Falling

by Christina Lauren

If only he knew there were monsters out there, waiting for their turn.

“Who accompanied you?” “Accompanied?” She laughed again. “My newly ex-boyfriend.” 14 “Newly? Cheers. I’m glad to hear it.”

“Do you think it’s appropriate for a man to treat a woman that way?” “No, but if anyone looked like a fool back there, it was me.” “For being with him?”

“You’re beautiful, little lamb. Everyone in that room noticed you.” He smiled. “I’d wager everyone in any room notices you.”

He wanted her with a keening drive that felt like a twin heartbeat just beneath his skin.

“I followed you in here because you looked lonely. I followed you in here because you’re beautiful, and I like beautiful things.” A pause, and then the rest slipped out of him: “I followed you in here because I’m lonely too.”

Wanting him didn’t scare her, didn’t feel impulsive or shameful or dangerous. It simply felt inevitable.

He reeled in understanding when it hit him, for it had been so long: This was what real desire looked like.

And what a relief it was to know that he couldn’t fall in love with her, was incapable of it, because if this was a fraction of love, he would never be able to let her out of his sight.

But his mind was an absolute mess, and so here she was: Catalina, on the front stoop, bundled in her coat and sheep’s cap, cheeks still flushed, lips swollen. She was so beautiful, it made him ache.

“It’s different,” she said. “You’re different. No man has ever paid attention to what I want the way you have.” “A shame, Catalina.”

her face, which had been beautiful to him from the moment he saw her, was now something else altogether, still beautiful but now irresistible;