The Proxy: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (The Thorns of Rosewood Book 2)

by Cassie James

  The party’s in full swing when I find Jude again in the crowd. I’d lost track of them all well over an hour before, entertaining myself with Macie and her boyfriend until The Thorns’ disappearing act started to actually annoy me. They’re behaving strangely, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that I’m the issue. So much for earlier and thinking things were actually going okay. That really lulled me into a false sense of security, because now, the guys have all split up, and things don’t feel fine anymore.

  I find Tyler with a group of soccer players, and I let him pull me in for a long, languid kiss before patting him on the chest and telling him I’m going to look for Bren and Jude. His hand trails down my arm as I step away, grabbing my hand to stop me from leaving. There’s a warning in his eyes that I don’t like, and my shoulders stiffen under his gaze. He’s a little drunk, but not enough to act like he doesn’t know this shit will piss me off.

  I tug my hand from his grasp but still move back to his side. I lean up to place a kiss on the corner of his mouth, then another along his jawbone, and another further up, closer to his ear. “I don’t know what you’re playing at,” I whisper as his arm wraps around my waist, “but everything was fine earlier. So get your head out of your ass, Ty, it’s too pretty to be there.”

  I pull from the circle of his arms. Tyler’s eyes are intense, but he dips his head in a nod. I shoot a wink in his direction and move back into the throngs of the crowd, stopping every now and then to dance when a song comes on that I love. Hands skim over my body as I move through the crowd, and I’m secretly thankful that none of The Thorns are around because there would be so many broken fingers if they were.

  I finally find Brennan in the theater, swigging a beer and debating operating systems of all fucking things with a couple of guys that I don’t really know. God, what a fucking nerd. A fond smile crosses my face. I can’t help but hover slightly on the fringes and just watch him for a few seconds. But it’s almost like he can feel the weight of my gaze because he glances up sharply, an easy smile spreading across his lips when he spots me.

  He tilts his head, eyebrows jutting up and down a couple of times, and I can’t help but laugh at him. Okay, he’s definitely a little drunk, but it’s endearing, and I can’t ignore such a blatant invitation. I pad softly through the room, dropping into his lap with ease and smiling at his companions.

  I say a brief hello to Bren’s companions, then settle in as he drops a kiss on my bare shoulder. He resumes his conversation as I sit in his lap, content to listen to the sound of his voice for a few minutes. I’m not there for long before I get antsy, though. I clear my throat softly to get his attention. He tilts his head waiting for me to speak and I ask, “Have you seen Jude recently?”

  Annoyance flickers in his eyes for a second but then goes just as quickly as it appears. “I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him in a couple hours. Maybe check the pool house, sometimes he takes girls there to hook up. It’s a pretty popular spot.”

  Ouch. I peel his arms off of me so I can get up. It’s a second too late when he realizes what he’s said, and I’m already halfway across the room before he catches up with me, wrapping his fingers around my shoulder firm enough to stop me but not so much that it hurts me.

  “Pi, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” he says with real remorse in his voice. It doesn’t stop my gut from twisting, though. They were okay earlier. I don’t understand what went wrong. I should have kept my guard up. Now Tyler and Brennan are both being assholes and Jude is completely MIA.

  “It’s okay.” It’s really not, but I don’t want to argue about it right now. I kiss his cheek but then dart past him, fleeing before he has the chance to say anything else. Anything he says at this point is just going to make me more mad.

  I push my way back through the crowd, slapping away hands that come too close this time around. My patience is seriously waning.

  There’s a chill in the air keeping everyone indoors, so I know when I step out for a breath of fresh air, I won’t be bothered. I run my fingers through my hair, just for a momentary distraction as I’m drawn out to the edge of the pool. I’ve just kneeled over to skim my fingers over the surface when someone chuckles from behind me.

  I jerk around to see a hulking form moving my way in the darkness. A spark of fear shoots through me, but then the figure steps into the light and my body relaxes.

  “Jude?”

  21

  Piper

  “A little cold for a swim, isn’t it?”

  I feel a lot of tension release as I take note of his rumple-free clothes and hair still perfectly in place. There’s no sign he’s been fooling around with anyone else. Especially not considering he’s looking at me like I’m the only girl in the world right now, anyway. I shiver.

  “Not such a smart move coming out here in only that dress, sugar.”

  “Don’t call me that.” I wrinkle my nose. I don’t bother correcting him that I’m shivering because of how he makes me feel—not because of the cold. There’s no way in hell I’m telling him that.

  Jude laughs again as he offers me a hand to help me up. “It’s sugar or kitten, Piper. You have to pick.”

  “Uhm, yeah, how about neither?”

  “You prefer angel?” he jokes, and I stiffen immediately. “Ugh. Yeah, not that one.”

  I brush the nickname game away because there’s no way I’m ever going to allow him to call me any of those things. I change the subject to ask, “What are you doing hiding out here?”

  “I could ask you the same.” I roll my eyes, but I can’t help the smile the curls over my lips. It’s just like him to turn things around on me instead of giving me a straight answer. I let him curl an arm around me, pulling me against his chest where I rest my head. He’s warm, and I cuddle closer to him as a second shiver passes through me, this one actually because of the weather.

  I decide to explain myself to him, even though he didn’t answer me. “There were a couple of guys being real assholes in there. I needed some air.” It’s probably better I don’t mention the assholes are his two best friends.

  He smirks and shakes his head, but there’s also a flash of anger in his eyes that I catch. His tone is still surprisingly light for him when he jokes, “So you come find the biggest asshole of all?”

  “You’re not an asshole.” He scoffs, all indignant annoyance and good humor, and I chuckle in turn. I throw him a big, overdone wink before amending my statement. “Okay, sure, maybe you are an asshole, but at least you look really goddamn good while doing it.”

  “That is sincerely the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” he teases, and I’m overcome again with how strange this entire thing is. Because the Jude I know, he’s all rough edges and sharp lines. He commands attention and respect, never asking for it, but taking what’s rightfully his. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  Ah, there he is.

  “Is it working?” I ask with an over-exaggerated eyebrow wiggle. Jude’s eyes darken instantly, and somehow that one little joke is enough to send us careening into a charged new atmosphere. His gaze is liquid lust, and I find myself clenching my thighs under the weight of his stare for the second time tonight.

  “Sugar,” the nickname rolls off his tongue, and I find that I don’t hate it quite as much as I did the first time around. He dips his head closer to mine until our lips are inches apart and our breath is mingling in the air around us. “It’s always going to work.”

  And then Jude Alton is kissing me. He demands entrance to my mouth, tongue pushing mine out of the way as he takes over, taking what he wants like only he can. That dominant trait—it makes it so easy to give myself over to him. He doesn’t steer me wrong. Not when it comes to this. One of his hands rests on my ass as the other teases the back of my thigh at the hem of my dress. He pulls me closer. Close enough to distinctly feel his hard-on through his pants.

  The heels I’ve suffered through all night give me a few extra inches, but Jude s
till towers over me. He has to lean over to kiss me, his hands urging me to curve my back for him as he nibbles my bottom lip.

  My answering moan is breathy, sounding downright pornographic to even my ears, and my blood boils when his grip on my ass tightens and my feet leave the ground. I nearly wrap my legs around him until I remember how short this fucking dress is.

  We stay like that for a long time—him holding me up so he can kiss me. But eventually I pull my mouth away, turning my head when he tries not to let me go.

  “Jude,” I whisper. He drops his head back with a groan. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m about to ask him to stop. To take me back into the party and forget this ever happened. Instead, I offer up an entirely different option. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

  His head jerks upright so he can stare at me. “Yeah?” He gives me a hard look. One last chance to change my mind.

  “Put me down.” I squirm until he does as I’ve asked. “Now take me to bed, Jude.”

  He wraps an arm around me and starts to drag me across the yard. Music pulses and lights flash as we push back into the living room, but I’m too caught up in the anticipation of what I’m sure is going to be a searing moment to pay attention to what’s happening around us. I drop my hand into his back pocket as he guides us through the living room crowd. A growl rumbles through his chest when I cop a handful of his ass. I turn my head away to giggle.

  He drags me toward a dark stairway, stopping every few steps to press me into the wall and ravish my mouth. His hands rove my body each time we break to kiss, and my skin tingles under his frenzied touch. By the time we’ve managed to actually make it up the stairs, I’m pretty sure I’m going to combust before we actually make it to the main event.

  Jude pulls me into a room and slams the door closed behind us. I don’t get a good look before he’s pinning me against the door. My eyes fall closed as he kisses a path down from the skin behind my ear to my neck to the curve of my shoulder—and then back again.

  When he does finally pull away for a second, I get my first good look at our surroundings. A humorless laugh breaks from my lips as I study the lavish bathroom. This isn’t the bed I asked for. It’s nice and all, but it’s still a bathroom.

  “What’s wrong, sugar? Second thoughts?” he taunts me as I look from the bathroom to him.

  I can tell he’s expecting me to complain. To ask to go somewhere else. It’s probably his way of fucking with me so that he can try to keep the upper-hand. Nice try, Jude, but two can play at that game. I reach behind me and tug the zipper of my dress until it slips easily to my feet. His gaze drops. I wait patiently for him to make the next move. This is like being a Checkers player that accidentally signed up for a Chess tournament. Jude is in a league of his own, and I’m barely keeping up. But I want to.

  He starts to work the buttons of his shirt, but he moves so goddamn slow I’m pacing toward him before I can even understand why. My hands take each side and yank, the last half of his buttons going flying as his eyes go wide with shock.

  “Sorry,” I tell him. I’m not.

  He looks down at his massacred shirt, then back at me. “You just ruined my shirt.” His voice is laced with disbelief. I nod.

  “I’ve always wanted to do that,” I admit.

  My words must do something for him because he’s no longer moving at the speed of a glacier. He kicks off his shoes, tosses away his ruined shirt, and shucks his pants and underwear in no time flat. I move to follow suit, but before I can kick my shoes off his loud, commanding voice echoes in the bathroom. “Don’t you fucking dare.” A shudder passes through me. “Leave the shoes on.”

  I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as I strip off my underwear, instead, carefully stepping out of them as I continue to balance on these insane heels. He closes the small distance between us, stopping me before I get to my bra. He undoes the clasp for me, eyes feasting on my flesh as he tugs the whole thing off of me and tosses it over his shoulder.

  This time when he lifts me, I don’t hesitate to wrap my legs around him. They don’t stay like that for long, though. He takes a few short steps and then my bare legs are connecting with cold marble as he props me up on the bathroom counter. I gasp and he leans in to nip almost painfully at my bottom lip. I reach out to run my nails down his arms, but he catches my wrists in one of his large hands and shakes his head no at me. I don’t like being stopped from touching him, but the look in his eye promises me nothing but good times ahead if I play along.

  So I lean back, laying my palms flat against the cool marble to keep from hitting the mirror behind me. He jerks my hips forward, lining them up with the edge of the counter, and hearing my heels clink turns me on in a new and unexpected way. I’ll give him this one—keeping the shoes on is way fucking hotter than I thought it’d be.

  Jude runs his hands up the inside of my thighs and nudges my knees apart. He steps into the open space, but leaves a gap between us. I mutter a protest that makes him laugh, his fingers sliding across my skin until he brushes them between my legs. I want desperately to reach out and grasp his shoulders as I nearly come up off the counter at his touch.

  It’s like he can tell. His eyes jerk upward, and he shakes his head no again. “No touching, sugar.” I groan, forcing my arms to go limp by my sides. But I’m rewarded seconds later when he dips a finger inside of me. And then two. I writhe against the counter as he starts to fuck me with only his fingers. This was not what I was expecting, but shit, he’s talented.

  All too soon, he starts pulling away. Fuck his rules. I start to reach for him, but he drops out of my reach. I blink, confused, as he kneels on the tiled floor. “What are you—” He kisses midway up the inside of my thigh. “Oh,” I gasp. His tongue darts out and licks a path the rest of the way up my thigh. My eyes roll back in my head when he puts his mouth on me, tasting me. All kinds of sounds are bursting out of me, and I can’t help a single one of them. I’m glad he doesn’t ask me to be quiet because it would be literally fucking impossible right now.

  He pushes one of my legs over his shoulder, opening me up more for him. My whole body feels like it’s been put in a pressurized can and any minute the whole thing’s going to explode. I’m going to explode.

  “Oh my god, Jude,” I somehow manage to get out. His answering chuckle sends a vibration right up through the center of me, making my hips jerk as that metaphorical can finally bursts.

  My orgasm hits me so hard I come right off the counter, leaving Jude no choice but to abandon his work or risk ending up with a broken nose. He scoots back just in time to catch me as I fall like a sack of potatoes into his lap, sending us both skidding about a foot across the floor. I shake the whole time, my body convulsing for way longer than seems normal. It doesn’t help that our new position has left Jude’s dick pressing insistently against my entrance. I move slightly, testing the feel of him. It would be so easy to just…

  “Wait,” he warns, putting one hand on my back as he leans us both over so he can open the bathroom cabinet. He reaches for something inside and then holds up a condom. I’m pretty sure he’s just trying to show me that’s why he said to wait, but I take it as an invitation. I pluck it out of his hands and open it with my teeth. He looks mildly impressed as I reach between us to slide it over his length like a pro. “I’m impressed,” he grunts.

  “I’ve had practice.” I smirk.

  He narrows his eyes at me with a dark look. He did not like that. Good. Let him get knocked down a peg for once. But no, he definitely seems to decide he has to punish me for that little comment. With no warning, he pushes me up and then stands with me, his hand going to my hip to push me backward until I bump the counter. This time, instead of sitting me on top of it, he forces me to spin.

  “What—” I don’t get my question all the way out before he puts a firm hand on the center of my back, forcing me to bend at the waist and rest my upper body on the marble, still slightly warmed from where I’d been sitting on it. He wraps some of my hair around
his fist and tugs, forcing my head to move.

  “Look at me,” he growls, and my eyes automatically find his in the reflection of the mirror. Damn that’s hot. With no other warning, he pushes inside of me.

  My eyes never leave his as I alternate between whimpering and moaning. He fucks me so hard I can feel where bruises start to form on my hips from being shoved so hard against the bathroom vanity. But I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except how good he feels inside of me. He keeps up the punishing pace until he pushes me over the edge into another orgasm, this one subsiding quicker than the first but still just as good.

  He releases my hair but I keep my head up, watching him as he closes his eyes and slows. After a minute, he huffs out a breath and his eyes pop back open. “Stand up,” he commands as he pulls out of me. I’m barely upright when he takes me by the shoulder to spin me to face him again. “That’s better,” he mutters under his breath.

  Jude pushes me back on the counter, but just on the very ledge of it. He puts a hand under one of my thighs, raising it up and trapping it against his hip as he sinks inside of me again. He kisses me firmly on the mouth before pulling back, staring down between us as he watches himself fuck me slowly. He looks mesmerized, and in turn, I’m mesmerized as I watch him.

  He’s able to go for a long time. Much longer than I made it before getting off. Dear god, Piper. Don’t start thinking about how much more practice than you he’s had. He fucks the thought right out of me. There’s no room for thinking about anyone else. Not when this is peak pleasure. Even without another orgasm, he makes me feel so damn good.

  This is everything, I think, and seconds later I can feel him coming. His mouth captures mine as he kisses me through his release. It’s a little sloppy, but I love it.