Page 30 of Fallen Empire

It was raw. Primal. Everything we’d never dared admit.

Then I kissed him back. Hard.

Because I was angry.

Because I was scared.

Because kissing him felt like the only real thing in a world that was falling apart.

Ben kissed me like he was trying to erase every mile of distance we’d ever put between us. Like he didn’t care about timing or consequences or how many pieces we might shatter into when it was over.

And God help me.

For that moment?

Neither did I.

Our tongues warred. Circling. Tasting. Taking.

The scent of Ben—sandalwood and pine—flooded my senses, heady and grounding. And the taste? Garlic. Alfredo. A trace of smoky red pepper lingering on his lips. It all collided in a storm I wasn’t ready for.

Every nerve in my body lit up.

Every part of me awakened.

Everything Ilov—

I choked the thought back.

I wouldn’t say that word. Not even in my head. Notthatword.

Becauselovecame with a price I’d already paid once. And it nearly destroyed me.

But if there was anyone—anyone—I could feel that way for again…

It would be the man that currently had me in sensory overload.

The man whose lips bruised mine with a kind of desperation that felt like salvation.

The man who silenced the chaos in my head just by touching me.

My arms slid under his, hands curling along the hard lines of his back, palms resting against the muscle that had carried too much for too long. I pulled him closer, not because I should—but because Ihadto. Because for the first time in days, I wasn’t drowning.

I was burning.

And God, it felt good to feel something again.

I pressed my body into his like I could press the pain away with the heat between us. I was using him. Fully. Shamelessly. Using him to silence the screaming in my head, the panic that never left my chest. I needed this. Neededhim. Not just the kiss. Not just the strength. I needed the way he made me feel like the world wasn’t crashing down.

And he let me. He took just as much as I gave.

Because maybe that’s what we were—takers and givers. Two fractured people with nowhere to put the ache except into each other.

He picked me up like I weighed nothing and set me down between our plates. The edge of the counter was cool against the back of my thighs. Even in this haze, even lost in the heat of it, he stayed aware. Always calculated. Always alert.

That part of him never turned off. It was in his blood, in the way his eyes flicked to the door before returning to mine. But when they did, when his gaze finally locked onto me, every part of me turned liquid.

Need surged up from somewhere I hadn’t let myself touch in years.