I should’ve been tooexhausted to do anything.
It had been a couple of long, busy, emotional days. And once all our friends had left we still had to work out getting everyone to sleep. Patience was a natural with her baby and it was clear she took good care of him so she had that covered, but Autumn was a different story.
While she seemed to love her room, going to bed in a new place was probably terrifying for a child of three, and the silent tears that had fallen down her smooth angelic face broke my heart. How many nights when she’d been left alone by her mother had she done the same thing? What hurt my heart the most was the fact she didn’t make a sound when she cried, almost as if she wasn’t supposed to do so.
We’d spent time walking back and forth from her room to Ruby’s—or as I like to think of it,ours— so she could see that she was close if she needed anything. After some time doing that, reading her a few stories, and turning on soothing music, the little one fell fast asleep.
Something that should have probably happened to me after I shed all my clothes except my boxers and climbed into bed. But the look on Ruby’s face earlier as Alley teased and got the ladies going had stayed with me through the night and fueled me as I waited for her to finish up in the bathroom and join me in bed.
And when she opened the door and walked out in nothing but a pair of silky, white, laced panties and a laced-trimmed cami in the same color and fabric, all the blood rushed to my head.
Tired was nowhere in my vocabulary.
I held out my hand, beckoning her to me and she padded across the floor to her side of the bed to get in. She wasn’t even trying to be sexy as she moved but Ruby was naturally exquisite without even trying. The natural sway of her hips and long, toned legs, moved with grace, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Everything about her was.
Once under the covers, I pulled her close to me and turned us so we were facing each other. Her sigh of contentment rushed through my body.
“I’m glad you didn’t go home,” she said, as she threw one of her legs over the top of mine. When she started running her foot up and down over my calf I groaned.
The woman short-circuited my brain when she touched me, but I still managed to say what had been on my mind the last few days and even more so when she voiced her worry over me leaving earlier in the evening.
“What if I never went home?”
Her breath hitched and her foot stopped moving.
“W-what?” Ruby’s eyes were wide and burning with interest.
I rubbed my hand up and down her back. “Well, since I can’t ask you to move in with me—”
“You want me to move in with you,” she blurted, interrupting my speech.
“I do. But that isn’t possible because this is home and your family is here. So, maybe you should ask me to move in with you.”
I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. I’d been working hard not to scare her away. I held my breath as I waited to see what she’d say.
“You want to move in with me?”
“I do,” I told her sincerely.
“What about your home?”
“I might keep it for a bit, but not because I have any doubts about us. We are both busy and I can deal with it later.” I pulled her leg up over my hip so we were fused together with no space between us. “Home is wherever you are.”
“Will you move in withus,” she asked. “Remember it’s a package deal and now there is even more to it.”
I smiled. “I’ll take the deal, sweetheart.”
I slammed my mouth over hers, putting everything into the kiss, and showed her exactly how happy I was. And she returned the feeling.
Ruby pulled away first and stared at me with her beautiful, brown eyes. I waited for a beat because it was clear she was working through something.
“I learned not to get attached. That’s what my mother taught me even though she has never been in my life. But Lyric—” she took a deep breath.
I felt something big coming. “Yeah, baby?”
“I’m attached to you.” Her eyes sparkled and the next thing she said had my heart exploding.
