Queen of Hawthorne Prep

Chapter One

“Mmmm.”

A contented sigh falls from my lips as I stretch against the boy in my bed. His muscular body is in perfect alignment with mine as he feathers seductive little kisses along the curve of my neck. “That feels so good.” When he nips the flesh between his teeth, a punch of arousal hits me straight in the core.

Let’s just say that if I were wearing panties, they would be drenched.

Is it any wonder I’m addicted to Kingsley Rothchild?

He jogged into my life a couple of months ago and I haven’t been able to evict him from my head since. Not that I want to. He’s mine and I’m his. And that’s exactly the way I like it.

Does that mean I’m ready to get hitched tomorrow?

Hell, no.

Thanks to some archaic agreement between our parents to end eighty years of bad blood, my hand has been promised to him. The expectation is that we’ll get married some time during college.

Have I totally come to terms with the new direction my life has swerved in?

Not really.

I’m an eighteen-year-old girl who just started her senior year in high school. I haven’t even been accepted to college yet. I don’t like the idea of being forced into anything, let alone something as permanent as marriage.

Then I stare at the dark-haired boy with his sexy eyes and a mouth that was meant for all kinds of sin, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s the one for me. It’s only been a month, but I feel it deep in my bones that Kingsley and I should be together. He completes me in ways I never imagined. And I’m a twin, I know exactly what that feels like. To experience the same intimate connection with someone other than my brother is mind blowing.

That being said, there’s something unsettling about having my entire life mapped out at such a young age. All the major decisions have been wrestled out of my hands. It all seems preordained.

College.

Marriage.

Where I’ll eventually settle down.

And probably where I end up working.

I won’t lie, it’s that knowledge that continues to claw at me. It’s an itch beneath my skin that I can’t quite quell. I keep telling myself to let it go and be happy. There are times when Kingsley and I are together, and it sits perched on the tip of my tongue, waiting to explode from my lips. Unsure of his reaction, I haven’t mentioned anything to him. He’s not aware of how much it bothers me. I’ve convinced myself it’s better that way. If I confide in him, it’ll only stir up problems between us. Between our families. It’s just going to take time to wrap my head around the hand fate has dealt me.

“Know what would feel even better?” he rumbles against my ear, calloused fingers scraping over my ribcage to cup my breast before tweaking the nipple. Shivers dance along my flesh in their wake.

Actually, I do. Desire thrums through me, pounding a steady beat until everything that crowds my mind falls away. As my whimper of need echoes off the walls, there’s a soft rap of knuckles against the bedroom door. I freeze, a sharp inhalation lodging in my throat as my eyes pop wide.

“Summer, are you awake?”

Shit.

Mom.

The untimely disruption doesn’t stop Kingsley from nipping at my bare shoulder. He doesn’t give a damn if one of my parents is standing on the other side of a two-inch plank of wood. What I’ve learned about Kingsley is that he does what he pleases, when he pleases, and the consequences can be damned.

While I find that sexy as hell, it’s not how I live my life.

My mother doesn’t know that Kingsley has been sneaking into my room every night and sleeping in my bed. Since returning from the beach house a month ago, we haven’t spent one night apart. And I love it. I love being wrapped up in his arms. I love when he’s on top of me, driving into my body, making me fall apart beneath his fingertips.

There’s no better feeling in the world.

A heavy wave of anxiety crashes over me as I claw at his arms, fighting my way out of his embrace. The possibility of Mom finding me in bed with a boy is enough to send me into cardiac arrest.