Jumping In (7 page)

“When I told Gabriel I was moving here, he asked me to take the deputy mayor job as a favor to him and I agreed. The job isn’t the reason I came to Hawthorne. You are.”

Clint’s jaw dropped.

“Taking you off-guard is fun.” Hawk grinned manically. “And I’m really good at it.”

Rolling his eyes, Clint said, “Stop gloating and explain yourself.”

“It’s simple, really.” Hawk shoved two pillows under his head, lay on his back, and pulled Clint on top of him. “I’m a political and managerial consultant based out of D.C. Or at least I was. Gabriel was a close friend of my father’s so when things were going south in his reelection campaign, he asked for my help. I came down here to get the lay of the land and I saw you.”

He combed his fingers through Clint’s hair. “You were at a softball game. Police versus firefighters. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. You were wearing a black Rolling Stones T-shirt that wasn’t tight but you’d been sweating so it was clinging to your chest. I watched you run the bases, joke around with your teammates, and then wave everyone off when they were going for beers, so I followed you.”

“We have a name for that, you know?”

“Falling in love?”

“The technical term is stalking.”

“Tomato, tomato,” Hawk said, pronouncing the word differently each time. “Anyway, you went to the veterinarian’s office to visit your dog.”

“Fluffy,” Clint said, remembering his frequent trips to the vet when his dog was near death. “She’d whelped her pups in a storage shed behind the strip mall off Fourth. A few high school kids set off firecrackers out there and one hit the brush outside the shed and caught the whole thing on fire. She kept going into the building to get her pups out, didn’t stop until every last one of them was safely away from the danger.”

“Brave dog.”

“She is.”

“The receptionist at the vet’s said they didn’t think she’d make it but you insisted they try to save her, footed all the bills, and came to visit her twice a day.” Hawk kissed Clint’s forehead. “I fell in love with you right then. Told Gabriel I was going to wrap up my projects in D.C., put my place on the market, and move here to be with you. He asked me to work for him and that brings us to today.”

“You changed your whole life because you saw me playing softball and have a soft spot for dogs?” Clint pushed himself up to a sitting position and dragged his fingers through his hair. “People don’t do that.”

“Well, I did.” Hawk curled his big hand around Clint’s thigh. “I’ve never felt that kind of pull. No way was I going to ignore it and miss out on something great.”

“I could have been dumb or mean or annoying or straight or—”

“You’re not any of those things.” Hawk sat up and brushed his lips over Clint’s. “You’re wonderful and getting to know you only made me fall harder.”

A part of Clint he didn’t know existed woke up with those words and a longing blossomed in his chest. His heart raced, his lungs burned, and he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to run away or snatch what Hawk was offering and guard it with every part of him.

“Mayor Martinez must have thought you’d lost your mind,” he said as he wondered the same thing about himself.

“Nah.” Hawk shook his head. “My dad did the same thing when he met my mom, so Gabriel knows the drill.”

“Your father met your mom and moved to New York?” Clint remembered Hawk saying he’d grown up there during one of their conversations. He also knew Hawk had a younger brother and two younger sisters, that his family was close, and that he’d had Golden Labs as a child.

“She moved to be with him, actually. My mother’s family is from New York. My father died when she was pregnant with me so she moved back there and remarried. Black’s my stepfather’s name. She gave me my father’s last name as my first name.”

“Your father’s last name was Hawk?”

“Hawk’s my nickname. My father was Bruce Hawthorne.” Hawk raised his hand and pointed around the room. “This was his house.”

“You’re a Hawthorne?” Clint asked incredulously. Not only had the Hawthorne family founded the town, but their charitable endowment still funded a lot of the organizations and they owned a good portion of the land. “I thought the family had all passed away.”

“All except for me.”

“How is it I didn’t know this?”

“Well, it didn’t strike me as important when we were getting to know each other.” Hawk moved his hand up Clint’s thigh to his groin and caressed his balls and shaft. “I hadn’t spent any time here so it doesn’t have anything to do with who I am, just what I own.”

“So on top of being gorgeous and smart, you had a powerful career and tons of money and you decided to move to Hawthorne, New Mexico, to take up with me?”

“Yup.” Hawk wrapped his hand around Clint’s dick. “Best decision I ever made.”

“You’re insane.”

Lying on his stomach, Hawk put his face in Clint’s lap and said, “I prefer to think of myself as a romantic.”

“Fine. You’re an insane romantic.” An incredibly sexy insane romantic.

“Insanely romantic.” Hawk lapped at Clint’s hardening cock. “I like that.”

“That’s not what I said.” Another couple of minutes with Hawk’s mouth on his dick and Clint wasn’t sure he’d remember his own name let alone the conversation.

“Potato, potato,” Hawk said, once again pronouncing each word differently. He licked Clint’s balls. “How I got here isn’t important.” He blew hot air along Clint’s shaft. “The point is, I’m here, I love you, and by the time I’m done with my seduction plans for this weekend, you’re going to love me too.” And with that promise made, Hawk took Clint’s dick into his mouth and gently sucked.

“That feels so good.” Almost as good as the warmth unfurling in Clint’s heart.

Hawk insisted on driving over with him to get the dogs on Saturday morning. Clint thought about refusing in light of the state of his apartment, but he wasn’t sure he’d have the nerve to go back if he left Hawk’s place alone, and no matter how crazy fast things were moving, he knew he’d never wanted anything more than a weekend alone with Hawk. So together they went.

“What happened here?” Hawk asked when he saw the holes in the walls.

“Bad day yesterday,” Clint answered as he put the key in the door.

Hawk’s large hand landed on his back, caressing him, and Hawk’s warm breath and soft lips skated across his nape.

“It started out that way,” Clint corrected. “Didn’t end up too bad, though.”

“No, not too bad.” Hawk laughed softly and kissed his neck again. “Those dogs sound like they want their daddy. Better open up before they scratch the door down.”

“Not sure it matters at this point.” Clint pushed the door open and happy dogs immediately rushed him, jumping on his thighs and whining their hellos. “They tore the place up yesterday afternoon.”

“Hey, pretty girls.” Clint dropped to his haunches and pet his pups, surprised they weren’t barking at the new visitor.

He was about to introduce them to Hawk when the man himself squatted next to him, held out his hand, and after a brief sniff, received licks.

“Aren’t you a sweetheart?” Hawk said to Fluffy who, despite her name and her loyalty was the furthest thing from sweet. “And you too,” he said to Speedy who had planted her one front paw on Hawk’s chest and licked his face.

The only visitor Clint’d had to his apartment was Ewan and both dogs had growled and barked at him so much that Clint had taken to putting them in the tiny, fenced yard during their hook-ups.

“They don’t usually warm up to people this fast,” Clint observed as he stood up.

“Well they must sense how I feel about their daddy and approve.” Hawk grinned at him and rubbed each dog’s head affectionately. “Thanks for making me look good, ladies,” he mock-whispered to the dogs. “I’ll pay you in steak later.”

“You know the way into their hearts,” Clint said, smiling at the picture Hawk made with his dogs and thinking theirs weren’t the only hearts Hawk had captured.

Forcing himself to look away, he walked into the living room and sighed when he found the same mess he had left the previous evening.

“Damn.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I was hoping it had magically cleaned itself up while I was gone.”

“Holy shit,” Hawk said from over his shoulder, apparently having followed him into the room. “Your dogs did this?”

“Yeah.” Clint walked into the kitchen to get a garbage bag. “They can be rowdy, but yesterday was bad, even for them. Maybe it was a full moon or something.”

“How did they knock over the refrigerator?” Hawk asked incredulously.

“That one’s on me.” Clint squatted next to the downed appliance. “Help me out here.”

“What’d this refrigerator do to piss you off?” Hawk mirrored his stance on the other side of the fridge.

“It sided with the wall after our kickboxing match,” Clint joked. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

In perfect concert, they lifted the refrigerator.

“Door’s shot,” Hawk pointed out as he pushed the door into place. “It’ll stay closed but it’s not operational.”

“I know.” Clint looked around the room. “The good news is the building is being demolished anyway, so maybe the landlord won’t notice.” He walked to the sink and got a trash bag. “Either that or my deposit is gone.”

“I’m pretty sure the holes in the wall already took care of that.” Hawk stepped over. “Looks like this is a two-person clean-up. You want me to do the living room or the kitchen?”

“Bet you regret coming over.” Clint placed his palm over Hawk’s chest and nuzzled his neck.

“Are you kidding?” Hawk circled his arm around Clint’s waist. “I got to meet your dogs, see where you live, and now I’m getting cuddles.” He dragged his lips across Clint’s face until their mouths met and then he slipped his tongue into Clint’s mouth. “Mmm. Perfect morning.”

“In that case, you take the living room.” Clint handed Hawk the garbage bag. “I think the kitchen’s worse.”

***

“Ready to go?” Hawk asked as he walked into the laundry room where Clint was bagging up the dog bowls and food.

“What’s that?” Clint tilted his chin toward the two duffle bags in Hawk’s hands, both straining at the seams.

“I packed your clothes and bathroom stuff.”

“You must have my whole closet in there.” Clint set the dog supplies down and walked up to Hawk. “I’m coming over for two days and I was planning on spending them naked.”

Hawk’s blue eyes darkened and his nostrils flared.

With his gaze glued to Hawk’s, Clint cupped the growing bulge in his jeans. “Hear something you liked?”

“You’re playing with fire, baby,” Hawk warned.

“Oh yeah?” Clint tugged on Hawk’s fly, popping all the buttons open. “What’re you going to do to me?”

Before he knew what hit him, Clint was flipped around, shoved against the washing machine, and disrobed from the waist down.

“I’m going to fuck you.” Hawk pinned Clint’s wrists against the washer, suckled on his ear, and thrust his groin against Clint’s bare ass.

An involuntary sound escaped Clint, one he refused to characterize as a needy whimper no matter how much it resembled exactly that.

“Sounds like you agree with my plan.” Hawk licked a swath up his neck and then bit it. “Don’t move.”

The heat of Hawk’s body slid away, Clint heard his duffle being unzipped, and then Hawk was back, spreading his ass open with one hand and slicking his hole with the other.

“Glad I found your lube,” Hawk rasped.

“Me too.”

“You good without a rubber?”

“Fine on my end.” Clint grunted when a finger was pushed into his hole. “But you know I was fucking Ewan up until a couple of weeks ago.”

“You go bare with him?” Hawk asked as he twisted his finger and brushed against Clint’s gland.

“Never,” Clint answered breathlessly.

“He ever top?”

“Nuh-uh.” Clint shook his head.

Hawk’s finger came out and a slick, hot cockhead pressed against Clint’s hole instead.

“There been anyone else?”

“Not in close to a year.”

“Then I’m not worried.”

Slowly, Hawk pushed inside, his long, thick cock spreading Clint open inch by inch.

“Oh fuck,” Clint moaned, dragging each word out. “I missed this.” He widened his stance and tilted his ass up, giving Hawk as much room as he possible. “Feels so good.”

“Christ.” Hawk bottomed out and laid over him, his chest against Clint’s back and his mouth next to Clint’s ear. “Nothing’s ever felt this good.” He trembled and circled his hips. “Not sure how long I can last inside you, baby. You’re so damn hot and tight.”

“’S okay.” Clint clenched his ass, adding sensation to Hawk’s dick and making him gasp. “I’m already close.”

“Going to be hard and fast,” Hawk warned as he straightened. He gripped Clint’s hips and moved him back until Clint’s cock hung over empty air and only the upper half of his chest lay on the washer. “Brace yourself.”

Clint grabbed onto the sides of the washer as Hawk made good on his promise, pulling out of his hole and slamming back in, his pace punishing and relentless.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Clint shouted, the pleasure and passion too big to keep inside.

Behind him, Hawk grunted and panted, somehow managing to plunge in even deeper while grazing Clint’s gland on every pass.

“Going to fill you up.”

“You already are.” And not just his ass.

“Clint,” Hawk moaned. “Love you.”

“Oh, Jesus, please,” Clint begged, knowing all he needed was one touch to his cock and he’d explode, but unable to release his grip on the washer to bring himself off.

“I have you.” Hawk snaked one hand under Clint’s belly and tugged him up to a standing position, his back pinned to Hawk’s chest, and then he took hold of Clint’s dick and stroked while he continued pumping in and out of Clint’s body.

“Hawk!” Clint shouted as his balls tightened and his cock throbbed. “Yes!”

Thick cream shot from his dick, hitting the underside of his chin, his chest, and his belly. Behind him, Hawk made a strangled sound, shoved all the way inside, and stilled as hot fluid filled Clint’s passage. They stood together, hearts racing and breaths coming out in loud gasps.