Hattie moved from his mom to him.

“Finish the martinis, Sylas,” Rachel hissed, walking toward her husband.

“At your service,” he muttered, an edge to his tone, and he was heading back to the drinks cabinet.

Axl sensed that wasn’t about what just happened.

But what just happened didn’t help.

He was watching his parents when he felt Hattie’s fingers close around his.

So he tipped his head down to catch her gaze.

He then bent and kissed her neck so he’d be in position to whisper in her ear, “Proof, beautiful. You’re goddamned remarkable.”

She pulled her head back to look into his eyes.

And then she said out loud, “You are too.”

After that, she yanked him down on the couch so forcefully, another ounce of pressure, she’d dislocate his shoulder. And once they were down, she practically fused herself to his side, which made Axl’s stomach hurt from trying to fight laughter.

She then pinned her eyes on his mom.

“So, Rachel, Axl tells me you were a software wizard before he came into the world. Axl and I have a mutual friend, she’s studying to be an engineer. She knows everything about computers. I bet she’d love to chat with you about all things tech.”

His mother appeared startled, as she would be, seeing as nothing in this house was ever about her, before her face warmed. “I’d … well, I’d love that.”

Hattie smiled gorgeously at her.

“I’ll bet, when she finds a job, they won’t make her wear skirts and hose to work,” Rachel commented.

Hattie leaned slightly forward, and openly horror-struck, said, “No. They made you wear hose? Really? That’s almost barbaric.”

Both women burst out laughing.

Axl shifted back because his father’s arm was in his face, extending a martini toward Hattie.

She took it and spared him only a glance, saying, “Thanks, Sylas. You’re a doll.”

At once, she returned her attention to Rachel and started gabbing.

Axl watched her, settling into the couch, sliding an arm around her to settle her with him, feeling his lips twitch.

Yeah.

Hattie Yates was something.

And that something was fucking amazing.

* * *

She moved on top of him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, stroking his cock with her pussy, his mouth drawing at her nipple.

She was moving slow, like she wanted him to feel every centimeter of her as she took him.

And, oh yeah.

He felt it.

She was making love to him.

And after the things she said about him to his father, Axl was not down with that.

So he gripped her behind a knee, lifted it, released her sweet, tight nipple from his mouth and rolled them so she was on her back and he was the one on top doing the stroking.

Slow.

Making love to her.

His sweet Hattie who showed zero hesitation in taking on a hellcat.

For him.

She pressed her legs to his sides, her hands roamed his back, over his neck, his hair, but they stopped with her fingers on his cheeks.

“So handsome,” she whispered.

He showed her how he felt about that by kissing her.

The warm, wet generosity of her mouth paralleled what he felt between her legs.

It was the first time he’d had her ungloved.

Her suggestion, after she shared she kept up to date on a birth control shot and he shared he hadn’t gone in ungloved since his last long-term girlfriend, but Hawk required biannual physicals, his last was six weeks ago, and he’d come up clean.

He knew she’d decided the time to dispense with the condoms was now because she experienced what she experienced with him that night.

She wanted them close.

She wanted to give him that.

Nothing in between.

And for a variety of reasons, that felt great.

He broke their kiss when her hands went to his ass, no roaming, it was a demand.

He nipped her earlobe and moved faster.

She responded by hooking a leg around the back of his thigh, putting her other foot to the bed, and pulsing up into each thrust.

Fuck yeah.

“So sweet, baby,” he murmured against her lips.

She kissed him.

He went faster, she encouraged it every way she could, pushing him to the edge.

He sensed she wasn’t there, and he needed her there.

So he slid a hand between them, pressed and twitched her clit with his thumb, as he went faster, harder, and she gasped against his tongue when she came.

He slid his lips to her throat, but his head jerked back when it hit him, suddenly, unexpected.

Hard.

So hard, he only vaguely felt her proprietary grip on the back of his neck and her satisfied, “Oh yes,” seemed far away.

His orgasm receded as fast as the shock of it coming, which meant he collapsed on her, but at least he had the presence of mind to roll them so she didn’t have to bear his weight for very long.

Their breath evened out while she was touching him, tasting him.

He did the same.

Sometimes you said a lot with no words at all.

This was one of those times.

Even though she’d never done it before, Axl knew what it meant when she trailed a thumb along his throat to his chin, along his jaw and kissed his ear when her thumb arrived there.

He let his hands fall away.

She slid off him and out of bed.

Since it was her first time, he didn’t know where she was at with cleanup, if she wanted privacy or not. So he lay in bed, waiting for her to finish in the bathroom, instead of joining her.

When he saw her enter the room, he got out of bed. They met halfway, touched lips, and he hit the bathroom, cleaned her from his cock, quickly brushed his teeth, and headed out.

She was in bed in a nightie, and he knew, panties. She didn’t sleep bare in any way.

He didn’t either, so he pulled on some sleep pants.

He joined her and tangled them up.

She cuddled closer, tucking her face in his throat.

“You felt really good tonight, baby,” he said quietly into her hair.

“You always feel really good, baby,” she replied.

He grinned. “I meant, it was nice to have you like that.”

He meant more than dispensing with the prophylactics.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

She knew what he meant.

He gave her a squeeze with his arms.

“Thanks for having my back with Dad.”