Chapter Six

Steven

Damn it. I hadn’t meant to kiss her. Well, okay, I’d meant to. But it was wrong. A mistake.

But one I wanted to make again. Desperately.

Hell, if not for that damn lifeguard, we’d probably be rolling around in the sand, half-naked.

Which would have been hot as hell, but completely the wrong thing to do. We’d gone too far as it was. I had no right kissing Ruby, let alone dreaming about what she’d look like naked, lying in my bed.

She appeared to be just as shocked by our sudden kiss, because as I drove us back toward her parents’ house, she stared out the passenger side window and didn’t say a word. My own thoughts were so jumbled and confused I didn’t even bother trying to make them coherent enough to start a conversation.

As soon as I pulled into the driveway, I wanted to turn around and speed back to my own parents’ house, just a few streets away, and spend the rest of the evening trying to forget about the way Ruby tasted or about her silky smooth skin against my fingertips. Most of all, I needed to find some kind of mental delete button to rid my ears of the echo of that hot little moan she’d done as my tongue slipped past her lips. Fuck, that’d been too much.

Great, Maxwell, another fuckin’ boner.

That’s just what I need, seeing Rick for the first time in over four years, and meeting his new wife and baby for the first time. Not to mention Watson and Leah, Rick and Ruby’s parents. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Westin, don’t mind my stiffy, just been thinking too much about getting a taste of your daughter’s sweet little—”

I suddenly wondered if Mr. Westin was a gun man…

“Looks like they’re here,” Ruby said, although she didn’t make a move for her door handle as I brought the truck to a stop.

I followed her gaze and saw that there were four adults on the other side of the thin curtains that covered most of the front room window. “Looks like it. You mind if I come in?”

She whipped around to stare at me. “Mind? Why would I mind?”

I licked my lips. “I didn’t know if it would be awkward.”

She arched a brow, apparently still not following me.

I sighed and rubbed a hand over the two days of stubble on my jaw. “Listen, Rubes, about what happened on the beach—”

“Oh, Steven, good grief. I know it was nothing.” She looked away, back at her family gathered inside. “Besides, Rick’ll kill me if he knows you were here and didn’t come in and see him.”

She started to push open her door but I reached out and grasped her upper arm, stilling her before she could hop out. She turned to look at me again, her expression a strange mix of confusion and sadness. “What’s wrong now?”

“Ruby, it wasn’t nothing.” I paused, watching her eyes dart back and forth between mine. She was spooked. I traced a finger down the side of her cheek, following the soft curve. “I want to see you again.”

Her pillow soft lips parted and I damn near got hard again. “You do?”

I nodded. “Fuck yeah, I do. How long are you in town?”

“Till New Year’s. I booked my plane tickets before—” she stopped herself and sucked in a deep breath. “Well…before everything went to shit. I was originally supposed to be back to work on the second. But now…I guess I’m winging it.”

I smiled. “Good. I’m here for the next three and a half weeks.”

A flicker of a smile crossed her lips and I leaned across the center console, unable to stop myself, before kissing her softly.

When we parted, Ruby gave a soft sigh. I smiled and traced a finger down the side of her face as her lashed fluttered open again. “Come on, let’s go see the fam.”

Ruby led the way this time and let us both into the house. “Look who I found out on the porch!” she announced as she rounded the corner into the large, open living room. I followed her a few steps behind and the room smiled at the sight of me.

“Steven? Oh my goodness, Richard, it’s Steven!” Leah raced forward to embrace me. She’d always treated me like a son. Watson extended a hand. Rick came next and we embraced like brothers. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as we parted and I blinked quickly to clear them away before Rick introduced me to Vanessa, his exotic-looking wife, and their small daughter who looked like a baby model with long dark lashes, caramel colored skin, and her mother’s almond-shaped eyes.

The tears returned as I glanced down into the small face. “She’s beautiful, man. Absolutely perfect. Congrats.” I clapped Rick on the back.

“What about you, Steven? Any young ladies on the horizon?” Leah asked, offering me a serving tray loaded down with crackers, gourmet cheeses, and assorted olives.

I resisted the urge to glance over at Ruby, but felt her eyes on me all the same. “Not right now, Mrs. Westin.”

“Oh, Steven, please, call me Leah.”

I laughed softly. “All right, Leah. I don’t get out much. Well, at least not to the places where I would meet a nice young lady.”

Everyone laughed at this and I dared to sneak a peek at Ruby. She was sitting on the floor, her little niece gathered in her arms. My heart twisted inside of my chest as I watched her eyes sparkle and gleam as she smiled at the baby. She was completely lost in the small face in front of her and likely hadn’t even heard her mother’s question—or my answer.

Rick slapped me on the shoulder and I jolted upright. He laughed. “Take it easy there, Trigger,” he said, reminding me of one of my childhood nicknames. “I told Vanessa you might try and steal me away for a drink.”

I smirked at him. “Aha.”

Vanessa shot us both a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was a beautiful woman. Stunning, really. But there was something cold about her that had me on edge. She sat too closely to Ruby and shot her hawk-like glances as she played with her niece and something about it riled me. Sure, she was a new mother, but what did she think Ruby was going to do? Run off with her child? Drop her?

I offered the woman a smile, not wanting to pass judgment too quickly. Maybe she was just tired from traveling with a newborn and not her normal self. “Would that be all right, Vanessa? I promise I’ll keep him in check.”

“One hour,” came her clipped reply.

Ruby glanced up at Vanessa’s sharp tone and I noticed her eyebrows rising on her forehead. She’d heard it too.

I cut away, looking back at Rick, who seemed oblivious to his wife’s disdain. “Okay, one hour.”

“See ya in a little while, Mr. And Mrs. Westin.” I glanced to the floor. “Ruby.”

“Will you stay for dinner?” Leah asked.

I tore my eyes from Ruby’s and returned them, along with an easy smile to Leah. “Wish I could. But my parents are expecting me. I’m crashing with them for the duration of my leave.”

“Of course. Well, tell them hello for us. We’ll plan another night for dinner.”

“Sounds great.”

* * * *

By the time I fell into bed that night, I was more conflicted than I’d felt in quite some time. Everything had changed so much since my last visit home. Most of my old friends were gone—moved out and on for different reasons. The stores and houses had changed. Even my best friend had changed on me when I wasn’t looking. Drinks with Rick ended up being a complete 180 from the crazy nights out we’d shared the last time we’d seen each other. Granted, that was before he’d met Vanessa. It appeared that not too long after they’d met, Vanessa had confiscated Rick’s balls and plopped them in a little jar she probably kept in her purse.

The man who’d shared a beer with me—only one, Vanessa’s other demand—was barely a ghost of the Rick I’d known in school and over emails and texts and occasional visits over the years. He was a married man now. Very married. That was all he wanted to talk about. His wife and his daughter, his job and his 401K.

As Rick droned on and on, I was mentally reliving the kiss on the beach. It was wrong, thinking of kissing Ruby while sitting across the table from Rick, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was lost, remembering the taste of the sugar and tequila on her lips. The smell of her shampoo mingling with the salty air.

Damn. Ruby had changed too, but in a really good way. It was all I could do to keep myself from running into the house and dragging her out when I dropped Rick off after our drink. Instead, I’d gone on home, had dinner with my folks, and then retired to my childhood room that my mother had converted into a sewing room with a pull out couch about a week after I left for boot camp.

I stared up at the ceiling, following the shadows with my eyes as I wondered what Ruby was doing. The voice in the back of my mind telling me that lusting after Rick’s little sister was asking for trouble was starting to get fainter and fainter. Besides, what was Rick gonna do about it? Sic Vanessa after me? I laughed—that might actually be scary.

I chuckled to myself and rolled over, away from the window, to try and get some sleep, when there was a thud outside my room. I bolted upright, every nerve automatically switching into SEAL mode, and hopped out of bed. I went to the window, peeled back the green curtain and spotted a pair of eyes staring at me.

“Ruby?”

Sure enough, it was her, perched on the roof right outside the dormer of my window. I threw the window open and leaned out, throwing her my hand in case she slipped.

“Hi,” she whispered. She took my hand and I gently tugged her toward the window.

“How did you get up here?” I asked, grinning at her red cheeks.

She smirked. “You’re not the only one who can do badass shit.”

I laughed. “And climbing a tree is badass?”

“Hey, it impressed you.”

What Ruby didn’t know, was that everything about her impressed me.