Chapter 10 #2
I hold my hands up.
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t aware.”
Ruby laughs at my exaggerated response, and I would laugh with her, but my daughter is now looking up at Ruby, her eyes shining.
And Ruby smiles back.
Now, I’ve seen them smile before, but this moment feels different.
There is a pause that … shit.
It hits me in the chest all too fast, and I have to clear my throat to pull myself together.
I’ve never seen Susie look at someone like that.
Like she trusts her just as much as she trusts me. The noise I make has everyone looking at me now.
“Well, how about I take these two out back for a quick game of soccer before I go.”
“Or,” Max says quickly, “we can play two against two.”
“Girls versus boys!” Susie says and sprints outside. Max follows her.
“I wish I had their energy,” Ruby says, walking into the kitchen and pouring a glass of water.
“I was attempting to give you a break. I can tell them it’s just me if you want.”
“Why?” she replies instantly. “Afraid you’ll lose?”
I chuckle and toss my head back.
“No.”
She places her lips on the glass and drinks.
Nothing about it should even faze me. People drink water every single day, and I’ve never thought twice about it.
But right now, I’m watching the way her eyes close, her head tilts slightly back, and her throat bobs with each gulp.
I step forward. I need to be near her.
She sets the cup down and looks at me.
“Are you ready?” She walks past me and out the door.
Ready for this game, yes.
Ready to keep myself under control while living with Ruby? I’m about to find out, because if the look on my daughter’s face said anything just now, it’s that whatever kind of relationship I choose to have with Ruby, I better not fuck it up.
“Why are you limping?” Luca asks.
I managed to sneak into his house and get through most of the evening without anyone noticing, but now that I’m getting up for another slice of pizza, I can’t hide it.
“Soccer mishap,” I answer, keeping it short.
“Susie?” Miles asks.
I shake my head.
“Max?” Hudson asks.
I shake my head again.
The Asher brothers share a look, then Luca laughs and asks, “Ruby?”
I nod.
“How?”
“We were playing a little two on two-on-two in the backyard before I came here. We were battling at the net, and she kicked my shin a lot harder than I would expect her to kick a ball.”
Luca doubles over in laughter while Hudson shakes his head.
Miles just stares at me. “How is that going, by the way?” he asks.
I grab another slice of pizza from the box on the table and return to my seat.
“Good. It’s only been a couple of days, but good.”
“I saw them at the beach today. Ruby, Max, and Susie,” Luca says. “They looked like they were having fun. She said you were working. That sucks.”
I nod and open my mouth to reply, but Miles beats me to it.
“Don’t take advantage of her.”
Dutton and Linc had been discussing real estate, but now their attention is on Miles and Me.
“I’m not.”
“Then why—”
“Miles, chill,” Luca cuts him off. “Ruby plans to take advantage of him, too.”
Miles’s eyes widen.
“Not that way, no. I’ll definitely be watching Max for her too. She needs a break as much as I do, and I’ll be happy to help her.”
The air in the room feels heavy.
I’ve always gotten along with the Ashers, but it feels like as of late, Miles has a new opinion of me. I don’t enjoy it.
I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m not about to sit here and argue with him.
She’s his sister and he has every right to be protective of her. I just need to find a way to show him that he doesn’t have to worry when it comes to me.
“Speaking of”—I grab my pizza and stand back up—“I should get going.”
Luca stands to see me out, but he smacks Miles on the back of the head on the way.
“Sorry about him. He’s … weird lately.”
“It’s fine. If I had a sister, I’d be the protective brother, too. I just wish he knew he doesn’t have to do that with me.”
“You’re a guy and you live with our sister. We’re programmed to be wary, especially with you.”
I laugh.
“I trust you, if it helps.” Luca grins.
“It does. Thanks.”
I limp to my truck and drive the short distance to Ruby’s house.
As soon as I walk in the house, I freeze.
I didn’t expect the kids to be asleep quite yet, but I definitely didn’t expect to see all three of them in the upstairs living room with Despicable Me on the TV, feet up and their faces covered in what looks like wet paper.
Not a single one of them turns to look at me.
“We just put one on, Dad. Do you want one?” Susie says. At least she knows I’m here.
Ruby laughs. She clearly thinks I’m going to say no.
Little does she know, I’m well versed in the life of a girl dad who’s single.
“I would love one. I’ve had a long day, and although I'm very thankful for Ruby, I could use the extra relaxation.”
“Well, come sit here,” Susie says, making me a spot next to Ruby on the couch.
She tears the package open and holds up a white mask that looks slimy as fuck.
“Lay back,” she says, pressing my head into the back of the couch, and lays the mask on my face.
It’s colder than I thought.
“You have to put your feet up,” Max says from his chair. “Really get the whole effect of a spa day at home.”
“Spa day? You’ve been doing this all night?”
“Yep! I told Ruby how you do the masks with me, but then she suggested painting our nails and toes, too. It’s been the best.”
More and more details of their entire day spill from my daughter’s lips, but my eyes remain on Ruby.
She meets my gaze, and my heart beat takes off.
Is it racing because I’m attracted to her, or because of the joy she’s given my daughter in just one day?
Shit.
I relax with my face mask, and within a half hour, both kids are fast asleep.
I pick up Susie and take her down the stairs, then I return to help Ruby clean up their spa day.
Max has gone to bed as well, and Ruby is scrubbing something on the chair.
“Everything okay?”
She looks over her shoulder.
“I knocked over Max’s chocolate milk,” she says. The entire seat of the cloth recliner is soaked.
“Looks like you got it,” I tell her as she gathers the cleaning supplies and passes me on her way into the kitchen.
“I think so, too, but you’ll have to sit on the couch.”
“For?” Did we need to add something to the rules?
“A movie.”
“Oh, are we watching one?”
Her eyes go wide. “No, no, I mean, I am, and I thought you came back up because maybe you’d want to watch something that wasn’t a kid movie, but it’s fine. I mean, you do have a TV downstairs. I shouldn’t have—”
“A movie sounds good.”
She disposes of the cleaning supplies and returns to the couch where we sit together and agree to watch Happy Gilmore.
About ten minutes into the movie, Ruby finally shifts from placing her feet flat on the ground to tucking her bent legs to the side.
I’m suddenly aware of how close she is and how, in a short amount of time, I have become less of an enemy in her eyes.
It’s exactly what I wanted and is in no way a reason for my mind to wonder how I want to touch her right now, even if it’s just shoulder-to-shoulder contact.
I clear my throat.
“Need anything to drink?” I ask her.
“Oh, maybe just water.”
“You got it.”
I make two glasses of ice water and return.
Only this time I sit down closer to her.
So fucking close that our arms touch.
And get this.
She doesn’t even flinch.
Fuck.
Why am I suddenly nervous?
This is Ruby.
I know her.
Happy is doing his thing on the screen and Ruby is cool as a cucumber and I’m not. I’m sitting here trying to talk myself out of hitting on her.
Her brother clearly doesn’t trust me now that I live here and Susie is getting attached.
Both are valid reasons why this should not be a thing.
She reaches her arm across her body, and I flinch.
She looks at me.
“Are you good?”
“Yep.”
She grabs the blanket she keeps over the arm of the sofa and covers her body.
“Are you cold?” she asks.
I’m fucking sweating, Ruby.
“A little,” I say, and she extends the blanket.
What am I doing?
Is this high school?
Am I just going to slip my hand under the blanket and finger her as if we have to hide it from our parents?
Shit.
I need to go downstairs.
Now.
Ruby rearranges her position once more, and this time, her legs drop to rest on mine.
“Oh, sorry,” she says and starts to move again.
“It’s okay.” I put my hands on her legs to stop her. “You had a busy day. If this is relaxing for you, do it.”
Her eyes meet mine for a beat too long before she looks at the TV again.
She shifts again and takes a deep breath.
My thumb instinctively starts to rub back and forth on the bare skin of her calf. She doesn’t tell me to stop, so I add a little pressure, and she moans.
It’s soft, and if I hadn’t been in tune with her, I would have missed it.
Still, the sound makes my cock jump, and I close my eyes, but I don’t stop rubbing her legs.
After a moment, she stretches her legs out, placing one on top of the other, and grins at me.
“You can’t just do one leg.”
I let out a chuckle and start massaging the other leg.
Every now and then, she makes a little noise, and it only makes me harder. Sexual or not, it turns me on to make her feel this good.
Suddenly, she sits up, grabs her water, and starts chugging.
“I should go to bed,” she says and then stands. She turns to step over my legs, which are propped up on the table, but she gets snagged on the blanket and falls into my lap with one leg on either side of mine.
I grip her hips to steady her before she lands on my erection, but I’m not fast enough.
Her eyes go wide when she feels me.
My heart pounds. I’m pretty sure I just fucked up this arrangement. She’s clearly about to run. An apology springs to my lips.
But then she sits on me.
Her warm core pressed right against my cock.
Her eyes close, and I finally let myself breathe.
Her hands come to rest on my shoulders, but other than that, she doesn’t move.
She doesn’t say a word and neither do I, but she grinds into me, and one of her hands strokes up my face, cups my cheek.
I keep my hands at her sides and guide her.
I grow harder each time she rocks her body and with each pant she lets out in my ear.
“Dad, are you up here?” Susie’s voice sails up the stairs, and Ruby leaps off me.
“Yeah, honey, what’s wrong?” I say, marching for the steps to tend to my daughter.
She rushes into my arms, and as I retreat down the steps to put her back to sleep, I glance at the stairs that lead to Ruby’s room.
She’s gone.