Chapter Seven
R uby
She couldn’t sit still. The night felt like it was charged, electric, after his admission. He’d asked her to hold that thought, as if she could pause it, but she could do anything but. She’d cursed herself for not finding her voice, for not telling him she felt the same. She couldn’t even believe that she’d kissed him ... but the second he’d told her about his ex, about how she’d treated him, and he’d gotten this look in his eyes, all she wanted to do was to take it away. So, she did. But now she wanted more.
The room was giant, bustling, with people mingling everywhere. She found herself by the bar. Everyone seemed to want to shake Josh’s hand, to have a conversation with him. She knew what she wanted to do with him...
She caught his gaze across the room. It was as if he could sense her thoughts. He shook the hands of the group he was talking with and headed for her. Her breathing quickened as he did, her chest rising and falling. She hoped to God he couldn’t tell.
“Ready to go?” he asked.
“Never been more ready,” she answered, taking his offered arm as they made their way out to his car.
She shivered against the cool night air and one second later his suit jacket draped over her shoulders. Yeah, she was in trouble. Who was this man? He was more like an angel than a devil. She could curse her past self for thinking anything less of him, for prejudging him.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“No problem.” His gaze locked on hers. “Though I have a feeling I’ll be taking it off you soon.”
“You better,” she said.
His eyebrows twitched, and he masked a grin as he greeted his driver. He held the door open for her. A limo. Figures. She’d never been in a limo before. Sure, her family was wealthy, too, with a couple of million in the bank, but that wasn’t her money. She had always prided herself on making her own money.
“I think I lost you for a second there,” Josh said, reaching out to stroke her cheek.
“Well, now you’ve found me, what are you going to do with me?”
He twisted in his seat. She liked that she could make him squirm.
“There are so many things I want to do to you...” he trailed off, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Are you sure about this? I’m your boss, I don’t know if that’s okay...”
She covered his mouth with a quick kiss. Mainly to shut him up. But because there was also a tiny voice in her head telling her what a bitch she was. The caring billionaire worried about the power imbalance between them when she was just masquerading at her job.
But was she? She liked this job. She liked him. Heck, she really liked him.
A half-smile formed across his face as he clicked the privacy screen shut. She moved to unplug her seat belt, but he shook his head, hand covering her own, before kneeling on the space in front of her.
Her heart was hammering against her ribcage.
“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless. This man was making her breathless.
He raised a brow, a wicked grin covering his mouth. It was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. “Isn’t it obvious?”
He sure made it obvious when her dress was being pushed up to her knees and her legs were being spread for him. He peppered kisses up her legs, sometimes biting and chasing the small hurt away with a kiss or a lick. He had her squirming, had her fisting her fingers through his hair.
She said his name, over and over and over, and he chuckled against her.
That wouldn’t do. She needed him now. She nudged his head up with her thighs so that he had to meet her gaze.
“Please.”
The word seemed to unleash something in him, as her underwear was ripped, literally ripped, from her body and her legs were being splayed even further apart so that he could feast. That was the best way she could describe it. He was like a man starved and she was the only sustenance left. His tongue, hot and long, coursed through her, changing rhythms and patterns depending on what angle she tilted to or what noise she made in the back of her throat.
He came up for air, and she could have screamed at him.
The darkness in his eyes stopped her, though. She’d never seen anyone look at her with pure heat, pure desire.
“You taste ... incredible,” he ground out before getting back to work.
Sparks were traveling through her body, along her spine, her legs locking together. She couldn’t hold it any longer. She let out a scream and tightened around him. He continued licking as she took her pleasure.
Her breath was rising and falling, she was spent. But she still needed more. She needed him.
She reached for him blindly, and he smiled, wiping her from his mouth.
“Hang on Ruby Red, just a few more minutes. We’re nearly at my place. I can’t fuck you properly in here.” He nibbled her ear and pulled her close. She tucked herself into him.
Time couldn’t move fast enough.
****
S he hadn’t known what to expect from his apartment, but it was one thousand times nicer. It needed a woman’s touch, she conceded, and maybe a splash of color, but it was perfect, all huge windows, gleaming floors and comfy furniture. She wanted to look around a little more, just to satisfy her nosey self, but there were many more important things to be doing. It seemed Josh agreed.
As soon as the door clicked shut, her back was against it, and he was over her, drinking her in. His lips trailed from her neck to her cheeks and back again, always moving across her mouth, so, so close, but never touching it. It was torture. She would tilt her head and move toward him, and he would chuckle, moving just out of her reach.
Her chest heaved ... she could feel her cheeks getting warm.
“Josh—” she began, intending to tell him off, when the wind was knocked out of her with the force of his kiss. The moan that left her throat was a noise she had never heard herself make. And all from a kiss? He hadn’t even touched her properly yet...
As if he could hear her thoughts, he chuckled against her mouth, his finger trailed to the inside of her legs, finding no underwear after he’d ripped them off in the limo. She was glad for it, she wanted nothing separating them. He groaned at the wetness he found there, pushing one finger, two, inside her until she was throwing her head back and panting his name.
“Come for me,” he whispered.
That was all it took. She tightened around his fingers, and she rode them through her climax.
The only thing on her mind now was him. She had to touch him.
She barely registered that they’d made it to his bedroom. She pulled off her dress and threw it to the floor, backing toward the large bed in the center of the room. His sparkling gaze followed her, and she smiled, beckoning him over and pushing him to the bed.
His brows raised, and he smirked, but she made sure to wipe that look from his face, as she traced over his hardness.
Wow.
Her mouth dried.
He was big.
Had she expected anything less? Nope.
Now she was eager, hungry, yanking his clothes off with force before kneeling and taking him in her mouth. She couldn’t even get halfway down him, but he didn’t seem to mind. His hips bucked at the first point of contact, and he groaned, letting his body relax into the bed as she found the rhythm he liked, coating him with her tongue. After a minute his fingers found her hair, and he set the rhythm, sharp, pushing her deeper, past her limits, but she weathered him. She didn’t usually enjoy giving oral, but he'd changed her mind. Watching his pleasure, seeing the uptight businessman come undone was her new favorite thing.
He gasped. “No, stop, not yet,” he said, switching their positions, so she was flat on her back on the bed, waiting for him, waiting to be filled.
He rummaged in his side drawer and put a condom on.
“Hurry, please.” She didn’t care how desperate she sounded. She’d wanted him, needed him, since the limo ride.
He grinned. “Greedy, aren’t we?” he teased.
Her eyes must’ve conveyed something, that she wasn’t in the mood for joking now, for his own gaze darkened. He kissed up her body, over her naked breasts, before finding her mouth. He was over her now. Finally. Finally .
His hardness pushed at her entrance, the first inch of him sliding inside. She opened her legs even wider and the rest of him slid in.
“Fuck,” he moaned, hovering above her for a second. A second too long.
She moved her hips in desperation.
“Okay, okay,” he breathed, looking down on her as he rolled his hips, gently, leisurely, before building faster and harder. She took his face in her hands, so that their breath, their moans, combined.
“More,” she demanded.
He pulled out so quickly she didn’t even realize what was happening. He flipped her onto her front and slid back inside with one long thrust. A scream tore from her throat as he angled himself perfectly, his fingers finding her clit as he thrust himself into her.
Nothing had ever felt this good. She was close, so close. Her spine tingled, letting her know an explosion was about to happen.
“I-I’m going to—” she stuttered.
His breath was coming so fast. “Together,” he ground out, his commanding tone seeping down into her, and she couldn’t hold it. She screamed, and he moaned her name, twitching inside her. He sagged on top of her, careful not to put his full weight on her body. She twisted to face him.
The words spilled from her lips. “I really like you.”
He chuckled, dragging back her hair.
“I really like you, too.”
She cupped his cheek. “I don’t want this to end,” she admitted.
His eyes sparkled. “It doesn’t have to.”
****
A fter, when they were both entwined in the sheets, Ruby willed her racing heart to calm, calm, calm. But something about Josh made her feel anything but calm.
God, when had this happened? More importantly, how had she allowed this to happen? The thing is, she hadn’t allowed it. It had simply, well, happened. Because of Josh. Because he wasn’t who her parents said he was, he was anything but that.
Her heart lurched at the phone call she would have to make, the conversation that would have to be had. She groaned internally. She could only imagine how that would go. And then there was the small matter of betrayal ... she’d have to tell him, wouldn’t she? How would she even begin to tell him? Oh, hey, yeah, so I only took this job so I could write a hit piece on you for my family. Plus, I falsified evidence and took a picture of it in your desk drawer to possibly use as part of said article. The article that would destroy his business, his reputation, him . She was the worst. She didn’t deserve him.
His fingers stroked across her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open at the contact.
“Hey, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking about you.” She swallowed. “But I am also thinking how thirsty I am.”
He grinned. “Come on, I’ll get you a drink.” He held his hand out and helped her out of bed. He pulled on his boxers and passed her his shirt. It was a dress on her.
“I could get used to this,” he said, his gaze tracing her up and down.
“Me, too.”
They padded to the gleaming white kitchen, and he filled two glasses of water and added ice.
She sat down on a bar stool. “It’s so quiet here. I can almost hear myself think.”
He joined her, passing her the drink, which she drained greedily, the ice waking her up like a shot of caffeine.
“It is,” he agreed after a while. “It can get a little ... lonely.”
Her gaze flew to him, and it was like she was seeing him. Really seeing him. She put her glass down and stood in front of him, so they were eye level.
“I know what you mean. The loneliness can feel crushing sometimes, no matter how often I call my family or hang out with Alana. I’m still coming home to an empty apartment at the end of the day. The thing is, you told me about Clara, I had a Clara. His name was Gary. And it’s all well and good having someone to come home to, but not if they are wrong for you.” She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to scare him off, but she was speaking the truth, and it was as if it wanted to fall from her tongue, just not the whole truth, not yet. “And I’d like to do it with the right person.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips over her own, his fingers twirling in her hair.
“And what makes you think I’m the right person?”
She tilted her head. “Because you’re good and kind, and not at all how I thought you’d be. Because of how you make me feel. And have you seen yourself? You could be a model if your business doesn’t work out.”
Two pink spots appeared on his cheeks. She kissed them.
He took her hand. “You know, from the second Alana showed me your photo, I think a part of me knew—knew it was going to be you.”
Her breath caught in her throat, and her stomach dipped like she was on a roller-coaster ride. It was like too many emotions were warring at once, and she didn’t know which way the ride was taking her. She shut her eyes against it, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Then his lips were on it, brushing it away.
“Please don’t do that. I hate it when you do that.”
Her lips twitched into a smile. “They are from happiness, Josh.”
“Hmm, well, that I can live with.” He stood, scooping her up. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. You have a very demanding boss, and I’d hate for you to be late for work.”
“I’m not tired yet,” she whispered in his ear, stroking his arms and raising gooseflesh.
When he slid inside her for the third time that night, she felt as if she could do this all her life.