Page 34 of Mine to Ruin

“It didn’t come out of nowhere and I know how addicted you are to donuts, so…”

I rush out of my studio, take the elevator upstairs, to the food floor, and stop in front of the new Donut Paradise. I order two and carry the small box with me toward the terrace. Below, the entire city is pulsing. I moan as I take the first bite of strawberry donut.

“Is it that good, angel?”

“Kian…” I tilt my head and find him leaning against the wall. A smile parts my lips. “I don’t understand how you keep saying you’re not good for me when you do things like this and…” I clamp my mouth shut.

What if it has nothing to do with me?

“I… I wanted to see you smile like that, but that doesn’t mean I am good for you,” he stammers, pushing himself off.

“I wonder if you confuse wrong with broken. And if I were the good woman you make me out to be, would I let myself be so easily seduced by you, by the promise of sin?”

I tilt my head as he strides toward me and plays with a curl of my hair. He kisses the corners of my mouth and says, “You want to sin with me? Test my capacity to corrupt you? Because I will.”

“And you? What are you searching for?” I ask, deflecting.

He dips his head, cups my face, and says, “Myself in you.”

I gulp, and his lips hover over mine, the near touch tantalizing me.

“Are you ready? Really ready?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Prove it.” Kian drops that little bomb, then leaves me hanging, wondering if I imagined the whole interaction.

Maybe I should heed his warnings. I’ve gotten glimpses of the man. Do I really want to get involved with someone as consuming as him? But it’s more than the physical part. It’s my whole being craving to be with this man. It’s my soul responding to his, communicating in a code only our souls can decipher. It’s a connection that was sealed long before we were born.

I get the impression he stands alone in the corner while everyone cheers for him, but no one is in the cage with him.

On Monday night, he texts.

K: Giving up, already?

E: Not happening. I suspect the bigger coward between us is you.

K: I’ll show you coward.

E: I’ve seen that since I met you.

K: Have you now?

Kian thinks I’m a good girl, yet I’ve never wanted to be bad like I do for him. But I need to make it clear that I will not share him with Melanie. Or anyone.

E: If I’m in, she is out.

K: Only you. Melanie and I have a work relationship.

On Thursday, I text:

E: Don’t break my trust.

K: I won’t. You neither. You and Brandon are just friends, because I don’t share.

E: Me either. And he’s your brother. I would never mess around with both of you.

K: Good, angel.

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