“You don’t play fair, Red.”
She raised her brow in question as she reached me.
“You need sleep. So you should probably put on a lot of clothes so I can keep my hands to myself.”
Ruby giggled. Her voluptuous breasts jiggled as the sound floated to my ears and my pants tightened with desire.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’m trying to do the right thing here, sweetheart.” My cock ached for her.
She leaned in and licked the shell of my ear. “Lyric, you’re such an honorable knight,” she whispered. “But I want you to be naughty.”
The air around us snapped. “Woman, You fight dirty.” I picked her up and tossed her on the bed.
Coming down over the top of her, I pinned her arms above her head and attacked her mouth like a wild animal. When she opened for me and I felt the soft glide of her tongue over mine, my pulse picked up speed like a racehorse with his eyes on the finish line.
Everything inside me screamed she wasmineand so I set forth to show her how I felt.
Hours later, Ruby lay beside me, running her smooth leg up and down mine. “Don’t even think about it, Red. It’s time for you to go to sleep.”
She looked so beautiful cast in the soft glow of the moonlight sneaking in from the window as we lay side by side. I was thankful we hadn’t shut the blinds all the way or I would have missed the picture-perfect moment right in front of me and also the cute pout she had on her face at my words.
“Quit looking at me like I just told you there was no Santa Claus.”
She gasped and threw her hand to her chest dramatically, faking shock.
“You’re a nut.” I wrapped my arm over her and drew her as close as possible. “Sleep, sweetheart.”
Ruby blew out a breath like she was going to argue, but instead she said something that rocked my world.
“Whenever you hold me, the walls I put up slowly come crumbling down . You make me feel safe. And in the circle of your arms, I feel like I’m home.”
“God, Red. Hearing that—” I swallowed trying to get my emotions under control. “It means everything to me.”
I kissed her tenderly on the lips and she let out a content sigh. And then within minutes she was asleep.
It took me a little longer to get some shut eye.
I lay there taking in the woman who’d come to mean the world to me.
She was my forever.
I just needed to show her I was hers.
ChapterSixteen
RUBY
I could do this.I had to do this.
Nerves zapped through me as I watched the tall buildings, the bustle of the city, and people pass by me.
We’d gotten a hotel as close as we could to where Autumn was staying since we only had one car. Lyric was dropping me off and then he was going back to the hotel with Grandpa and Jett.
He reached over and took my hand in his. “You’re going to do great. Take a deep breath, sweetheart.”
A huge part of me wished he and everyone else was coming with me. I worried about so many things but my biggest fear was she wouldn’t like me.
“Autumn is going to love you.”
