cling to me for as long as she needs to.

It took a lot for her to be here, for her to show up, for her to admit any of this to me, especially after the way we left things, the waysheleft things.

A woman doesn’t like having her pride hurt, but she sacrificed it to come here and make this confession. To supplicate herself at my feet and beg for forgiveness.

And I’m going to reward her for it.

I deepen the kiss, cupping her face between my palms, holding her steady as I attempt to convey everything that’s so hard to say. Both because I don’t know how to but also because I fear, if I ever manage it, it might send her running again.

She sucks in a sharp breath as my mouth moves over hers, demanding and insistent.

All the things that seem to bring that flame that burns inside her back to life.

She presses into me tighter, as if she can’t get close enough.

I kiss her with everything I have in me, with all the frustration, confusion, and aggression that’s built up over the last several days since she disappeared—pouring it all into the kiss.

Into her.

The wanting.

The needing.

The desperation I’ve felt since she left me.

And now that there aren’t any more games, now that she’s finally letting me see those other sides of her, I want it all.

Her sassiness.

Her strength.

Her humor.

Her struggles.

Her fears.

I lift her easily, and she loops her arms around my neck, her thighs squeezing my hips as I walk us back toward the bedroom, where I plan to spend the entire night lost in this woman.

But I can’t wait.

I need hernow.

Stopping halfway down the hallway, I pin her to the wall, my cock pressed between her legs, aligned precisely so that every twitch and roll of her hips brushes it against her clit. “I sure as hell hope you’ve stuck to your no-panties rule.”