Page 80 of Beautiful Ruins
My heart stuttered once, hard enough that I felt it in my throat.
“I’ve only known you a few weeks,” I went on, almost more to myself than to him.“But it doesn’t feel like weeks.It feels like…” I hesitated before finishing, “like you’ve been here a lot longer.”
His forehead dipped until it nearly touched mine.
“Careful,” he murmured.
“Why?”
“Because attachment built quickly tends to be strong.”
I let out a small breath that almost turned into a laugh.
“I’m already there,” I admitted.
The words hung between us, honest and unfiltered.
His hand slid slightly higher along my back, pulling me closer until there was barely any space left between us.Inevitable.
My hands moved to his shoulders, grounding myself in the solid reality of him.The warmth.The steadiness.The quiet intensity that never seemed to switch off, even when he was calm.
He kissed me then.Slow.Delicate.Feeling.Like he was fully present in the moment rather than overtaken by it.
I kissed him back just as carefully, my fingers tightening slightly at the fabric of his shirt as his hand spread across my back, anchoring me in place.The world outside the room faded in the way it always seemed to when he focused on me like this.
His thumb traced slow circles against my waist as the kiss deepened, steady rather than frantic, and I leaned into him, letting the warmth of the moment settle around us.
When he finally pulled back, his forehead resting lightly against mine again, my breathing was softer, calmer than before.
“Let’s go back to bed,” he suggested.
And as his arms settled more securely around me and the house returned to its stillness, I realized something with a clarity that didn’t scare me the way it should have.
I couldn’t imagine going back to a life where he wasn’t in it.
25
Raze
Archie was at my door two days later.He didn’t knock lightly.He didn’t send a message ahead.He simply appeared, as he always did when something unpleasant had ripened enough to be delivered in person.
I told him to sit.He didn’t.
Instead, he remained near the edge of my desk, hands loosely clasped in front of him, one palm resting against the head of his cane, posture respectful but carrying an unmistakable tension.He looked like a man about to deliver a verdict rather than conversation.
I didn’t look up straight away.
“I think you’ve mistaken our careful alliance for kinship,” I said dryly, turning a page in the file I wasn’t reading.“You keep dropping in daily, unannounced, and I’m going to have to put a contract out on you.”
Archie let out a laugh.Or tried to.It came out thin.Half-hearted.It was unsteady, and that alone told me everything I needed to know.
Archie was, by nature, an annoyingly cheerful man.Efficient.Capable.Occasionally murderous, yes—but still possessed of a certain lightness when he wasn’t delivering grim intelligence.That lightness was absent now.Which meant he didn’t come bearing good news.
He exhaled once.Long.Resigned.
“I thought it would be prudent to do this in person.”
His voice was cautious, which got my attention.I lifted my gaze then, studying him properly.
