Page 72 of Beautiful Ruins
With Raze, it felt like something we built.
My life before him had been noise.Chaos.Half-formed dreams and temporary people.
After him, everything sharpened.
He didn’t try to change me.He just made drifting impossible.There was no floating when you were tethered to something that solid.
That was the thing about Raze—he was an anchor.Strong and immovable.If you wrapped yourself around him, you weren’t going anywhere.
And for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to.
I was lying beside him now, the sheets twisted around our legs, his arm stretched above his head.
My fingers drifted down his arm, over the hard slope of his shoulder, along the thick line of muscle in his forearm.
He flexed instinctively when I touched him.
I smiled.
“Do you have any idea how unfair these are?”I murmured, tracing the vein that ran toward his wrist.
His mouth curved slightly.“Unfair?”
“They look like they belong in a gallery.Not attached to a man who can probably dismantle a boardroom with a single sentence.”
He huffed a short laugh.
I leaned in closer, pressing my cheek against his chest.His heartbeat was steady.Strong.The kind of rhythm you could fall asleep to and trust would still be there in the morning.
He rolled toward me then, his hand sliding down my back, fingers splaying possessively at my waist.
His forehead touched mine.
“You’re staring,” he murmured.
“I like looking at you.”
His thumb traced the curve of my hip beneath the sheet.Slow.Intent.
“Careful,” he warned.
I felt movement in the air.The temperature rising, subtle but undeniable.
“Or what?”I whispered.
His hand tightened, just slightly.Enough to remind me of the strength there.The power.
“Or I’ll show you exactly what those forearms are good for.”
Heat bloomed low in my stomach.
The world outside the room faded.No drifting.No uncertainty.No past versions of myself trying to survive on scraps.
Just this.Just him.
He pulled me over him with effortless strength, my palms braced against his chest as I straddled his hips.The look in his eyes wasn’t wild.
It was focused.
