Page 31 of Burn it Down

Her hand moves gently, combing through the strands like she’s memorizing the feel of me. Like she knows what it does to me when she touches me so gently.

I close my eyes and lean into her touch, letting myself sink into her voice, her body, her everything.

“I need you to say it a thousand more times,” I breathe, and I know she thinks I’m kidding, but I’m not. I need this. I need her. “And then a thousand after that.”

I kiss her again, slow and sweet, before begrudgingly pulling out of her heat. I push my half-hard dick inside my pants and zip them up so I’m not tempted to go for round two.

Standing, I pull her up with me and try to fix what’s left of her tattered clothes. I scoop her into my arms and she gasps softly, clinging to me, her body still trembling from what we just did.

“I’m taking you back to the cabin,” I murmur against her ear. “To fuck you into a deep sleep.”

She cups my face, kissing me gently. “Mmm. I love the sound of that.”

I start walking, her weight comfortable in my arms. The snow crunches beneath my boots, and she nuzzles into my neck, her nose cold, her breath warm.

I feel Lakynn go still in my arms and I look down at her. She squints her eyes playfully before saying, “No more secrets.Where are we going in the morning? Where are we going to start over?”

“Just one more secret,” I tease her. “But I know you’re going to love it.”

EPILOGUE

RIVEN

St. Killian University looks like it belongs in a fairytale with stone turrets, ivy-covered buildings, winding courtyards, but it’s too foggy, I’ve decided. It’s quiet. Clean. Far removed from the bloodstained mess I left behind us in Castlebrook Falls.

It’s our first day in Ireland, and I can feel peace in every part of me.

For the first time in years, we’re safe. I owe Caiden Grey big for facilitating the fake names and fake passports we needed to start over. I would have just picked a place out in the middle of nowhere where we could be alone, but she deserves this. I want her to take the classes she wants, make friends and do all the things she couldn’t when she was being kept by the Kozlovs. The upside to being here is I can play hockey, get some pent up aggression out that I’ll undoubtedly have with these fucking jerk-offs looking at my girl.

I glare at two hockey guys as they walk past us on the way to the arena. Their eyes shifted to her for half a second, and that was enough for me. I pull at the tie that feels like it’s strangling me. She would pick a school with a fucking dress code. I canalready feel it, my body count…the murder-y kind…is going to be astronomically higher by graduation.

And I was a fucking glorified hitman, for God’s sake.

Lakynn walks beside me, her hand curled in mine. Her expression is relaxed, soft in a way I haven’t seen since we were young. I watch her scan the towering buildings and manicured hedges like she’s trying to memorize everything. And maybe she is. She’s always been observant like that. There’s a quiet way she has about her while she studies everything in sight. She’s fucking brilliant, and I know she could have gotten into the school on her own if our situation was different.

It kills me a little how much I love her. I feel like I can’t breathe without her, and she’s right here with me.

I glance down at her legs, bare beneath the navy pleated skirt she’s wearing paired with black oxford shoes. She looks elegant, and she told me that she feels like herself here, in this place she dreamed about.

Another prick walks by and his eyes flash to her long-stemmed legs and I lose it. I spin around to stare him down as he makes his way past us. I can’t beat him to death in the quad, but he’ll be getting a visit from me. He can count on it.

“Riven!” she whispers harshly, even if that’s not my name anymore. I like that she can’t let go of it, that to her, I’m still the same boy she fell in love with. “You cannot act like that. This is not Castlebrook Falls.” She’s not mad at me, but she’s flustered, which is exactly what I want.

I glower at her, which makes her stand up on her tiptoes to stroke my cheek, to calm me down. “I don’t like the way he was looking at you.”

I reach my hand up and touch her fingers that are still on my face. My fingers play with the ring set there. That was my only stipulation to coming here. She could have anything she wanted, we could live wherever she wanted. The world is hers and I’mjust along for the ride. But she’s my wife. Not my girlfriend, not my adopted sister. My goddamn wife and I put a diamond on her finger big enough that these assholes should be able to see it from far away. Mine. Do not touch any part of her. In fact, do not look at my wife.

“You’re staring again,” my girl says, her voice sing-songy because she knows nothing anyone does is going to beat the obsession I have for her out of me.

I pull her to me, dipping down for a kiss that is too steamy for an elite school like this. “I’m allowed to start and finish whatever I want. You’re my wife.”

Before she can say anything, I crash my mouth into hers without hesitation, claiming her out in the open where anyone can see. I want them all to see. Let them know she’s taken. Owned. Mine.

“I love it here,” she whispers against my lips. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s yours,” I murmur. “Anything you want, I’ll make sure you have it, baby. Want me to scale the library tower and carve our initials in the side of it? Real big, so everyone can see.” I narrow my eyes, smirking at her because she needs to know that fucker from earlier is dead. I won’t forget. I will kill him.

She laughs, shaking her head. “God, you’re insane.”

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