Page 92 of A Sweet Destruction

There wasn’t a conscious awareness of what happened, just falling straight into action as I passed the papers back to Ford and he handed me the book. We both reset everything to their place, and turned to flee at the same time another chorus of voices echoed into the room.

Shit.

The window was still open, and I had less than a second to check if someone could see us before flipping out and landing back on my feet. Ford did the same, then turned and shut the window. Expediency had to be the first priority, so despite his efforts, it still made an echoing sound when it closed.

I could see his wince reverberate through his whole body. A second later our hands were intertwined, me reaching out to comfort—at least I thought that’s why I’d done it—and him reaching out to lead me around the corner.

Ugh, he’s not going to know that you reached for him, the Bond grumbled.

I couldn’t pay it much mind, not when Ford was pulling me behind him at a breakneck speed.

“Wait,” I whispered, trying to slow him down to no avail. He was a big old ox when he wanted to be. I tugged again, finally able to get him to slow. “We can’t run, if someone sees us, they’ll get suspicious.”

As if to punctuate my point, a crowd of people stopped to greet each other on the street in front of the building, right in our path. We’d get nowhere fast without drawing attention.

Ford cursed under his breath, looking out to the field on the other side of us, which was no better of an outlet. Footsteps echoed through the wall behind us, the distinct sound of feet hitting the floor in a quick run.

Well, don’t just stand there, the Bond said, sounding like it was smiling.

Oh, this was such a bad idea. This was a really, really bad idea.

“Ford,” I said, right as he reached for the knife strapped to his thigh. Surely he wasn’t thinking of cutting his way out of this, but we were a little sparse with options for our escape. I said his name again, reaching up to pull on the chain hanging from his neck.

He finally turned to me, eyes blazing with panic and something a little deeper I wasn’t quite familiar with yet.

I could do this, just a little yank of Ford’s chain and he was stepping closer to me, a look of wild confusion on his face. Another one and he was leaning down, right as I took a step towards him.

A tip up of my chin. That was all it took for our lips to touch.

The second it happened, every cell in my body lit on fire. My body was no longer my own, every repressed desire flooding my system at once. I was sure things were supposed to progress more slowly, it being the first time and all, but maybe it was to our benefit that they didn’t.

Within seconds, the little bit of shock that had frozen Ford’s system had vanished and one of his hands was gripping my face, drawing me to him as his tongue pushed past the seam of my lips.

That was really the last conscious thought I had. Everything was reduced down to the atom-level of feeling, completely consumed by him. My hand left the chain at his throat to move around to this back of his neck, using the position as leverage to pull myself closer.

When I did, it moved me away from the wall, and Ford took full advantage, pressing both of us back against it even harder. His hand hit the wall by my head, not making a loud enough sound to startle me out of the haze of desire, but enough to notice it.

I paid little mind to it, seeing as Ford’s thigh was pushing between my legs, sending a blaze of sensation up my center. I could feel myself shaking, overwhelmed with…relief?

At least I thought it was relief. My entire body was turning to mush, prepared to melt right into Ford, maybe even combine us into one being if he’d be okay with that.

His hand, still framing my jaw, pulled a little, fusing our mouths together even firmer. A broken sound left my throat, so close to one of pain that I felt Ford begin to draw away.

That simply wouldn’t do. I lunged after him, which had the unintended effect of seating me more firmly on his thigh, the sensation so intense I felt myself lose balance and fall forward into him.

Ford’s hand finally left my face to curve down under my ass, and I prepared myself to surrender to his hold, even hoping that he’d lift me into his arms. Less than a day since I’d last felt his arms around me and I missed it with a force I didn’t care to acknowledge.

Right as my feet were about to leave the ground, a loud cough shattered the moment.

It took longer than I was proud of to pull myself together. Eight years learning how to snap to attention as fast as possible, prepared to handle any new threat in a second.

Apparently all it took to supersede that training was to kiss…well, a little more than that…just…

Ford.

Ford, who was blinking at me while his expression rapidly changed from rage to confusion to a carefully blank slate. He turned to the side and straightened, placing himself slightly in front of me. It was only then that I pulled my gaze away from the pulse hammering against the taut skin of his neck and towards the interruption.

Oh, right.