Brother's Best Friend's Package

by Cassandra Bloom

  Clarice touched her arm. “Come on back inside. I'll be ready to leave soon, but it's too cold to stand around out here whining about it.”

  Ruby didn't turn around. “You go ahead. I'll be there in a second.”

  Chapter 3

  Clarice disappeared, and Ruby hung around the curb with her shivering arms clutched across her stomach. She never felt so miserable in her life. She could almost welcome the vicious chill cutting straight through her gown. She couldn't ask for a better punishment for being so all-fired stupid as to miss going home with Tom when she had the chance.

  She couldn't spend the rest of the night out here, though. She would do just about anything to avoid going back into that party, but the cold numbed her nose and ears. Her lips trembled until she could barely sniff. She had to go back inside, but she tarried longer and longer in the blessed silence.

  She made up her mind to go face the music when the door opened behind her and laughing voices emerged behind her. A couple locked in a tight embrace came up next to her, and the man handed the valet his ticket. Ruby glanced over, but she turned away in a hurry when she saw Chad Archer with Priscilla Connor draped over one arm. Priscilla whispered into his ear, and they laughed again.

  The couple fell silent, and Ruby heard them kissing. Their lips made a subtle smacking sound that went on and on in the frosty night. Priscilla sighed, and when the couple separated, she giggled.

  Ruby kept her head turned. What was she doing out here in the freezing cold, listening to these two making out at the valet station? Didn't she have anything better to do with her life than this? She hated herself for rubber-necking, even if she only did it with her ears. She might as well be staring straight at them.

  All at once, a man's voice snapped her out of her stupor. “Are you okay?”

  She whipped around to find the couple regarding her with amused smiles. Ruby lowered her eyes to the pavement. “I'm fine, thanks.”

  “Are you waiting for somebody?”

  Ruby shrugged, but she didn't look up. She couldn't look at those two, so warm in their intimate embrace. “No, I'm not waiting for somebody. I missed my ride home. I'm just putting off going back inside.”

  Priscilla put out her hand to Ruby “You should go inside, dear. It's freezing out here, and I don't think that gown is doing you any favors.” She burst out laughing and turned to Chad to share the joke.

  Chad smiled at Priscilla and went back to studying Ruby. “If you don't have a ride home, I can call you a taxi.”

  Ruby shifted from one foot to the other. Her teeth chattered, and her lips wouldn't move right from the cold. “Oh, I have another ride. My friend is inside. She'll take me home as soon as she finished flirting with her latest flame. I just didn't want to go back inside yet.”

  “She's probably in there getting drunk.” Priscilla brayed with laughter.

  Ruby turned away toward the curb. Another limo of party-goers pulled up and flooded around her. “I'm sure she is.”

  A long silence followed the new arrivals into the castle. Priscilla paid no more attention to Ruby, but Chad stood still and watched her shiver. After a while, he patted Priscilla on the arm. “Would you go back inside, baby? It's too cold to wait out here. I'll come and get you when the limo comes.”

  Priscilla whispered something to him, and her high heels tapped across the paving stones into the hall. Ruby hugged her arms and waited for Chad to leave, too. He surprised her by coming over to her side. “I really think I better get you a ride home. You don't want to be here, and I can't have you freeze to death out here. Come on. I'll send you home in my limo.”

  Ruby didn't look at him. “That's all right. Thanks anyway.”

  “Really. Let me give you a ride home right now. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to.”

  Ruby snorted. “I'm not going home with you. That's for certain.”

  He chuckled. “Touche. I don't think we've met. I'm Chad.”

  Ruby snapped over her shoulder, “I know who you are.”

  He stiffened, and his voice dropped to a menacing growl. “And I know who you are, too. You're Ruby Dunroy from HR, aren't you?”

  Her head whipped around, and she found herself staring up into his firm, chiseled face. “How do you....?”

  “I know everyone in my company by name and sight. How do you think I got where I am now? I never forget a face, and I approve every hire in my company, even when I don't take part in the actual interview process. I know who you are, and I know every page of your employment record.”

  Ruby couldn't take her eyes off his face. “I'm sorry, Mr. Archer. I should remember my manners. Thank you for the offer of a ride home, but I'll go with my friend. Please don't take offense.”

  Just then, a black stretch limousine pulled up to the curb. The driver got out and opened the door to Chad. Chad waved toward it. “Look. Here's the limo. Get in. I can have you home in two seconds.”

  Ruby hesitated. “Aren't you going somewhere with Mrs. Connor?”

  His mouth cracked open in a toothy grin. “I think you mean she was going somewhere with me. Come on. You can't stand out here in the cold any longer. Get in. The heater's on.”

  Ruby raised her eyes to his face. His last words didn't encourage or cheer her. They snapped with the crisp, short syllables of an order he expected her to carry out. She hung back. “I think I better not. It wouldn't be right.”

  “Would you feel better going home alone? I can stay here with Priscilla while the limo takes you home. How about that?”

  Ruby's mind spun. What in the Sam Hill was going on here? She couldn't ride home in this limo. “You don't have to do that.”

  “Get in, Ruby. You're lips are turning blue, and you're not making any sense. I never let one of my staff freeze to death at a Christmas party yet, and I'm not about to start now.”

  He took hold of the door and held it open. He waved his other hand into the opening. Cream leather seats gleamed inside and invited Ruby into their sheltering comfort. All she had to do was ride home. What could be the harm in that?

  She cast one last glance up at his face. He waited with that casual smile touching his lips. He didn't care if he stood out here all night waiting for her to make up her mind. Did she really want to wait however many hours Clarice would take to be ready to leave? She'd made that mistake before and lived to regret it. She should jump at this chance while it lasted.

  With a last ditch effort, she overcame her reluctance and strode to the curb. Chad smiled broader, and she ducked into the welcoming envelope of heat and soft leather. She slid into the seat, and Chad slid in behind her. The door slammed shut on the cold, the party, Clarice, and everything else outside.

  Ruby smoothed down her gown and looked around her. Soft overhead light illuminated the compartment. A tinted window separated them from the driver. The limo glided away from the curb, and the castle fell away into the dark.

  Chad shifted in his seat to arrange his jacket around his barrel chest. He peered out the window. Ruby folded her hands in her lap. She just had to get through the next few minutes. Then she could relax.

  Chad touched a button in the door, and a panel popped open near his knee. Glasses and bottles gleamed inside. “Can I offer you anything to drink?”

  Ruby held up her hand. “Thanks. I've had enough for one night.”

  He grinned and shut the panel. “A wise move. How did you like the party?”

  Ruby fidgeted. “It was fine right up until I missed my ride home.” She cast a glance at him. “You seemed to enjoy yourself.”

  “Yes, I did. I always enjoy myself. If you don't mind my asking, why did you miss your ride home?”

  Ruby blushed to her ears. “I...I got distracted.”

  He fixed his brilliant eyes on her. “I saw how you got distracted with that boyfriend of yours in the lobby. Was he the one who was supposed to take you home? Did he leave with someone else, or what?”

  The memory of Chad breaking in on her make-out sess
ion with Tom popped into her mind. Chad examined her with that same curious expression right now. He studied her under a magnifying glass. He could see straight through her gown to the squishy hot tissues between her legs. His eyes caressed her breasts and ass the way Tom's hands caressed her. He lit her fire all over again, and he knew it.

  Ruby swallowed hard. “He didn't leave with someone else. He had to go to work at ten-thirty. I...I got roped into going up to the roof with my friend and I...I guess I took too long up there.”

  Chad's eyebrows went up. “The roof? I didn't see you up there. I thought I saw....” He stopped.

  “I wasn't....you know...I just went up for a second, or at least I thought I did. I didn't do anything, I just...you know....watched.”

  His eyes drilled straight through her. “I see.”

  Ruby squirmed in her seat. How long did this disaster of a conversation have to go on? He looked out the window for a while longer before he murmured to himself. “I guess you didn't see anything you haven't done yourself. From what I saw, you and your boyfriend probably do it all the time.”

  Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “I have never done anything like that with Tom.”

  He spun around to face her. “You haven't?”

  She turned away so he wouldn't see her burning cheeks. “No, I haven't.”

  “Well, why not? You two seemed pretty close to me, and here you are talking about going home with him.”

  “We are close. I mean, we've been together for three years.”

  “And you live together? So why haven't you done it?”

  She waved her hand in agitation. “We're getting married in March. I'm a virgin, and I don't want to do it before we get married.”

  He frowned and looked her up and down. His exacting gaze measured every inch of her inside her gown. “Oh.”

  She kept her face turned toward the window. She couldn't look at him. Her cheeks and neck burned. No one ever made her this uncomfortable talking about her personal life. No one gave her any static about being a virgin. Chad Archer never gave her any static about it, either. He never said anything. He just sat there in silence and stared out his own window.

  His very presence accused her, though. He did it with anything that came within his reach, and that was a lot. He never held back. He must be exactly opposite from everything she valued and held dear. He followed his own rules. If some floozy wanted to jump him in a hot tub, he gave her her own way and did it with her. He enjoyed himself, all the time, everywhere.

  Chapter 4

  His voice purred out of the darkness. “You make out with this Tom of yours, though, don't you? Does he turn you on?”

  “Of course he turns me on. I wouldn't be marrying him if he didn't.”

  Chad turned his languid eyes toward her. “What have you two been doing together in the last three years? You must be satisfying each other, that he doesn't get bored and go out and find somebody else.”

  Ruby's temper flared. “Does it surprise you so much that a guy could love a girl enough to hold off doing it with her until they got married?”

  “It doesn't surprise me. I respect you for that. I'm just saying. You've been living together for three years. I guess you sleep together, and you certainly make out. What do you do together, to satisfy each other?”

  “I'm not going to tell you that. That's none of your business. You might be my boss and everything, but I don't have to give you all the gory details of my life with Tom.”

  “You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm not asking as your boss. I'm just curious how two people express their affection for each other and sleep in the same bed together for three years without having sex.”

  She softened. What was she getting so worked up about? They were just talking. As long as she kept her cool, he would never know how much this conversation excited her. Here she was, riding in a luxury limo through the frosty winter's night. She was talking to one of the most powerful business moguls in the country about her most intimate sexual experiences. A jolt of adrenaline burned through her guts and thrilled her darkest desires.

  “I guess we have a different kind of sex,” she explained. “We do just about everything except penetration.”

  “Does he go down on you?”

  “Yes, and I go down on him.”

  “Does he get you off?”

  Her voice cracked, and the word came out as a broken whisper. “Yes.”

  “Does he use his fingers inside you?”

  “Yes.”

  His voice caressed her all over until her skin tingled. Her nipples tightened inside her gown. Could he see them from across the seat? “What else?”

  “I sit on his leg and I ride his fingers.”

  His eyes flicked down her body and back up to her face. His fierce gaze stabbed through her insides. “Does that turn you on? Does that get you hot and wet?”

  “Yes.”

  He lowered his voice to a rumble in his deep chest. “Are you turned on right now?”

  Her lips pouted open. “Yes.”

  “Would you like me to touch you right now? Would you like me to finger you right now?”

  She snapped alert. “Oh, I couldn't do that. I couldn't do that to Tom. I'll just go home and I won't bother you again.”

  “You saw that woman sitting on my lap in the Jacuzzi, didn't you? Is that the sort of thing you'd like to do with Tom? Do you fantasize about riding his cock like that?”

  Ruby floundered in confusion. Talking about this made her blood boil. She didn't know how to answer him. She ought to cut this conversation short right now, but she couldn't stop herself. “Yes. I think about it all the time, but I can't do it.”

  “Did seeing me like that make you want to do it? Did you think about what it would be like to sit on my lap like that?”

  “Yes...I mean, I thought about Tom...I mean...I don't know what I thought.”

  He didn't smile now. “Do you want to sit on my lap now, Ruby?”

  “Yes...I mean...I don't know...I mean, I should get home.”

  “If you're turned on right now, you should satisfy yourself. You could touch yourself and I could watch. That wouldn't be going against Tom, would it?”

  She passed her hand over her burning forehead. How did this conversation turn into this? “I couldn't do that. You're my boss.”

  He shrugged and turned back to the window. “That's okay. You don't have to. I just thought you might want to, for your own pleasure.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it with a click. “I couldn't.”

  “Oh, you definitely could. Nothing's stopping you but your own inhibitions.”

  “You don't want to see that. That's nasty.”

  He glanced at her. “It's not nasty, and I definitely would want to see it, but only if you really want to. I would only want to see it if you enjoy it. I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

  “What do you want to see that for? That would be disgusting. I mean, you can have anybody you want. You don't want to sit there and watch me being nasty.”

  “It's not disgusting, Ruby. Don't you think you're a beautiful woman? Don't you think your sexuality and your pleasure and your orgasm are beautiful to men? Why do you think Tom keeps sticking around?”

  “If he found out I did that, he would....”

  “What would he do? Would he leave you?”

  “Well, I don't know what he would do, but I guess he would definitely leave me if I gave my virginity to another man.”

  “We're not talking about you giving your virginity to another man. We're talking about you touching yourself, giving yourself pleasure. Why shouldn't you do that wherever you want, even if it means someone else seeing you?”

  The blood rushed to her head. She couldn't think. “I couldn't do that.”

  “You have to stop saying that. You could. Lots of women do it, and they enjoy it. The men watching them enjoy it just as much. It's not disgusting or nasty. It's beautiful.” He snorted out
a broken laugh. “Believe me.”

  “So do you watch them do it?”

  “I watch them do that and a lot more. If two people want to take pleasure in each other's bodies, why shouldn't they? As long as no one else gets hurt, it's the most beautiful thing in the world.”

  “Well, Tom would get hurt if I did it with you...I mean, to you...You know what I mean.”

  “You're not married to Tom yet. You're not wearing an engagement ring. If you want to do it, you should.”

  “I don't want to touch myself while you watch. That's for certain.”

  “You said you wanted to sit on my lap. You said you wanted me to touch you. You said watching me and me seeing you with Tom turned you on. The only thing you said against it is you can't. You definitely can if you want to. Nothing's stopping you. It's not like you'll take some nasty disease home to pass on to Tom. He won't get hurt. You just have to accept someone giving you what you really want, what will really give you pleasure.”

  She shook her head, but she couldn't clear her thoughts. “I can't.”

  He let another torturous silence pass without a word. All of a sudden, he jumped off his seat and scooted over next to her on the seat. He surprised her so much she leapt aside to get away from him.

  He took his place on the seat at her side. His presence loomed huge and dark next to her. His head rose so close to the lights they shone on his hair and left his eye sockets in shadow. His face turned into a ghostly mask, and his voice breathed into her face. “You're a beautiful woman, Ruby, and you're obviously a very sexual one. You're turned on right now. Let me satisfy that hunger. Let me give you the pleasure you deserve. I promise I won't do anything you don't want me to do. All you have to do is tell me to stop, and I will.”

  She gasped out loud, but before she could reply, he darted in and covered her mouth with his lips. Heat and excitement flooded through her. Her body tightened all over in tense anticipation. In spite of all her protestations that she couldn't, her crotch spasmed in aching desire. Juicy wetness oozed into her panties.