Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
If he’s trying to appeal to me by simply looking intense and delectable, he’s doing an excellent job.
Hawk tugs on the ring that hangs from his broad nose. “Aspeth…I know I’ve behaved cruelly toward you.”
That makes me pause. “Cruelly? I’d say you were an arse but I don’t know if cruelty was involved.”
“I’ve thrown things in your face that I shouldn’t have.” He shakes his head and paces some more. “I was furious that you were keeping secrets. That you didn’t trust me. And of course, everything is amplified thanks to the Conquest Moon’s rising—”
“Oh, come on, now. You can’t blame everything on that.”
He turns and gives me a sharp look. “You don’t know what it feels like.”
“I do not,” I agree. “But I’ve also done my best to be accommodating for the Conquest Moon time, and you’ve lashed out at me in private moments. That’s not the Conquest Moon. That’s you being a shit.”
His mouth tenses and he tugs on the ring on his nose again. “I know. I just…” More pacing. I wait for him to answer, because he seems to be conflicted. “I just…this should be transactional between us and it’s not.”
I tilt my head at him in surprise. Does he feel like I’m not holding up my end of the bargain? “It’s not?”
A low growl escapes him, and then he storms across the room to my side. Hawk leans over the bed, caging me in place as he puts his hands on either side of me. “I want you. More than I should.”
My lips part.
“No, that’s not right.” He shakes his head, his horns swiveling dangerously, and then lifts his face to meet my gaze again. “I want you more than a teacher should want his student. I want you more than I should for a marriage of convenience. And that’s the part that fucking bothers me.”
“It…does?” Why does that make my stupid heart flutter? He thinks I’m a spy, out trying to rob the guild of its riches or some nonsense.
“It does bother me,” Hawk continues. He studies my face, his breath warming the air around us. “Because I think about you all the time. It’s not just the Conquest Moon—I’ve felt its grip on me before. This is something else. If it was just the Conquest Moon, I wouldn’t think about your smile. I wouldn’t think about the way you laugh when you’re trying to be polite, and how different it is from when you’re truly amused. I wouldn’t think about you and that stupid cat of yours and how you lavish affection on it when you come home and it makes me jealous.”
My cheeks heat. He’s jealous of Squeaker?
“I wouldn’t be obsessed with the realization that I still owe you an orgasm from last night and how thinking about it has been distracting me all day long. I nearly fell off a drop earlier because I was thinking about the way your soft cunt clenched around my fingers, and how it’s going to feel when I’m deep inside you for the first time.”
“You were thinking about me today?” I’m breathless at the thought. Why do I care? Yet I do…terribly.
“Couldn’t stop thinking about you.” His hand trails up the inside of my thigh. “And how things left off last night. Figured I need to give you that orgasm or else it’s going to continue to distract me.”
I stop his hand before it can go up any farther. “Is this you apologizing for last night?”
His gaze meets mine. “Would you accept an apology from me?”
I swallow. “Maybe…depends on how good an apology it is.”
Hawk gives me a slow, lazy smile. “Toe curling.”
Oh gods. My pulse thumps a response right between my legs.
“I promised you I’d make you feel good,” he murmurs, and leans in to nip the shell of my ear. He’s incredibly gentle, and the feel of his teeth against my ear is more arousing than anything. “And I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. Moody or not, you being a holder’s heiress or not, I need to be the husband you deserve.” His hand stops on the inside of my thigh, his thumb rubbing against me through the fabric. “Can I make you come, wife?”
I bite back a moan. “If…I do…where does that leave us? You think I’m a spy.”
Hawk pauses. “I know you’re not. I’m angry that you didn’t trust me. Hurt that you didn’t. Probably more than a little pissed that I don’t get to keep you after all is said and done. You’re not a spy. I might not understand you or the way you work, Aspeth, but I know you’re not a spy.”
I suppose I should feel better at his confession, but it just reminds me that I’m in here with him to distract him away from what the others are doing…because we need Magpie and her loose interpretation of guild rules instead of Hawk’s strict one.