by J. S. Scott
But I couldn’t see him as anything but…Jett. Since I’d known his character before I’d known about his wealth, it really didn’t matter that he had more money than God.
After I’d started the dishwasher, I turned around and met Jett’s beautiful green-eyed gaze, and realized that what he’d just told me didn’t make a difference at all in how I felt about him. He was just as gorgeous as a billionaire as he had been as a small business owner.
He was still the same Jett who had done everything he could to help me. The same nice guy I was starting to trust more and more every day.
And he was still the man who had kissed me like he really wanted me.
I’m going to have to set him straight about what happened when he kissed me.
I knew that I was going to have to tell him what had really caused me to freak out.
And it would be one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
Jett
The next morning, I hung up the phone with a sinking feeling in my chest.
I had news that I had to tell Ruby, but I wondered what kind of price she’d pay for hearing it.
I shoved my cell back into my pocket, and left my bedroom where my bags were being loaded for our departure to Seattle.
I stopped in the hallway as I saw Ruby tugging her suitcase out of her room, which would have amused me on any other day since I’d told her to let the valet pick it up.
But today wasn’t any other day.
“Leave it,” I told Ruby as I took her hand. “We have to talk.”
She gave me a questioning gaze, but left the suitcase in the hall to follow me.
The connection that Ruby and I had was strange to me, but not unwelcome. She always seemed to sense my mood, and had an uncanny way to judging when to say something and when not to argue based on my expression.
“What’s wrong?” she said as we rode the elevator to the ground floor.
“Nothing is exactly wrong,” I hedged.
Jesus! The last thing I wanted was to talk about her past again, but it was unavoidable.
“We need to stop in Ohio, Ruby. Or we will if you want to recover your inheritance.” I hoped to hell she’d say she trusted me to take care of her so she didn’t have to deal with this right now, but it wasn’t fair for her to be cheated out of anything she deserved.
“I didn’t inherit anything,” she said as we arrived in the kitchen.
“Your uncle is dead, Ruby. He died of a heart attack a couple of months ago. Apparently, your mom and dad did have life insurance and you were the sole beneficiary. When your parents died, your uncle had to put it in a trust for you. The only things that were ever claimed from the account were some small costs from your high school. He couldn’t touch it for anything else, and it was yours when you turned twenty-one.” I tried to explain as briefly as possible so she didn’t have to digest very much at one time.
I watched as her expression changed from confusion to recognition, and then finally went completely blank. “He lied,” she said stoically. “He told me I was a burden to him, and that I was lucky to have a roof over my head. He said my parents hadn’t cared what happened to me, and that they wanted me to fend for myself because I was a burden to them, too, and I made them even poorer. He actually said he’d had to pay their debts.”
“He lied,” I replied.
My gut ached with the desire to get vengeance for her, but I couldn’t. The only thing I could do was help her pick up the pieces after her uncle had destroyed her even before she’d been old enough to walk away.
I’d been searching for the bastard since I’d first met Ruby. When his niece had run away, he’d moved to the other side of Ohio, but some of my personal team had finally dug up the information that he’d died and had been brought back to his home town to be buried in the same cemetery as Ruby’s parents.
His estate was up in the air since there were no immediate relatives, but Ruby’s uncle hadn’t really had very much to settle after he’d been buried. Mostly just the money that had been left in trust for Ruby.
“How much?” she asked.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand was paid out,” I told her. “He managed to claim some for your food and living expenses. But most of it is still in trust.”
Even though Ruby’s parents had been tight on money, they’d always made sure their only daughter was protected since they didn’t have a lot of family. They’d obviously wanted her to be taken care of if they weren’t around to do it themselves.
In reality, they’d obviously put their daughter’s safety over their own comfort.
“What do we have to do in Ohio?” she asked, her expression still unreadable.
“You’re going to need to sign some paperwork to get your trust,” I explained.
She nodded. “Then I guess we’re going to Ohio.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried that she hadn’t really said much.
“I will be,” she answered vaguely.
I expedited things so we could get in and out of Ohio quickly. There was nothing there for Ruby anymore, but she was going to have to deal with her past one more time.
While we were on our way to the airport, I swore that this time would be the last.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Ruby said in the same monotone voice she’d used all day.
She was actually starting to scare me.
She’d signed the paperwork involving her trust like it was just another task she had to complete, asking the necessary questions with very little emotion.
We were in the car I’d rented, and we were headed back to the airport after going through everything with an attorney who had taken on the task of getting Ruby’s trust to her bank account.
She still had very little to say. Her words had been her first since we’d gotten back into the vehicle I was now driving.
“Can you turn left up here?” she asked.
It was a small town, and we were approaching the edge of the city limits. It wasn’t difficult for me to make the sudden adjustments to make the requested direction.
She moved forward in her seat, her expression pensive for a moment before she said, “I think it’s the next right.”
I knew exactly where she was going, and I’d anticipated the instructions. I had come to know Ruby pretty well, so I knew she wasn’t going to leave town without visiting her parents.
“I know where the cemetery is,” I told her soberly, making it unnecessary for her to keep trying to guide me to where she wanted to go.
I also understood her need to find a way to make a connection. I hadn’t gone to see my parents’ resting place for some time, but I’d flown back to Rocky Springs fairly often to visit my parents’ graves for the first several years after their deaths.
Once we passed through the gates, she guided me straight to the site, and then jumped out of the car.
I met her on the passenger side of the vehicle.
“I wish I would have brought some flowers or something,” she said in a wistful tone.
Clasping her hand, I answered, “I took the liberty. I hope you don’t mind.”
We walked together silently to the place where Ruby’s parents had been put to rest. I wasn’t exactly sure of the spot, but I’d arranged for flowers to be put on their stone.
I stopped when Ruby halted next to me. “This is it,” she informed me as she looked down at the single stone that marked the site.
“I’d wanted a lot more for them, but my uncle said it was all he could afford,” she murmured.
I squeezed her hand. “He didn’t pay for this, Ruby. It came out of the life insurance before it was put into your trust. But your parents had everything laid out in the will. They didn’t want a big stone. All they wanted was for you to be well if something happened.”
“They were like that,” she said,
her voice starting to tremble with emotion. “Neither one of them ever wanted much except to be together.”
“That’s all they wanted, even after their death,” I said solemnly.
“I hate my uncle for making me second-guess how much they loved me,” she stated. “They were everything to me. They were all I had. But he told me they had never really wanted me, and I had spoiled their opportunities for a better life. He made me rethink everything I knew was true. And I believed it because he’d forced me to listen to him. And I guess after a while, you start to believe it if you hear it enough times.”
I squeezed her hand again, but my gut was rolling with fury. “They knew you loved them, Ruby. I know they did. You loved them even when you weren’t quite sure if they loved you.”
“But they did love me, Jett. They did. But I believed everything bad that my uncle said about them.”
I turned her toward me and grasped her shoulders. “No, you didn’t,” I growled. “In your heart, you always knew the truth. But there’s no way you couldn’t have had your doubts when crap was being pounded into your head every damn day. You were a kid, Ruby, a teenager who had lost the two people you loved the most. Give yourself a damn break. Your parents would have understood.”
She looked up at me with her liquid dark eyes, and it broke my damn heart to see the turbulence in their depths.
“They loved me, Jett. They always loved me, and my uncle was just…evil. But they had no way of knowing that because he didn’t show that part of himself to them.”
I nodded, relieved that she was finally seeing the truth.
“Oh, God,” she said as she stared back at me.
I gathered the broken woman into my arms as she did something I’d never seen before.
She started sobbing against my shoulder, crying like she’d never stop.
I held her against me, comforting her in her grief, recognizing Ruby Kent finally trusted me, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Ruby
“Jett, this is incredible,” I said in a breathless voice as I dropped my small purse on a chair in the living room.
My first glance at Jett’s high-rise penthouse had left me stunned.
I’d started to come to terms with his enormous wealth, first on the flight to Ohio, and then to Seattle on his private jet, but the penthouse pretty much blew me away.
Jett leaned a hip against the kitchen counter and watched me flit around the enormous living room as he said, “I thought material things didn’t mean much to you.”
I knew he was teasing. His voice was thick with amusement.
I finally plopped down in a window seat that had a perfect view of the top part of the Space Needle. The penthouse was slightly higher, but it almost looked framed in the window like a picture.
But it was all too real.
“I’m not materialistic,” I argued. “But there’s no way I can’t be impressed by the way the architect designed this place, or the fantastic views.”
I got up and wandered to another large window with a seat and looked at the water. “Is that Puget Sound?”
We were sitting at the top of an incline, so we looked down at sweeping water views.
“Technically, it’s probably Elliott Bay, but it’s still part of the Sound.”
“Can we get closer?” I asked excitedly.
“Why do we need to get closer? You can see it from here.”
“I wasn’t even close to water when I was a kid. And once I got south, I rarely went near the beaches.”
I’d tried to keep my head low and stay out of trouble in Miami. Unfortunately, I’d still fallen for the lies of human traffickers.
Jett chuckled. “There’s a seafood restaurant on a pier not far from here. We can go check it out tomorrow night. You can’t get much closer to the water without swimming.”
I beamed at him, relieved that our relationship was friendly again.
Coping with the revelations about my parents, and the fact that I’d been lied to by my uncle, hadn’t been easy, but Jett had been so supportive that it helped. After I’d cried all over him in the cemetery, we’d talked about some happy memories I’d had with my parents, and we’d fallen into an easy comradery that I’d missed.
I wouldn’t see my inheritance for a while, not until all the legal stuff was done. But at least I knew that my folks had provided for my future, and that I wasn’t completely dependent on anyone.
I turned and stood, crossing my arms as I said, “That means you’re paying for another dinner.”
He nodded, his eyes dancing with humor as he answered, “Makes sense since you don’t have any money yet.” He lifted his hand to stop me from speaking. “And before you start arguing, you can cook the day after tomorrow, and that’s much more than payback for any restaurant we visit. Especially if you make those incredible pastries. I can’t cook worth a damn, so you’ll be saving me money, and we can call it even. Can we agree on that? I’d like to show you Seattle, maybe even get out of the city and check out the wineries and the mountains. But I don’t want to fight every time I pay.”
I lowered my head, purposely losing eye contact with him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to see the Northwest so badly. “I’m sorry. I just feel so bad because you always have to pay. For everything. It will be nice when I can actually afford to pay you back, and have something to see me through until I can find a job.”
“It won’t be forever,” he said gruffly. “You’ll get on your feet once everything is settled in Ohio. Just let yourself be Cinderella for a while. You deserve that, Ruby.”
I gave him a dubious look, but didn’t say anything.
“So you’re going to accept the fact that I’m going to pay for stuff?” he asked.
“If you agree to let me cook most of the time.” I nodded my head toward the kitchen. “I can’t wait to get into that spectacular kitchen.”
“Done,” he said quickly, then moved forward to pick up my suitcase. “Let me show you the bedrooms and you can pick your favorite.”
I followed him, knowing that the rest of the suitcases were being brought up by a valet.
We took an elevator to the second level, an extravagance I was glad that Jett had available because of his knee.
I took a beautiful room accented in light blue, and with gorgeous views of the water.
“I’ll unpack and then I can fix dinner,” I told him as I motioned for him to drop the suitcase on the king-sized bed.
“You can let my assistant unpack,” he corrected. “And we can order pizza. It’s been a long day.”
My eyes shot up to his face. “You have an assistant already?”
I’d thought I was going to be his assistant.
He grinned. “I have several of them. But you’re the only one who’s going to live here.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “So you didn’t actually desperately need my help or anything.”
His expression grew intense as he looked at me from the top of my head to my feet, showing no sign of what he was thinking.
Finally, he said, “I needed you.”
A spark caught fire in my belly as I met his earnest gaze, unable to look away. I needed him, too, in a way I couldn’t really explain with words. I wanted to throw myself into his arms and beg his forgiveness for messing up the only opportunity I’d had to get closer to him.
Earlier, he’d been a friend and a shoulder to cry on when I needed it. But I wanted so much more.
I regretted running away from him in a stupid panic, but it had been a reaction I hadn’t been able to stifle.
Not then.
And probably not now if I didn’t approach things differently.
But I still wanted to touch him. I craved a connection with Jett, something much more intimate than what was happening between us now.
I stepped forward and pu
t a gentle kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” I murmured as I moved back. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
His fists were clenched to his side as he answered, “You’re welcome, Cinderella.”
Jett turned and left the room like his ass was on fire, and I knew it was because he wasn’t comfortable being physically close to me anymore. Not unless I was sobbing my heart out on his shoulder. I’d flipped out on him once before, and he was apparently wary.
I couldn’t exactly blame him.
“Here we go,” a female voice said from the bedroom door. “Your suitcases.”
Our driver and a well-dressed older woman entered my bedroom. Their efficiency was impressive. I watched as the lady pulled a few suitcase holders from the closet, and the driver placed the suitcases on them before he left the room, presumably to deliver Jett’s suitcases to his bedroom.
I stepped forward as the female started to open the first of two suitcases. “I can do that,” I said, feeling flustered because somebody actually thought they needed to unpack for me.
“Oh, no, dear,” the woman said in an admonishing voice that made me feel like a two-year-old. “Mr. Lawson specifically asked me to do it for you.”
“I’m Ruby,” I told her. “And I always unpack my own things.”
She smiled at me patiently, and nodded her head. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ruby. I’m Shirley, Mr. Lawson’s executive assistant, and he pays me well to unpack things for him and his guests.”
She was nice, but adamant, and I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with somebody who worked so closely with Jett.
As she opened the suitcase, I snatched up my underwear. “Can I at least put away my undies?” I asked.
I didn’t have anything particularly sexy, but it just seemed all wrong to let somebody else handle my lingerie.
“Of course. You can help all you want, and let me know where you want your things,” she said cheerfully.
“Honestly, I really don’t know,” I confided. “I’ve never been here before.”