Chapter 43
Ruby
Iwake up warm.
Too warm.
Wrapped in something soft that smells like cedar and expensive cologne.
My eyes open slowly, dazed, half-dreaming, and then I realize:
This is not my ceiling.
This is not my bed.
This is not my life.
I sit up too fast.
“Oh god.”
Memories flood in like a montage:
The kisses.
The hands.
The clothes slipping.
His whisper against my throat.
The bed.
His body against mine.
The way he held me after.
I flop back onto the pillow with a strangled groan.
“I did that,” I whisper to the ceiling. “I actually did that.”
The sheet shifts.
A warm hand slides over my waist from behind.
I freeze.
Then his voice, low, sleep-heavy, intimate, brushes the back of my neck.
“Morning.”
I forget how to breathe.
I turn my head slightly.
He’s propped up on one arm behind me, hair messy, expression soft in a way that should be illegal.
“Hi,” I whisper, mortified by how breathless it sounds.
He smiles, slow, warm, devastating.
“You okay?” he murmurs, brushing a thumb along my hip.
“I, um, yes. I think? Maybe. I’m not sure. I might be dead.”
He laughs quietly.
God help me, it’s the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.
He leans in and presses his lips to my shoulder, a soft, lingering kiss that sends shivers down my spine.
“You stayed,” he says gently.
I swallow.
“Did you… want me to?”
He looks at me like I’ve said the most absurd thing in the world.
“Ruby,” he murmurs, “I didn’t want you to leave.”
My heart does a full gymnastics routine.
He sits up and pulls me against his chest, his chin resting on my hair.
Comfortable. Warm. Natural. WAY too natural.
“I made coffee,” he says softly. “Do you want some?”
“You made coffee?” My voice does a weird squeak.
“I make coffee every morning.”
“Right but..." My brain short-circuits. “You make coffee like this? In a post-sex cuddle situation?”
His chest shakes with a quiet laugh.
“Only when I want the woman to stay longer.”
I almost explode.
Before I can respond, my phone buzzes aggressively on the nightstand.
Oh no.
Oh no no no,
He reaches for it before I can stop him and hands it to me.
I see the preview:
NASTY NINE (82 unread messages)
I want to bury myself under the pillow and become a fossil.