Saving Serena (Hawk Security #1)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Serena

Now Duke’s cautious approach to entering the house didn’t seem so out of place. The room turned cold. I wrapped my arms around myself. “Are you just going to leave it there?”

“I’ll have Winston dust it and get a full forensic workup.”

I imagined scenes from CSI with dusting powder and UV lights.

“But first…” Duke pointed. “Get in the kitchen and stay there. I’m going to sweep the house again.”

“The note is on the outside. Doesn’t that mean he didn’t get in?”

“You can’t trust anything he says or does. He’s playing with us, telling you you had a week on the phone and this…” He pointed at the note. “It’s to throw us off balance. We don’t know for sure that he didn’t get inside and leave you a present.”

His words chilled me to the bone. “Do you mean a bomb?”

“More likely a surprise. He wants the information on the drive, so you’re no good to him dead.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have told him to fuck off?”

“It doesn’t matter. I would have done the same.”

Did a surprise mean a dead rat in my underwear drawer or something worse? An equally good question was why, when I thought of Duke, did I always come back to my underwear drawer?

After Duke finished downstairs and went upstairs, I drifted back to the family room and the note, reading the words over and over.

All was quiet in the house, save the ticking of the grandfather clock.

The red bush the note mentioned was in my front yard—out of range of the motion sensor and the doorbell camera. If the guy knew that, did that mean he’d been here before, or he worked for someone who had? My dipshit ex came quickly to mind.

“Serena?” Duke’s yell echoed through the house. “Serena.”

“In here,” I responded.

Duke charged through the doorway, gun at the ready. “I told you to stay in the kitchen, goddammit.”

“Sorry. You’d already cleared the downstairs, and I needed to look at this note again.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” he bellowed. “You needed to do exactly what I told you. Stay in the kitchen.”

“Stop yelling at me.”

He growled, but lowered his voice. “When I tell you to jump, you ask how high. You don’t argue.”

“Well, I’m not like all your other bimbos.” I had no idea where that insult came from.

“You insolent woman.” He stomped closer. “It’s my job to decide what to do to keep you safe. It’s your job to stay safe by doing what I tell you.”

“I’m paying the bills, so I get a say.”

“No. I’m the professional here, and I’m the only one who gets a say.”

“Typical man,” I huffed out.

“Typical entitled princess,” he shot back. “Do I have to tie you down to get you to stay put?”

“Tie me down?” I joked. “Is that what you do with all your female clients, or only your bimbos?”

A beastly glint shone in his eye. It scared me. “The question is, since you mentioned being tied down, is that what you’d like?”

We’d devolved into a standoff, neither of us willing to answer the other.

I would not allow a discussion of being tied up, tied down, or anything that could take us to a discussion of the event I never talked about. “Serena, do this. Serena, do that,” I complained. “Everybody’s always telling me what to do, and I’m fucking sick of it. You have no idea what it’s like.”

“You’re right. I have to work for a living, Princess.”

Tears pricked at my eyes. Now it was official, my family’s money had entered the discussion. I stomped my foot. “Don’t call me Princess.” Only too late did I realize that stomping my foot played right into his narrative. “It’s insulting. You wanted to know why I didn’t want my father involved. Because I’m trying to make my own way in the world, and he’s constantly?—”

His face changed. “Treating you like a helpless little girl?” he suggested.

His kind words deflated my anger. I nodded. “Yes.”

He approached. Taking my hand, he morphed from beast to gentle giant in that way only he could. “I can’t fix your issues with your father or anybody else, but I can promise that when I tell you to do something, it’s for your safety. That’s all. Which means it’s important that you follow my directions, for your sake and for mine. You need to understand that I care, and I won’t boss you around unless it’s a matter of safety.”

I felt a little off balance. Looking up, instead of the eyes of the warrior, I saw the kind eyes that had first intrigued me. “I get it. I’ll try to be better.” But, his current insistence on bossing me around had clinched something else. I was going to make him come to the barbecue whether he wanted to or not. I would not lose that argument.

“Like Yoda said, ‘there is no try, only do.’” He rested his hand on my cheek. “Sorry I yelled. Are we good?”

I leaned into his touch and nodded. “We’re good.” Was it weird that the touch of a man I’d only met today could instantly put me at ease? Sure, I’d known the boy he used to be, but neither of us was a kid anymore.

He was a tempting badass, and I realized I was a woman longing for his touch and so much more. His mouth inched closer to mine as lust entered his eyes. Did he feel what I felt or was I imagining it?

I tilted my head up, rested a hand at his waist, and closed my eyes, waiting for the brush of his lips over mine. Or would they come crashing down? Need coursed through me, sending liquid heat to my core and a zing up my spine—a mixture of anticipation and fear. Was he merely comforting a scared little kitten, or did he want me?

If he did, could I handle a man like Duke Hawk?

My other arm wrapped around his neck, pressing my breasts to his chest and the hard length of him against me, hinting at the answer.

When his lips met mine, I knew. Duke Hawk hadn’t wanted teenage me, but he wanted the woman I’d become. He cupped the back of my head and deepened the kiss. He was demanding, but not rough—savoring and exploring the connection. Yes, Duke Hawk could kiss the panties right off a woman, and he wanted me.

I speared the hand on my good arm into his hair. The dance of his tongue with mine was intoxicating, unlike anything I’d experienced before.

His hand slid under my loose shirt. He inched me away from him and cupped my breast. Liquid heat filled me as his thumb circled my nipple, teasing the peak into a hard bud, and the sound of blood rushing in my ears overwhelmed the ticking of the grandfather clock.

Pleasant sensations overwhelmed the pains from the crash as the room melted away. I floated in his strong arms. I shoved aside my worry about Black Jacket Guy’s note and felt the warmth of Duke’s hard body against mine. Our tongues danced with passion, each learning the other.

He cupped my ass, and there was plenty to grasp. I wished for more contact, more skin, just more Duke. No, more Cobra. Sliding a hand between us, I cupped his erection through his pants.

With a tortured groan, he broke the kiss. “You’re playing with fire, Princess.”

“I’m old enough to decide for myself, and you agreed to not tell me what to do.”

He sighed. “If you’re going to be bold,” he said, quoting from my tattoo. “Be sure, absofuckinglutely sure.” He pinched my aching nipple, sending a zing of electricity through me. “Once we start this, I’m not going to stop.”

“Promise? I choose bold,” I answered, giving his cock a squeeze.

His mouth took mine again as he tugged at the belt on my pants and slid them off my hips before guiding his hand inside my panties. He blazed a hot trail over bare skin as his fingers traveled down to where I wanted them, craved them.

The sizzle of sensation when he parted my slit was heavenly. I was on a hair trigger, as it had been a long time since any fingers besides my own had explored my sex. I shifted to the side and grabbed for his belt to make us even. I could tell he was big, but how big?

He pulled my hand away. “Not yet,” he said firmly before re-engaging the kiss.

Going back to palming his length, I refused to stop working him through the fabric.

His finger circled and teased my entrance, pulling a begging moan out of me before sliding inside. “My God, you’re wet.”

“It’s what you do to me,” I breathed. I squeezed him again. “And you’re hard as steel.”

“That’s what you do to me.”

He groaned as I yanked on his length. “Careful, or I’ll blow.”

It drove me crazy to know I had that effect on such a powerful man as Cobra. I wasn’t a supermodel, not even close. I repeated the move.

“Stop it.” He retaliated by adding a second finger and working my pussy with abandon.

Instinct took over. I couldn’t stop my moans or my hips as I gyrated against his hand. It had to be the long dry spell. I’d never been so close so quickly, even with my vibrator.

“You’re close. I can feel it.”

“Uh-huh,” I managed between primal moans.

“I want you to come for me, Princess.”

I nearly came undone when his thumb found my clit. The princess comment no longer mattered.

“Look at me,” he commanded.

I opened my eyes, and we locked gazes. It felt like he could see into my soul and read my deep, dark secrets—the ones only one person knew.

“Come for me.” His torture of my clit became more intense. “Come for me, Princess,” he repeated.

I chased my orgasm over the cliff, moaning incoherently, and split apart as the waves spilled over me.

His smile was genuine as he held me through the spasms. “That’s a good girl, Princess.”

I locked my knees to keep from falling down and leaned against him in the bliss that followed. With orgasms like this, I might complain, but I could endure the Princess moniker. I pulled on his solid length. “Your turn, big guy.” Now I would get to see how big.

The loud ding startled me for the second time today.

He yanked his hand away and stepped back. “What’s that?”

“The motion sensor out front.” I shivered. “Do you think he’s back?”

“Stay right here.” He sprinted for the front door with a monster bulge in his pants, a bulge I’d put there but not satisfied.

I pulled my pants back up, but this time, I stayed where I’d been told.