by Amelia Wilde
The message comes in while we’re cruising down the freeway in an electric silence, the alert popping up on the navigation screen tucked into the dashboard of the car. It’s a single word: finished.
Instead of loosening the tension stretched across my shoulders, it winds it even tighter. This must impress Ruby. It’s my last shot to show her that I understand where she’s coming from. I understand why this was so important to her. And I didn’t let her down.
“What’s finished?”
She has my right hand in both of hers, and her grip tightens on my hand when she speaks. One glance at her tells me the curiosity is only increasing. Her blue eyes shine, and her cheeks have a pink color that I wish I could capture in a painting. That’s one work of art I’d keep forever.
“Nothing you need to know about.”
“What do I need to know about?” I can see her grin out of the corner of my eye. My heart turns over. I don’t want that grin to disappear from her face. I don’t want this to be the wrong move.
“You need to know…” It takes me a solid three heartbeats to choose the words. “…that you’re driving me wild.”
She laughs, her head tipping back against the headrest. “We’re not doing anything.”
“No, we’re not.”
In my peripheral vision, I see the smile fade from her face, and my heart lurches. I take my eyes off the road for a single glance.
Ruby isn’t frowning.
She’s biting her lip, her eyes narrowed, and the gleam in her eyes has become a smoldering blaze.
“We’re not doing anything now.”
I take the next exit.
It’s reckless as hell, doing this, and I don’t have the slightest idea where I am. I don’t bother looking at the name on the sign, and the moment we’re off the highway, we might as well be nowhere.
Perfect.
Two turns, and I’m on a wooded two-lane highway, looking for the first place to pull off. It’s not twenty seconds before I see it: a gravel road underneath a bower of trees. The rocks crunch under the tires.
I throw the car in park, but I don’t have time to turn the key in the ignition before Ruby is on top of me. I don’t know how the hell she did it—maybe she wasn’t wearing panties in the first place, but I instinctively run my hands up her legs, under her skirt, and there’s nothing stopping me from stroking at her slick folds.
She takes my face in her hands and looks into my eyes. “We’re not done talking.”
“Absolutely not. We’re taking a break.”
Then a wicked grin curls her lips, and she reaches down, unzipping my pants in one smooth motion. “I never do this,” she says, her voice almost casual as she pulls my cock out into the open.
“Never do what?”
“Sex in cars.” Her eyes dart from the left side to the right. “Sex that’s practically in the open. Sex with men who—” She spreads her legs a little wider, guiding the head of my cock to her opening. “—I’m not even sure I’m done fighting with.”
I tighten my grip on her hips and push downward, sliding into her an inch at a time.
“You’re not done fighting with me?” I murmur the words in her ear, and her hands find purchase on my shoulders, digging into my skin through my shirt.
I sink the last few inches into her. The sigh she lets out when her pussy makes that last thrust of contact is music to my ears. “I’m—” She breathes the word into the side of my neck, her breath hot on my skin. “I’m done fighting.”
“I think you meant to say…” I let the words out sensually, one by one, as I thrust into her, hard and slow, my fingers sinking into her curves. “…that you’re not sure if you forgive me.”
“Yes.” The word is a hiss, and I can’t tell if she’s agreeing with me or urging me on. I don’t care. I thrust into her again, guiding her hips down.
“I’ll give you all the time you need.” Then I reach one hand between us, searching out her clit.
She doesn’t have anything else to say after that.
45
Ruby
The first car to notice us—to slow down, at least, maybe for a totally unrelated reason—flashes by in the rearview mirror when I’m pulling my sundress back into place and catching my breath.
This is not how apologies usually go, but somehow, with Levi, it seemed right. It seemed right to let that crackling heat sweep over me, pull me under. It seemed right to let go of all the bullshit still lingering between us and do something...physical.
Levi’s got a half-grin on his face that makes me want to tell him to pull over again, but we’re on our way somewhere. He has plans, and I desperately want to know what he has up his sleeve.
Once we’re back on the highway, my heart picks up speed. It’s clear he’s taking us to the city, but where? I can’t summon the words to ask him. The anticipation is too intoxicating.
He’s not going to disappoint me. That’s the one thing I’m sure of. And I’m sure of it because I felt the way his hands moved against my skin, the way our bodies moved in perfect sync, even though we were crushed in the front seat of his car, the steering wheel digging into my back. He’s amazing, even in tight quarters.
I cover my mouth with my hand for even having the thought, and he looks at me, his eyes shining. “What’s on your mind?”
“You.”
“What about me?”
“We don’t need to get into specifics.”
“I want to get into specifics.”
“I want to know where we’re going.”
“We’re really on opposite sides of this thing, aren’t we?” Levi reaches out and takes my hand in his.
“Not even a little.”
He drives with a confidence, a pointed focus, and with his eyes on the road, I’m free to look him up and down. We had a hot, hard romp in the front seat, and Levi still looks like he stepped out of the shower and slipped into his clothes. I want my hands gripping his shoulders again. I want my body pressed against his. And I want space. I want to be alone with him. Without interruption.
I take a deep breath and let it out, trying not to let the excitement take over.
We still have a stop to make before we can do anything else.
Levi pulls up to the curb outside a stately building in Park Slope, red brick, three stories, with wide windows on the first floor.
“You brought me to an elementary school?”
“You’re funny.”
“It’s not an elementary school?”
“Not in the least.”
He gets out and comes around to open my door for me, and my legs go weak at the knees. We’re here, and I don’t know if I want to see what’s inside. I cast around for an idea—what the hell could it possibly be?—but I come up with nothing. I can’t imagine what he would need to show me, right now, today, that would change anything. That would change everything. Whatever it is, the energy coiled in the lines of his shoulders tells me that this is something big.
“You’ll need to get out of the car to see what’s inside.”
“I know.” He offers me his hand, and I take it.
The heat moves over my shoulders like a shawl, settling softly over my skin. It’ll only be about five minutes before it’s oppressive. Levi has no intention of standing here for five minutes.
He slips his arm around my waist and leans down to kiss my temple. “You’re going to like it.”
“I liked what we did earlier.”
“I promise you. You’ll like this, too.” His words are a sultry promise, an invitation to afterward that I have no interest in passing up.
I’m moving before I realize it, but Levi keeps pace with me, leaping ahead at the last moment to hold the door open for me.
The lobby that we step into is gorgeously cold and meticulously clean, but it’s all dark wood and polished tile, the space hushed despite the fact that it’s almost empty.
“This seems like your kind of place.” I don’t raise my voice—not at all—but I sti
ll hear it echoing off the walls.
Levi smiles.
A man bustles out from one of the four doorways leading off the main lobby. “Mr. Blake!” His face is flushed, a little sweaty, and he’s slightly out of breath. “The team has finished up. Come this way. Please, come this way.”
“Carl, take your time. We can wait if you need more time. There are plenty of restaurants and—”
Carl, whoever he is, gives Levi a broad smile. “Not at all, Mr. Blake. Aside from some polishes we’ll put on for the public opening, everything is in place.”
“Public opening?”
Carl shakes his head. “I’m so rude. You must be Ms. Ashworth.” He steps forward, offering me his hand to shake. As flustered as he looks, it’s surprisingly dry. “I think you’ll be very, very pleased with what we’ve managed to do with—”
“Carl, I think we’d better show her instead of telling her.” Levi keeps the smile on his face, but there’s a tension around his eyes.
“You’re absolutely right, Mr. Blake.” Carl laughs nervously. “You’ll want that second doorway, and straight down the hall. I’ll—” He sticks his hands in his pocket, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “I’ll be in my office, if you need anything.”
Levi reaches out, putting a hand on Carl’s shoulder and looking him square in the eye. “Thank you. Sincerely.”
Carl flushes an even deeper red. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Levi drops his hand and turns back to me. “Are you ready?”
I look into those gray eyes, flecked with a silver that flashes even in light filtered through high windows.
Whatever is coming next is going to change everything. I can feel it.
“I’m ready.”
46
Levi
Ruby’s hand trembles in mine as we head toward the second doorway, but she doesn’t let her nervousness show in her face. She keeps her back straight, her chin raised, and she doesn’t shrink back. The only tell is in her eyes—her big, blue eyes. She can’t hide anything from me in those eyes.
It reminds me of the way she stood in the foyer at her parents’ house, ready to face what must have felt like one of the worst days of her life. The consequences of everything that had happened were barreling toward her, and I was the first one.
And Ruby—the memory makes my heart ache and leap at the same time—Ruby turned me down flat. It doesn’t matter that she changed her mind, in the end. I’ve seen people with far tougher reputations crumble in the face of far less pressure. It doesn’t make me very proud to admit that I’ve exploited more than one of them for the money.
No matter what happens now, I’ve made up my mind—I’m not going to do that going forward. I can still profit handsomely on the finds that I make without going into every sale with the kind of arrogance that made Ruby hate me.
The second doorway opens onto a hallway twice as wide as the door, also lined with rooms, the polished wood from the lobby following along.
“Wait—” Ruby says, but she doesn’t stop moving forward, only slows her pace. “This is a museum.”
“You guessed it. It’s almost ready for public viewing, but not quite.”
She laughs, her voice softened by the paneling in the hall. “Why did you bring me to a museum?”
“It’s here.”
“What’s here?”
“What I want to show you.”
She shakes her head a little, like she doesn’t quite understand, but she doesn’t say anything. I can practically see the thoughts flickering through her mind. She must have a thousand guesses.
It’s not a long hallway, thankfully, and so she doesn’t wait long to see.
This hall, with its three doors on either side, leads into a larger space, lit with recessed lights that cast a warm glow over everything inside.
We step over the threshold, and Ruby stops.
Her forehead wrinkles, and her blue eyes travel slowly over everything, taking in the size of the room—huge—and the collection inside—also sizable. She presses her lips together, looking, looking—
And then she recognizes it.
Her gasp is enough to summon paramedics from the neighboring boroughs. “Levi!”
“Yes?”
Her hands fly to her mouth, and she turns her gaze on me, then looks back into the space. “What did you do?”
“I told you—I found a single buyer.”
She moves into the room and runs her hand along one of the sets of velvet ropes blocking off the first display. It’s a complete Victorian living room, made entirely from pieces from her family’s estate. There are small white plaques with facts about each chair, each desk, each one of the touches added in later by the museum staff.
The newly hired museum staff.
“How did you—” Her voice is soft and disbelieving, but she moves to the next display, and the next, moving slowly, standing carefully outside the barriers. “How did you convince a museum to buy all of this?”
“It took a little persuasion.”
“But don’t they have—” Ruby blinks once, then twice. “They must not have the room for this. Where are all the other exhibits?”
“This is the first one.”
Her mouth drops open. “Levi...”
“Ruby...”
“Did you buy an entire museum to house my family’s collection?”
“No.”
“Thank God, because I don’t know how I would ever—”
“I funded a new branch of an existing museum in the borough. They’re thrilled to be moving some of their exhibits to this new space, with the Ashworth Exhibit being the cornerstone.” I laugh, thinking of all the emails I got from Carl as the collection was being delivered. “They were beside themselves when they realized how many displays and exhibits they could create from your parents’ estate alone.”
Ruby turns back to the nearest display, but she’s looking back at me in another heartbeat, her eyes damp with tears. “This is what you wanted to show me?”
“This is part of it.”
She takes in a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m going to need a week to recover from this.”
“Alright.”
Another disbelieving smile blooms on her face. “I can’t wait a week.”
“I thought that’s what you’d say.”
Back in the car, Ruby dabs at her eyes with tissues. “When does it open to the public?”
“Three weeks. That’s when they’ll have the other exhibits set up, plus some smaller displays from the Ashworth Collection.”
She gives me a funny grin. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”
“Yes. At my insistence.”
She bites her lip, shaking her head. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Don’t be coy with me, Levi. You had to have paid a fortune to make all this happen.”
“It’s for a good cause.”
“I didn’t ask for a museum.”
“No, but I gave it to you.” I reach across, taking her hand in mine, and kiss her knuckles. “Now you can visit your family’s pieces whenever you’d like.”
“When the museum is open, you mean.”
“As their biggest-ever benefactor, I have twenty-four hour privileges.”
Ruby’s eyes glow with happiness. “So all I have to do is stay with you?”
“I know. It’s not ideal.”
“It’s perfect.”
There’s one more thing o show her, and when I park in the private garage underneath the Blake Building, Ruby steels herself.
“What are you nervous about? Didn’t that last bit impress you?”
She grins. “I might be too impressed if you keep this up. I’d have to be self-conscious in front of you forever.”
“Impossible.”
“You’re right. Show me.”
I offer her my arm and she tucks her hand into the crook of my elbow, as naturally as if we’d never had that ridi
culous argument, like we never spent days aching to talk to each other and avoiding it anyway.
Her eyes get wider in the elevator. We go past the floors for the auction house and offices, straight to the penthouse. This isn’t what she’s expecting.
The doors slide open, and Ruby braces herself.
47
Ruby
I don’t know what I’m expecting when the elevator doors glide open, but what I see is...
Nothing.
I laugh out loud, and it makes Levi laugh, too. “There’s nothing here.”
“In the foyer? Why would I have put something in the foyer?”
“So that you could surprise me when the doors opened?”
He shrugs, nodding a little. “That would have been a surprise. But no. It wouldn’t have fit in the foyer.”
I’m still reeling from the shock of seeing all those pieces from my parents’ estate in that museum. I can’t believe that in two weeks, people are going to be able to walk past all of those things, learning from them, enjoying them. I can’t believe that Levi saw straight through me, straight through to the solution to everyone’s problems, and put it into motion despite the fact that we weren’t even together.
My heart beats furiously against my rib cage. Levi leads the way, stepping inside, and tugs at my hand. “One more surprise, and then...” His voice trails off. “We can talk.”
“Good plan.”
I follow him down the hall, in the opposite direction of the master bedroom. So it’s not some kind of sex game, or some strange artifact that he’s keeping next to the bed. I don’t know, in this strange and exhilarating moment, whether I should be disappointed or relieved.
We move past a guest suite, and Levi stops at the next door. It’s closed. He stops outside of it and turns to face me.
“Ruby...” His voice sounds oddly formal. “I want you to know how completely sorry I am for acting like such an arrogant asshole the first time we met.” He swallows. “From the first moment I saw you, I knew there was something about you that—that I’d never find anywhere else. And from the bottom of my heart, I hope you know—”