“A. Good. Time?” He stressed every word, fully stepping under his stream to rinse entirely.
“Yes,” I said. “But you’re not fully letting go, I can tell. You need more, and I want to be the one to give it to you.”
Hawke went wholly still for a few moments, his eyes churning. He didn’t take them off of me for a second, not even when he reached behind him and turned off the water. I did the same, never once blanching at the broody bastard.
He stalked across the shower, the steam wafting around him as he spanned the distance between us. He grabbed the back of my neck, drawing me closer to him, forcing me to meet his eyes where he towered over me.
My heart stuttered, a thrill licking up my spine from the fire in his eyes.
“You want me to treat you like any other female? Is that it, Avi?” he snapped, holding firm on my neck. “Because I can’t. You’re not any other female to me. You’re my…”
Mate.
He wouldn’t say it.
Hadn’t said it.
I timidly walked my fingers up his strong chest, beads of water warm on my fingertips. His heart was racing just as hard as mine.
“I want to give you what you need. I want to be with you in every way possible. I want to make you happy before…” I swallowed hard, unable to say before I never get to be with you again.
Hawke’s eyes guttered. “You want to make me happy,” he said, almost like it was an insult. “Fucking hell, Avianna. You have no idea what you do to me, do you?”
I tried to step closer to him, but he pushed me backward, not allowing me to close the small distance between us. He dropped his hold on my neck and jerked his head toward the shower wall.
“Turn around,” he demanded, and heat curled in my blood with the absolute command in his voice.
Part of me wondered what he’d do if I disobeyed, but if this was him showing me more of himself, of his true needs, then I would fucking obey all damn night. I turned around, exposing my bare back to him, something no sane vampire would ever do with Hawke.
“Walk until your breasts touch the wall.”
I shivered, but not from the cold—it was dripping with heat here. It was from the tone he’d taken with me. No one ever dared to speak to me like he was, and I fucking loved it. I walked, the warm water strewn about the marble floor sliding from my movements, and I stopped as my breasts brushed the slick marble wall.
“Good girl,” he said, the water sounding behind me as he moved toward me.
I shuddered as his heat enveloped me from behind, as he towered over me, looking down at me.
“Hands flat against the wall.”
I obeyed.
“Good,” he said. “Drop them and we start all over. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I said on a breath, my heart pounding so hard with anticipation I knew he could hear it.
With lightning quickness, he snapped out a hand, burying his fingers in my wet hair and coiling it around his fist until I had to arch my neck back from the angle. He nudged my legs apart by tapping my ankles with his foot, the move so jarring I almost dropped my hands. I kept them steady, my breath hitching as he pressed in closer behind me.
His free hand roamed over my still-slick body, teasing my nipples with sharp pinches and soothing caresses. He took his time with that hand, working himself up as much as me. I could feel the hard as steel length of him behind me, and I wanted so badly to reach around and touch him while he touched me—
“Don’t even think about it,” he said into my ear, and I jolted at how well he knew me. “Unless you want me to start all over, which I will gladly do.”
He’d barely even touched me and already I was an aching string of need, desperate to be plucked. I locked down my movements, submitting to him.
I felt his smile against my cheek before his lips grazed the shell of my ear, the line of my neck, and the top of my shoulder. Without the ability to move or return his teasing, I was alive with sensation and could focus on little else. His lips were a searing heat that soaked right through to my core, his fingers like waves of flame that begged to be unleashed.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said, sliding that free hand down my stomach, his other hand still tightly locked in my hair. “Every inch of you is better than I’d ever imagined. You’re a goddamn dream.” He dipped his fingers through the apex of my thighs, and I whimpered. “Fuck,” he sighed, teasing me over my clit with a featherlight touch. “You don’t even need the shower. You’re already so wet for me.”