The Billionaire Book Club

by Monroe, Max

  Her facial expressions are so dramatic, she’s like a cute, miniature, vaudeville actor.

  “Yep. It’s probably a forty-five-minute drive, but the action makes it totally worth it. If you’ve never been to a dirt race before, you’re in for a treat.”

  Connie worries her lip, so I smile at her encouragingly. She’s got a whole new level of worry as a mother—something Victoria numbed clear out of herself with cocktails and Xanax—but I can tell the core of Connie is both fun and charming. “What kind of people, exactly, attend these races?”

  Ruby sighs, something she does a lot with her mom. I imagine it’s tiring being the subject of so much anxiety, but as someone who never really got any from their mother, it doesn’t seem all that bad. “People, Mom. Like you and me. It’s not, like, a stadium full of sex offenders or anything.”

  “Well,” Connie mumbles with a shrug. “You never know.”

  “We’d love to come,” Mark interjects without waiting. He’s obviously been the referee between the two of them for a long time, and years of experience have taught him it’s best to get the situation under control before it gets out of hand. “And thankfully, when we get back, there’ll be a bathroom with a door to empty the pipes.”

  I raise my eyebrows in question, but Ruby shakes her head, mouthing, “You don’t want to know.”

  I nod slightly, just enough that she can see it, and she returns the gesture. She means it to be a quick exchange—she still hasn’t really forgiven me for dragging her out here without a choice—but her eyes get caught on mine like a fly in a spider’s web.

  Just like a spider at work, I wrap them up tight to keep them there.

  “Well, what time do we leave?” Mark asks, breaking the spell by forcing me to look away. I swallow against a newly formed sensation in my throat and take a quick drink of water to clear it.

  What the hell is that?

  Am I coming down with something?

  “Four thirty. Stands open at five thirty.”

  “Fantastic. That gives Connie and me a little time to get in a nap. We didn’t sleep much last night what with being on the plane and in the taxi and then pretzeling our asses onto pillows the size of my thigh around Rube’s table.”

  My eyebrows shoot up in question again, and Ruby shakes her head. I shake mine back because her avoiding anything personal is starting to feel an awful lot like a trend. She silently promises me great genital retribution if I don’t drop it, and for a half a second, I actually consider just how bad it would be to let her maim me. I mean, she’d at least be touching my dick, right?

  “You bet. Just let my housekeeper Greta know if you need anything.”

  Mark nods and stands up from the table, and Connie grabs both his dishes and her own and carries them to the sink. Ruby makes wide eyes at me across the table as I take another bite of my sandwich and stretch an arm out along the back of the chair next to me.

  When Ruby’s parents finally disappear down the hall, she lays her head down on the table and groans.

  “Good God, what did I do to deserve all of you?”

  I smile. “Well, I guess you were a good girl in a past life—”

  “No!” she shrieks with a laugh, lifting her head up in a spray of blond hair. “It’s not a good thing. They showed up unannounced in the middle of the night, and you kidnapped me on some random, unexplainable trip to your lake house. I ought to leave all of you wackos out here together and head back to the city on my own.”

  “Sounds horribly boring, doll.”

  She laughs. “Peaceful.”

  “Monotonous,” I challenge back.

  “Serendipitous.”

  “Ah, see, now I think you’re describing what it’s like to be here instead of home. You weren’t expecting it, but look…” I lift both my arms in a presentation of everything around us. “Look at where it’s gotten you.”

  She opens her mouth to protest, and I wag a finger. “No, Ruby. Really look.”

  When she turns down the corners of her mouth, I jump up from my seat, round the table, and help her out of hers.

  “Cap,” she groans, but I won’t have any of it as I guide her by the hips over to the floor-to-ceiling windows at the back of the house.

  “Look,” I order, turning her face to the windows with a gentle finger.

  She scowls but complies, and I stay there, behind her, the front of my body pressed to the back of hers.

  A gentle breeze blows through the trees down by the lake, and multicolored leaves flutter gracefully down to the lawn below. The lake shimmers in the midday sun, and the reflection of the dense trees on the other side makes a stripe of rainbow in the water.

  As Ruby’s body finally settles, I push myself even farther into the warmth of her back, lean down, and put my lips to the tiny shell of her delicate ear. The smell of her citrusy hair envelops me, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from burying my entire face inside.

  “The red leaves are my favorite,” I whisper. “On the water, they look like little rubies.”

  Startled, she turns her head to meet my eyes. “Cap…” I nod. “What are you…? What’s going on here?”

  “We’re talking.”

  “Don’t be a smartass.”

  “It’s the only thing I know how to be, Ruby.”

  She sighs and turns back to look at the water again, and I don’t hesitate to move my lips back to her ear again.

  “I like you, Ruby. What if, just for tonight, you let yourself see what it might be like to like me?”

  I wait for a sassy rebuttal. A feisty challenge to my request.

  But it doesn’t come.

  Instead, Ruby just stands there, her perfect little body still pressed to mine, my lips still near her ear, and she simply enjoys the view.

  Something makes my chest expand, and I silently wonder if it’s all the fresh lake air affecting my lungs in a good way.

  But my mind pipes up with its own rebuttal. The only thing affecting you is her.

  Ruby

  My knee bounces and my hands sweat while I watch Cap and my parents chat at the concession stand at Oswego Speedway from our seats in the stands. Mark is used to caring for his girls, Connie couldn’t decide what she wanted, and Cap insisted on treating. As someone had to stay here to save our seats, I’m the only one left behind.

  And to be honest, I don’t really mind.

  I’ve been a complete wreck since Cap pressed his hard body close to mine and whispered the most unexpected words I’ve ever heard into my ear.

  I’ve spent so much of my time with him trying to convince myself not to like him, it never even occurred to me he’d actually think I don’t.

  Am I truly that good of an actress?

  That he can’t tell how hard I’ve been fighting myself—fighting the pull of him?

  With my mother leading the group and my dad’s and Cap’s arms absolutely loaded with food, they turn to head back toward me, and I jerk my eyes away to look down at the track.

  There isn’t actually anything going on at the moment—we’re in between two different styles of cars’ races—but I’d just about go out there on my hands and knees to count the grains of dirt right now if it meant I didn’t have to make eye contact with the center of all of my recent fantasies.

  When Cap settles onto the bleachers next to me, his thigh pressing exquisitely against mine, he doesn’t waste any time letting me know he’s onto me.

  “Really interesting dirt out there, huh? Very dirt-like. I particularly like its dirty color.”

  I smile, just a small release of tension letting go and flying off into the wind. “Shut up.”

  He chuckles. “You’re staring so hard at nothing, I almost thought I’d lost all of my senses. Like, are the cars actually running, and I can no longer hear or see them?”

  “I said shut up!” I snap playfully, bumping my shoulder into his with enough strength that both of us sway to the side.

  My parents settle in on the other side of me a
nd start sorting their haul. “You got a chili dog?” my mom shrieks unexpectedly. “Mark!”

  “You were over there with me, Con. Jesus. Didn’t you see me ordering it?”

  “Obviously, I didn’t. What about your diverticulitis?”

  I drop my head into my hands as Cap chuckles beside me. “I got you some fries… Any digestive illness I need to know about for you?”

  I shake my head and bite my lip as I smile. “No. None to speak of so far.”

  “Excellent.” He passes me the fries, and the ketchup is squirted in a glob in the corner just how I like it. It’s a weird thing. A tiny thing in the grand scheme of things, but I’m so glad he’s not one of those people who squirts it all over the place in some weird swirl. It makes it impossible to control the ketchup-to-fry ratio, and I hate that.

  It’s not something I’ve explicitly outlined in my living will or anything, but if you’re going to start serving me fries with the swirled ketchup, you might as well just pull the plug.

  I aim a smile of gratitude in Cap’s direction, and he catches my eyes and holds them.

  The caramel is melty and soft, and quite frankly, full of chest-seizing, heart-warming, life-changing affection.

  “I think this is the first time you’ve ever really smiled at me,” he says softly, and my stomach flips over.

  “No,” I refute. “I’ve definitely smiled at you before.” I shake my head and shove his knee, but he’s not done.

  “Not like this, Ruby. Not like this.”

  Butterflies dance around my heart like the mice in Cinderella, and I have to take a deep breath to steel against mounting him like a rutting buck right here.

  Thankfully, the cars start to make their way out onto the oval, lining up in two straight rows and circling the track at a completely respectable speed. Like, I’d totally drive that fast through a residential area.

  I lean over to Cap so he can hear me over the engine noise while I speak. “That’s it? I really thought they’d go faster.”

  He laughs uproariously. “They will. This is just a pace lap while they get lined up. The race didn’t start yet.”

  “Oh.” I blush.

  “Ruby never really has understood sports,” my dad interjects from the other side of me, and I startle at his voice.

  I’d completely forgotten my parents were close enough to hear everything I say.

  “There she goes,” Cap whispers in my ear as the cars start running at full speed.

  He might mean the race…but I’m pretty sure he’s referring to my lack of inhibition.

  Because as long as my parents are here, I’ll never fully relax.

  When we get back to the lake house, covered in a thin layer of grime and dirt that the cars have thrown up on us, I’m determined.

  I’ve just spent the better part of four hours trying like hell to let go of my reservations and failing.

  And I’m so done with it. So over my overanalyzing, over the annoying sense I have to be perfect all the time, over the fact that I like a player.

  Because I do. For as little as I’ve given him to show it, Cap is one of the most interesting, funny, complex guys I’ve ever met. He never fails to make me laugh, make me smile—even when I’m trying like hell not to smile. And even though I’ve tried my damnedest to ignore the fact that I actually like spending time with him, I like seeing his smiling, handsome face every morning at the office. It’s the reality of my situation.

  I like this guy. A fucking lot. And I don’t want to miss out on another second of enjoying this weekend with him.

  It’s time I live a little. With this crazy, fucking ridiculous man who has burrowed himself inside my head. And your heart.

  As my parents disappear inside the house, I pull Cap by the hand around to the backyard and walk swiftly down toward the water.

  His boat is parked at his dock, but since the season isn’t right for lake sports, it’s covered.

  I start snapping off the buttons of the cover at the sides, and he laughs.

  “So, I guess you want to go out on the boat?”

  I nod. “Can we?”

  “We can do anything you want, Ruby,” he says earnestly, pulling me gently out of the way. He makes much quicker work of the cover than I’d be able to, climbs aboard, and then holds out a hand to me.

  I follow dutifully before realizing how cold I’m going to be once we’re moving.

  “Shoot. Maybe I should run up to the house and get a blanket.”

  He smiles and lifts up the seat across from mine. I watch as he rifles around in it for a minute and then comes out with a blanket.

  “Wow. So prepared.”

  He winks. “A good lawyer is always prepared.”

  I settle into the seat in the front as he gets behind the wheel and fires up the engine. It purrs in the otherwise silent night, and neon lights blink on to light the water around us.

  I gasp. “Wow. Pretty.”

  He chuckles as he starts to back out of the slip and pulls his jacket a little higher on his neck.

  I wrap myself in the blanket he procured as we cruise out from the dock and into open water. The wind feels good on my face, even if it is cold, and the quiet night and still water of the lake bring peace to my tight chest.

  I’ve had a fist around my heart for the past two and a half months—probably as a defense against Cap’s charm—and it feels so good to let it pump freely.

  We drive for miles, just taking in the scenery and each other. Cap’s features are completely at ease, his dimple poking a hole in the perfect apple of his smiling cheek.

  I watch his eyes as they study the path in front of us, and I get lost in their intelligence. He’s fun, sure, but he’s smart enough to be that way even in the most complicated of circumstances. I envy his ability to let go.

  Finally, we come to a big, deserted cove. Cap pulls in and shuts off the engine, and my stomach flips over on itself.

  The air is completely silent and still, and I can hear myself breathe.

  Which is a freaking problem because I sound like I just ran a freaking half marathon.

  Cap doesn’t mention it, though, tossing what I assume is an anchor off the front and then settling on the seat next to me and confiscating some of the blanket.

  My stomach is cramping and unsettled, and I have never been this nervous—or maybe it’s excited—in my life.

  Which is probably why I don’t freaking think before I speak. “How many women have you slept with?”

  Cap jerks his head back, and my cheeks heat to the temperature of lava.

  Good God, Ruby. Why on earth would you ask something like that?

  He sighs a little and then groans. “I don’t know.”

  “Like, the number is so high, you don’t even know it?”

  He shakes his head with a smile. “Like, I don’t keep a count going because it’d be really fucking tacky and rude of me to label women with numbers instead of just remembering their names.”

  My heart in my throat at his brutally honest but altogether great answer, I don’t even think about my next move. From one moment to the next, all I do is feel.

  And that’s how my lips end up on his.

  It’s a crash landing, limbs and hair and body completely out of control, but he somehow cushions it expertly. His hands come out to my hips to steady me, and his lips take charge of mine.

  “So good,” he whispers against my mouth. “So damn good.”

  I sigh with relief—I’ve been fighting this feeling for so, so long—and scoot more fully into his arms.

  He pushes me back, and I draw my eyebrows together. But he doesn’t allow my confusion to hang around for long. Up and over my head, my sweatshirt departs my body thanks to his hands.

  I stand in front of him, and he pulls my hips forward to more fully place me between his legs.

  Cap’s hands skate along my sides, down the fabric of my tank top all the way to the hem. Fingertips trail along the skin, and goose bumps pebble in their w
ake.

  I can’t look away from his amber eyes, from the depth of color swirled with arousal sparkling in the moonlight, and he doesn’t want me to. Silent communication is apparently one of his hidden talents.

  The hem of my tank skirts up slightly, just enough for him to get the full width of his hands on my skin, and my belly drops all the way into my toes.

  He rubs around the back of my hips and forward again, and every part of me tingles. I can’t imagine what it’s going to feel like when he touches me somewhere else, but I have a feeling I’m going to find out.

  My heart is racing, but for the first time since I met Caplin Hawkins, it’s not because I think I should stop.

  No. I know I should.

  But it feels too good, and according to everyone around me, the thing I need most is to let go and live.

  And by God, I can’t think of a better way to do it.

  “God, you’re beautiful, Ruby.” Leaning forward slowly, Cap puts his lips to the skin of my stomach in a terrifyingly gentle kiss. My eyes fall closed on their own, and my fingers tense into the fabric at his shoulders.

  His approach is so different from what I expected—slow and torturous rather than hard and fast.

  I always imagined he’d have sex like he lives life—bold and passionate and loud. I can’t explain this. My brain can’t understand it.

  When he pulls his mouth back from my stomach, the button and zipper of my jeans are undone as though influenced by magic.

  I never even felt the movement, never felt his hands there as they worked to open up everything, and I have to giggle a little. I can’t help it.

  “Wow,” I remark as I do. “You are good.”

  Cap’s answering smile is both brilliant and wicked, and before I know it, I’m going up, compliments of his hands at my ass, and then down, landing on my back on the seat.

  He covers me with his weight, his eyes full of a sexy gleam, and he ghosts his hand out and up into the back of my hair.

  My neck arches at his command, and the feel of his lips as they settle on my mine makes me gasp.