Miles
Iwake up with my cock in my fist, images of Ruby’s lips wrapped around it, and the realization that I’m in deep trouble.
Even a cold shower doesn’t shake the niggling feeling in the back of my brain, so I get dressed, make myself a coffee, and wait.
When Ruby appears, padding quietly into the kitchen, all my suspicions are confirmed.
I didn’t imagine the sexual tension between us in the moments before she shut her bedroom door. It’s been slowly simmering since before the wedding, and there’s no other explanation as to why she's dressed in sweatpants, a thick, heavy sweater, and a scarf. It’s April and not that cold outside.
In contrast, I’m sitting in a T-shirt and pajama bottoms.
Rather than getting out of bed, she looks like she’s returned from an Arctic expedition.
I'm tempted to tell her not to flatter herself, but that would be a lie. She’s not flattering herself enough.
My brain and my dick are in agreement—Ruby is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. But that doesn’t mean I’ll jump her bones at the first available opportunity. I'm a gentleman, and not untoward. In fact, I'm very much toward.
“Good morning.”
She startles, rubbing sleep from her eyes, and peers at me warily. “Good morning.”
“I didn't expect to see you up quite so early after yesterday.”
“Couldn't sleep. Jet lag. Still alive, though—”
“I see that.” I lift my coffee cup and salute her achievement, and she eyes it greedily. I stand and pull one of the kitchen chairs out, gesturing for her to sit. “I’ll make you one.”
She shakes her head so hard, I get dizzy. “No, I can do it.”
I shrug and sit back down. “Suit yourself. There’s a fresh pot.”
“The bath helped,” she says, pouring out a mug. I watch as she tops it up with Jersey milk and adds two spoonfuls of sugar. “Thank you—”
“My pleasure.”
“Sorry, I didn’t come down for dinner. I crashed,” she offers, unraveling herself from her scarf. But she doesn’t meet my eyes, which only reinforces my belief that she’s avoiding me for a more compelling reason.
“No problem. I figured. The jet lag will pass. It usually takes a couple of days.”
Taking the seat I pulled out for her, we sit in silence, drinking our coffee.
And weirdly, even though it probably should be awkward, given this is our first morning together, it’s not.
I don’t know what Ruby’s living situation has been up until now, but since Max was born and Hendricks moved back to Burlington, I’ve lived alone.
I’m content alone. I’ve never liked girls staying over, but this is . . . nice.
“I probably should apologize. I think I was quite hard on you—”
“You weren’t.”
“Well, I pushed you. I need to see what you’re capable of. We don’t have long.”
She puts down her coffee mug. Leaning into the table, she glowers. “You need to push me. Don’t give me special treatment because of this.” Her hand flicks between us. “I want to make it, and I won’t if you go easy on me.”
She probably won’t believe me if I tell her I never had any intention of going easy on her. “Okay. I won’t go easy.”
“Thank you,” she replies, though not unbegrudgingly. “I know I grumbled, but yesterday was incredible. I’ve never had a lesson like that.” She purses her lips to blow the steam still rising off her coffee.
The images I woke up to loop around in my brain, and I have to shift my pajama pants.
“Good . . .” I cough, pushing away thoughts that don’t belong anywhere before breakfast, and absorb the warmth in my chest her words bring me. “That still doesn’t mean we need to go over to the yard quite so early. I thought you might like a tour of Valentine Nook.”
Her eyes widen as she considers it. “Yes, that sounds good. Maverick’s always in a bad mood if he’s woken up too early, anyway.”
I’m tempted to quip that it sounds like he takes after his mistress, but I decide she might not find my sense of humor quite as amusing as I do, especially as it’s still only eight o’clock.
Instead, I stand. “Great, let’s leave in thirty. We can get breakfast at the bakery.”
“Morning, er . . .” Claudia’s eyes flick from me to Ruby and back.
She’s confused. On the one hand, I rarely come in here for breakfast, unlike Hendricks, who’s in here all the time. But usually he’s with Max, who’s not with me right now. Since Christmas, he’s been accompanied by Story, but she’s not here either.
I give her a minute, then decide to help her out. “It’s Miles.”
“Right. It’s still hard to tell after all these years. Too early in the morning for me.” She snaps her fingers and laughs at her own joke. Turning to Ruby, she says, “That must make you—”
“Ruby,” I offer. “My wife.”
Claudia looks like she’s about to short-circuit, which I anticipated.
I’m not sure we’ll get through the whole of Valentine Nook this morning, but I made a strategic decision to start at The Beanery with Claudia, the nosiest gossip in the village—one of the reasons I rarely come in here.
I also chose the table by the largest window just to really stir the pot with anyone passing by.
If I’m lucky this morning, news of my nuptials will have spread down to Eddie at The One True Love before we get there, which will make it easier to tell him.
“Wife?” she repeats, adding a couple of slow blinks, her eyes bouncing between us. “Wife?”
My hand slides across the table until it reaches Ruby’s, and our fingers link together. “Yup. We got married last week, in private. Lando can have the big wedding.” I let out a loud laugh, making a joke I hope will curb her prying and change the subject.
Her eyes widen, as predicted. “Telling me a secret, are you, Miles?”
I run a finger over my lips and throw away the invisible key, adding a wink for good measure. “Nope.”
“Oh, you boys.” She turns to Ruby, smiling widely. “Anyway, welcome to The Beanery. What can I get you, dear?”
“Scrambled eggs, please. And a coffee.”
“That sounds good. I’ll take the same,” I add.
“You got it.”
I wait until she’s totally out of earshot, and our conversation is drowned out by the chatter of other customers. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Ruby gives me a look like she needs me to explain what just happened. I lean forward, away from prying ears. My fingers find hers again, like it's exactly where they’re supposed to be, and not just for show.
“Yesterday, everyone you met worked for me. But the village is different. People here have known me since I was a child. They’ve known my family for decades before then. They’re much more likely to be suspicious.”
“Why?”
“Because . . .” Shit, I didn’t think this through.
I’ve never been ashamed of my lifestyle choices before, but a squirmy feeling comes out of nowhere.
I’ve also never cared what people think, but Ruby isn’t people, she’s my wife.
“Let’s just say, commitment and monogamy aren’t something I’m familiar with.
I’ve always been a free agent . . . up until now. ”
Ruby regards me, mirth sparkling in her emerald eyes. “Yeah, I think one of your free agents turned up at the house yesterday morning.”
I snort. We haven’t known each other long, but I have no doubt that Ruby can handle herself. I have a ruined cashmere jumper that can attest to that. But as amusing as it is, I also feel guilty because she shouldn’t have been put in that position. And that’s my fault.
I suspect I know who it was, because I’ve been ignoring her messages for weeks about when I’m coming back to Valentine Nook. It’s why I never commit to dates or share my schedule with anyone. But they turn up anyway.
“I’m sorry that happened.”
“Don’t worry about it—”
“Do I want to know what happened?”
She shrugs. “I told her I was your wife and positioned my hand accordingly.”
I peer down to where our fingers are still looped together and notice a glaring absence next to the narrow band of diamonds.
“Where’s your ring?”
“At the house, why?”
She says it so casually, so noncommittal, that it punches my ego, and I’m slightly offended. I know she still has her other band on, but I haven’t taken mine off since the wedding. It slipped up my finger earlier and had already left an indentation.
“Why aren’t you wearing it?”
She’s about to answer when Claudia brings over our breakfast. Ruby slips her hand from mine and hides it under the table.
“Enjoy, you two lovebirds.” Claudia smiles down at us. It’s saccharine and nauseating, and I wonder how many people she’s already told.
Not that Ruby notices, she’s too busy eating already.
“Because I can’t ride in it. How will you return it if I lose it?
I’m not being on the hook for whatever it cost,” she says, and forks in a mouthful of scrambled egg.
It’s followed by a moan so indecent that I don’t register what she’s said until she takes a sip of her coffee. I also don’t understand what she means.
“Why would I return it?”
She leans forward, gesturing her fork between us, and whispers, “You know, when this is over—”
“Yeah, but I’m still not clear on why I’m returning something I gave to you.”
“Oh,” she says, with another mouthful. “Is it not real? I wasn’t sure.”
I pick up my knife and fork, only to put them down again. Is she suggesting that I’d give my wife a . . . I don’t even know what to call it? Fake, I presume.
It’s beyond insulting.
“It’s a real stone, Ruby. I don’t do fake.” My eyes skate over her freckles, the strands of auburn hair falling over her face, the rounded tip of her nose, and the delicate outline of her mouth I’m quickly becoming obsessed with. My gaze meets hers. “I don’t do fake anything.”
Her eyes flare as she catches my meaning, and I take a huge amount of enjoyment in the way her cheeks redden.
“I thought you’d want your money back.”
I shake my head. “The ring is yours. If you choose to sell it when we get our annulment, that’s up to you, but I have no intention of taking it back. It wasn’t a loan.”
She looks down at where my hand’s resting on the table, palm up. Reaching out, she runs her fingertip along the gold band I’m wearing next to my signet ring. Back and forth. I don’t know what she’s thinking, and I wait in silence until she speaks.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She bites into a piece of toast. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but did you also just throw your brother under the bus? Lando?”
“Possibly.” I wince slightly and let out a chuckle. Maybe Ruby will think it was a shitty thing to do, but to my relief, she laughs.
“Cold. Does he even have a girlfriend?”
“Yes, they’ve been together about a year. He’s definitely going to ask her soon, and that wedding will be a whole spectacle. It’ll shut the village down. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the rest of us would want something private.”
Ruby’s eyes widen. “Shut the whole village down? Why?” she adds, like it’s the most bizarre thing she’s ever heard.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a more valid answer than, “Because he’s the duke. And everyone loves a wedding.” It’s no surprise that her frown deepens even more. “You’ll understand when you meet him. He’s so pompous, unlike me.”
I don’t expect Ruby to laugh quite so hard. Hard enough that I get the impression she doesn’t agree.
“I’m not pompous.”
“Okay.”
“Hey. I’m not,” I protest again, only to be hit by a sudden bout of insecurity, which seems to be happening more and more where Ruby is concerned. “Am I?”
She shrugs. “Why do you think I didn’t like you?”
I consider her question for a moment. “I actually don’t know. I’ve never known. You seemed to hate me on the spot—”
“Because to me, you were like all the other player patrons. Rich, and a smug asshole telling me how to look after my own horse.”
My brows rise slowly. My wife certainly has a way with words. She gets to the point, and I have to admit, I like it.
“What about now?”
One shoulder jerks up, her mouth curves up one side, and I hear the amusement in her voice. “You’re growing on me.”
A laugh barrels up my throat. “That’s good to know. You’re growing on me too.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, Ruby’s cheeks flush, like there’s a weight to them, and my mind flits back to yesterday evening.
Her smile drops a little, and she sips her coffee. “So why’s it so different about people in the village believing you?”
“Because we’re going to be seen, and people will talk.”
“What people?”
My chin jerks behind her. “Claudia, for one.”
“It doesn’t sound like Claudia cares.”
I laugh, both at the idea of Claudia not caring and that Ruby’s convinced she isn’t paying any attention to us. “Don’t let her fool you. She’s probably put out an alert to the whole village by now.”
“No way—”
I lean in. “She’s the biggest gossip you’ll ever meet.”
Ruby peers around dramatically to find her. She’s standing behind the till serving a customer and looks like butter wouldn’t melt. Until she catches Ruby’s eye and waves, because it’s obvious she’s been watching us.
When Ruby turns back, she’s got a look about her I’ve only seen once before—seconds before she turned the hose on me.
“Want to give her something to gossip about?”
My head tilts. “What did you have in mind?”
Crooking her finger at me, she leans across the table. In the time it takes me to register what’s happening, she’s fisting the front of my shirt and pulling me toward her.
And our lips crash together.
This isn’t like the kiss at the wedding. For one, Ruby’s tongue is in my mouth.
It’s not a lot, just a touch, the briefest sweep against mine, but when she moves to pull away, I decide I’m not done. She might have started this game, but I’m nothing if not an active competitor.
Gripping her chin to hold her in place, I kiss her back.
As I nip her lip, she lets out a moan that zips straight down my spine.
It’s nothing scandalous, but my balls tighten.
My mind wanders to places it shouldn’t, like the feasibility of throwing her over my shoulder, taking her home, and locking the door.
I know there are eyes on us, I can feel them. I chose this table specifically for the window. But, with Ruby, I’m not an exhibitionist. I want her all to myself, in private. I want to continue this kiss, I want to experience that passion she exhibits when she’s riding.
And I want to find out what else makes her moan just. Like. That.
When we finally pull back, I stare into her glazed eyes, and just for good measure, I swipe my thumb across her bottom lip. “How d’you dislike me now?”