Page 100 of Ivory's Ruin Romance

Even though his apartment looked the same as it always had, undecorated and cast with the mundane disregard of a college student, it felt different. Complete. His kitchen table was no longer a slab of wood but a place where they’d eaten and shared memories of their families. His couch and recliner a nest where they’d cuddled. And his normally empty bed, where he now brought the only girl to have ever slept in it. He peeled back the covers and set her down.

“But I want to.” She curled up under the sheets, pulling them to her nose and looking at him over the top.

“I’ll be there soon,” he assured.

After drying himself and turning off the bathroom light, he locked all the doors and gave one last glance through the blinds covering the balcony door. The moon lit up the sky in a silver crescent, rising above campus with an iridescent blue halo.

Memories of summer heat and the ring of gunshots no longer filled his ears. Instead, there was peace. Quiet. Even the incessant urge to uncover the truth of the past, to dig it up just to bury it once and for all, stayed dormant. It hadn’t been fair from the beginning, and he might never find the whole truth, but at least he could guarantee the Yu family would never hurt his family again. He’d make sure of it.

Rejoining Ivory in bed, he dragged her into his chest and stole the warmth he’d lost outside.

“Oh, you’re cold!” She turned to face him, nuzzling into his chest hair and curling her toes. “See, this is why I needed to tuck you in.”

He pressed a kiss to her nose. “You’re absolutely right.”

She pulled back to look in his eyes. “Thank you for today. I enjoyed all of it, even the parts that didn’t go as planned.”

“Thank you.” It was her who made the day worth remembering.

Ivory paused. “You’re welcome, but for what?”

He stroked her face, drawing his thumb down her temple to the corner of her lips and following the path with his gaze. How could she not know? “For ruining the man I was so I could be rebuilt into the man you deserve.”

His heart had been broken for years, but now, a ray of light and warmth seeped out between the cracks. Although he never did anything to truly merit her love, he would live out the rest of his days earning it.

Her mouth parted, and her eyes grew glossy and bright. “I didn’t mean to break you,” she whispered as if the thought sorrowed her. “I just hope I’m worthy of the man you’ve become.”

“You should never question that,” he murmured and brushed a kiss over her forehead.

She lowered her head and pressed her lips to the center of his chest, right over his beating heart. “You’ve always been the man I wanted. It was always you, and it always will be.”

Emotion caught in his throat. And since one kiss wasn’t enough for his sweet witch, she blessed him again and again as he faltered, a peppering of kisses that threatened to shake his very soul. He couldn’t speak, even though there were a million things he should say. The subtle softness of her bare skin, the love and gratitude that seeped through her simplest touch, her unabashed honesty—it all shattered him from the inside out.

He drew her lips up to his with trembling fingers. As soon as he tasted her, as soon as she kissed him back with a ferocious passion, his heart really did explode, and the shrapnel spread through every part of his body.

“Sweetheart,” he choked out, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them to the best sight in the entire world. “I’m just a man.” He wrapped her tight in his arms. “But you—you were sent from heaven, and tomorrow, I’m going to make those lips sing praises all day long.”

She laughed, breath tickling his nipples as she nestled into a comfortable position. “I don’t think what’ll come out would be fit for church.”

“It’ll be more than enough for a sinner like me.” He fixed the blanket around her shoulders. The soft whir of her breath filled the room, already succumbing to sleep. “Goodnight, my sweet witch.”

He draped his arm over her waist, then let his consciousness fade.

FORTY-NINE

Cocooned from head to toe, she let out a blissful sigh. Cozy sheets wrapped around her shoulders as her legs tangled between fuzzy calves and firm thighs. Her pillow moved to the beat of her heart, rich with the scent of spice and clean skin.

The events of last night and the threat of the Dragons felt like a faded memory, something that only required her attention in a distant reality. She stretched, and something tickled her nose. Then she realized her pillow wasn’t a pillow at all but the chest of an immaculate, stark-naked man.

With a contented sigh, she nuzzled into Adrian’s side. The copper hue of filtered sunlight pressed behind her eyelids, and she decided to stay in bed for as long as possible. She wanted to soak up every second of this. Just him and her, bathed in morning light.

The fine hairs on Adrian’s chest tickled her nose again, so she ran her hand up the sleek contour of his abdomen, brushing over his pecs to move the stray hair aside. His skin pebbled under her fingertips, his nipple hardening as she circled the areola.

Cracking open her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of Adrian sprawled on his back, face turned down so that his eyelashes dusted over his cheekbones. His lips were parted, rosy pink, and relaxed into a natural curve. Unbearably kissable. Auburn hair had come loose from its bun and fanned across the pillow, the pink-tipped strands mingling with her purple ones.

Blinking, she continued to study him, surprised to find him still in bed and even more astonished he hadn’t woken from her movement. The last time they’d slept together, he’d gotten up an hour before her usual alarm, but today, he seemed to enjoy sleeping in as much as she did.

Her gaze fell to the hollow of his neck, then to the nipple she’d teased, which was now tight and round. Uninhibited by his usual attire, she let her hand roam down his chest as the sheets fell away.

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