Chapter 46
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
The. Only. Girl.
Ryker
I’d barely been alone for thirty seconds before this girl was stalking my way. I’d felt her watching me all night, even when I had Ruby against my chest.
Did I look like a guy willing to mess around when I was clearly here with someone? Because I wasn’t. Never in a million fucking years – especially not to Ruby.
“You’re Ryker Richardson,” she said, her lips curling around the straw in her drink.
I frowned. “How do you–”
“My cousin goes to Phil-U. I went to one of your games when I was visiting.” She tilted her head, pouting playfully. “I DMed you while I was in town, but I never heard back.”
I shrugged. “Didn’t see it.”
My unread DM count was in the thousands. Ruby couldn’t even look at my phone nowadays. She said my notifications stressed her out.
“Too bad. I could’ve shown you a good time.”
The incessant noise coming from the DJ muffled my groan. What did I say back to that without sounding like a total dick? I didn’t want to be an asshole here, but I did want this girl to scram.
“Now that you’re in my territory,” she continued, either not picking up on my disinterest or not caring. “I could show you an even better time.”
“I’m here with someone.”
“The blonde? She could join us.”
“Definitely not.”
“She’s not into it?”
I doubted Ruby would be, but that wasn’t even in my top ten reasons for not being interested.
“I wouldn’t want to share her.”
The girl’s eyes glimmered. “It’s hot how possessive you are. But why don’t you let her decide? Maybe she’d like what I could do to her.”
“Let me decide what?” Ruby asked, appearing at my side.
Her cheeks were flushed. Whether that was due to the stuffy club or anger from having overheard this conversation, I wasn’t sure. I reached for her slowly, testing the waters. To my relief, she leaned in without hesitation, settling back into the familiar curve of my chest.
I loved how she felt there. I’d missed her while she was getting a drink – and yes, I was well aware of how pathetic that made me sound.
The girl turned her attention to Ruby. “I was suggesting to your man that the three of us should get out of here... together. Rumour has it your date’s already dipped his toes in that pool.”
Fuck me. This girl had approximately fifteen seconds before I dropped the polite act and told her to fuck right off.
Ruby’s blonde hair tickled my chest as she peered up at me, her innocent eyes wide. “Do you want to?”
“What? Of course I fucking don’t. I’d love to get out of here, but just with you.” I leaned in, my voice low against Ruby’s ear. “You’re the only girl I want, Ruby Wilson. The. Only. Girl.”
Judging by her shudder, I’d just said the right thing.
With her shoulders squared, Ruby faced the girl. “No thanks.”
The girl teasingly sulked. “But–”
“We said no.”
The girl stared at us, her mouth agape, like she couldn’t believe we’d turned her down. Looking her over, it was clear she was the type of girl who got everything and anyone she wanted. If we were back at Phil-U, the guys would be all over her.
When it became clear she wasn’t budging, Ruby reached for my hand with an annoyed sigh. “We’ll go then.”
She led me through the club, weaving among the many bodies on the dance floor and passing the bar with a ridiculously long line. I’d assumed she was taking us to the exit, but before we reached it, she nudged open the door to a fire escape and pulled us into the stairwell.
Before my eyes could adjust to the fluorescent lighting – a sudden change from the dingy club – Ruby was on me, her lips pressed to mine.
The swell of her breasts flattened against my chest as she spun us around until I had her backed against the door. Whatever excuse she had for a bra must be non-existent, because even through the layers between us, I could feel every curve and trace of heat.
She widened her legs, encouraging me to put my thigh between them. When I did, she immediately started grinding against my jeans.
The hem of the short dress she was wearing rose, giving a glimpse to what was beneath. Her lacy white panties were a stark contrast to the dark denim of my jeans – and fuck, I had to know if the bra matched.
I tugged down the neckline of her dress so I could solve the case. Bingo. Like the underwear, the white lace was basically transparent. I glimpsed a preview of her hardening nipples through the lack of fabric.
I was conscious we were in a stairwell, with countless doors that anyone could burst through, but my dick logic won out. I roughly shoved the bra aside and traced her nipple with my thumb.
Ruby threw her head back, resting it against the door. Her chest was heaving up and down, her breasts rising and falling.
One of her feet had lifted off the floor, leaving her partially seated on me – like I was a rollercoaster she was eager to ride, and my thigh was the main attraction.
I knew I could get her off like this. I could see the moisture pooling in her lack of underwear, and her aroused nipples also told me as much.
But I was very aware that this place wasn’t even remotely private, and the thought of someone walking in and seeing Ruby like this was enough for me to see red.
“Rubz,” I whispered, breaking off the kiss. “Let’s get an Uber.”
She shook her head. “No. I want you here and now.”
Her hands reached forward, expertly undoing my belt buckle before swiftly tugging down the zipper on my jeans. When she reached inside and grabbed my aching cock, I almost forgot about my trepidations, but a door slamming closed nearby snapped me back to some semblance of reality.
“Come on, Rubz. Let’s do this somewhere we won’t be interrupted.”
She sighed. “Fine. I saw a coat closest when we walked in that–”
“Or we could just go back to your place,” I suggested.
She continued to pump my cock, as if she hadn’t heard me. “I’m making an effort to be spontaneous, Wheels. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of sleeping with you ever since you had your head between my legs. I’m ready to get it over with.”
“Get it over with?”
“Yeah. Like ripping off a Band-Aid.”
I frowned. “I don’t want the first time we sleep together to be in some dirty stairwell.”
“Gretchen told me you slept with her friend in the alley behind Lastlings.”
“Okay? And we’re comparing her and us because...?”
“Because I’m not Kitty Banks or Giselle Sterling or Sienna Davis or Gretchen Huntington,” Ruby burst out, her eyes widening in frustration.
“I’ve only been with one other guy – a guy whose likes, dislikes, and stance on ass stuff I knew.
And while I generally don’t have sex standing on my head or with my ankles hooked behind my neck like your thousand previous hookups were probably into, I can still be spontaneous.
I’m not a total hack when it comes to sex. ”
Um, okay?
There was clearly more going on than I realised. This was about mine and Ruby’s pasts, and how incompatible they were.
Summoning all my willpower, I gently lowered both of Ruby’s feet to the ground and then put some distance between us. The space caused her hand to fall off my dick. It was screaming at me for being my own cockblock, but it’d have to remain patient. Ruby and I needed to talk first.
“What do you think this is, Ruby?”
“Sex,” she answered. “Something you happen to be insanely experienced at.”
“So this...” I gestured around the stairwell. “This is because you think the thought of having sex in a bed isn’t thrilling enough for me?”
Ruby nodded without pause, which wasn’t the answer I was hoping for.
“So back inside the club,” I went on. “If I’d said I wanted to have a threesome with that girl, you would’ve gone along with it?”
With her lips parted, Ruby nodded once more. She looked so fucking hot right now, with her dress bunched up so that her lingerie peeked through, but I was too mad to let it distract me.
“What the fuck, Ruby! How the hell could you think that? You know me.”
“I know you as a friend, Ryker. As for your sex life, I’m going on the stories Gretchen told me and the knowledge that you have threesomes–”
“Had one,” I clarified. “Besides, what we’ve each done in the past has nothing to do with what you and I do now.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Okay, Wheels.”
I stepped closer to her, forcing her to tilt back her head to maintain eye contact.
“I mean it, Ruby. Do you not realise your past scares me?”
She shrunk a little, seeming taken aback. “How?”
“You loved the last guy you were with. I’m just some casual fun and–”
I trailed off when a sudden gust of wind swept through the stairwell, as if a door to outside was open somewhere. It was fucking freezing in here. Though despite the chill, Ruby’s cheeks were still particularly rosy.
“Are you drunk?” I checked.
She shrugged. “A little bit.”
Shit. I’d almost missed it and fucked her anyway. I wanted her way too badly to see clearly. Logic was never going to prevail when it came to my desire for Ruby.
I sighed. “Let’s get out of here. We’ll finish this conversation in the Uber.”
Only we didn’t. Because the second the car pulled away from the curb, Ruby passed out in my lap.