Page 11 of Her Power Play

After taking home my six treats, eating them, and trying to do anything other than come grab her, drag her into the back of the bakery, and fuck her brains out, I worked out. I probably worked out a little too hard, but I needed to do something to take my mind off it.

Now I’m standing in front of her bakery, unable to look anywhere else as I wait for her to open the door. The anticipation is killing me. I want to be with her. I want to touch her. I need to kiss her.

When the bakery door opens, I watch as she backs out and then slides her key into the lock before slipping it into her purse and turning around. Her eyes meet mine, connect with my own, and then she stops.

Pushing off the pickup truck, I walk toward her. The sun is still shining. Seems like Houston is always sunny and hot as fuck. Humid too. The air is thick, and I feel like I’m walking through honey as I make my way toward her.

One step and then another, stopping only when I’m close enough to touch her. “Liam,” she says, whispering my name. It goes straight to my dick.

“Ruby,” I murmur.

This isn’t the time or place to call her Cupcake Girl. This is different, bigger than a nickname. I’m chasing her, and tonight I’m going to catch her. Usually, I would catch and release, but I have a feeling little Ruby Bennett isn’t someone I want to release anytime soon, if ever.

Lifting my hand, I extend my index finger and glide it along her jawline, my gaze staying connected to hers, searching it in silence. I hear her breath hitch, and my lips curve up into a smirk at the sound.

“Come out with me tonight,” I softly demand.

Her gaze shifts to the side, then back to meet mine. I watch as her brows snap together, then she clears her throat. I think that maybe she’s going to tell me no, but then her lips slowly curve up into a grin.

“Where?” she asks.

My bed. “Doris Metropolitan.” It’s a steak house. I’ve only been once when my dad came into town. It was good, though, and the first place I thought of when I decided I was going to woo Ruby.

She stares at me for a moment before she speaks. “I’m vegetarian,” she deadpans.

My eyes widen. I don’t know what to do. When her lips curve up into a smile, she lets out a laugh, and I realize she is fucking with me.

Gliding my hand from her jaw, I curl my fingers around the back of her neck before I move closer to her, closing the distance between us. Dipping my chin slightly, I touch my mouth to hers, but I don’t deepen the kiss. Not yet, at least.

“You’re trouble, aren’t you, Ruby?” I ask.

“The only one who is trouble is you, Liam Fichtner.”

She’s not wrong.

THIRTEEN

RUBY

Stupid girl.

That’s what I am.

Standing in front of my floor-length mirror, I take in my reflection and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I should not have accepted this date, but he was close, and my brain turned off. It was like my brain completely short-circuited.

I’m pretty sure when his scent surrounds me, and his body presses against mine, that everything inside my head, every rational thought, vanishes. My brain turns to complete mush.

Now that he’s not standing in front of me, pressing against me, I’m having second thoughts. All the second thoughts. The knock on my door causes my spine to straighten. Sliding my hands down the front of my skirt, I wipe the sweat that’s gathered there.

Stupidly, I put on my smallest black dress and slipped into my highest black heels, which really aren’t that high, but they're still my highest. I even curled my hair, but I’m having more than second thoughts.

I’m having a million thoughts.

There is another knock on my door. It’s him. I know that it is. Shaking my head, I try to shake all those negative thoughts out. I’m not sure it works. Taking one step, then another, I stand against the closed door.

Pinching one eye closed, I look through the peephole, and he’s there. Standing in my hallway, looking absolutely stunning. He’s got on a pair of slacks, a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms… bulging forearms.

My god.