Claimed by the Marine

Claimed by the Marine

Copyright 2013 Dez Burke

Chapter One

His name was Hawk.

Ashanti couldn’t help staring into his stirringly blue eyes. She’d known the minute he’d walked in that he was just her type. He didn’t even need to open his mouth. He made his way into the bar with the stride of a man who knew his purpose in all things. He certainly looked like a man of purpose as he caught her gaze, smiled slightly, and then headed straight for her.

He’d simply come up to where she was seated with her friends and said, “Hi. I’m Hawkins Malone. But friends call me Hawk.”

Ashanti Jackson had never been the flirty type. In fact, she knew as much about attracting men as she knew about deep sea fishing. She’d just been through a very messy, hurtful break-up that still had her reeling from shock. But one smile from this blue-eyed Greek god called Hawk and she was suddenly forgetting all her worries.

For some reason, he had eyes only for her. He’d barely even glanced at any of her friends seated with her at the table. All three of her closest pals had been giving him giggly once-overs since he appeared, but he didn’t seem to notice. And all Ashanti could do was stare into his face for a few moments before she came to grips with the fact that he was actually talking to her.

“Oh?” she asked, shocked by the way she seemed to switch into sex-kitten mode. Her head tipped to the side and she felt her upper body perk up as she folded a hand beneath her chin. Her lashes were virtually batting at him and she heard the smoky invitation in her voice as she added, “So if your friends call you Hawk, what should I call you?”

He swept those blue, blazing eyes over her, his gaze lingering a few seconds more on the jutting fullness of her breast, before he looked up into her pink-flushed face. “Babe, you can call me anything you like.”

Ashanti wanted to melt in a puddle then and there.

She was a grown woman and ran her own successful florist business. She’d have been married last month if her crazy ex hadn’t suddenly decided he wasn’t ready to shackle himself to a wife just yet. They’d been each other’s “firsts” and Aaron, her high school and college sweetheart, surprisingly realized for himself that his wild oats needed sowing. Or something. The only sure thing was that Ashanti had been devastated by the unexpected split. So she should be wiser now, not swooning the first time a gorgeous guy shows up and speaks two sentences to her.

But something must have come over her because she was still smiling coquettishly at the hunk named Hawk as she introduced herself and then her three pals Bertha, Janice and Rebecca. He was charming enough to the other females but when, moments later, he was taking Ashanti’s hand and asking her three friends if he could steal her off to dance, they all could tell he obviously couldn’t wait to get their starry-eyed friend all to himself.

Ashanti had just a second to send her three friends an incredulous smile of glee before she was all but swept off to be wrapped in the strong, warm arms of her new admirer.

The three friends turned to each other with relieved smiles. Rebecca was fanning herself dramatically. “Bertha, you did tell me that Hawk was a gorgeous specimen, but I wouldn’t have believed he’d be so hot! I think I’m starting to get really jealous now.”

“Don’t tell me
you
need fixing up too,” Bertha said with a grin, her eyes following her friend Ashanti and the tall, handsome man pulling her into his arms in the middle of the dance floor. They were surrounded by throngs of gyrating people as the music flowed from concealed speakers.

“Do you think she’ll suspect anything?” Janice asked. She looked dubious, as she too watched the couple moving together in time with the music.

“I doubt it. Look at her,” Bertha said, waving her hand in Ashanti and Hawk’s direction. “I haven’t seen her look so happy in months. And Hawk was very convincing; he played the part of smitten admirer quite well.”

“Too well, I’d say,” Rebecca said. “I actually thought Ashanti was going to faint! Damn, I could barely remember to breathe and he wasn’t even looking at me!”

Bertha was smirking. “Well, you do know my cousin Marcus has a whole platoon of fellow Marine pals for us to choose from. They’ll be deployed to the Middle East sometime soon but I know one or two others apart from Hawk who’re around, single and looking to mingle.”

“If they look anything like this Hawk fella, girl then you better hook me up!” Rebecca said jokingly. Bertha and of course Janice knew she had a boyfriend she totally adored. In fact, they all did. Except for Ashanti.

“Here’s to making our girlfriend smile and feel attractive again,” Bertha said, holding up her glass. The other two ladies shared the toast with murmurs of assent, before taking sips from their drinks.

“So…,” Janice began hesitantly as she placed her glass back on the table, “They dance, he flirts outrageously with her and hopefully raises her seriously bashed self-esteem, then what?”

Bertha shrugged. “I didn’t really plan that far ahead. We all know Ashanti is hardly ready for another relationship right now. I was shocked that she even agreed to dance with him.”

Rebecca was chuckling, swishing her dark brown hair over one shoulder. “Trust me, Hawk didn’t give her the chance to refuse. Knowing her, she’d make her excuses after a dance or two and scuttle right back here to safety.” She shook her head regretfully.

“Let’s not be so sure about that,” Janice was saying slowly as all three turned their eyes to the couple in question.  They seemed shocked to observe Ashanti now dancing so uninhibitedly with her handsome partner. They’d never seen her act with so little restraint especially not with a strange guy. As the three women turned back to each other it was clear from their expressions that they were wondering in what other ways their normally shy friend would let go before the night was through…

Chapter Two

Ashanti was so lost in the moment she couldn’t seem to stop giggling. She wondered if it was all those shots of tequila or if it was just Hawk.

Damn, the man could move. He wasn’t a flashy dancer but he knew just how to work his lithe, manly body to meet her own steps which were getting more sensual by the minute. She couldn’t seem to help it. Around Hawk, she just felt like a different person.

As song rolled into song she twisted her torso and rolled her hips in ways she’d never dreamed she could move. She raised her hands high and swayed fluidly to the beat, feeling Hawk’s hands fall on her slender waist.

He was looking at her with heat in his eyes and she found herself giggling once again. For goodness sake! She couldn’t
stand
girls who giggled and she definitely was too old to be doing so but well try telling that to her silly little heart.

She’d forgotten how good it felt to dance with a handsome, virile-looking guy who couldn’t seem to tear his gaze from her body. She was glad now that she’d let Bertha convince her into wearing her slinkiest black dress tonight.

Normally conservative, Ashanti wasn’t much for wearing the sexy look. But for their night out, she’d felt confident around her girls to put on that daring number every girl’s closet usually had. The one left at the back of the rack because you were sure you’d never have the nerve to wear it out. But tonight, she had. And she’d never felt sexier, especially with the way Hawk’s eyes were pinned to her…like all he wanted to do was peel the dress off.

Even in the high, equally daring black heels she wore, he still towered over her with his six foot plus frame. And he seemed happy to put his hands on her every time the chance presented itself. Her hands, her shoulders, her hips. Ashanti couldn’t deny being guilty of the same tactic…she couldn’t count how many times she’d planted her hands on his chest for balance. And loved the sensation of his broad solidness beneath her fingers.

Hawk Malone was gorgeous. He had virility wafting from his very pores. She tried to put his age at late twenties but he could even be younger. He certainly had the kind of body that was youthful, hard and fit as a rack.

His hands on her waist tugged her closer, and as Ashanti felt her hips bump into his, she instinctively rocked her body in an unconsciously seductive motion. She heard Hawk groan deeply.

“Babe, you’re really turning me on,” he moaned, his eyes heavy lidded. Ashanti gulped and then stiffened. Her face flushed deep pink and she placed her hands against his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” she half-giggled nervously, wondering why she was apologizing since he didn’t seem to be complaining! “I guess I’m getting a little carried away. But I haven’t danced like this in ages…”

Making to push away to a safe distance, Ashanti found that his hands on her waist held her fast. Her breath sucked in at his closeness which was having the strangest effect on her. 

“Neither have I,” he put in, his hips grinding into hers for a moment before he put some reasonable space between them. But Ashanti couldn’t seem to stop blushing.

What on earth is happening to me?

“Oh? How come?” Ashanti asked curiously, trying to keep her mind off the hormones raging out of control. Knowing that this totally gorgeous man found her sexually attractive was making the room spin even faster around her.

“Well, considering I’ve been off in Afghanistan for months at a stretch, clubbing and dancing at bars weren’t exactly the usual pastime.”

His words made Ashanti’s eyes brighten in surprise. “Are you in the military?”

Hawk nodded, grinning at her expression. “Marines. Why? You got a thing for service men?”

Do I ever, Ashanti thought, with an inner quiver. Could tonight be even more perfect? There weren’t any of her friends who didn’t share her deep admiration for any kind of armed force personnel - and Ashanti definitely had secret fantasies that had a lot to do with hunky guys in the Marines.

It seemed incredible that Hawk fit the bill in every single way. He certainly looked the part with his tight, toned body evident even in his suit jacket, polo shirt and pants. His blonde hair was close-cropped and she remembered how he’d walked in like he’d got the place staked down. Was it still a wonder why she was all in a tizzy?

There was the adrenalin rush from the music, the alcohol…yes, true. But there were also a lot of sexual vibes coming from this handsome stranger who seemed to switch on all her lights without really trying. Just dancing with him was turning her into that alternate person that she could normally only be in her head. There was
that
Ashanti that she always had hidden; that part of her that had never had a chance to thrive, not with her deadbeat ex-fiancée Aaron.

Suddenly, she felt the need to stop holding back especially during this dance. And there was no harm in dancing, was there? It was a healthy, fun activity – and with the right person, it can even be exciting enough to get the blood pumping faster through every vein.

Truth to tell; dancing with a man like Hawk would make any normal woman’s heart race, her head spin…and all those things that happened to a woman’s senses when a man’s magnetism made its impact. And he’d said
she
turned him on? If only Hawk knew the thoughts running through her mind about him right then…

“You could say that,” Ashanti finally replied his question, her eyes fluttering up at him. 

He grinned broadly and Ashanti had to catch a breath. That flash of gleaming white spurred another few twinges of arousal through her melting core. Oh no. For the first time in a long while, she was having the major hots for a guy. In the way she’d never felt for her ex.

The DJ picked that moment to fire up a slow number for the next song and she instinctively stepped back with a nervous start.

“No,” Hawk said softly, his hand in the small of her back as he drew her back into the circle of his arms. “Stay. Dance with me some more.”

“I don’t think…”

“Good; don’t,” he said, a slant to his smile. “Look…this may seem crazy, but I feel like you belong here, right in this bubble, with me. I’m probably days away from being called back, and I don’t see anything wrong in two adults just living in the moment. One more dance, babe. That’s all I ask.”

Goodness, when he called her ‘babe’ like that and looked so deep into her eyes she felt he could look into her very soul…Ashanti just didn’t have the heart to say no, not to him. He pulled her close and she didn’t demur, twining her arms around his neck. It took her moments to accustom herself to the sensation of being held by a strong, potent man. There was no denying it was a long time – if ever, she’d had the chance to rest her chest on pectoral muscles that felt so hard and toned that every nerve-ending she possessed tingled.

Hawk cradled her in the bowl of his arms like she was the most precious thing he’d ever held. Ashanti’s heart thrummed with a need so strong it made her gasp soundlessly. How could she feel a desire she’d never even known existed? It burned deep inside and made her sizzle and it was all coming to the surface just because this unknown, thrilling stranger held her close.