Page 34 of In a Perfect World

“So, what?You just want us to pretend like the other doesn’t exist?”he asked through clenched teeth, hitting the track running.“Can you do that, Triana?Because I can’t.Our kiss has been burning in the back of my mind all week, and all I want is more.More ofyou.”

“Until when?”I asked, anger and frustration lacing every word.“Until we get sick of each other?Until someone more suitable comes along?Until your parents force you to finally step up?How long do we meet at this tree until it’s officially no longer healthy for either of us?”

“Look, I can talk to my father and-”

“And what?”I practically yelled.“And ask for special treatment?To benefit from your station in life?To set us back to a time when money and privilege made all the rules?”

Not caring that we could both end up in prison, Kairo stormed his way over to me, and I was already so far in over my head that I didn’t have the sense to run away.Not only was Kairo taking the biggest risk of his life, but aiding and abetting was a real thing now, and I’d be thrown in jail right along with him if we got caught.

Taking my face in his hands, Kairo’s prism-colored gaze speared me like the power of a hypnotist, and I could feel my body begin to tremble from his touch, wanting him to take away every stressful thought from the past couple of weeks.

“Do not tell me that you’re fine with never seeing me again, Triana,” he said.“I won’t believe it.”

“I never said that I’d be fine with it,” I argued.“I’m just saying that...that you’re making me want things that can’t be, and I...I’ve got enough problems.”

“I was raised to believe that anything worth having was worth fighting for,” he said, stepping closer to me.“Do you really want to give up after only one kiss, baby?”

I didn’t.

More than anything, I wanted to experience Kairo.I wanted to experience something that was meant to be, not something that’d been dictated by a society that was still screwed up.Because people weren’t perfect, there was never going to be a perfect solution for everyone, and so it was all just an illusion that people bought into to make themselves feel better.

Looking up into his eyes, I answered him honestly.“No.”

The instant relief on his face made my knees weak, even if that made me stupid.While some people might assume that Kairo only wanted to get laid, no sex was worth getting thrown in prison for, so I had to believe that this was more.Especially, when you considered how this could possibly destroy his father’s political career.

“Then quit pushing me away,” he said before his lips found mine again, and against everything that I’d been raised to believe, I slid my arms up his chest to anchor around his neck, then kissed him back.

Kairo let out a deep moan as my back hit the tree behind me, the rough bark scraping against my clothes.However, all I cared about was how this man was kissing me, and how he was kissing me because he felt for me what I felt for him.Kairo wasn’t a calculated decision made by my parents, society, or the law, and I felt it as his tongue swept into my mouth, a kiss that’d been designed by fate, not expectations.

When I felt Kairo’s hands reach for my thighs, I didn’t fight him as he lifted me off the ground, my legs automatically wrapping around his waist.I held on tighter as he deepened the kiss, and I wanted to weep with how right and real he felt around me.I hadn’t ever experienced lust like this before, and it was making me ache in the deepest parts of me.

Nevertheless, I knew that this couldn’t last, and so I wanted to make the most of our stolen time together.No matter how much Kairo might believe that we could overcome the obstacles in our way, we couldn’t.Had his family not been a political one, then maybe.However, his father being Alvin Booker was the biggest obstacle out there.

“I want you,” I confessed as I broke away from his lips.“I want this with you.”

“You’ve got me,” he replied naïvely.“You’ve got me in a way that has taken over every thought in my head, Triana.”

Tears pushed behind my eyes at how earnest he sounded, and while I knew exactly what I was asking for, I also knew that we didn’t have much time.As much as I wanted to explore every inch of him and make this night last forever, I was still very aware that we could get caught at any moment, and that was enough to kill any romance that we might want to share with one another.

“I want you,” I repeated.“I want you now.”

His hazel gaze flared, but since he was proving to be a standup guy, he asked, “Are you sure, Triana?I don’t want to push you or...fuck, baby, we’re out in the damn woods.”

“I don’t care,” I replied, wrapping myself around him tighter.“I don’t care where we are.”

“Triana-”

“Don’t you want me?”I asked, wondering if I had this all wrong.

Kairo let out a dark laugh.“Do you honestly believe that I would risk going to prison if I didn’t want you?C’mon, baby.”

“Then give me this,” I practically begged, needing something tangible from him, and since I couldn’t have all of him, I wanted all the pieces that I could get.

“You’re killing me,” he groaned.“I want you, but...but you deserve more than what’s going on out here, Triana.”

“I don’t care,” I repeated.“Yeah, in a perfect world, I’d agree that there’s a better way to go about this, but we don’t live in a perfect world, Kairo.We live in this one, and I’m learning rather quickly how fucked-up this world is.”

“The world is not-”