Page 144 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

My eyebrows twisted into a little frown. “Why?”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said carefully, moving very slowly toward me. “It was fun, but…was it smart?”

“I dunno. Is anything smart?” I was impatient to remove his clothes and feel his body against mine. I knew I was. And I knew it wasn’t the best idea to skip the talking part, but I needed him so desperately that I wanted to speed this up and get to the good part. “We’re in Milwaukee. Does it even count if we’re not doing anything back home?”

Caden snorted and shook his head to dismiss my joke. He was moving closer even as he bit his lip in reluctance. “We hate each other, remember?”

I shrugged like it was nothing. It bruised me somewhat to be reminded that he hated me even after last night. Perhaps he had only done it to mess with me. Then again, why would he bring this up now if he only hated me and wanted to see me suffer? “Plenty of people hate each other. What’s that got to do with anything?”

Caden’s laughter was softer than a whisper in the wind. “You’re hell-bent on having sex with me.”

This time, my shrug was pronounced. “When there’s a boy toy in your room for a night, you don’t ignore it.”

“So that’s it? Just making the best of the circumstances?” he asked. I wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for.

I considered it. What else would it be? He was drop-dead gorgeous, even if he was a smug prick. And he was a caring lover even if he was my rival and the thorn in my ass — not in the fun way he had been last night. He was someone I desired, but that had nothing to do with the rest of my life. Right? “Look at it this way. You get to slap your nemesis around. And I get to do it with a dude who turns me on for some reason.” I held his gaze unashamedly. Yeah, I liked him in that way. It was hardly a surprise at this point.

“And you think this isn’t going to blow up in our faces?” he asked.

For the first time ever, I realized that Caden wasn’t challenging me. He was concerned. He was asking me to dispel his fears, but he was too proud to show his deeper feelings to the guy he supposedly hated.

I stepped forward, letting my body brush against his and I cupped his cheek. His cheekbone was ridiculously high and sharp. I feathered it with my thumb. “What is there to blow up? We already hate each other. Don’t we?”

Do we?

I didn’t ask that last question. The truth was, I was forgetting what I hated about this guy. And even if I managed to grasp after some far-fetched ideas of past hurts and bruised pride, comments that had belittled and offended me, it was hard to follow that train of thought. He folded in my arms, his sweet lips pressed against mine, and I knew so clearly that I had been waiting for him my whole life. I had been waiting for this. When all the other encounters had been sparks of lust, Caden was a blazing wildfire. When all the girls I flirted with or took home for a night blurred in my vision, Caden stood clear as day, every feature sharp, his entire being imprinted into my mind.

Only the endless rivalry between us stopped me from offering to keep last night’s role as we made out, hands exploring each other’s bodies and tongues battling for dominance. That little trace of pride that Caden should see me bottoming as a kind of submission — even if he was faking it — fired me up to grab a fistful of hair on the back of his head and yank him away. I stretched my lips and bared my teeth. “I’m going to make you mine tonight, Jones.”

Caden shuddered and clutched the sides of my sweater.

I kissed him again, harder. In an instant, I spun us around and pinned him against the door. “What? You’re not gonna fight it?”

I was teasing him, but he pushed me a little back and gave me a significant look I couldn’t read. He was amused when he spoke. “You’re too stubborn, Partridge. It’s easier to just let you fuck me.”

My cock throbbed harder than ever when he spoke those words. Was this real? I felt as excited about the unknown as I had last night. It nearly swept me off my feet. I licked my lips and remained as calm as I could. “If you want privacy…” I gestured with my head towards the bathroom, remembering how happy I had been last night that Caden hadn’t returned to the room while I was in the middle of prepping myself.

Caden laughed softly. “Where do you think I was after the game?”

My heart leaped when I realized that Caden had already decided how this night would play out. He had decided it way before all this cat-and-mouse foreplay. I had been moments away from finally giving in and letting him top me. At this point, I was willing to do whatever just to have a rematch with him.

I said nothing. I was at a loss for words. Instead, I bumped into him hard and kissed him harder. He was all mine. He was nobody else’s, even if he needed reminding, convincing, and flirting. Every time I had seen him flirt with a guy at the bar, possessiveness masked itself so well that I hadn’t even realized I had been jealous. Me, me, me. I wanted him to kiss me and fuck me and look at me the way he looked at those random strangers.

The rough and impatient moves of my body pinned Caden against the door, but it wasn’t enough to make me feel close enough. I rammed into him with all my weight, squeezing him hard between my body and the door. My lips smeared over his and then dipped to kiss his chin and jaw. My hands reached down to his firm butt and every desire I had ever felt roared to life.

Caden threw his arms over my shoulders. He wrapped them around my upper back. And when my biceps curled and I lifted him up against the door, Caden propped himself up.

“Fuck,” he gasped.

His legs immediately curled around my waist and I kissed him from below, holding him up. His ass settled partially on my crotch. Caden moved his hips and used his abs to twist and coil, rubbing himself against me like he was in heat and the only way he could ever feel any relief was if I was inside of him.

I stepped away from the door with Caden hanging from my neck and waist. He was so well wrapped around me that I had no worries about him sliding off. Instead, I steadied my muscles and carried my boy to the dresser. I freed my left hand long enough to swipe the scattered clothes off the big dresser, then set Caden on top of it. “This is where I’m gonna fuck you, Jones,” I purred.

He didn’t reply aside from letting out a strangled breath and giving me a doe-eyed look of desire. It was the most sensitive and intimate I had ever seen him. This person was vastly different from the control freak who had had his way with me last night. This person surrendered himself to me. And I could totally play like that.

Caden gripped the dresser’s edge while I stepped back long enough to pull my hoodie off. I threw it on the floor and pulled my belt out of my pants. It snapped and Caden’s breath hitched. I filed that for another time because my certainty shot through the roof. There would be another time. And Caden would feel the tip of my belt wherever he desired it. Now, though, I needed him naked.

As I stepped out of my pants and straightened, I saw my reflection in the mirror behind Caden. The bulge in my underwear was massive, the speed at which my chest was rising and falling was frightening, and the ruffled hair falling in every direction over my brow and sides gave me a stylishly messy look. Caden licked his lips as I stepped forward and helped him to sit up. I kissed him while I reached for the edge of his T-shirt. I pulled it up over his head, breaking the kiss. He let me undress him with no reservations.