Page 51 of Mine to Ruin

I introduce her to Kian while she takes a seat, fidgeting with her purse on her lap. “I am embarrassed, but I have to ask.”

I sit next to her and encourage her to continue with a smile.

“My daughter called. She fell on the steps and broke her leg. She has to have surgery, and I want to go be with her, but I can’t leave Luna alone.” The wrinkles in the corners of her eyes deepen with worry. “I was wondering if you could look after her for a few days?”

“Yes, of course, no problem.”

Relief paints her cheeks with a rosy complexion. “I appreciate it. I wouldn’t ask otherwise, but I don’t have anyone left,” she says with a deep sigh.

My heart breaks for her. “What do I have to do?” I ask. She gives me all the instructions, and the key to her apartment.

When she leaves, Kian stares at me with wide eyes. “I thought your kind was extinct.”

“My kind?”

“Yes, the helping-others-out-of-good-faith kind,” he says, words laced with admiration. He lifts me. “I am a lucky man.”

“Yes, you are.”

He chuckles and brings my face to his.

“I am one lucky woman, too,” I say above his lips.

His grip on me tightens, and I will never understand why it’s so difficult for him to accept compliments. Compliments lead to more kisses, kisses lead to touching, and touching leads us to bed and he says,

“I don’t want to lose you. I can’t.”

I turn in his arms and caress his cheek. “No one knows what the future brings.”

He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “We create our own future and destiny. If not, aren’t we just mere puppets on a string? Life would make no sense at all.”

“I can understand the necessity of believing you are your own master. I believe every decision has the power to open a whole new world of potential outcomes.”

“Whatever this is between us, I don’t want it to end,” he says hoarsely.

“Me neither.”

The intensity behind our emotions swirl in the air between us.

“I want to take you somewhere on Saturday, so pack something for Friday night, and you’re sleeping at my place.”

“Don’t you think we’re moving too quickly?” I ask him.

Rationally, I know we should take things slower, while every other part of me wants full speed, everything at once, and on repeat.

His brows narrow and he says, “I don’t have the fucking patience to pretend I don’t want you.”

I secretly love his declaration, and I hide a smile behind my hair.

“Say yes,” he pleads.

He pins me down, and I thrash under him playfully, my eyes filling with laughing tears as he attacks me with his fingers. When he stops his tickling torment, I pant like I’ve run a marathon. Happiness and contentment inflate my heart. I never knew this kind of intimacy could exist, the one created by two people bonding, the warm feeling flooding your core.

I am afraid to analyze my feelings for Kian. I bury my face in his neck, terrified and relieved I am not as broken as I thought I was.

When sleep finds me, he pulls me to his chest, and I snuggle into him––his hand resting on my stomach, his lips against my neck, our bodies melding together.

I open my eyes, and my heart flips at Kian’s beautiful features. My hand moves to touch him. He opens one eye, and I giggle. Kian rolls me on my back, his hands sliding down my body, awakening this insatiable desire in me.

---