She turns to me with a smile. “I love it.”
“You’ll love it more when you turn around. It’s too cold.” Nudging her by the shoulders, I show her the fort I built in the back of the SUV for us. Her delighted laughter echoes off the tree tops as I help her climb in. “Let’s warm up.”
“Thank you. This surprise is amazing,” Thea says once we’re comfortably entwined and burrowed in the blankets to keep out the biting chill. She traces my jaw. “I love you.”
“You make me fall in love with you over and over.” Cradling her face in my hands, I hover my lips over hers. “The world doesn’t matter. Only us. Right here. Only this.”
“Only us,” Thea repeats, her eyes hooded.
I slant my mouth over hers. She plays with the hair at the nape of my neck as we fall into the pile of blankets, kissing like the world could end and we still wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t part from each other.
My hands slide into her coat to get at the curves of her body. She arches against me and a faint moan fills the back of the SUV. I take her mouth again, a rough sound catching in my throat.
This is my favorite place now. Right here, with her in my arms.
Layer by layer, our clothes come off as our bodies tangle together. We close the door to engulf ourselves in a cocoon of our own making. The chill from outside is forgotten as we heat up the back of the car.
“I want you,” Thea begs as I kiss a trail from her breasts down her stomach, settling between her legs.
“Soon, baby.” I stroke her hips and place feather-light kisses over her thighs, then her folds, teasing her until she shakes. I give her a long lick with my tongue where she needs me, enjoying the broken sound that flies past her lips. “First, let me worship you.”
Gripping her thighs, I bury my face between her legs, licking and sucking until Thea is crying out, rolling her hips to ride my face. The sounds she makes while she comes have me grinning against her pussy, my face a mess as I flick my tongue against her clit.
“Love making you fall apart like that,” I rasp, shooting a cocksure look up the length of her body.
“Please, please, I need you now.” Thea tugs on my shoulders, half sitting up to capture my lips in a kiss, moaning into my mouth when she tastes herself on my lips.
Without breaking the kiss, I roll us over, grinding my cock against her. Fuck, her body feels incredible and I can’t wait to drive into her. I fumble around for my pants to get the condom, finally forced to stop kissing her to tear the packet and roll it on. She makes me so wild every time, I’m close to the edge before I’m inside her.
Thea sits up on her knees with a spark of determination in her eye that’s so sexy. The look in her blue-green gaze has my groin tightening with a coil of heat. Before I can go to her, she straddles my lap, bracing her hands on my shoulders and sinks down on my cock.
We both release a groan, leaning into each other for a moment. Nothing can touch us. It’s me and her, the way I want it to always be. My hands find her hips, squeezing as she starts riding me at a slow pace.
“God, you’re incredible.” I kiss anywhere I can reach—her neck, her chest, between her breasts as they brush against my jaw. “My beautiful sunshine.”
Thea winds her arms around my neck and drops her forehead against mine, meeting my gaze as we move together, making love in the back of my car beneath the moon.
My breath grows shallow and I sink a hand into her hair when the pleasure becomes too much to withstand, gritting my teeth to hold on for her a little longer.
“Thea,” I whisper, tensing.
“Yes. Let go with me.” She tips her head back with a moan and I feel her squeezing my cock, driving me over the edge.
We’re both left panting by our orgasms. I stroke her hair and pull the blankets around us, keeping her in my lap.
If I could freeze time, I’d pick this moment to stay in forever. Right where I belong.
Twenty-Nine
Connor
Weeks of planning brought me here, sitting shotgun in one of Devlin’s dad’s cars—one of the lower end luxury models to blend in—parked near Harold Coleman’s house.
Tonight, I’m breaking into my English teacher’s house for a group of mysterious hackers obsessed with crows and skulls.
He lives on a quiet street on the outskirts of the town center, with only a handful of other houses on the block. Most are decorated for the holidays, lit up and festive. His is the only one that’s not decked out, except for a sad little lawn sign that says happy holidays with a snowflake on it.
Winter break starts tomorrow. We picked tonight because Coleman would be stuck late at school with meetings to close out the first semester. Blair’s tailing him as our lookout, Devlin’s the getaway driver, and my job is breaking in to get the locket the Anonymous wannabes demanded before they give me the dirt on Coleman.
“You’re sure about this? The time to back out is now.” Devlin rests his hand over the wheel. He’s a ride or die friend, no matter what I say he’s down to back me.
I think about how pretty Thea was the other night at the dance in her gauzy pink dress, then later, even more beautiful beneath blinking Christmas lights in the back of my SUV. My heart squeezes.
“No doubts, bro.” Devlin and Lucas both found their queens in Blair and Gemma. I’m doing this to make sure mine has her place of honor by my side. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect her. “I’m going in there.”
Devlin gives me one of his sadistic grins. He’s living for this epic mischief making. This is bigger than any of our pranks.
“What do you think you’ll find?” Devlin muses.
I suppress a shudder. I haven’t wanted to think about it, braced for the most depraved shit my twisted imagination could think of.
“The truth. Probably a sad as fuck, lonely life.”
Devlin hums in agreement.
I haven’t told Devlin and Blair everything. I glossed over the details about Thea, but explained how the hackers got into my system when I found something connecting Coleman to a creepy online persona. Devlin is the one who guessed Coleman has an interest in Thea going off my short fuse and his own observations.
Blair’s been ready to cut off Coleman’s balls ever since, sitting in third period English like she’s prepared for battle.
We’re waiting for her confirmation in the group chat on our phones before I go. Her criminal tendencies and pick-pocketing talents have come in handy planning out the logistics of tonight.
“What’s the psychology behind a predator?” I ask.
Devlin cocks his head in thought. He has a strong interest in psychology, always carrying a book with him.
“It always comes down to power. But in this case, it’s like the victims aren’t people. They serve their purpose fulfilling a sexual desire. A predator is a hunter. They know to set themselves up for success by working on a victim who is vulnerable and already susceptible to being manipulated into doing whatever the predator wants,” he says after a minute. “It’s abusive.”
The answer has my blood boiling. Thinking of Thea in that frame of mind, her window right across from mine.
Damn it.
Our phones ping at the same time. When I check, I shake my head.