Somehow Ruby seemed to know what I was feeling because she said, “Not bad, just unexpected.”
Then she did something else unexpected. She moved closer and kissed me.
Ruby
Iwouldn’t call myself forward. It wasn’t that I was afraid to make a move with a woman, but I always needed to be sure, absolutely sure, that the move was welcomed. As a result, it most often happened that the other person made the first move. Or I found out years later that I’d missed my chance because I hadn’t been able to read the signals.
But with Cassie not only did I want to make a move, I felt compelled to do it. I knew instinctively that she was waiting for me to do something, so I pressed my lips against hers, and when she didn’t shove me away, I moved my hand from her cheek to the back of her head and deepened the kiss. I licked along the seam of her lips, then slid my tongue inside Cassie’s mouth, tangling with hers.
Immediately my entire body felt like it was on fire. Groaning against her mouth, I moved closer, eliminating the space between our bodies. She was a few inches taller than me, but our bodies fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.
Cassie groaned, her hands dropping to my ass, holding me close as the kiss went on and on. There was nothing awkward about this kiss, it was perfectly synchronized, as if we’d done it a million times before, even while the wonder of it suffused my body with something that felt a lot like joy.
What was happening to me? I’d never felt like this before. Never acted like this before. All I knew was that I was desperate to touch her.
We pulled apart slightly, both of us breathing heavily, and Cassie kissed her way down my neck, sucking lightly at the juncture of my shoulder. I had the strangest urge to insist that she bite me, break the skin and mark me. What was that about? I’d never had a biting fetish before.
As if she sensed my racing thoughts, Cassie pulled away, although she kept her hands on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice infused with regret. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Her apology brought me out of my kissing stupor. I took a step back, needing her to not be touching me if I wanted to think clearly.
“Why would you be sorry? I’m the one who kissed you,” I reminded her. “I should be apologizing for kissing you like that when you’re trying to do your job.”
Cassie took a deep breath, and I watched her fangs recede back in her mouth and a tinge of color return to her face. It was fascinating watching her wrestle herself back into control.
“Regardless, it never should have happened.”
I couldn’t help the crestfallen look on my face. Cassie’s expression immediately softened, and she grabbed my hand, holding it between both of hers.
“I said that wrong. I just meant that I know better than to do anything that distracts me from protecting you, it always leads to trouble. I shouldn’t have let things get so far.”
“You’ve kissed clients like that before?” I asked, misunderstanding.
Cassie shook her head. “Oh gods, no. You’re the only client I ever wanted to kiss, trust me. I’ve never felt like this before, but then again I’ve never met my… never met anyone like you before.”
There was something else there, but I was too discombobulated by that kiss to figure it out right now.
“Let’s just take a step back,” I suggested. “I want to get to the bottom of what’s happening with this stalker guy, and I know you do too. That’s most important right now.”
“The stalker might not be a guy,” Cassie said. “With the focus on your teammates from the International Games, we have to consider that it could be a woman. Someone from a rival team perhaps, or someone who thought they deserved to be on the team and wasn’t selected.”
I moved over to the couch and my bodyguard followed me, carefully sitting on the other side so we had a cushion between us.
“There were a few people who felt like the selection process was unfair,” I said slowly. “I remember hearing that someone lodged a complaint.”
Cassie popped up to find her computer bag, returning with her laptop. “Tell me everything you remember.”
We spent the next half hour going over the selection process, how people were notified, and looking for information about the player who complained that they were excluded. Then she picked up her phone, tapping out a message.
“I’m asking Wanda to run a deep background on the complainant.”
“It makes no sense,” I said. “Those of us who were selected for the team didn’t have any more say in the selection process than anyone who wasn’t picked.”
Cassie shrugged. “People aren’t always rational.”
“That’s for sure.”
