Page 53 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)
Get your head out of the gutter.
“No more than expected,” she whispers.
I close my eyes. Everything in me goes white-hot, a burning rage like nothing I’ve felt before. I suspect I’m the one shaking now. I ball my fists and try to breathe, but it’s not really working.
“Stone.”
Wren needs protecting.
It isn’t a matter of question. I fucked up, and someone is clearly out to manipulate her back into her father’s operation—no, wait. Manipulate is too nice of a word. I have no doubt they’d drag her back.
“Stone.”
Her fingers run up my arms, looping around the back of my neck. She pulls me down until her breath ghosts across my lips.
Someone was in her room. They found her room and went through it enough to show her that they were here.
We need fucking security cameras. Or a bodyguard to follow her around, or—
“I don’t want to go back to sleep,” she whispers. “Can you help me with that?”
I open my eyes.
She’s right there, her sometimes-green, sometimes-brown eyes so damn alluring, I have no doubt I could fall right into them if given the chance.
If you haven’t already.
“Are you propositioning me, baby?”
She bites her lip to hide her smile and slowly nods.
Oh, fuck. I’m a goner—and judging by the glimmer in her gaze, we both know it.
CHAPTER19
WREN
Sleep usedto be a way to shut everything down, to hide, but I can’t seem to use it as a pause in reality any longer. I’m afraid to sleep. I’m afraid that someone is going to come take me, after knowing they were in my room—so much that they’re coming for me in my dreams. But at least when I’m awake, I can pretend that Stone Foster will protect me from all the bad in my life, even if I considered him one of those bad things hours ago.
Stone stares at the ceiling, showing off his chiseled jawline that is moving back and forth with temptation. “I can’t say no to you.”
He cups my butt and picks me up. I’m pressed against him and can feel how hard he is through the thin cotton of his pants, and it does something scary to me. I crave his touch, his mouth, his eyes. I want it all, and I want him to take away the fear I felt moments ago, trapped inside my little bedroom.
“Kiss me,” I whisper, staring into his eyes. The last two times we’ve kissed, it wasn’t like this. I’m desperate for an escape. I’m desperate for him to silence everything, and there isn’t an ounce of hate or manipulation between either of us at the moment.
Stone swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing just above the collar of his t-shirt, and he stares into my eyes. He’s like the Grim Reaper, sucking up my soul, and I’m willing to give it to him.
My back presses on the back of his bedroom door—the door that was supposed to be mine—and his fingers dig into the skin below my short sleep shorts. He kisses me, but it’s so much more than a simple kiss. His tongue plunges into my mouth, and a groan rumbles out of his chest and vibrates. I kiss him back, burning all over. I’m wet, and needy, and I forget all about the nasty nightmare that sent me screaming minutes prior.
“Fuck.” He leans back.
There are little red splotches creeping up his neck. He places my feet on the floor and pushes me forcefully to the back of his door again, shoving my shorts down to my ankles. I kick them off to the side, and it only distracts him for a moment because he takes his hand and dips it into the front of my panties, all while staring into my eyes. My heart beats a mile a minute when he teases me, gently brushing his finger over my swollen clit.
“Does it turn you on knowing the power you have over me, Sticks? I can’t fucking resist you.”
He removes his hand when I don’t answer. I whimper, but it only lasts a second, because at the same time, he pops his finger into my mouth. I taste myself and can’t see straight. I’m in a frenzy and claw at his shirt, pushing it up his chest and revealing his tight stomach and rippling muscles.
“On the bed.” He’s talking between clenched teeth, like it’s taking everything in him not to fuck me against the door.