by Selena Scott
“I need to feed you, darlin’,” he tried again.
“Oh.” She shook her head for a second. “What time is it?”
Anchoring a hand around her waist, Ansel lifted his hips up off the love seat to get to his phone in his back pocket. The movement made both of them gasp, Ruby’s legs clutching either side of his hips.
He woke up his phone and they both gaped at the time.
“6:45?” she gasped. “Oh my God, we’ve been kissing for four hours.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. You look like it, too.” She blushed and brought a hand up to check her hair but he batted it away. “Sexy as hell.”
His eyes dropped to her neck and a little chagrin crossed his face. “Darlin’, you want me to shave my beard before this goes any further?”
“What?” She looked at him like he was insane.
“I mean, I gave you some road rash on your skin here.” He traced a hand over her neck.
Ruby shook her head again like she was trying to keep up. “Don’t shave your beard. It’s… really hot.” She blushed. “And I liked the way it felt. Rough. Good and bad at the same time.”
His cock jumped again and on a wave of boldness, she wiggled herself into it just a little bit.
“Dinner,” he bit out the word, commanding himself to be a damn gentleman.
CHAPTER SIX
Well, she thought she might be cured of the whole, barely able to look at him thing. They made dinner in his kitchen, side by side, and Ruby found she couldn’t take her eyes away from him. He was so big. So gold. His chest and arms and hair. Everything about him looked different to her now that she knew he wanted her. She couldn’t believe that this much man was interested in her.
“You’re gonna chop a finger off, you don’t keep your eyes on what you’re doing,” Ansel said to her, a tight-jawed smile warming half his face.
She glanced back down at the chopping board and quickly finished the baby carrots, dumped them into the salad bowl and turned her eyes right back to him.
He gave the soup a cursory stir over the burner and flipped the grilled cheeses with the skill of someone who’d been doing it for a long time.
“That’s it,” he muttered, turning to her and hitching her up onto the counter. “I can’t take it anymore.”
His mouth landed on hers and Ruby was thrilled to find that after their epic make-out session out on the porch, his mouth, his flavor, felt familiar to her.
She wiggled happily in his arms, her hands coming up to his hair. “Don’t burn the sandwiches,” she said against his lips.
He unhanded her a second later, but not for long. The second they had the food set out on his kitchen table, he tugged her right into his lap.
She laughed in surprise but didn’t move. Much to his complete delight. And to think, he’d had plans to go fishing with his brother today. He thanked God he’d caught her out on the porch with the pie this morning.
The meal was quiet and comfortable. Neither of them felt the need to fill in the silences and they were both grateful that the other one didn’t either. Except for the constant tracing of his hand over her thigh, they sat very companionably.
Just as they were finishing up a piece of her pie for dessert, they both spoke at the same time.
“I’d like to take you on a date tomorrow night,” he said.
“Can I stay the night?” she asked.
They stared one another in the eye, both surprised and unsure if they’d heard the other right.
“What?” they both asked at once.
“No,” he shook his head. “You first. Definitely you first.”
Ruby cleared her throat, blushing to all hell, but determined to ask for what she wanted. “I, um, wanted to know if I could stay the night here with you.”
Her eyes had dropped by the end of her sentence so Ansel took her by the chin, and brought her back to facing him. “First, yes, you abso-fucking-lutely can stay the night here.”
She smiled and gave him her eyes again.
“Second, can you tell me a little more of what’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours, darlin’?”
She bit her lip for a second and Ansel’s eyes dropped there; they both felt him hardening under her ass. “Well.” She twisted her fingers in her lap. “I really want to do… that again.” She pointed out toward the porch. “And it’s almost like you wrapped this warm and wonderful blanket around me. And I feel really… happy. And safe right now.”
Something deep inside Ansel’s chest beat itself against the bars of its cage. He shifted underneath her and tried to breathe through the feeling.
“And,” she went on, “I’m afraid that if I leave tonight, go back to my house, all the loneliness and sadness I’ve felt this year will kind of kill this.” She gestured between them.
Understanding flickered. “I see. You want to water the flower a little bit more before we expose it to the elements.”
She laughed, flashing him those pearly teeth and he couldn’t help but press a quick kiss into her neck.
“Something like that.”
“Sounds good to me. You got clients tomorrow?”
She shook her head. “I’ve got some work I should do from home, but no clients.”
He nodded before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He dialed a number and held the phone up to his ear. “Evening, Ms. Weaver.”
Ruby’s eyes widened as she realized he was talking to the woman whose house he was working on right now. Ansel held Ruby’s eyes as he spoke.
“Yeah. Uh huh. Well, listen. Something came up on my end. Something real important. I’m not gonna make it in tomorrow.”
Ruby’s eyes grew even wider.
Ansel, listening to whatever Arla Weaver was saying on the other end of the phone, leaned forward and sucked at the place where Ruby’s neck met her shoulder. Ruby covered her mouth when a noise tried to come out and Ansel caught her eye.
“Actually,” he said to Arla, “just to be safe, I’m not gonna be there on Tuesday either. Won’t affect the overall deadline. Yeah. Alright. You too.”
He hung up the phone and Ruby stared at him with an open mouth. “What just happened?”
“I cleared my schedule for flower watering,” he grinned, taking advantage of that open mouth of hers.
***
Ansel scraped a hand over his eyes. And then scratched at his beard. Jesus. This was gonna kill him. Just, sometimes your ticket was up and tonight was his. Done-zo.
He was gonna have to talk soon. Because it was getting weird that he hadn’t said anything yet. And she was starting to fidget.
Leaning one shoulder against the door jamb of his bedroom, he scraped a hand over the back of his neck and squinted at her, like she was made of sunlight. And she pretty much was, sitting there on his bed, her legs folded under her, her hair loose around her shoulders. And, oh yeah, she was wearing one of his t-shirts for PJs. A red V-neck that he’d picked for her because of the color. She’d grinned. He hoped to God, for his sanity, that she was wearing underwear.
“You care what I wear to bed, darlin’?” he asked, still squinting at her.
She fidgeted with the hem of the t-shirt she wore. “Of course not! It’s your house. It’s your, um, bed.”
After dinner, they’d made out on his living room couch for close to four more hours, until she’d started yawning and snuggling into him in a way that suggested less of sex and more that she was just looking for a warm, soft place to rest.
He’d laughed and tugged her up and handed her the PJs. He wasn’t laughing now, though, as he stripped off his shirt and started working on his jeans. He felt her eyes on him from across the room.
Ruby Sayers was sitting half naked on his bed. He was going to get into that bed, also half naked. And then they were NOT going to sleep together. He forced his brain to accept his new reality, but he was still moving sluggishly from the make-out session.
Pretty much all of it was hard to believe.
He shucked off his
pants next and threw everything in his hamper, turning back to the bed. The room was lit only with a bedside lamp, but he could feel her eyes on him.
And he was pretty sure he knew exactly where she was staring.
His boxer briefs were tight, and went part of the way down his thigh, so thankfully, they didn’t allow his cock to tent them. He was pretty sure she might have fainted at that. But they certainly showed a very distinct outline going down his thigh. Knowing she wasn’t experienced, he scratched the back of his neck as he crossed the room and wondered if the sight of him fully aroused for her was going to bring up more questions or more answers.
“Are you sure it’s alright for me to sleep in the bed?” she asked. She’d already said she would sleep on the couch. He’d categorized that idea as insanity.
“Of course,” he insisted, pulling back the covers so that she could crawl under.
She slid under, but was still obviously hesitating. “As long as it won’t be too uncomfortable for you.”
He laughed a little, crawling under the blankets himself and automatically drawing her into his side. “Ruby, not gonna lie, it’s a little crazy making to be this close and to go slow. But in the best way ever. It’s incredible torture. And I’m patient.”
She nodded once, but he got the impression that she was holding perfectly still, as if she were trying not to provoke the beast inside his underwear.
He chuckled into her hair. “Are you uncomfortable?” He had to ask.
“No.” He could practically feel her biting her lip. “But I’m not very tired anymore either.”
Ansel internally groaned and cheered at the same time. Okay. He needed to rearrange things in his brain. They were going to sleep in the same bed, half naked, and they were gonna make out again, half naked, but they were not going to sleep together. No sex. No sex of any kind. Okay. He could do this.
“You need a bedtime story, darlin’?” he asked, his fingers playing at the spot where the hem of her shirt pressed against her thigh.
She laughed and he detected a semi-nervous note. It bothered him. He knew that all he could do was be a good guy and go slow and not push too hard; whether or not she was nervous after that was up to her. He couldn’t control her emotions. But it did bother him a little bit if she thought he was going to suddenly pump the gas without making sure she was a hundred percent on board.
“You know you don’t have to be nervous, right?” He couldn’t stop his fingers from dancing at the hem of the shirt, her skin was just so damn soft.
She bit her lip and shifted so that he could look down and see her eyes. “But… nervous is good, don’t you think?”
He considered that. “As long as it’s butterflies and not that you’re really anxious about me or what I might do.”
“Oh,” her face instantly clouded. “No, I’m not scared of what you might do. My stomach is in knots because you, you, you smell so good.”
He grinned at that one, but his smile fell away when she propped herself up and pressed a kiss against the skin of his neck. It was the first time she’d kissed him anywhere but his mouth.
“And because you’re so gold. Seriously. Your skin and hair are just two different shades of gold.” She planted another kiss and Ansel let out a long, thin breath. “And the way you’re built. Oh my God. You’re so big, Ansel. It… makes me ache.”
On an unholy groan, Ansel suddenly rolled them so that she was on her back and he was leaning over her, one of his hands cradling her head, tangling in her loose hair. She blinked up at him in surprise but also in satisfaction. He wondered vaguely if she’d been trying to elicit this kind of reaction from him.
“Tell me what you want, darlin’.” He spoke against her lips, his tongue tasting her after every word. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”
She opened her mouth and took his kisses. Her breath came out in pulsing huffs when her hand traced over the hot, bare skin of his back. The reality of where she was and who he was threatened to overwhelm her, but her heart wouldn’t stop racing.
“I feel like I’m all wound up and I can’t,” she tossed her head to one side and back toward him, “concentrate or see straight. It’s like I’m feeling everything at once.”
He kissed down her neck and over the v of skin that was exposed at the collar of the shirt she wore. He looked up at her.
“I know what you need, darlin’. But tonight you’re gonna give it to yourself. That’s best.” The last bit was as much to himself as it was to her. He didn’t want to touch her and have her regret it because he’d moved too fast. She’d do the touching.
Ansel kissed his way up the inside of her arm and all the way to her fingertips. She gasped and shivered when he nipped at her wrist. Ansel took that hand of hers, that delicate, perfect hand and brought it down her body.
He inched the shirt up over her hips and groaned in holy pain when he saw her underwear. He shouldn’t have been surprised. But seeing the little, red, high-cut scrap of whatever covering her from him was like a jolt of electricity straight to his eyes.
While he was looking down at her panties, she was staring at the side of his face, breathing like she’d just run up a hill. Ansel took her hand in his again, his fingers firmly at the back of her palm. He traced her own hand down over her stomach. He moved her hand over each one of her thighs and, briefly, in between them. When he brought that hand back up to the top hem of her underwear, Ansel knew he should look up into her eyes. But he couldn’t look away from this. Nothing could make him look away from this.
Slowly, he slid her own hand underneath the scrap of underwear she wore, and then he placed his own hand on top of hers, over the underwear. The wetness he felt on the fabric was nearly his undoing but he dragged himself back from the edge. He could give this to her. He wanted to give this to her.
Ansel started to move then, his big hand covering hers, guiding her fingers over herself. She gasped and her legs instantly parted, her knees came up and she planted her heels. Ansel glanced up at her face as he worked her own fingers against her and felt all the breath leave his lungs. Her hair fanned out all across his bed, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He expected her navy blue eyes to be wide and unseeing, but no, they were on him, laser bright and focused on his face. He stared back at her as he worked her up, made her make herself rise. Soon her hips were rising into their hands and her body broke into a full system tremble. He saw a flash of uncertainty over her face but he banished it with the dexterity of his hand over hers.
Unexpectedly, Ruby arched her back, her head falling back and an amazed, helpless gasp tearing out of her. She was a tense, taut line, just a flashing red in the dim room and Ansel burned the image of her coming into his heart.
“Ansel,” the word tore out of her as she fell back to the bed, instantly curling on her side into him.
Her breath was choppy, he could see her heartbeat in her neck. She slammed her eyes closed and burrowed her face into the hollow of his throat as his arms came around her. He’d given her the first part of what she needed and now he was about to give her the second part. Ansel reached back just long enough to click off the lamp before his arms came around her again.
“That was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, darlin’,” he whispered into her hair. “You’re so perfect and sweet here in my bed, I can’t believe it. I just want to make you feel like that over and over. I want you all warm and happy and all to myself.” The words barely made sense, but he kept going. Normally a quiet man, Ansel let the adrenaline of what had just happened force a tumble of sweet nothings out and right into her ear. He wanted her relaxed and happy. If she felt any uncertainty or shame, he wanted to banish it. He wanted her sated and sleepy and safe.
It wasn’t long before her legs stretched out against his and her breaths became even. It wasn’t long before Ansel was left, blinking up at the ceiling, trying to get himself to believe that Ruby Sayers was sleeping in his arms.
CHAPTER SEVEN
> Ruby, toothbrush in her mouth, peeked one eye out of the doorjamb of the bathroom and into Ansel’s room. She caught yet another view of that mountainous body. The morning sun slanting across his incredible hulk back. He’d kicked the covers off and laid on his stomach. So she had a very good view of those tight black boxer briefs over his ass. A very, very good ass.
Ruby blushed furiously and ducked back out into the hallway. She continued brushing her teeth and pretended like she was looking at the photos on the walls in his hallway, but it wasn’t five more seconds before she was peeking at him in bed again.
Good lord. The man was like Thor’s body double or something. She knew he worked carpentry for a living, but he seriously was built like a tank. She shook her head and padded into the bathroom.
Ruby had been awake for an hour already. She’d woken up on her side with Ansel plastered behind her, both of them sweaty as hell. The man was like sleeping with a heating pad next to her. A heating pad with a ridiculously large boner. Ruby had stayed stock still against it for the better part of 45 minutes before she’d convinced herself to get up. And now, here she was, blushy as all hell and trying to figure out who the hell this woman in the mirror was.
Ruby spat out her toothpaste and washed out her mouth. Her lips were smudged and so red from all that kissing that she was barely going to need lipstick. Her hair was tousled and much bigger than usual. Her cheeks had a real flush and there were very prominent red marks on her neck. And was that…? Ruby tucked one finger into the V-neck collar and pulled it aside. Yup. There was a bright purple mark that Ruby didn’t even remember receiving right under her collarbone.
She didn’t regret anything that had happened yesterday. Actually, it had been pretty much the most glorious thing that had ever happened to her. But she was definitely a little nervous about seeing Ansel whenever he woke up. She felt a little embarrassed for reasons she couldn’t quite name.