Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
BECKETT
R uby was a fucking brat.
He’d known that, of course, from the first time he’d talked to her. But standing in his entryway, glaring at the keys taunting him from the wrong hooks, he was more sure of it than ever.
The toothbrushes he’d been willing to brush off as a mistake. One that had irritated him a bit, but he wasn’t going to take someone to task over an honest mistake.
Now, however, he was ninety percent certain she was deliberately fucking with him.
He just had to decide what to do about it.
They were meeting at the club tonight. Ruby had an early shift, and they had loose plans to scene after. The question was, did he want to ‘punish’ her there, in front of a crowd, or did he want to bring her home?
A public punishment was infinitely more fun, and she’d seemed to enjoy being on display when he’d caned her on Beckett’s behalf before. But even though it wasn’t a serious punishment, some part of him was loath to share it with others.
Besides, there was a sort of poetic justice in punishing her here, at the scene of the crime.
Maybe he’d make her sweat about it at the club. Let her know he’d discovered her naughtiness and that they’d talk about it at home. Just the thought of her squirming and sweating over her upcoming punishment for hours was enough to bring a smile to his face.
With that plan in place, he grabbed his keys from the wrong hook, ignoring the itch between his shoulder blades as he did so, and headed out for his Saturday morning session with his personal trainer.
Candace put him through his paces, and then did so again with a new routine he was convinced she’d devised just to torture him.
He was absolutely certain she could put any Dominant at Club BDE to shame if she had half a mind to. As he’d often told Ice, he’d decided long ago that she was some kind of demon sent to torment rich douchebags like him.
But she got results, and the results were what he cared about. So he continued to let himself be tortured by her, even if he sometimes questioned his own sanity in doing so.
After Candace—and a very long, very hot shower with the jets turned on high—he headed to his home office to catch up on work he hadn’t been able to get to during the week. Just a normal Saturday for Beckett Stone.
And if his attention strayed more than usual, if he found himself missing the sound of Ruby’s laughter, if maybe his house was a little too… empty without her, it didn’t mean anything.
Casual. They were still keeping things casual.
Right. That’s why you wanted to play Daddy last night, even though you weren’t at the club.
Playing Daddy wasn’t the same thing as being her Daddy. It was just how he liked to play. And she’d looked so fucking cute, all red-faced and embarrassed after he’d made her edge herself in the bathroom.
After he’d made her record her edging herself in the bathroom.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he ignored the pile of emails in his inbox as he opened her text from the night before. Need, hot and demanding, slammed into him at the sight of her hand sliding down her body. At the angle she was filming from, he couldn’t see as much as he would like, but it didn’t matter.
He could see enough to know his good girl was following his instructions to the letter. And that was all he cared about.
Leaning back in his chair, he pulled his cock free from the sweatpants he’d thrown on after his shower and squeezed the already rock-hard length.
Ruby’s soft whimpers filled the air, followed by her tremulous, “One, Sir.”
Fuck that was… everything.
He watched, fascinated and more turned on than he’d ever been in his life as she worked herself toward the edge a second time—and froze completely. In the background, he could just hear someone else moving around, a stall door closing it sound like.
And poor little Ruby’s labored breathing.
“Come on, baby. You can do it,” he murmured as he stroked his cock. Even though she couldn’t hear him, even though the video was hours old, he couldn’t resist encouraging her. “You’re Daddy’s good girl, aren’t you, Ruby Red.”
As if she’d actually heard him, Ruby blew out a breath and her fingers began moving again. And then the camera was on her face, excitement and embarrassment flooding her cheeks and dancing in her eyes as she spoke her next count. “Two, Sir.”
He wasn’t sure he was going to make it to five.
But he forced himself to hold back, keeping his own pleasure just out of reach the same way she was as she spoke the next count. Number four came soon after, and her begging nearly drove him over the edge.
“Daddy, please. I’m dying here. Please let me come.”
“One more, baby. You can do it,” he said through gritted teeth as his balls drew up, tightening to the point of pain with his delayed need. “One more for Daddy, baby.”
Again, as if she’d heard him, a moment later her cry of “Five, Sir!” echoed in his ears.
For him. She’d done this, debased herself, denied herself pleasure for him. Simply because he’d asked.
Because she was his good fucking girl .
“Fuck!” The orgasm came on so fast and so hard he didn’t have time to grab anything to catch it. Heart pounding, he looked at the mess in front of him and sighed.
“Guess I need to go buy a new keyboard.”
Ruby
“You look like shit.”
In the midst of shaking a martini for one of Cordelia’s tables, Ruby glared at Tara, who was watching her through narrowed eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Liar.”
Yeah, she was. Even after multiple doses of pain meds and a nap between her shift at the coffee shop and the club, her head was still pounding. Maybe it was allergies, because her nose was also starting to feel a little stopped up. January was a bit early for allergy season, even in the south, but it had been a relatively warm winter right up until the cold snap they were currently in.
But if she told Tara that, she’d go tattle to Braden and Daddy B would take one look at her and send her home. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Tara’s expression shifted instantly from worried to smug. “Oh? Do I need to tell Beckett to let my girl get some rest?”
“Did I hear someone invoking my name?”
Shit. Speaking of overprotective Daddies who would try their damnedest to send her home early.
Forcing a smile, she turned to Beckett as she poured the martini into a glass. “Tara’s just being a nosy b-word.”
“I wouldn’t have to be a nosy b-word if you didn’t lie to my face about not feeling well.” With a flash of teeth that barely passed a smile, Tara batted her lashes. “I’ll let your Daddy take it from here.”
Dammit.
Sure enough, Beckett’s flirtatious smile disappeared the instant Tara tattled. “What’s wrong, baby?”
Double Dammit. It wasn’t so much the question as the sweet, genuine concern beneath it that made her want to crawl across the bar and curl up in his lap. “I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache.”
“Have you taken anything? Checked your temperature?”
“Took some Tylenol and a nap after work this morning.” Jerking back when he tried to press his hand against her forehead, she sent him a withering look. “Seriously? I’m fine , Beckett.”
She deliberately used his name and not either of the titles they’d agreed on to remind him she was working and therefore their dynamic was completely off the table.
Fat lot of good it did her, though.
“If you’re sick, you need to go home. You need to rest. You work too much as it is.”
Annoyance pricked at her, making her headache even worse. “I work as much as I need to, Beckett.”
But he obviously wasn’t listening to her. Turning away from the bar, he twisted his head around as if he was looking for someone. “Where’s Braden? I’m going to tell him you need to go home.”
Fucking hell, not this again. “Beckett Stone, don’t you dare!”
They had an audience, and not the fun kind. All around them, people were staring, and not even bothering to hide their curiosity. Humiliation, again not the fun kind, heated Ruby’s face as she reached across the bar to grab Beckett’s shirt. “You’re making a scene,” she hissed, giving the soft material a hard yank. “Get a fucking grip, would you?”
Beckett turned, slowly, and when his dark gaze landed on her, their audience faded into the shadows. “Excuse me, little girl?”
Shit, shit, shit. It took every ounce of courage she had not to immediately back down in the face of that icy fury. “You’re making a scene. You need to stop.”
“And why the hell would I do that when you’re standing here, clearly in pain?”
The part of her that wanted, desperately, to be cared for the way he obviously could nearly caved. And she had to remind that part of herself that his kind of care came with a price she wasn’t willing to pay. “Because you’re not my Daddy. Not right now. We talked about this Beckett, remember?”
“Fuck,” he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair in clear agitation. “You’re right. I overstepped. Again. I’m sorry.”
Some of the knots in her stomach loosened at his apology. “It’s okay. I understand you’re just worried.”
“I’d be a lot less worried if you’d let me take you home.”
God, she was tempted. Especially now that her head was pounding even more after their argument. But she needed the tip money to pay for the oil change her car was dangerously overdue on. Which she couldn’t tell him , because then he’d probably do something crazy like buy her a new car.
“What if I promise to go straight home after my shift?”
It was a compromise, and one she didn’t mind making since she wasn’t really in the mood for a scene.
Beckett still didn’t seem convinced, however. “You come straight home with me, and it’s a deal.”
That honestly made the most sense, seeing as how she still had to return his car, anyway. “I’ll need to run home and pack a bag. I’m meeting Lottie and the girls for brunch in the morning and I haven’t picked out an outfit.”
“If you’re still sick in the morning, you’re not going.”
No way in hell was she letting her new friends down by bailing on the first outing she’d been invited to. But that fight could wait until morning. “Yes, Sir.”
The honorific clearly went a long way toward soothing his ruffled feathers, judging by the way his shoulders relaxed and his usual teasing smile returned. “Good girl. I’ll be at that table right over there, keeping an eye on you. Yell if you need me.”
“I will.” Leaning over the bar, she tilted her face up, inviting him to kiss her. “Thank you for worrying. I promise I’m okay.”
“You better be. Because Daddy or not, I refuse to stand around and watch you kill yourself for this job. Am I making myself clear, Ruby?”
So she’d just have to make sure he didn’t see how exhausted she was. No problem. “Crystal.”
“Good girl. The second your shift is over, we’re out of here.”
Yes, Daddy. Everything in her ached to say it. But she’d been the one to lay down this particular boundary, so it was her job to uphold it.
Forcing a smile to hide her pain, she nodded. “Sounds good to me.”