Chapter Eight
J osh
“Good morning, Josh, Ruby,” said Cathy. “Don’t you two look happy for a Tuesday,” she joked.
Happy was an understatement. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt passion, excitement, contentment, for anything that wasn’t work. And it was all because of this woman next to him. He stole a glance at her. It was all he could do not to stare at her all day, she was like the sun—he flocked to her.
Ruby grinned and answered for them both. “Well, I can’t speak for Josh, but I had a lovely evening.” She passed Cathy a large beverage that she’d made him stop for on the way over, some kind of spiced atrocity that hurt his nose, but it drew an appreciative squeal from Cathy.
“Oh, yay, pumpkin spice! Thanks, Ruby, you really are so good to me. Good call on hiring her.”
Their eyes met. Hers sparkled. “Yes, I’d say it was a good decision on my part. Speaking of, I have a few things for you to look over, Ruby, if you wouldn’t mind coming into my office to discuss it.”
She smiled. “Of course.” Her eyes never left him. “Enjoy your drink, Cathy.”
He allowed his gaze to flick back to Cathy, as he caught the slight raise of her brows and shake of her head. Did she know? Did it matter? It wasn’t like this was some fling.
The instant the door was shut, Ruby threw herself into his arms.
He silently thanked himself for not putting glass into his door. He didn’t like to be watched. Especially not when he was with Ruby.
He slid his arms around her, cupping her behind. This kiss was featherlight and tender. And silent. It had to be. When they both came up for air, they rested their foreheads against each other, sharing breath.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, hopping down from his arms. They now felt empty.
“What is it?”
“Your sister’s top! I don’t want to crease it—it looks expensive.”
He smirked. “It was. Only the best for her.”
After she’d spent the night and they’d woken up late, Ruby didn’t have time to change, so he’d offered her some of his sister’s clothes that he kept for when his family visited.
He sat in his office chair, opening his arms for her. She curled into him like they had been doing this forever.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. A video call.
He raised his brows. “Speak of the devil...”
Her eyes flew to him. “Your sister? I’ll leave...”
“No, stay, I won’t be long.”
She tucked herself out of sight of the camera.
He opened it to see his entire family sitting there at their dining room table. Shit. He’d forgotten all about their catch up.
“Hey, Pete, Lola. How are you? Where’s ... ah, hi, Mom, Dad.”
Their laughter exploded out of the speakers.
“Sorry, interrupting you, are we?”
He frowned at the scene until they stopped. His mom beamed, looking excited, as did Lola.
His brother spoke up. “Well, tell us about her, then, unless you’ve decided that red lipstick is your new thing, which, hey, no judgment.”
He wiped his mouth. Shit. The reddest, ruby red lipstick. He was covered in her. Ruby.
Her eyes widened before wincing. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
He muted the call.
“No, no hiding. I don’t want to hide this, if you don’t?” His heart hammered against his ribcage. This was so new, so fresh, should he even really be asking these sorts of questions? Plus, he was having this conversation in front of (granted, he was muted, but still) his family.
What the fuck was happening? He ran his fingers through his hair and her hand caught it, stopping the motion.
“No hiding,” she confirmed, sitting up so that she was sharing the screen with him.
He put his arm around her, squeezing tight, before clicking the “unmute” button.
“This is Ruby, my girlfriend.” His throat bobbed up and down, but she didn’t flinch, didn’t even look at him, she was looking at his family.
“I’m very pleased to meet you all.”
“We’re so pleased to meet you, Ruby. How beautiful you are. Josh, you’re a lucky man.” His mom smiled.
“I see we have the same taste in clothes,” said Lola, “So I think we will get along just fine. Oh, let’s go shopping when we next come to visit, yes?”
“I’d love that.” Ruby grinned.
“So, how did you two meet?” asked Pete.
Ruby glanced at him. He nodded. “I’m his PA, so we met at work. Not so dissimilar to you,” she said, smiling at his mom and dad.
“That’s right.” His dad nodded. “Sometimes love comes out of the most unexpected places.”
Love.
Love .
Oh, God, they didn’t know how new this was ... but love? He could see himself falling for her.
His hand tightened around hers, and they shared a smile, one only meant for the other. Again, it just so happened to be in front of his family, watching like a captive audience to some romance movie. God, he hated being watched. The problem was that Ruby had a habit of making it feel as if they were the only two people in the world.
He cleared his throat. “Great to talk to you all, but things are busy here.”
Pete scoffed. “Yeah, we can see that.”
That earned him a smack on either arm from his mom and Lola.
“Hey!”
He missed his family.
“Let’s arrange another catch up soon. I love you all.”
A chorus of I love you ensued before the call ended.
He exhaled, his breath tickling his hair.
“So ... you’ve just met my family.”
“And you’ve just claimed me as your girlfriend,” she said, wrapping herself even tighter against him.
He chuckled against her head. “I like the sound of that.”
He groaned. The ding of an elevator bell signaled the start of the working day. But now he would have something, someone, to go home to. Someone waiting for him. Her. This thought had him burying his face deeper into her.
It was as if she could sense his thoughts. She untangled herself from him, before dropping a ruby red kiss on his cheek. “There, now I’ve made my claim.”
She got to the door.
“Pizza for dinner tonight?”
He grinned. “Sounds perfect.”
It did.