Ruin (Ruin 1)

She exhaled.

“If I was going to kill you, I probably wouldn’t make it known that we were out on a date at all. Pretty sure Gabe would come running around the corner, guns blazing the minute you didn’t text them to say you were okay.”

Kiersten laughed. “That’s true, I guess.”

I loved her laugh. I was turning into a lunatic — a craving, needing, drug-addicted insane person. I put the car in park and turned it off.

“What are we—”

“Get out of the car,” I said nicely. “And I’ll show you.”

We were at Lake Washington, in a private, secluded spot owned by my family. No interruptions and nothing crazy. Just us. Thank God. I even told James and David that if they showed up I’d find a way to get them fired.

Pissed, they’d finally given up when I told them they could at least track my movements and my vitals through the freaky doctor technology given to us by my dad’s so-called experts.

“So, now what?” Kiersten crossed her arms and looked out at the lake. She seemed nervous. Her eyes kept darting from the water down to the rocky ground as if she wasn’t really sure where to look. Apparently, anywhere but at me.

“One,” I said.

“What?” Her head snapped up.

“One.” I reached for her hands and pulled her against my chest. “We can cross off number one on the list.”

Her brow furrowed and then realization kicked in, and her eyes widened. “Oh no! I mean, we already kissed, we did that. I—”

“Shh.” I bit down on my lip, telling myself to take my time tasting her. This wasn’t to prove a point. This was me showing her what it was like to be truly kissed. “If I remember correctly, your list said ‘kiss a hot guy’.”

“Yeah, but—”

“I’m changing it. You see, all guys want to be kissed by a girl. But you? You deserve to be the one receiving the kiss, not giving. That’s not how this works. So I’m deeming myself the hot guy, and I’m going to kiss you. I’m going to kiss you so hard that you forget everything but my lips pressed against yours.” I brushed some of her lush red hair away from her face and tapped my fingertips against her jaw as they ran up the side of her cheek and lightly tugged her head forward. “I’m going to taste you like you deserve to be tasted.”

Her lower lip trembled.

“I’m going to make it so hard for you to forget this first kiss that you don’t want anyone else kissing you ever again. When the guy you fall in love with kisses you — it better put this kiss to shame — if it doesn’t, then he isn’t the right guy. Because I’m going to do a damn good job, and I want the guy that earns you, that takes that heart of yours and holds it in the palm of his hands… I want that guy to be able to make you feel things I’ll just be tapping into. Do you understand, Kiersten?”

My voice was hoarse. I hadn’t meant to say all that. I hadn’t meant to turn it into a goodbye kiss before we’d really said hello. But that was what it felt like, because I realized in that moment. I probably wasn’t going to be that guy. I’d be cold, dead, in the ground, and she’d be warm and alive. I swallowed and touched my fingertips to her lips. “I want the earth to shift.”

My hands moved to the side of her neck, and I caressed her smooth skin and tugged her even closer to my lips until our mouths were a breath apart. “So this is me…” I kissed her softly across the mouth massaging her lower lip with mine, forming it, not pushing it, so that when she responded she knew the exact pressure it would take for the kiss to be sealed. “A hot boy…” I smiled against her mouth “…trying to kiss, a very pretty, very beautiful, very deserving girl.” My hand slipped to her chest, not to feel her up, but to touch what I so craved. Her heart beat wildly against my hand. “This is me, taking the very first thing off your list. And now I’m going to stop talking…”

Her breath hitched as my mouth met hers in such a whisper that it was almost as if we weren’t touching, but we were. Her lips were wet. I licked along the seam, breaking them apart, and then slowly letting her taste take over. I pushed my tongue against the inside of her mouth loving the way her body tensed as the pressure increased.

She moaned, putting her arms around my neck. I helped her, rocking her harder against my body. My hands came around her back, and I tried to get all of her to press against me. I’d never felt so alive as when that girl, that perfectly strange girl who I’d only met days before, was near me. I could almost believe her heartbeat was my own as her tongue danced with mine. I increased the pressure, cupping her chin with my hand. I moved my lips down her neck and behind her ear. Alternating between trailing hot kisses down her neck and blowing against the coolness my kisses left when my lips released their hold. Damn, I wanted to bite her. I wanted to keep tasting her over and over again until I had no strength left, but that was just the thing. Always a time limit, always a buzzer when it came to me.

We broke apart slowly, both of our chests heaving.

She opened her mouth, but I pressed my fingers against it.

“Ready for the next part of your date?” I didn’t want her to discuss the kiss like most girls would, or feel awkward about it. So I just changed the subject. Mainly because I didn’t want her to embarrass herself, and also because I was feeling a hell of a lot of arousal in my body, and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. My self control was that of a thirteen-year-old boy. It took everything in me not to be selfish and throw her against my car, lifting that tiny skirt until my hands—

Right.

I shook my head. Clearly the kiss had affected me. I wanted it to be romantic for her. I told her I wanted her world to change. Hadn’t expected mine to shift as well.

“The other part of the date?” She grinned. Her face was flushed. “You mean you didn’t just take me out here to make out?”

“Yes.” I grinned. “No.” Cursing, I ran my hands through my hair. “Okay, guilty on both accounts. Fine. To be fair, I wish I could kiss you all damn night, but kissing always leads to…”

“Hugging?” She gave me a saucy wink.