He looked and smelled nothing like Parrish or Nabera. She tried to push the thought of them away. “Can you talk to me?”

His laugh was wry. “Not much for talking.”

Against the warmth of his skin, her lips curved up, because whenever he spoke, his deep gravelly voice somehow firmed the ground up beneath her feet, giving her a stable place to stand. As the shadows of the past dissipated like fog in the morning sun, she tightened her arms around him. “The sound of your voice is all I need.”

What the fuck? His voice? She was hugging him harder, so Hawk slid his arms around her waist. She was so damn breakable. “No one likes what I sound like.”

His parents sure hadn’t, maybe because the broken sound was their fault.

The women he’d bedded would complain. “You have a horrible voice.” “Don’t say anything.” “I can’t stand it when you speak.” “Just shut up and don’t talk.”

“I like when you talk.” Her exhalation made a warm patch on his chest. “I heard you that night in the compound. When you told Aric you’d take me to the hospital. Would get me help.”

Huh. He’d always wondered how much she remembered. She’d been so fucking close to dying.

“To me, you sound like hope,” she whispered. “Like safety.”

Happiness unfurled inside him, but he knew no way to show her. He stroked a hand down her hair. Soft, silky.

He’d be content to simply hold her all night.

Pulling back slightly, she tilted her head up. “Can we…” Her tongue swept across her plump lower lip. There was desire in her eyes.

“Kiss?”

The dim lighting in the room didn’t conceal the way her cheeks darkened. Or her nod.

Setting one hand on the side of her face, he bent and brushed his mouth against hers. Her lips were so soft. Willing but tentative.

He was damned good at rough sex. The women he’d fucked—that was what they wanted.

She was the first to want him to be kind. Gentle.

With his lips, he coaxed, lured…

Giving a tiny sigh, she went up on tiptoes for more.

He gave her more.

How in the world had they ended up on Mako’s couch? Still fully clothed, Kit shook her head and almost laughed. Somehow, she was straddling Hawk’s hips as he reclined against the armrest. A large erection pressed against her buttocks.

Even better, it didn’t upset her to know he was aroused. Instead, the feeling was wonderful.

He wanted her.

Smiling, she pushed his shirt open and ran her hands over his hard muscles, enjoying the sensuous tickling of his chest hair. She traced the hollows above his collarbones, then the deeper one at the base of his throat.