Page 20 of Hawkeye

“That started it.” I rested one arm along the back of her chair. “Name stuck because the shooting was only part of the job. A rifle is one tool. Seeing the problem before it reaches your people matters more.”

Her gaze dropped toward the black-and-gray ink showing above my open collar. “Is that what the tattoo means?”

Rather than explain something she could only see in fragments, I unfastened several buttons and pulled the shirt aside. Josie’s breath hitched when the hawk spread into view across my chest, banking over my left pec, one wing reaching toward my shoulder. The broken geometric ring surrounded part of the bird, while the outer feathers dissolved into wind lines and topographic contours that followed the shape of muscle beneath them.

“The wind and terrain decide what a shot does before the trigger matters,” I explained, watching her eyes travel over the ink. “The broken circle reminds me there’s rarely a perfect picture. You use the one you get.”

“That sounds like you,” she murmured.

Josie lifted one hand, her fingertip hovering near the edge of the hawk’s wing. I caught her wrist and brought it the rest of the way, setting her palm against my chest rather than letting her hesitate. Her touch was light at first, but she grew bolder when I kept my hand around her wrist and made no effort to disguise how much I was enjoying this.

Her fingertip followed one wind line before tracing the broken ring. The soft drag over my skin sent a hard pulse through my cock, and the sweet concentration tightening her mouth made me imagine those fingers exploring considerably lower. She was close enough that I could smell the faint floral scent clinging to her hair, and every time she leaned nearer, the curve of one breast brushed my arm.

Her large brown eyes searched mine. “You see people too.”

I looked at her and tightened my hold on her wrist when she reached the lower edge of the tattoo. This woman noticed grief beneath paperwork, lies around the edges of photographs, and the exact moment someone needed kindness rather than another professional explanation. I had spent five days watching every emotion move openly across her face, and she still seemed surprised whenever I caught one.

“I see you, baby doll.”

The teasing curiosity left her expression. Heat took its place while her hand remained pressed over the hawk. Her gaze dropped to my mouth, and I stood before she could use another question to delay what both of us wanted.

I drew her through the connecting doorway into my private office, leaving the conservation room door open so the timer remained audible. The outer office door shut behind her with a solid click, and I turned the lock before backing her against it. Josie’s breath came quicker, but her smile was warm and eager as I closed my hand around the back of her neck and put the other beneath her apron at her waist.

“You left the other door open,” she whispered, glancing past my shoulder.

“Need to hear the timer.” I untied the apron with one sharp pull and let it fall. “Nobody else is gonna hear you.”

Her pupils widened before I took her mouth. She moaned at the first hard sweep of my tongue and rose against me with both hands sliding over my chest. I gripped her waist beneath the blouse and dragged her into the thick ridge of my cock, letting her feel what she had done to me.

She gasped into my mouth, her hips pressing forward instead of retreating. The eager response burned through the last of my patience, and I pinned her against the door with my body while my hands moved higher. I opened the first buttons of her blouse, pushed the fabric and bra cups down together, and finally filled my palms with the globes that had been tormenting me since the event grounds.

“Fuck,” I growled against her throat.

Josie blushed so fiercely the color spread over the pale curves in my hands, but she arched into my grip when my thumbs dragged across her tight nipples. The sight of her soft tits spilling over dark green fabric made my cock jerk behind my zipper. I bent and took one nipple into my mouth, sucking hard enough to pull a broken cry from her while my other hand kneaded the full weight of her breast.

“Calder.” Her fingers slid into my hair, holding me closer when my tongue circled the sensitive peak. “That feels⁠—”

“I know.” I lifted my head and pinched the wet nipple until she gasped. “I can hear it in that pretty voice.”

Her eyes turned molten, embarrassment fighting with hunger and losing quickly. I kissed her again, swallowing the soft sounds she could not contain while I opened her blouse farther, then used my mouth on the other breast. Every response taught me something. The way she shuddered when my teeth scraped lightly over her, the helpless roll of her hips when I praised her, and how much bolder she became when I told her exactly how fucking beautiful she looked.

I lowered myself into the leather desk chair and pulled her astride one thigh before she understood what I intended. Her trousers stretched across her rounded ass while my hands locked around her hips, positioning the seam directly against the muscle beneath her. Josie caught my shoulders, her eyes widening when I dragged her forward, and the friction struck exactly where she needed it.

“Calder,” she breathed again.

“That’s it.” I controlled the next slow roll of her hips, watching her mouth fall open. “Let me hear what you sound like when you stop thinking and just feel, baby doll.”

She glanced toward the open connecting door even though no one was in the other room. I caught her jaw and turned her face back to mine, holding her gaze while I rocked her over my thigh again. The pulse at the base of her throat raced beneath warm olive skin, and her full breasts bounced above the displaced blouse every time I pulled her forward.

“Eyes on me, baby doll.”

Her lashes lifted. “I’m looking.”

“Then keep looking while I make you come.”

A shiver moved through her, and her hips followed my hands more eagerly. I opened the button of her pants and lowered the zipper while she watched, then slipped my hand beneath the waistband and lace covering her. The first touch of slick heat against my fingers dragged a curse from my chest and left no doubt about how much she wanted this.

“Fucking soaked for me.” I pushed two fingers through the wetness and circled her clit, feeling her jerk against my hand. “All that pretty blushing while your pussy’s telling me exactly what you need.”