Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
R uby sat perched on the edge of her bed, still dressed except for her bare feet.
Tension radiated from her body. She looked tired, her eye make-up smudged around the edges, but the idea of either of them sleeping right now was laughable.
She still hadn’t totally forgiven him, and he was wound too tight after thinking about it all evening.
About Ruby in his lap.
About her teeth biting his lip.
The night air was thick, expectant. Rafe’s lungs felt tight.
Silence hung between them as heavy as the humidity.
He stood stupidly in the middle of her room, unsure of what to do next.
He always slept as a wolf around Ruby but now she looked up at him with big, dark eyes and he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Will you stay?” she asked. “I mean stay as you are?”
“Yes.” His voice was a raspy whisper. He crossed the room in two strides and dropped to his knees in front of her.
She opened her thighs and made space for him to come closer.
He let his hands fall to her hips, longing to squeeze the flesh under her skirt.
She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends until pinpricks of pain tingled against his scalp.
Ruby’s body was a thing of tortuous dreams.
She was built to torment him—her small hands on his shoulders, her cinnamon scent bathing everything around them, her blood-red smile as he leaned toward her, pulled in by her every time. Ruby, Ruby, Ruby. Her name was the only thought in his head.
“Maybe we just need to…” The words were out of his mouth before he could think better of it. Ruby’s eyes widened, her cheeks flushing darker pink.
“We need to what, Rafe?”
He shook his head and Ruby’s smile turned wicked. “What do we need to do?”
“I can’t think of anything else,” he growled. “You’re all I think about all fucking day.”
“Oh yeah?” She raised a taunting brow. “What do you think about?”
“This skirt.” He glared at the offending item of clothing where it draped over Ruby’s legs, barely covering her. “And these fucking tights.”
Ruby’s laugh was a low rumble.
“So, take them off,” she purred. “If you hate them so much.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them, Ruby was watching him, daring him.
Fuck me .
He reached under her skirt, finding the top of those tights, sliding his fingers under the band while Ruby never took her eyes off of him.
He slid them down over the curve of her ass.
Ruby lifted so he could peel them down, over her thighs revealing so much creamy white skin.
When he got to her knees, he couldn’t help but lean down to kiss that little hole, the one that drove him to distraction.
Ruby whimpered.
He pulled the tights off the rest of the way and settled Ruby’s legs on either side of him again. He ran his hands up under her skirt, letting his thumb settle in the crease between her thigh and hip, his fingers wrapping around to her ass, squeezing.
Ruby’s lips hung open in a shocked “O” shape that Rafe would remember for the rest of his life.
“That’s better,” he said.
“Christ,” she breathed.
He moved his hand from her hip to the side of her face, cupping her jaw, allowing his fingers to burrow into her hair. Soft. So fucking soft. She leaned closer, close enough to taste.
And he could have her. Just this once. Just to get rid of this need that wouldn’t stop clawing at his insides, demanding to be released.
Her scent wrapped around his throat like a vice and squeezed. He was an idiot to think he could ever get her out of his system. There would be no getting Ruby out of his system.
But maybe she could get him out of hers. She could live out whatever fantasy she had about fucking a monster and be done with it. With him.
Rafe ignored the shards of glass in his throat as he swallowed that thought.
She met his gaze and the full force of her struck him in the chest like a goddamn lightning bolt. He was so fucked.
He leaned in, their faces so close now her breath fanned across his lips. “Do you want this?” he asked, his voice like gravel.
She nodded, her eyes on his.
“Say it,” he growled.
“I want this.” Her voice was breathless but steady, sure. “I want you.”
It was too much. He slammed his lips down on hers and stole the words from her mouth. She doesn’t want me. She wants the idea of me. She wants the monster in the dark. So that’s what he’d give her.
He devoured her mouth, biting and sucking and teasing until her moans filled her tiny bedroom.
His fingers dug into her hips, holding her in place even as she tried to rub against him.
He kissed down the long column of her neck, letting his teeth scrape against her sensitive skin. She shivered beneath his touch.
Rafe pulled his mouth away for long enough to pull the tank top over her head revealing the black bra beneath.
Her full tits spilled over the top of the cups and a groan tore from Rafe’s lips.
She was fucking edible. He traced her curves with his tongue, dipping beneath the fabric.
When his tongue grazed her nipple, she gasped and arched toward him.
Her fingers were tangled in his hair, pulling him closer.
He huffed against her overheated skin.
“Please,” she whispered. “Rafe, please.”
It wasn’t Rafe’s particular kink, to hear a woman beg, but goddamn, that word from Ruby’s mouth set fire to his blood. He unhooked the bra with a flick of his fingers. Ruby’s eyes met his in surprise.
He couldn’t help the smile on his face. “Good with my hands.”
Ruby’s laugh tumbled out of her, low and bright, filling Rafe in ways he didn’t want to think about.
Not now. Not with Ruby half naked and smiling in front of him.
He reached up and gently undid the knot of her hair, letting it tumble down her back.
He ran his fingers through it and Ruby closed her eyes on a sigh.
“That feels so good,” she breathed, and Rafe wanted to do things that made her feel good over and over.
Little things, big?things, all the things.
He leaned forward and took her nipple in his mouth.
He swirled his tongue around it, savoring the hitch in Ruby’s breathing.
He sucked hard and she moaned low in her throat, the vibration shooting straight to Rafe’s cock.
Ruby’s thighs fell wider apart, and she wrapped her legs around his torso.
Her heels digging into his lower back kept him anchored in the moment.
He licked and sucked at each breast and everything he’d been worried about for weeks fell away.
Nothing else existed except for Ruby’s lush body wrapped around him and her sighs and moans filling him and his name falling from her lips.
“Rafe.” She tugged at his hair, pulling him away. Her cheeks were pink and sweat dampened her hair line. Little curls had formed around her face. He’d left marks on her breasts and almost felt bad about it, but he liked seeing them there.
“I need you.” She said the words while she held his stare, her chest heaving with every breath.
Rafe blinked, the world coming back into focus. I need you. Those words. The look on Ruby’s face.
Rafe put a hand up Ruby’s skirt and tugged her underwear down over her ass. She wiggled out of them and reached for her skirt.
“Leave it on,” he growled, running his hands up her thighs, spreading her wider.
He sat back on his heels to admire the view.
He ran a hand up her leg until he reached her center.
She stilled, her breath catching. He palmed her thigh and let his thumb brush against her folds.
She bucked, her hips meeting his hand involuntarily.
Ruby leaned back on her elbows, staring down at him, eyes glazed over with lust. She was so wet. He held her legs open with one hand and explored her with the other. His fingers traced over her, learning where she liked to be touched, watching for every intake of breath, every moan and whimper.
He could do this all night. All week. For the rest of his fucking life.
No, that’s not what this is.
He was on his knees again, kissing, nipping and biting, loving how Ruby responded to every little spark of pain against the pleasure. The wolf inside him growled low with desire, with the need to claim her.
But Rafe wasn’t a wolf right now. He was a human.
He ran his tongue through Ruby’s wetness and his world fractured.
Human. He was human. He couldn’t hold on to it.
To that thought. To his humanity. This taste.
Ruby’s taste. It was everything. He licked her again and again, broad and flat and then teasing and swirling.
Over and over until Ruby was grinding against his face, her scent and her taste nearly suffocating him.
He’d never felt anything like it in his life, and as Ruby came against his tongue, trembling and screaming his name, he knew why. The realization stole his breath, stole his senses. It couldn’t be.
He stared up at Ruby while she trembled through the aftershocks, her hair streaming down her back like night itself, her lips red from kissing him not from her lipstick. And he knew.
Ruby was his Mate.