Page 73 of Beautiful Ruins
Like I was the only thing that existed.
His hands slid up my thighs, and when he leaned up to kiss me, it wasn’t rushed.It was certain.
And I kissed him back like I finally understood what it meant to choose someone—not because I was lost.
But because I wasn’t.
23
Raze
Ihad been half-asleep, buried inside her warmth, when my phone vibrated on the nightstand.
Izzy was draped over me, her leg tangled with mine, her hair fanned across my chest.Light cut through the curtains in thin silver lines.Her breathing was slow.Steady.Peaceful.
I didn’t move at first.
Only urgency would call at this hour.
I reached for the phone without disturbing her, thumb already sliding across the screen.
“What.”
There was no greeting.
“Boss.”Matteo’s voice was tight.“We’ve got a situation at the front gate.”
My hand stilled against Izzy’s back.
“What kind of situation.”
“A man.Says his name’s Nathan Azzopardi.”
Nathan fucking Azzopardi.
Izzy’s ex.
“He say what he wants?”
“He’s demanding to see his girlfriend,” Matteo reported, voice flattening.“Miss Izzy.”
Everything inside me went still.
Slowly, deliberately, I lifted my hand from her waist.
“Keep him at the gate.I’m on my way,” I bit out.
Izzy settled against me, unaware what was happening.
Her ex.The parasite.The leech.The one who drifted.The one who’d cleared his things out and vanished like a coward, leaving her to get roughed up by a pair of hoodlums.
And now he was at my gate.Demanding to see her.
I pressed a kiss to Izzy’s temple before easing out from beside her.She stirred, blinking up at me.
“What’s wrong?”she murmured.
“Nothing baby.”I was already standing.“Go back to sleep.”
