Page 61 of Beautifully Ruined

Everything tilts off axis.

“Cement.”

And he kisses me. Long and slow and romantic, and his tongue slow-dances with mine until I’m spinning free in the depths of space.

Cade leads me down the stairs. It feels different here. Cooler, smoother. Not wood.

A wild and erratic laugh that’s tinged with heart-pounding hysteria bubbles up. Cement, that’s what the stairs feel like under my feet. Cement.

But I swallow the laugh and breathe in.

The air is mustier than I’ve ever noticed, and the noises are muted on each floor. It’s pretty late, so maybe everyone’s home.

But still, my heart thumps hard because pretty late means around ten or eleven. I’m not sure where he went in Chinatown, and I’m trying to remember the time on the phone when he asked me what number on the menu I wanted, but I wasn’t paying attention to the time. I was paying attention to him.

Besides, this is New York. People get around. It’s a big city.

I know it gets quiet, and there are pockets of times when streets get deserted.

But there’s always the possibility of running into someone. Anyone. Of being seen.

My breath catches as we reach the ground floor.

Everything feels different with the blindfold on.

Quieter, mustier.

He pushes open a door, and I’m met with the sound of a car horn honking a few streets away, and the cool night air that still holds the kiss of the perfect summer’s day.

I’m near a wall, there’s heat radiating from it.

The pavement is warm under my feet. Voices pass down the street, travelling in volume from soft to loud to soft again, and a shiver runs through me.

I’m basically naked.

Outside.

In public.

Blindfolded.

With bare feet.

Panic sets in. Not at the fact I’m barefoot or I’m naked in a hoodie he didn’t even zip up. No. It’s that anyone can see me. It should be horror-inducing, but it isn’t.

It’s a turn on.

He suddenly pushes me in against the wall and kisses me, long, deep, and thorough.

This isn’t like the kiss before. This one is hard, hot, consuming.

Our tongues dance, and he tastes of sex and need and power. Of want and desire, and I’m weak at the knees.

I cling to him. I want him desperately. Now. I want whatever it is he’s going to give to me.

I want it all.

He breaks the kiss, and we’re both breathing hard, and the hammering of his heart makes mine slam hard.