Heart of Thorns (Shadow Valley U Book 2)

She feels so sweet against me, I can barely stand it. It takes everything in me to not hurry. Everything feels like a rush, and I want this to be different. In a sweaty locker room, with the harsh fluorescent lights overhead, she’s never looked more beautiful.

I release her wrists and offer her a smoldering expression.

“Take out my cock.”

A thrill goes through me when she does, shoving the fabric down. I’ve been hard since I threw her over my shoulder, but now, under her gaze, precum oozes out.

Without warning, she drops down and licks it.

“Fuck,” I groan. “No. I don’t want your mouth on me—I want your cunt squeezing me while I kiss you to death.”

She lifts her head, her tongue poking out between her lips. “To death?”

“It’ll be a heavenly experience.” I smirk. “Although the sight of you on your knees is doing something to me, kitten.”

“Good.” She takes me in her mouth again.

She’s too skilled in the blow job department.

I grab her and haul her up, pushing her harder against the lockers. I was going to play nice. In a way. But now? I catch her wrists again, in one hand, and yank her leggings down with the other. She kicks them and her panties away, her gaze hot on my face.

When I raise her leg and hook it around my hip, she automatically lifts her other. I keep her supported against the wall, her wrists in my hand… and my other now free to travel. It goes between her legs, and I tap her clit.

Her hips jerk.

“Hmm,” I murmur. “I don’t hear much begging.”

“I’m waiting for my heavenly experience,” she retorts.

I snicker. “Yeah?”

“The sex, the kisses…”

“You already know my kissing is supreme.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Now.” I lean in until my lips hover over hers. “You seem like you need a reminder.”

Besides kissing in public—the quick, close-mouthed kind, we haven’t really kissed. Not since we put more distance between us… the night after the party.

In all honesty, I feel like I need to be the one begging. I’m the one who freaked out, who kicked her out of my house. I’m the one who feels rotten about it, and who has come crawling back.

So I don’t make her beg. I’ll give her exactly what she wants.

Needs.

As soon as she leans forward a hair…

Her warm brown eyes meet mine, and her breath coasts against my lips. She seems to be deciding something. Maybe just peering into my soul through my eyes.

My cock is right there, between her legs. It found its place naturally, notched at her entrance, as if I needed any more proof that this thing was never fucking fake.

She kisses me.

I part our lips and take a taste of her mouth, at the same time thrusting up into her. I catch her moan, her body trembling around me. Her hands curl above us, but I only tighten my grip.

Then, quickly, I pull away from her.

“I told you I have an aversion to touch.” Our noses brush.

“Yeah,” she whispers.

“That’s why…” I look up at her trapped wrists. “I’ve done this to you a few times.”

“I know, Cassius.” She slow-blinks, her pussy clenching around me. “I know. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. Because you’re not…” You’re not any girl. Slowly, one finger at a time, I release her hands. “Touch me. Please.”

She lowers her arms. Her fingers skim along the side of my neck, down to my shoulders. Then lower, between us, until she can lift my shirt up and off. Her palms brush my chest, and I close my eyes at the sensation.

No horrid memories of my father, no crushing anxiety. No skin crawling.

Just lust… and maybe something deeper. Something more permanent.

She kisses me, dragging my mind away from where her hands are going. She nips my lower lip, and the pain zings straight to my cock. I groan into her mouth and start to move. Quick. Everything in me wants this now.

I’ve waited.

We’ve been apart for too long, for my bullheaded comments, for her stubbornness…

“Harder,” she moans.

I’m right there with her. I slam into her over and over, and she clings to me the same way I cling to her. Nails digging into skin, our chests pressed together. She kisses me like I’m the last breath she needs.

My fingers thread in her hair, my palm at the back of her head so she doesn’t knock it against the wall. Her body tightens, tensing around me, and I chase her high. I rub her clit through our frantic movements.

Our kiss pauses when she comes. A wordless, open-mouth cry, her lips still on mine. I fuck her through it. My balls lift, the pleasure spiraling out, and I follow her over the cliff.

We get a round of applause when we arrive, hand in hand, back at her apartment. Lydia and Marley are on the couch, and their cheers make Briar smile.

So I smile, too.

She releases me and goes over to them, and I can’t stop thinking about the thought that popped into my head mid-sex.

More than lust.

Love.

I love her.

It doesn’t seem scary. It doesn’t seem wrong. It doesn’t even worry me that I’d choose her over football. This time, I’m ready for that thought, and I don’t let it destroy me.

The difference between her and my parents, though, is that she would never ask me to choose.

It’s okay to have more than one true love.

A sport and a girl.

She finishes her conversation with them, and I follow her down the hall to her room.

“I have to tell you something,” I say once the door is shut.

My gaze automatically takes inventory of her room. The mini hockey stick wedged in the window, the pot and forks tucked against the wall for use later. The knife on her nightstand.

“What’s that?” She sheds her shirt and glances over her shoulder at me.

I bite my lip and keep myself back.

“I…” My mouth goes dry. “Rhys and I have been trying to find your arsonist.”

“What?”

I wince.

She stalks toward me. “Cassius Remington Thorne the Third, please tell me you have not been putting yourself in danger⁠—”

I catch her hand and reel her in the rest of the way. “Me? Never.”

“You just said⁠—”

“Well, we’ve been subtle about it.”

Kind of. I mean, the arsonist would probably have figured it out, if he was one of the players we’ve talked to. But so far, all of the ones Rhys and I managed to delicately question have been ruled out.

“You might be subtle, but Rhys?” She eyes me. “He’s…”

I exhale. “You might have a point there.”

She cracks a smile, but it’s a little wobbly. She glances around her room, seeming to take in the same details I did. Or maybe just checking that everything is as it should be.

“Hey, kitten?”

She looks back.

I nod to her chest. “My brain is going to scramble if you stay shirtless.”

Her gaze drops to her breasts, then swings back to me. Her grin is wicked.

“Oh? And what about if I…” She drops her leggings and panties then plants her hands on her hips. “Oops. I’m naked.”

Nothing I can do about that but get naked, too.