“There she goes…” he swallows my little grunts with his lips. His hand works swiftly between my legs, arousal pooling and dampening my thighs, his tongue thrusting past my lips. Another hand threads in my tangle of waves, pulling gently at my hair as he presses his lips to mine so fiercely I know that they’ll be swollen in the morning.
Evidence of my Ruin.
“I’ve been dreaming of the taste of you on my lips.” His filthy, unfiltered words wrap around my ears, causing a spring to uncoil and shoot through every muscle of my body. I arch and rock, riding my orgasm on his palm as I come harder and quicker than ever before.
My knees soften to Jello, my eyelids suddenly too heavy to hold their own weight. I clutch at Ruin’s shoulders, heaving as I breathe in the air at his neck. The sexy, spicy, earthy scent of him.
“Oh Ruin.”
“Mm…say my name again, sweet little bird.” He catches my chin between his thumb and finger, planting a hungry kiss on my lips before backing away. “We should really watch this movie. You’re so damn distracting though.”
The way his mouth curves up in that charming, rogue-ish, sort of maddening grin is the closest thing to swooning at a man’s feet I’ve ever been. What is this hold Ruin has on me?
Without words, Ruin tucks me into the nook of his shoulder and cozies a blanket around both of us. He places a kiss on the top of my head and then laces our fingers chastely.
“Want me to make popcorn?” I ask.
He shakes his head with a smile. “Don’t do a thing for me. I’m perfect right here, wrapped up on the couch with you.”
He’s being so charming, but suddenly I’m feeling like I’ve let this go too far already. That we have so much that we still don’t know about each other… And what about the fact that he deflected my question earlier? Whatever his past is, he clearly has trouble trusting me with it. And that stings.
When he finally leaves after the movie, we hug awkwardly, and I lean against my door for several minutes after his departure—beating myself up for not being more patient.
Fourteen
Ruin
I’m still working up the courage to tell Avalee everything. And I mean everything. It’s just hard because I know she will look at me differently; everyone does when they find out I’ve been incarcerated.
Cobi hasn’t spoken to me since the little episode in the office, but Asher doesn’t seem to think anything of it. Asher just shook his head and told me that Cobi is protective of Avalee. That all the Maysons are.
I get the sense that the Maysons aren’t thrilled Avalee and I have been hanging out, but I don’t have time to worry about that. Right now, I need to worry about ensuring Avalee’s safety. That prick is still out there somewhere. Which means he could return, and right now, I don’t even know his name. I’m using the office’s internet on my lunch break to look up security systems and how to install them, or at least what the best options are for an apartment. I don’t trust that ancient-looking system her apartment complex currently has in place.
As I’m searching, a thought occurs. I change gears and start looking up articles about Avalee’s abduction. It doesn’t take long, and soon, I’m reading through heaps of news about her case. The more I read, the angrier I become. My stomach twists in knots, and I grip the mouse so tightly the top piece pops off, emitting a blast of red light all over the mouse pad and workstation.
No wonder she doesn’t want to talk about it. What they did to her—I’m going to kill them for it.
I clear the search history, just in case, and head out to the local hardware shop for supplies. Outside the store is a woman sitting by a covered table with a big banner that reads P-A-W-D-O-P-T-I-O-N and has a cartoon bulldog with goofy teeth taking a bite out of the “D.” In a black cage behind her are three German shepherd pups. Two are brown and black, but one is black as pitch.
“Hello,” the woman says. “Have you ever considered adoption?”
I look from her to the German shepherds and smile. “No, but I think I might today.”
She smiles so wide and places a clipboard and pen before me. “Yeah, something told me you were a German shepherd kinda guy. Fill this out, and let’s chat about adoption fees, your living situation…” she says, rattling off the list of items we would have to run through to secure the puppy.
I tune her out and start filling in the paperwork, not even considering if Avalee will object to having a puppy. I just know that German shepherds are the easiest to train and some of the most loyal. If they are good enough for police work, they are good enough to protect the woman I lo— Whoa. I stop my train of thought before it can truly form, but I know what I was going to think just then, even without fully thinking it.
After listening to Bethany, the adoption representative, go on and on about training, getting Stormy neutered, and yada, yada, I have to stop her and thank her. I collect Stormy from the group of puppies and carry him under my arm into the hardware store. For a puppy, he is very well-behaved. We collect our things and then drive across town to buy him his puppy “essentials,” as Bethany had called them. Then, I head to Avalee’s to surprise her and hope she doesn’t hate dogs. She loved dogs when we were kids. Hell, she loved all living things.
I wait patiently at her door with Stormy at my feet wearing a giant red bow. When Avalee opens the door and looks down, she squeals and scoops him up, giving him little kisses on his head.
“Who is this little guy?” she asks, squishing him against her. He looks perfectly content in her arms.
“His name is Stormy,” I say, closing the door behind us and taking out the bag of tools, locks, and bolts I just purchased.
“I didn’t know you had a puppy,” she says, still loving all over the little pup, who is now rolled onto his back in her arms and getting a belly rub.
“I don’t. He’s yours.”
