And maybe I could figure out, this time, where he kept his extra cash in that nice apartment.
Chapter Seventeen
DANE
*
"Oh my god, you suck!"
"I suck?" Ruby retorted, beaming wickedly back at me. "Really? That's usually what the guy who gets killed should be saying!"
"Oh, you're on. Just wait for me to pop back up-"
On the television screen in front of me, my character reappeared – and then immediately died again, as a huge truck with a mounted machine gun ran right over me.
I groaned again, trying to resist the childish urge to chuck my video game controller across the room. Next to me, Ruby rocked back and forth with glee on the couch, her fingers deftly manipulating the controls.
"Something's not right here," I accused her. "You're a pretty girl, and you're always on the move! There is absolutely no way that you should be any good at video games."
"I'm just sad that I couldn't convince you to put money on it," she retorted. "Now, come on, let's start another game. Maybe you'll do a little better this time."
"Doubt it," I said, taking a long swig of beer. Still, I picked up my controller, getting ready to face off against Ruby once again.
Ten minutes later, I dropped the controller back down on the table in front of me, finished the last of my beer, and glared angrily at it. "Maybe it's your fault," I said to the beer bottle, wiggling a finger at it. "Normally, I do so well at this! Why are you screwing things up for me?"
Ruby also set her controller down. "You know, you didn't really strike me as the geeky, nerdy type," she commented. "What's up with you having a video game system hidden away? Are you embarrassed of it?"
"A little," I admitted, "but not for the reason that you'd guess."
She put her head on her hands, tilting it slightly at me. "Okay, now you need to tell me."
"After another beer." I pointed at the second bottle beside her. "And one for you?"
She polished off the last gulp. "Yeah, why not." She eyed me. "Although if I didn't know you better, Dane, I'd think that you were trying to get me tipsy enough to win a repeat performance of Friday night."
"Perish the thought," I assured her, placing my hand over my heart, and then grabbed her bottle from her and ducked into the kitchen.
A minute later, when I returned and handed over her bottle, I settled down on the couch. "So I wasn't always this well off," I started, gesturing around at my apartment, my shelves of books, the warm lamps and comfortable furniture. "I grew up poorer, but finally managed to get my life together and started making money. But when I got my first paycheck, saw all that money, I kind of went a bit overboard with the spending on presents for myself."
Ruby tossed back her head, blonde hair cascading out of the little bun she'd been wearing at work as she laughed. "And let me guess," she picked up for me. "You saw the game system, and immediately decided that, since you were rich now, you needed to own it."
"Got it in one," I said. "Of course, when I ran out of money with another week until my next paycheck, I started to regret the purchase."
"You didn't think of returning it?"
I shook my head. "Nah. Playing was actually a good distraction from going out and spending more money on bars and drinking, and I ended up seeing it as a testament to my own foolishness. It's like an expensive warning to be smarter in the future with my decisions."
Ruby smiled. "So am I a smart decision, then?"
"Definitely not," I promised her, leaning in a little closer. "How about me? Am I a smart decision for you?"
She tilted her head to the side, regarding me. I saw that cute little smile playing about her lips, the smile that distracted me in all sorts of appealing ways. "I think you're too smart of a decision for me," she decided. "After all, I've still got to make some of my own mistakes, so that I'll have something to learn from, right?"
"I could be a mistake," I said, watching those lips. "I could definitely be a mistake for you."
She just kept smiling back at me. I felt that little stirring in the pit of my stomach, the combined nervousness, anticipation, and eagerness that came when a pretty girl locked eyes with me, when I felt something about to happen. She wasn't so far away from me, just sitting at the other end of the couch. All I had to do was lean forward, support myself with my hands and move up to those smiling lips...
I kissed her, and she melted back against me. I held the position as long as I could, supporting myself on my arms, but finally I felt my elbows wobbling and about to give out. As soon as I caught myself, however, I scooted down the couch to her, slipping my arms around her and tugging her into my lap for another long kiss.
"This definitely seems like the kind of mistake that I'll remember," Ruby murmured back to me after this kiss ended, sounding a little breathless. I couldn't blame her, to be fair. The feeling of her round little butt perched right on my lap, the press of her breasts against my chest, the clean, fresh little smell of her that I caught as her hair fell in a tangled mess around us... well, it certainly did a good job of taking my breath away.
"Oh, we're not nearly to the proper level of mistake yet," I answered her, my hands already at her hips and pushing up on this ridiculous blouse that kept dipping to give me such great flashes of cleavage. I pushed it up to her armpits and she pulled it the rest of the way off, letting it drop and land on the floor beside us. Even before it hit the ground, however, her fingers were already nimbly opening the buttons of my shirt.
We staggered into my bedroom in a strange, four-legged gait as we clutched at each other, kissing and tearing at each other's clothes. With each inch of her skin that I uncovered, I felt my own arousal grow stronger, throbbing with a twin pulse in both my head and between my legs. When she turned to peel down that tight skirt, I bent over her, pushing up against her as I kissed the back of her neck, where her blonde hair parted.
"God, Ruby," I whispered in her ear, and she moaned as she pushed her ass back against me, grinding against me.
We landed on my bed in a tangle of limbs, each scrambling to get on top of the other. Similar to the first time, our first round of lovemaking was frantic and urgent, both of us striving hard against each other, breathing heavily together and pushing each other to their limits as we came together.
Ruby finished just seconds before me; I felt a huge surge of satisfaction as, her body moving against me, I saw her suddenly pause, her mouth opening in a wordless moan. She shuddered, dropping down on top of me, that hair falling all around me as she orgasmed, quivering most delightfully. I bent forward and caught her breast between my lips, nibbling gently at it, and her fingers dug deeply into my hair as she clutched me to her.
"Holy shit," she finally gasped, her eyes snapping open. "Holy shit, Dane."
I loved hearing my name come out of her lips. I loved feeling her body twist and curve against me, wanted to keep on taking her and filling her up forever. I just grunted back, my fingers dropping down to dig deeply into the soft flesh of her hips, helping her slide up and down along my length, warm and wet and giving and so good around me.
As she caught her breath, Ruby grinned down at me. "Now, you," she whispered, and took over moving. Her hand landed on the middle of my chest, pushing me back down every time I tried to rise. "Just lay back and enjoy it."
So I did as commanded, looking up at her, watching her rock back and forth, clearly loving how she could provoke different expressions on my face as she moved in different ways. It didn't take much longer before I felt that familiar, white-hot tightening in my own loins, and my eyes snapped wide open.
She kept on top of me, even up until I climaxed. My legs bucked, but she kept rocking back and forth, bringing me over the crest of orgasm and bending forward to kiss me fully, passionately, her tongue invading my mouth as my body spasmed against her, pumping out into her.
"Okay, yeah, holy shit is right," I said once I finally came down from that white-hot point of release. "Definitely as g
ood as Friday."
"I would have said that it was better this time, even," Ruby panted out, finally rolling off of me. "How do you make it so hot, hmm?"
I didn't have an answer for her, and instead wanted to accuse her of being fully responsible. Ruby wasn't the first girl I'd had in bed, but I'd never met one who poured herself so fully into the physical act of making love, the one who seemed to shed all of her inhibitions as soon as her clothes left that incredible body, soft and so delectable in all the right places. I wanted to pin her down and keep her here, never let her leave me and these soft sheets.
"So," she finally said, after several minutes of the two of us just curled up against each other, both savoring the lingering pleasure that followed a great round of sex. "Is this going to become a regular thing?"
I hesitated for a second before replying, thinking of how Ruby had run out on me at the restaurant earlier that evening, how she'd insisted that she needed to get away from here, how she felt trapped. "Only if you want it to be," I replied carefully.
She twisted around, turning her upper body to look over at me. I fought very hard to keep my eyes up on her face, not down on that gorgeous rack now turned in my direction. "Maybe for a little longer, if you keep performing like that," she replied, smiling as she ran a hand over my chest.
Okay, then. I could live with that, with keeping a girl like Ruby in my bed.
After another pause, however, I felt a question welling up inside of me. "So," I said, echoing her. "Do I get to know any more about you, if you're going to be sticking around for a bit?"
"Like what?"
I shrugged. "How about where you grew up?"
Even that simple question wasn't answered at first, as if Ruby was evaluating whether I deserved to know. "Around here, actually," she said finally. "My mom used to live pretty close to here, back when it was more affordable. So I guess this is a little bit like a homecoming for me."
Her words, of course, only sparked more curiosity in her head. She'd referred to her mother in the past tense; had something happened to her? What prompted her to leave, and was there any particular reason why she chose to return?
But already, I sensed her stiffening towards me, putting up the walls against telling me anything else. If I wanted answers, it seemed, I'd need to extract them very slowly, one drip at a time – or wait until Ruby finally decided that she was ready to tell me.
Oh well. I closed my mouth firmly before I could ask any other questions, reached out to pull her close. She resisted for a second, but then let herself melt against me, warm and soft as she settled back against my chest in bed.
Although...
Before letting myself drift off to sleep, even as Ruby's breathing grew slower and heavier as she pressed herself to me, I turned and felt around for where my pants had landed on the side of the bed. Carefully, I drew out my wallet from my pocket, flipping it open. I removed all of the bills, save one, before dropping the wallet back carelessly on my nightstand.
With this task complete, I once again burrowed into the sheets, seeking out the warm woman beneath them. My eyes barely fluttered before I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
RUBY
*
I woke up the next morning in possibly the most comfortable position of my life.
A little voice inside my head insisted that I needed to get up, that I was in a strange place and needed to beat a hasty retreat – but that voice sounded a lot fainter than usual, drowned out by the softness that enveloped me. I could feel a little chill in the air outside, but in here it was toasty and warm, and the hand draped over my shoulders felt nice and heavy, a solid body to snuggle up against-
I stopped, replaying this last sentence. In fact, I needed to replay the entire last night. I lay there in bed, letting the memories come back to me.
Dane. He'd taken me out to dinner, somehow brought me back to his apartment. Again. And then, after I stomped him half a dozen times in Halo, he leaned in and kissed me, and I kissed him back, and then...
Sex. Lots of sex. Even now, remembering the play by play of last night, I found myself squirming in the bedsheets and clutching my thighs together, a grin blooming on my face. Whatever other issues that man might have, he certainly knew how to make me explode in pleasure, practically just from touching me! At one point, he'd been standing and pulling me up against him, the entire lengths of our bodies pressing together, both of his hands wrapped so tightly and firmly around my ass as he squeezed and pulled himself deeper inside of me, filling me until I couldn't even support my own weight...!
Right. Great sex. And then we laid in bed, and I told him that I'd grown up around here, and then we fell asleep? Was that it?
In any case, I told myself, it was time for me to leave. I'd overstayed my welcome, and he wouldn't want to see me in the morning. Not now that he'd gotten laid – again. And besides, I needed to get to work, and I would have to go home and grab a new outfit so that people didn't think I only owned one set of clothes.
But the bed was so comfortable and warm... I had to take several more seconds of just luxuriating in the sheets before I finally hauled myself up, pushing the covers, and Dane's arm, back and off of me. The man grunted as his arm landed down on the sheets, but he didn't seem to wake up.
I turned and looked down at him. You know, in the morning when he was asleep and wasn't talking, he actually looked pretty nice. Handsome, even, with his defined cheekbones, that aristocratic face. Long lashes on his eyes, especially for a man, but they helped soften him a little. Almost without thinking about it, I reached out and gently stroked the side of his face. I felt his stubble push roughly back against my hand.
My eyes drifted past him, and alighted on his bedside table. Ooh, hello. A wallet, just sitting out alone and unguarded? Yes, please, I will take advantage of that! Moving carefully, I reached over Dane, trying not to let my still-exposed, naked breasts bump against his face, and scooped his wallet up from the bedside table. I eagerly flipped it open, to find-
"One dollar," Dane murmured as I stared into the wallet's interior. "All yours, baby."
"You're a jerk!" I burst out, smacking him. He grunted and his eyes shot open, even as his hands came up to ward off another blow.
"Says the girl stealing my wallet," he replied without any heat in his voice, his hands now reaching out for me. "Good morning, by the way."
"Ugh. Definitely isn't one of those," I said, even though I didn't mind the feeling of his hands on me, gently tugging me back down and against him. I couldn't block out the observation that he was also naked in bed beside me. Very naked. And it seemed like he'd woken up with a very clear idea of what he wanted.
But I wasn't going to give it to him. Even if he did pull me back down into bed, if he raised himself up and traced a line of kisses across my shoulder blade, up along the hollow of my neck and ending with a little nibble at my ear, even as his hands caressed me, warm and soft as they teased my thighs open, brushed ever so lightly against the space between where I felt most sensitive, awakened a new rush of heat inside of me...
"I'm going to be late for work," I gasped out as my traitorous body pulled him against me, warm and encouraging and needing him desperately.
"I'll drive you," he answered, his breath coming a little quicker as he butted up against me. God, were all guys this huge in the morning? Had I been missing out on some amazing sex by leaving before they woke up?
"Okay, but you need to stop by my place so I can change-" The words cut off abruptly, as he finally entered me, and all my logical, reasonable thoughts fled.
"You got it," he assured me, although I'm pretty sure that, at this point, he would say anything to keep going.
I wanted him to keep going, so I'd probably believe him.
Somehow, through what had to be the modern day equivalent of a biblical miracle, Dane managed to both give me a very, very satisfying orgasm and drive me over to Kelsey's apartment with just enough time to change. I hurried up
the stairs to her walk-up, barging in and sprinting for the bedroom.
"Well, look who's here!" Kelsey called after me, watching with some bemusement from the kitchen as I tore off my slutty-first-day outfit and struggled into my equally-slutty-second-day outfit. "And where were you last night, hmm? Do I want to know?"
I spun around, grinning at her. "Oh, Kelsey, I met the most amazing man!" I exclaimed, batting my eyelashes at her and sighing dramatically.
She took the bait, just as I knew that she would. "Really? Oh my god, who? Where? Tell me everything!"
I beamed back at her. "Oh, he's this strong prince, who rules over half the kingdom of Minnesota! But his father listens to an evil vizier, who wants to see the prince dead so that he might instead inherit the kingdom..."
I laughed as Kelsey threw a granola bar at me. "Jerk."
"Takes one to know one," I countered, finally managing to get the stupid top that I'd chosen over my boobs and properly down to my waist. "There, how do I look?"
She tapped her cheek with one finger as she looked at me. "Like you're going to star as the secretary in a low-budget porno film."
"Perfect." I snapped up the granola bar off of the floor before sprinting back out, down to meet Dane before he got impatient and left me behind.
Even as I played the fawning secretary role at work, sucking up to Karson and keeping my eyes open for opportunities to help myself financially, I kept finding myself distracted. And it was all Dane's fault, I knew. Not that the man himself was around, but every time I had a free minute, I'd find myself thinking of him, gazing off in the direction of his cubicle.
"Stop it," I murmured to myself under my breath as I sat at my desk, my eyes not focused on the blank screen in front of me. "Stop it. Get him out of your head."
"Get who out?"
Maybe he was some sort of devil – think his name, and he shows up. There stood Dane, looking absolutely great in his button-up shirt and khakis, making the dull cubicle worker outfit look like something out of a fashion catalogue and not giving off the slightest hint of the unwashed sex we'd had earlier that morning.
Fool Me Once: A Bad Girl Romance Page 11
