Black Thorns (Thorns Duet #2) by Rina Kent

Your dirty, dirty pen pal,

Akira





37





Naomi





We spend the night in Mom’s house.

It’s so different from the past but still feels the same.

We’re still those college kids who snuggled up together in front of the TV while Sebastian tried to touch me inappropriately at any given moment. We’re still as comfortable in the silence as when we’re having a conversation.

But it’s different now, more jaded, broken.

We’re both hurt, haunted, and both spent a long time hollow.

Being filled all at once is both thrilling and painful.

But it’s never felt so…rewarding.

After taking a shower together, where Sebastian took me against the wall, we lay down to watch a true crime show.

But we didn’t really pay attention to it, we just faced each other and talked.

About the pain.

About the longing.

About everything.

I kept it all inside and when it came out, it was uncensored and unrestrained.

It was like purging.

Sebastian told me about how he passed the bar and severed his relationship with his grandparents. He told me about the role Nate played in his new life and the friends he has in the firm. He told me about how he used work to escape his emotions.

In a way, it was the same for me, so I spoke about that and how my life in Japan was. I tell him about the new family I found and that Mio—and sometimes Kai—is the only thing I like about it.

The night went on and we barely slept. Between the talking and the cuddling and the slow hum of the TV in the background, we were just in our own world.

And then the light of day slipped through the window.

I groan, hiding my face in Sebastian’s naked pectoral muscle. “I want it to be nighttime again.”

He chuckles, the hum of his chest creating a vibration against my hardening nipples. “It’ll be night in a few hours.”

“I want it now.”

“Used to the darkness, baby?”

“I’m more comfortable in it, I guess.”

“That’s why we’re compatible.”

Inhaling his bergamot scent, I run my fingers over the two tattooed lines over his chest and then trace them to the scar from the bullet wound on his shoulder. The thought that I could’ve lost him still fills me with an incomparable amount of fear.

Probably because it could happen again.

“I hate that we have to go back to real life.”

“We don’t have to, baby.”

“You’re a hotshot lawyer and I don’t want Nate to hate me because I’m taking you away from the firm.”

“I see you’re still starstruck by Nate.”

“What? He’s cool.”

“Don’t say that fucking word about another man.”

“He’s your uncle, jerk.”

“Still a man.”

“You’re impossible.” I laugh.

“Not more than you.”

“Me?”

“You said you don’t share, remember?”

“Well, I don’t.”

He tightens his arms around me. “Then I’m not sharing either. I’ll just kidnap you until you file for divorce.”

“Kidnap me in my own home?”

“Even kinkier.”

I playfully hit his shoulder. “Stop it.”

“Not until you’re officially mine.”

“It’ll take time.”

“That’s why I’m keeping you. There’s no going back to Japan or that fucker again.”

“Hey. Japan is beautiful.”

“I’m well aware of that.”

“Because…you were born there?”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Reasons.”

“What type of reasons?”

“If you haven’t figured it out, I won’t spell it out for you—at least not yet.”

“That’s unfair.”

He grins and I stop and stare as my chest flutters. It doesn’t matter how many years have passed, he’s still the only man able to twist my stomach and make me fall head over heels. I met ten years ago, and I still have a major crush on him.

I don’t think I’ll ever stop.

Running my fingers over the hard ridges of his chest, I say, “We have so much in common. I’m Japanese but American-born and you’re American but Japanese-born.”

“Fucking fate throwing a Tsundere my way, huh?”

I laugh. “Shut up, asshole.”

“I love it when you show me tough love.”

I elbow him and he winces. “Have you ever thought about going back to Japan?”

“No. It reminds me of my parents’ deaths.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’ll go with you, though.”

“Really?”

“I’d go anywhere in the fucking world with you, baby.”

I can tell I’m blushing without looking at myself in the mirror. I’m twenty-eight, yet he still makes me blush like the teenager I was the first time I saw him.

“You would?” I whisper.

“I’ll fucking chase you this time.”

I pull away from him. “What about now?”