“Sex.”
His jaw tightened. “I'm not proud of it.”
“Good.” She added a nod for emphasis; the thought of him with anyone else knotted her stomach. “Because it makes me sick.”
“Yeah, well, I had to live through you fawning over—”
“For the last time, I did not fawn! There was no fawning!”
Thorn arched a brow, and she had the good sense to drop the topic. No amount of wishing otherwise would erase the months of Daniel worship, even as skeazy as she'd found him during, and especially after, their relationship. She supposed they were even; Thorn had slept with someone else, but he hadn't given away a part of himself or tormented her with details or speculation of what his and Paige's kids would look like. He'd given away his body; she'd given away her heart. They'd emerged on even ground.
“Okay,” she conceded, sighing. Thorn pushed the door open, nudging her backward almost as an afterthought. And just like that, they had crossed the threshold into his bedroom. Her chest ached with how hard her heart raced. “I called you every night, though…”
“I know,” he agreed, nuzzling her throat.
“I couldn't sleep unless I heard your voice.”
Thorn pulled back. “Well, as long as we're confessing things… Remember Daniel's stint in the ER?”
She nodded with a confused frown; it took a good ten seconds before realization dawned.
“Oh my God.”
“Can't tell you how right it felt pummeling that git.”
“You put him in the hospital?”
He shrugged. “Bastard made my girl cry. Of course I put him in the hospital. Wanted to put him in the sodding ground, but I figured a cracked rib or two would do just as nicely…and I wouldn't have to serve any hard time because of it.”
Savannah barely had any time to process that revelation; the next thing she knew, her legs had collided with the edge of his bed, and she lay on her back, watching as Thorn yanked his tee over his head and did away with his jeans. She grew dimly aware he'd left her in her underwear, though it was a fact that only came to light when he coaxed her up to undo her bra. Then she just had her panties; her panties served as the only fabric keeping them from being fully naked together.
This was really happening.Oh God.
“You did that for me?” she asked, voice dazed, her eyes transfixed on the hard length of his cock. It seemed so foreign to her at that moment that she'd ever had the courage to take him into her mouth.
“Everything I do is for you.”
A rush of anxious humor tickled her insides. “Okay, Bryan Adams.”
Thorn smirked and dropped to his knees, his hands skimming up her legs until he had his thumbs hooked under the elastic of her panties. “Funny.”
“I thought so.” More chest thundering. Her heart would soon run out of steam and stop from all the energy it put into pounding. “I have…another question.”
Thorn glanced up and favored her with a lavish grin. “Ask away, love.” He slipped her panties down her legs. His gaze immediately landed on her pussy, and he drew in a sharp breath.
“Fuck, but you're pretty.”
A warm blush spread across her skin. “You saw me yesterday,” she countered, trying futilely to close her legs. His hands braced either thigh, leaving her bare and open to him.
“Doesn't make you any less lovely, sweetheart.” His fingers trailed down her abdomen, drifted through her curls, and settled on her clit. “What's it you wanted to ask?”
She worried a lip between her teeth, hips absently rolling under his touch in search of more friction.
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“You said no,” Savannah replied. “When I asked you to be my first, you said no.”
Thorn blinked. “Of course I did.”
“But why? If you love me—”
“Sweetheart, you know why.” He turned his eyes back to her body. “Scooch up a bit.”
She blushed again but complied. Then her legs hooked over his shoulders, and his face dived between them.
“You really think I could do this”—his tongue licked up her slit—“and walk away? Think I could love your body once and be satisfied?” He sucked her clit between his lips and tugged gently, coaxing small whimpers from her lips, igniting sparks across her skin. “It killed me to see you every day without touching you, and I couldn't stand the idea of being in a world where I knew how you felt, how you taste, and watch you with other blokes. It wasn't about not wanting sex. Fuck knows I've fantasized about you until I drove myself nutty for wanting what I didn't have…but I couldn't have that without having you too.”
Well, when he said it likethat , of course it made sense.
“Thorn…”
“Mmm, yeah,” he purred, nuzzling her wet flesh. “Love hearing you say that. My name.”
“It's a dumb name.”
“Is not. It's a right sexy name. And you think so too.” He smirked, his tongue swirling over her drenched labia. “T…”
Her nerves ignited. “Ooohhh…”
More inventive strokes. “H…” The tip of his tongue balled at her clit and drew a circle.
“O…”
“Oh my God…”
“R…”
“Thorn!”
“N.” With an ever-broadening smirk, he pulled away just far enough to favor her with a wink. “Sexy name, innit?”
Savannah was to a point she would have agreed to just about anything. Beads of sweat laced her skin, her buzzed nerves chirping at a rising crescendo that fell short of meeting its peak. Just a little more. Ohyes . She just needed a little more.Just a little more…
“No opinion?” Thorn replied, perking a brow. “See if we likeWesley any better…”
By the time he'd finished spelling out that name over her pussy, she was a twisted, panting mess, so close to the wonderful explosion she'd discovered yesterday, but not close enough. She just needed…
“Thorn, please!” Savannah twisted, fisting his hair and thrusting herself against his mouth. “I need…”
“Need what?” he replied, his tongue tapping her clit. “You need to come, love?”
Yes, yes, that sounded right. Unfortunately a gasp had strangled her throat, leaving her unable to do anything but nod.
“Good!” Thorn agreed cheerily, his thumb settling over her slippery pearl and rubbing her softly. “'Cause, baby, I wanna drown in you. Want to make you cream so hard, I'll have your taste in my mouth for weeks.”
Her nose wrinkled. “That's gross.”
“Oh is it? Better stop, then, I see—”
A sound remarkably like a growl rumbled through her throat. “Don't even think about it.”
“Are youthreatening me?”
“Uh-huh. I'm…lethal.”
He chuckled and lapped at her sensitive flesh. “I'll say.”
“Thorn!”
“What?”
“You know what!” Savannah writhed and reached for him, but he evaded her; her hands switched tactics and slipped down her belly to finish herself off, but he slapped them away with atsk .Gahhh . She burned so damn close to it… If she could just…
“Say what you want me to do, precious. That's all I ask.”
And then the words lived with her—on her tongue and spilling out. She had no idea what had taken them so long, perhaps defying her age-old conventions of what was or wasn't dirty, what words she could or could not say. She'd conquered the threshold, and need outweighed propriety.
“My clit. Suck it.” Savannah gasped and bucked. “Make me come.”
She heard a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, Savannah…”
“What?”
Thorn merely grunted, diving forward and slurping her clit into his mouth. He rolled her between his lips and loved her with his tongue, tugging gently and humming into her wet flesh.
He caressed her softly but firmly, worshipping her, drinking her, slipping fingers inside to stretch and explore…and that was it…the definitiveit . The sparks flying through her centralized and exploded, sending shock waves of pleasure across her skin and through her veins, wrapping her in bliss so profound, she would have sworn it was imagined had he not fallen with her back to earth. Every muscle in her body went slack, the rush between her legs embarrassingly liberal, but she felt too damn boneless to be ashamed. Even so, it seemed Thorn couldn't get enough of it.
Every time she thought he would pull away, his tongue took another sweep of her pussy, and the pleasure burned so sweet, it nearly hurt.
“Don't go passing out on me this time,” he warned her, smacking his lips. “Not nearly through with you.”
Somehow she managed the strength to meet his eyes, blushing when she realized his mouth shone wet because of her. “I'm awake,” she volunteered weakly. “Though I can't feel my toes, so as long as your plans don't include my toes, I think we're okay.”
He chuckled and climbed back to his feet, his cock bobbing hungrily at her as though to remind her he hadn't yet had his jollies. “Feel buzzed, love?”
“Buzzed doesn't begin to cover it. I think I'm dead.”
“You're not dead; you're just a little tuckered.” Thorn smiled and motioned for her to scoot back, something she managed, against the wishes of her lax muscles. He didn't seem satisfied until she lay fully on the bed, her head on his pillow, and her legs spread wide in absent invitation. She didn't realize she had herself on display until his grin widened and his hand patted her drenched opening.
“OhGod , don't do that.”
“Can't help myself. You're so fucking pretty.” He tossed her a wink and took his cock into his left hand, casually stroking himself as he turned his attention to the nightstand positioned by the head of the bed. “I probably should've asked you this the other day…”
The vaguely serious note in his voice indicated this might be important. “Yeah?”
“You… Birth control?”
Savannah's eyes widened, relaxation fading in place of reality. Oh yes.Yes . They were about to cross another threshold, the reason they were here to begin with. Why he'd licked her, why she'd just had another one of those earth-shattering moments… Those had led here. And though he loved her—though she knew that now—for whatever reason the emotional highs achieved in the hour had overshadowed the reality of what would happen. Even as he guided her to his bedroom, stripped her, and knelt between her legs, it had remained safe on a level with which she was comfortable. But things had progressed beyond that now.
So much had changed in just a few minutes. Thorn loved her. Thorn lived asThorn now in her mind rather than Wesley, and that thing she'd set out to take care of this week would be very much taken care of within the next few minutes.
When she didn't reply immediately, Thorn tossed her a curious glance, and whatever he saw on her face made his eyes flicker with understanding. “We don't have to do anything, love,” he said softly. “I know I've said it before, but everything is different now. Everything. We're not on anyone's timetable anymore. We're”—his lips quirked—“we're together.”
Savannah exhaled deeply, relaxing almost immediately. It shouldn't surprise her anymore when he managed to read her mind, but it did. There was something oddly comforting in that.
“We're together,” she repeated.
Thorn grinned like a loon. “You're my girlfriend,” he said, his voice riding on an excited giggle. “We're dating.”
“We can hold hands in public and make out at the movies and—”
“Plan where we're gonna spend our honeymoon?”
Savannah's breath caught in her throat.That she had not expected. “Our…”
He shrugged casually, though by the way his shoulders tightened and his gaze suddenly had no place to land, she knew he had betrayed more than he'd intended. “I figure… We're both staying here for college, yeah? We could…get a place off campus and—”
She sat up. “Thorn—”
“And wait until we get our degrees and make it official. 'Course that's—”
“You don't want this to just be a high school thing?” Again her voice burst with what felt like ridiculous hopefulness, but she couldn't help herself. With as quickly as things had progressed since she came over, she hadn't even given the future any thought…except an unacknowledged certainty that she and Thorn would end up together. The broader “where will we be ten years from now?” questions had remained obediently silent. They had just discovered they loved each other; there seemed no need for wondering what that meant.
Only of course there was, because of who they were. Savannah and Wesley. They weren't just together, they hadalways been together, and she'd always seen the future with him in it. She just hadn't known in which capacity until this week. Until she found herself in love with him.
Thorn swallowed hard, his eyes bright with vulnerability. “Do you?” he asked. “Want it to be just a high school thing?”
“Of course I don't,” Savannah replied eagerly. “I love you. I want… God, I never thought I'd marry my high school sweetheart, but it'syou , Wes. It'syou . You're not my high school sweetheart… You've been my… Well, crap, whathaven't you been in my life? I can't imagine anything without you, because you've always been with me. And now…you love me.”