Page 125 of Beautiful Ruins
I almost laughed.
“Raze,” I whispered.“There is chaos in everyone and everything.You’re no different.”
His hand tightened around mine.
“You know what I am.”
My heart hammered.
“I know what you are.”
His eyes darkened.
“And?”
I stepped closer until my body brushed his.
“And I’m not going anywhere.”
His free hand came to my waist, hesitant at first, then firm.
“I burned it down,” he murmured against my hair.“Everything he tried to build.Everything he thought he could take.”
I swallowed.
“I didn’t need you to burn the world for me.”
“I know.”
“But you did anyway.”
“Yes.”
There was no apology and no justification.Just truth.
My fingers slid up his chest, curling into the fabric of his shirt.I could feel his heartbeat beneath it — steady now, even as it thundered along.
“I think,” I said softly, “I’m falling in love with a monster.”
His breath stilled.
“You shouldn’t.”
“Probably not.”
His forehead rested against mine.
“I don’t know how to be what you need me to be,” he warned.
“We’ll figure it out… together.”
His grip tightened at my waist.He lifted me easily, setting me on the kitchen counter.My legs wrapped around his hips without hesitation.
There was still blood on him.Smoke in his hair.
And yet when he kissed me, all I could do was feel him.
My hands slid into his hair, pulling him closer.
