Page 47 of Folds
“Two words, six letters.” His voice is light, and his bodyagainst mine feels perfect, like my curves were made for his big hands and solid frame.
“Tell me.” I counter simply, the tension, making my words barely audible.
“What do you want to know first?”
“Everything.”
He tilts his head back and laughs, scattering the escalation between us that seemed to be barrelling toward a foregone conclusion. A conclusion I can’t help but mourn.
“Alright, let’s go.”
a foregone conclusion
When we step back into the hallway, Rowan confidently sets his hand to the small of my back, leading me away from the dining room. His touch makes my skin buzz with building need, and my thoughts scatter.
He guides me further down the hall, past a door marked ‘Employees Only’. It swings open before we even reach it. I hesitate for half a second.
Rowan doesn’t.
The kitchen hits all at once. Heat. Noise. Bright white light. The warm scent of grease and coffee. The sheer activity feels overwhelming. I definitely don’t belong in here. I try to fall back toward the door, but that firm hand guides me forward.
“Rowan,” I start, my voice low. The fear of being caught somewhere I’m not supposed to be makes it hard to breathe properly.
“Keep moving,” he murmurs, close enough that I feel the words more than hear them.
There’s something in his tone that makes it easy to listen. Not a single head turns as we pass through the narrow space, and my mind starts to reel. Can they see us? The stark white of thecommercial kitchen doesn’t lend itself to the cover of shadow as Hill House did.
Then I notice it, the shadows are wrong. Where they should be, under the hood fan or the dish pit filled with stainless steel pans, any hint of dimension is absent. They can’t see us. My lungs fill with air again.
We reach the far end of the kitchen faster than we should. Another door. Metal this time. Unmarked.
He pushes it open.
The noise cuts off immediately, and the air changes as the frantic energy gives way to the sound of midnight in a sleepy town outside the service entrance of a diner. The sound of stillness.
Then the chill starts to bite into my skin. I curse under my breath. My jacket. It takes less than a second for me to abandon the notion of going back for it. It will be easy enough to come back tomorrow when there isn’t the chance of running into Elias again.
It only takes another second for the notion of needing it to be rendered entirely unnecessary. Warmth envelopes me as Rowan moves into my space, the hunger in his eyes driving the persistent need that has been building between my thighs up in intensity. It’s as if his proximity redirects all of my senses.
“Rowan.” I don’t know if I’m asking him for more or less.
“Two words, Burn.” But he forces me to be the one to choose. “Six letters.”
“Kiss me,” the thought crosses my mind that I might be losing my only bargaining chip, then all thought ceases as his mouth crashes against mine.
The kiss is magical. His lips are soft and inviting, and a white-hot current runs through me as we meld together. My arms automatically wrap around his neck, and his fingertips flex and dig into my hips as he pulls me closer to him.
I’m kissing Rowan Downs. I could lie to myself and say that my desire for this has been mild at best, but there is no point.More importantly, I could have never in my wildest dreams imagined it being so good.
This is bad for me. I barely register the thought before his tongue presses against mine, making my legs tremble.
It feels like the world is falling away beneath us, and my skin tingles everywhere he’s making contact with me. I’m hyper-aware of his hands pulling my lush body tight against him and the cool feel of a brick wall behind me as he cages me in with his powerful frame. His tongue commands my mouth, seeming intent on shorting out my thoughts, making me roll my hips against him and drawing out a low growl from his throat.
At this moment, I can’t imagine why I would have ever thought it was a good idea to deny myself something so decadent. As my hips roll again of their own volition, he wedges his knee between my legs, giving me some much-needed friction. I want so much more, but the distant sounds of life around us force me to remember a level of decency.
Still, my body responds to him with a deep hunger, and I let out a soft moan as our kiss intensifies. I feel like I could stay in this moment forever, lost in the heat and passion between us.
Eventually, we break the kiss, both of us a little breathless. Rowan’s eyes lock onto mine, and I can see consuming, carnal need burning within them. I know that he wants me just as much as I want him.
