20. Ruth
Chapter twenty
Ruth
Unknown number:
Blocking me won’t do any good. Last chance to speak with me about your future. I know who got you your job with Kiss-Met. And I know they lied about your resume. Talk to me or I’ll be making a call to Janice.
Ruth
I dropped my phone onto my bed with shaking hands. Vaughn again. I’d blocked his number days ago, but that clearly hadn’t stopped him. I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see a face in my bedroom window. Instead, the setting sunlight filtered through the closed blinds, escaping the white stripes in bands of deep gold. My reflection in the floor-length mirror stared back at me with wide, terrified eyes that were ringed with shadows. I’d dressed in the only formal dress I owned, and it fell in gentle flutters from my waist to mid-thigh. The baby blue dress had been made with soft chiffon layers and an off-the-shoulder neckline that accentuated my cleavage.
But I didn’t look sweet and innocent like I’d hoped when I’d bought the dress last year. I looked scared. I felt vulnerable. I didn’t know what Vaughn’s plan was, here, but I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach about it. His last text had more or less declared his intent to blackmail me. But he couldn’t force me to sign a five-year contract… could he?
A knock at my front door made me jump. My heart clenched so hard, I imagined it wringing all the blood from my body out of it like a sponge. I put a hand to my chest, and as my heart thudded away at an uneven tempo, I tried to force it to calm down. It was just Cal. He was here to take me to the award ceremony.
“It’s not Vaughn,” I whispered to myself, bending over to slip the backs of my strappy heels over my ankles and make my way through my tiny apartment to the front door connected to the kitchen area. “Be chill.”
I opened the front door, and Cal nearly blinded me with his perfection. The golden hour glow behind him highlighted the burnished red in his side-swept hair, and it added a soft tint to his skin that made him look like Adonis come to life. He’d dressed in a simple black suit and white shirt with a gray-striped tie, and the entire ensemble pulled at his muscular frame like it was begging for mercy. I gaped. “Hey.”
Cal’s mouth quirked to the side like he knew I was ogling. And then his gaze softened as his Irish green eyes roved from my springy hair down my dress and to my shoes. His lips separated, and there was a beat of silence before he found my questioning look and said, “You look incredible.”
I fought a smile. “So do you.”
“That’s it,” he said, reaching out to take my hand in his. “I’m winning this award next year so I can see you in that dress again.”
I laughed. “Make sure you mention that as the reason when you give your acceptance speech.”
Cal led me through the doorway, closing the door behind me, and I fished my keys out of my black clutch. He looped his arm around my waist from behind, bending down to skate his lips along the slope of my exposed shoulder. “But if I do that, then they’ll all see how beautiful you are.”
I almost dropped my keys as a shiver rippled down my arms to my fingertips. “I really don’t think you’re in danger… of…” I trailed off as my mind scattered like a collection of dropped pins. I lost my train of thought and the key stalled, hovering just before the deadbolt lock.
Cal reached around me, and grasping my fingers, he fed the key into the lock. With a soft shuck , he twisted it into a locked position. His breath tickled my neck as he whispered, “I assure you, Shortstop. I’m very much in danger, here.”
I leaned against him, releasing a shivering breath. I’m in a shit ton of trouble. How am I supposed to keep my calm around this man? I angled my neck to give him easier access. He licked my pulse point before kissing it softly, and I almost melted into a puddle. I struggled to find something—anything—rational to say to Cal. “We…” I stalled again, breathing hard as his left hand skated up my ribs. “We’re mostly in danger of being… late.”
Cal laughed against my throat, moving his lips to my ear where he nipped at the sensitive shell. “It’s not even my award.”
I smiled. “Are you saying you want to stay?”
He groaned, and his whole body seemed to sag as he stepped away from me. “No. We should go.”
I turned and patted his chest. “Probably the adult choice to make.”
His eyes darkened as he skimmed his fingers down the slopes of my shoulders again. “I can think of a whole lot of other ‘adult choices’ I’d prefer to be doing right now.”
My lips twitched, and I volleyed a look from his lips to his eyes. “Oh yeah? What kinds?”
Cal’s smile turned roguish as he took my hand in his again and led me to his parked car. “Are we having the kink discussion already? On the second date?”
I frowned, thinking. “Second date?”
“Parents,” Cal said, flicking out one finger. “Award ceremony,” he finished, adding his second finger.
My jaw froze up. Stiffly, I asked, “Wait… I had sex with you, and it wasn’t even a date?”
“You are an incorrigible hussy, Dr. Coldwell. I hate to break it to you.”
“I wonder what a corrigible hussy would look like,” I mused.
Cal laughed, and as we reached his car, he opened the passenger side door for me. But before I could get in, he swept me against the hard plane of his body before bending down to kiss me softly. His lips moved against mine, unhurried and warm, like he was ready to spend the rest of the night exploring every nuance of our kisses. When he pulled away, he whispered, “I wouldn’t dream of reforming any part of you. You’re perfect just the way you are.”
My heart burst like a chattering of starlings. “So are you,” I whispered back.
Smiling slightly, Cal gave me one more kiss on my cheekbone. “See? We are a perfect match. Although, you might disagree once you see what I have planned for our ride.”
“Should I be worried?” I asked archly.
Cal went around to his side of the car with a sly, silent look. He’d parked close to my building, and although there were cars in every parking space, there were no residents milling around at this hour. The dusky sunset bathed the car’s white interior in a brassy shimmer, and as Cal got into his seat and closed his door, I let myself bask in the summer glow. Cal turned to me, and the waning sun streaked across his strong features like refracted amber. “Are you ready to play a game?”
With you? Anything. Especially if you look at me that way while we play. “I suppose that depends on the game,” I said with a dubious eye squint.
“You’re guaranteed to win,” Cal grinned.
“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all. ”
Cal chuckled but said no more about it until we were out of Eugene and taking the ramp up to the interstate. Finally, he asked, “What do you have on under that skirt, Shortstop?”
I rounded a silently surprised expression his way. “Pardon?”
As he accelerated on the highway, Cal leaned over and tapped the glove compartment in front of my knees. “It’ll matter when you open that and see what I have planned for our evening.”
Still skeptical, I hooked one finger under the compartment latch and popped it open. A small, black case with a zipper around the edge sat in the drawer innocently. I picked it up and kneed the compartment closed. “What’s this?”
“See for yourself.”
With another side-bounce of my eyes toward affable Cal, I unzipped the cloth and plastic box that was perhaps the size of an old CD case. When I flipped back the top, a discreet, black object made of soft silicone sat in a padded compartment, and next to it, what looked like a silver remote. I rotated a half-lidded look toward Cal like a demonic doll. “What.”
Cal’s teeth flashed white in the golden hour light that streamed through the windshield. “It’s just that I want to see how long you can hold out. Since you take forever and all.”
“Oh my God.” I glanced back down at the vibrator and its remote. “I never should have told you that.”
“Probably not,” he agreed, still smiling.
I bopped a look between the vibrator toy and him again. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am serious,” he said, sobering comically. “I’ll be very upset if you don’t slip that in your pussy, Ruth.”
“But on the way to an awards ceremony?” I asked, my voice trilling up an octave.
“And during,” he said seriously.
“Oh, no.” I closed the lid of the case firmly. “No way.”
“Ruth,” Cal said, and his voice took on a low warning hum. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
“I…” I paused, thinking. Was I? “I think I’m hesitating because it’s unusual. But I’m not afraid.”
“Of course not. And you wouldn’t deny me a game just because you think it’s unusual, right?” Cal slid a fast glance my way before returning his eyes to the road.
“N… no.” I said at last. “I guess I wouldn’t.”
“Are you a tiny bit curious?” he pressed, his lips hovering on the edge of a smile.
I bit my bottom lip. “I… suppose.”
“Then put that in your pussy like a good girl and let me play with you.”
I squeezed my legs together in response. His voice slipped through me, wrapping around my RNA and embedding itself in my being. I couldn’t part myself from my desire for him, and the realization rushed through me like the thrill before a skydive. I was falling for this man, and there was no backtracking from it. I gave him a heated look, eyes on his profile as I flicked open the case. “Would you, by any chance, like the remote after I do?”
A slow, satisfied smile lifted his cheeks. “You might even say I’d demand it, Shortstop. ”
I pulled in a silent, steadying breath as I lifted the egg-shaped vibrator from its padding. It had a flexible ring on the end for ease of retrieval, I assumed. “Please don’t wreck this car while I do this, Cal.”
“Oh, I’m not the one in danger of losing focus,” he grinned.
The silicone felt soft as suede, but slick, and it had a little blue light on the side that had already been turned on. With an unsure glance at Cal, I spread my knees apart and angled my hips up. Cal glanced down and then back to the road. “On second thought, maybe I am in danger. Shit, you look good.”
I indulged in a coy look his way and then I slipped the egg between my legs. I had to maneuver my lace panties aside, but then it was at my entrance where moisture had already collected just from the mere suggestion that I would be playing a game like this with Cal. I pushed it inside of my suddenly aching center, and it slipped in easily before I squirmed and settled it comfortably. It was just large enough to not fall out, but not so big that I would be bothered by it constantly. In fact, I could see myself forgetting it was even there. Just in case, I tugged on the little silicone ring to make sure it was snug.
I unclipped the flat, oval remote from the case and handed it to Cal with a skeptical look. “What is your plan, here?”
Cal clicked the remote button. Buzzing filled my sensitive center, trilling against the nerves that connected to my clit and filling me with a need so intense, I gasped. My palms slapped onto my thighs, and I clenched tight, gripping my legs and tensing upright. “Oh fuck. ”
Cal hit the button again, stopping the vibrator, and he looked very much like the cat who’d caught the mouse. “Plan? There’s no plan, Shortstop. I play, you win.”
I relaxed with a huff. “That was shockingly intense. What’s in this thing?”
“Orgasms,” Cal responded with a meaningful look my way. “Good ones.”
Our GPS map said that the drive from Eugene to Portland would take two hours. It felt like twenty years.
Cal teased me relentlessly, pressing the button to turn on the vibrator at random times that I least expected. He would go ten, fifteen, sometimes twenty minutes between rounds—enough that I almost forgot we were “playing.” It caught me off guard every time, even though I knew he had a remote and I knew he would fill my aching, drenched pussy with vibrations that tore at my sanity, I still jumped when it happened. Then he would turn it off, not even stopping his conversation to react to my gasps and moans.
At one point, he kept the damn thing on for a full minute, and I had to brace myself against the door and the back of the seat to keep from launching myself through the car roof. By the time we were ten minutes out from our destination, I’d covered his leather seat in moisture, and my lace panties were ruined. And I still hadn’t had an orgasm. Because the second I got close, the moment, I rocked my hips and my head fell back, Cal would stop the fucking thing. It was driving me absolutely insane.
“Cal,” I panted after he turned it off for the millionth time. Had we been in this car for eons? Did this trip even have an end? If there wasn’t an orgasm at the end of this car ride, I was going to lose my shit.
“Yes?” he asked calmly. We were in traffic at the heart of Portland, and he leaned his cheek on the fist that had the remote clasped loosely between his fingers. He pressed the button twice.
The vibrator buzzed to life, and I clenched around it, leaping straight toward an orgasm that I was certain would rip me in half like a Valentine’s paper heart. “Cal!” I screeched.
He turned it off, grinning devilishly. “This is literally the most fun I’ve had in years.”
“You are evil,” I puffed, sagging against the seat.
“Oh, come on now,” he replied mildly, returning his attention to the road as the light turned green. “I have a feeling you’ll change that sentiment in—” he glanced at the GPS on his phone. “—nine minutes.”
“What’s in nine minutes?” I panted. My legs were sore. My pussy was sore. My entire soul had been shredded and diced and minced into a souffle of burning need.
“Call it a checkpoint,” he mused. His thumb traced the outline of the button, and I watched it intensely. I wasn’t sure if it was because I wanted him to press it or if it was because I dreaded it.
“This might be my villain origin story,” I groaned, squirming in my seat and squeezing my thighs together.
“Hm, you would look really good in spandex,” Cal agreed. He took a right turn, weaving slowly through traffic, and although I watched his thumb and that damn remote closely, he didn’t press it again. I knew it was coming, but I forced myself to relax anyway, looking out the window at the traffic as we made our way to the event center.
“Remind me, in what way do I win this game?” I fanned my face, slowly releasing all my bunched-up muscles that had gone tension-wire taut in the last two hours.
“You’re not enjoying this?” Cal asked. “I’m enjoying this.” We went down a decline into a parking garage, and the shade engulfed us, cooling some of the heat on my skin.
I glared. “You know very well that I am both enjoying it and two seconds away from ripping this thing out.”
Cal pressed the button three times, and the vibrator ratcheted to a level that made me spring off the chair. “Oh my fucking God.”
“I doubt He’s listening to this, love.” Cal brought the car around to the back of the parking garage, pulling into a spot against the wall. “But keep praying. I love the way your pleading sounds.”
He still hadn’t turned the damn thing off, and I felt my core tighten and twist, clenching so hard, I was certain I would shatter into a thousand shards of ecstasy. “Cal,” I sang in high-pitched soprano.
Cal turned the engine off, and with a calm, utterly conceited smile, he patted the generously sized middle console. “Lie back on this with your feet on the back seats.” The console was made of black leather and smooth, but far too small for me to lay on. Or so I thought. But Cal was already exiting the car and sliding into the back seat, and with my nerves firing off like jackhammers, I undid my seatbelt and lifted myself onto my knees.
“I don’t know about this.” I drummed my fingers on the headrest as I watched Cal in his slick suit sit in the middle seat and spread his legs out comfortably. “I can’t f-fit—”
Cal pressed the button again, and this time, the vibrator started an off-beat, maddening rhythm that threatened to rip out my sanity and stomp all over its remains. “Legs here, Shortstop. Tick, tock, you’re wasting precious time.”
“Oh,” I groaned, but my legs had begun to shake, and sweat gathered at my neckline as the car slowly warmed in the shadowed parking garage. I maneuvered myself to the middle console, and to my surprise, as I threaded my feet through the opening and put them between Cal’s, I found that I could actually rest my back along the smooth leather. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’d ever done, but next to the torture this vibrating egg was inflicting on my pussy, I was ready to put myself on a rack if it would end the sensation .
Cal lifted my hips, and then I realized why he had wanted me here. It gave him perfect access. He placed my feet on either side of his thighs, and although I had to lift my hips and support my weight by holding onto the bars of each headrest on the front seats, I was comfortably, fully open for him. He swished my sky-blue skirt up to my waist, baring my drenched white lace panties before running his fingers along the top hem. The egg continued that relentless, merciless beat inside of me, pulsing me close to the top of an orgasm but denying me true release.
Panting, I let my head fall back. “Please, Cal.”
Cal’s fingers smoothed down the wet crease between my legs. “How can I rush when you look so fucking delicious? Hearing those sounds you made on the drive up, watching you squirm,” he smoothed his fingers over my sensitive, aching flesh, and the layer of lace between us made me irrationally angry. “It was a different kind of torture for me.”
I tilted my hips. “I can’t believe I’m begging you to fuck me in your car.”
“I can,” he grinned impishly. “You’re a dirty little scientist, Coldwell. And I knew you’d be interested in an experiment.” Cal’s hands migrated to my hips, slipping under the thin fabric of my panties until he grasped the strips at my hips and ripped. He tore the ruined underwear away.
I gasped, lifting my head. “Did you just—?”
Cal arched one dark eyebrow. “Were you saving those sopping wet panties for something?”
“No,” I groaned. The vibrator tapped against my G-spot, igniting a fire of need with every pulse and buzz. “Take the underwear, my dress—whatever you want. Just please, Cal.”
“God, I love the sound of that,” he grated out, his voice rough and low. He smoothed his hands down my hips, around my thighs, and back to the apex of my pleasure. He ran his fingers through the slick folds with one hand while the other cocked my leg out far and supported my ass.
When he slid to his knees and lifted my hips higher, I sucked in a harsh breath. “No way. You can’t—I’m… there’s fluid.”
“Fluid,” Cal chuckled. “Only you would say that.” He adjusted his position, scooting me back and bringing his mouth between my legs. I fought for only a second, but then my knees were on his shoulders, his hands were under my ass, and I found myself tipped all the way back with my head bumping the gear shift and his breath puffing cool and soothing over my pussy. “I can, and I will, Shortstop. Now shut up and come for me.”
His tongue swept a slow, luxurious path from my aching center to the bundle of nerves that screeched for release. When he pressed the tip of his tongue against my clit, I was fairly sure I saw heaven. White and blue and bright yellow burst behind my closed eyes like a kaleidoscope of pleasure, and I moaned loudly, my arms bracing against the seats.
I needed more. I needed him to do that again because the symphony of the percussive torture deep inside of me combined with the pressure from his tongue was going to crescendo into something blissfully sweet.
Cal hummed against my sensitive skin, scraping his teeth against my clit and giving me a streak of pain and pleasure. “You taste fucking fantastic.”
“Then eat me like you mean it,” I growled out in frustration.
I felt his laugh against my pussy, and then he sucked me into his mouth. I gasped, tightening every muscle from my torso to my toes, and then all the air left my lungs in a whoosh. “Oh my God,” I cried out.
Cal stopped and licked back down to where the vibrator thrummed inside of me. “Good girl, Ruth. You’re almost there.”
I couldn’t form coherent words anymore. They garbled out of me, unintelligible and full of begging nonsense. Cal circled my entrance with his tongue before sliding back up to my pulsing clit. When he pulled me into his mouth again, I felt and heard the click, click, click of the remote he had in his hand against my ass.
The vibrator went crazy. It stopped its staccato rhythm and revved up to an unimaginably strong buzz that electrified me from the inside out. I screamed, and like it had been wrenched from my soul, I gave myself over to the orgasm that had built so strongly, it went off like a nuclear bomb. Stars and colors and sparks burst behind my eyes just as my center splintered into shards of ecstasy. And while I shook and broke, Cal held me firm in his hands, sucking softer and easing away from my clit so I came long and slow. He turned off the vibrator then, and I almost mourned the loss of it. Then again, I was so drained of energy and feeling, I was surprised I’d noticed .
He lowered me slowly, slipping his hands up to my back and then pulling me upright so I straddled him on the back seat of the car. With my heart still galloping in my chest, I leaned my forearms on his shoulders and rested my forehead against his. “That… was…”
“Fucking gorgeous,” he whispered. His hands came up to bracket my face, and he lifted me away just enough that I could catch his shadowed gaze. “Stunning, in fact. Ruth, you are… you are honestly perfection. In every way.”
I stared back at him in wonder. “You don’t really mean that.”
“I do.” His voice, although soft and ardent, filled the quiet space and left room for nothing else. “I have never held a more perfect woman in my arms.”
I scraped my nails along his jaw, holding his vibrant gaze. I licked my lips uncertainly. “Can I tell you something?”
“Anything.” His eyes softened with a hint of concern.
I focused on my fingers as they followed the sharp angle of his jaw to his neck. “I feel safe with you.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his fingers tightened almost imperceptibly, still framing my face. It wasn’t until I brought my eyes back to his that he whispered, “You are.”
I swallowed hard, and all thoughts of what he’d done to my body were replaced by what he was steadily doing to my heart. He was stamping it with kindness, one kiss at a time, one word at a time, one selfless, caring action at a time. At some point, those stamps would cover my heart and mark it as his. Completely his.