Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
RUBY
Stupid girl.
That’s what I am.
Standing in front of my floor-length mirror, I take in my reflection and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I should not have accepted this date, but he was close, and my brain turned off. It was like my brain completely short-circuited.
I’m pretty sure when his scent surrounds me, and his body presses against mine, that everything inside my head, every rational thought, vanishes. My brain turns to complete mush.
Now that he’s not standing in front of me, pressing against me, I’m having second thoughts. All the second thoughts. The knock on my door causes my spine to straighten. Sliding my hands down the front of my skirt, I wipe the sweat that’s gathered there.
Stupidly, I put on my smallest black dress and slipped into my highest black heels, which really aren’t that high, but they're still my highest. I even curled my hair, but I’m having more than second thoughts.
I’m having a million thoughts.
There is another knock on my door. It’s him. I know that it is. Shaking my head, I try to shake all those negative thoughts out. I’m not sure it works. Taking one step, then another, I stand against the closed door.
Pinching one eye closed, I look through the peephole, and he’s there. Standing in my hallway, looking absolutely stunning. He’s got on a pair of slacks, a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms… bulging forearms.
My god.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I lift my hand and press my palm against the door. What the hell am I thinking? This guy is so far out of my league it’s insane. Why he’s even here, I have no idea.
“I can hear you breathing, Ruby,” he calls out.
There is a moment of silence, one where I freeze, and he smiles. Slowly, I reach down for the doorknob. Gently, I turn it, then step back and pull it open. The view of him in person rather than through that peephole is a million times better than I could have imagined, and then the scent hits me.
He smells so good.
So damn good.
“I didn’t know if I was going to open the door,” I whisper.
“Got that, Ruby. But I knew you were going to.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask
He hums, taking one step toward me, then another, and he’s so close. My chest is pressing against his stomach as he looks down at me. When he lifts his hands, I feel his fingers cup my jaw before he lowers and shifts his face closer to mine.
“Yeah, sweetheart, I knew. Let’s go get some food,” he murmurs against my mouth. “Your pastries aren’t enough to sustain me the entire evening.”
“Entire evening?” I ask.
He hums. “This is just the beginning.”