I stared at Ruby, a few strands of hair loosening from her sleek ponytail, her blue eyes sparkling.

“You’re brilliant,” I said. “Why the hell didn’t the rest of us think of that?”

“Oh, I’m thinking you all probably had a lot more on your minds. Like whether your father is actually alive and what his role is in all of this.”

“Still.” I pulled her to me. “Leave it to you to see what should have been right in front of our eyes.”

“Don’t get too excited. It may not lead to anything. Larry hasn’t been very talkative up until this point. Plus, he may claim not to know.”

“True. But it can’t hurt. After all, he had one of the rings too. I’ll be in the city tomorrow to talk to Bryce’s uncle. Can I pick you up after work?” I hesitated. “Oh. Will we even be able to get in to see him in the evening?”

Ruby smiled. “I’m a police detective. I can get in to see whoever I want.”

“I don’t want you to get into any trouble. This isn’t your case.”

“You let me worry about that.”

I touched her cheek, her skin like satin against my rough fingertips. “Sometimes I can’t believe you’re in my life.”

She looked away shyly. “You’ve had women before. This is hardly a first for you.”

“It’s the first time—”

I stopped abruptly. I’d been about to confess my love for her, and I couldn’t do that. At least not yet. I had no idea how she felt about me, but that wasn’t the real reason for my hesitation. Before I could love her or anyone else, I had to be sure of who I was. My world had been turned upside down with the new information regarding my maternity. I wasn’t ready to have it turned upside down by a woman.

“The first time what?” she asked.

“Nothing. You’re right.” The thought of my previous girlfriend, Anna Shane, reminded me of the quitclaim deed we’d found among my father’s things. Yet another tentacle in this mystery that was my life.

Her cheeks reddened. “I know you have.”

“Ruby, I know what you’re thinking. Believe me, you’re…different. And I don’t mean because you’re inexperienced. You’re…great in bed, baby.”

She reddened even further.

“That’s a compliment.” I pushed my groin into her. “See? I’m hard for you right now, and we haven’t even kissed.”

I was crazy hard for her most of the time. It wasn’t her hot-as-hell body, her gorgeous face and hair, the fact that she’d tried so hard for so long to be invisible…

No. It was because she was Ruby. The woman I loved.

Still, I was afraid to go there. She knew who she was.

I did not know who I was.

Not anymore.

The only thing I knew for sure was that right now, as of this very moment, I craved her. Needed her. Ached for her.

I crushed my lips to hers.

She opened for me at once, our tongues swirling together. She tasted as she always did, of sweetness, freshness, berries and cream.

I had never thought of myself as a natural dominant before, but with Ruby, who in her daily life was about as far from submissive as anything, I was finding my dominant desires.

I broke the kiss.

“We need to talk,” I said.

“Now?” Her nipples protruded through her tank top.

I had to physically stop myself from reaching for them.

“You’re still so innocent, baby. I’m not sure where I can go with you.”

She laughed. “Ryan, you are six-three and your muscles have muscles. But trust me. I can stop you if I want to.”

I didn’t doubt it. With her background and her training as a cop, not to mention that killer body that she kept through working out hard, she didn’t have much to fear from another person without a weapon. Still, I felt the need to say, “All you have to do to stop me is to tell me no.”

She sobered. “Yes, I know that. You would stop if I asked you to. I trust that completely. But I’ve told you before. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.”

“Then…”

“What?”

“What would you say about…” God, I’d had no idea how hard it would be to actually give voice to these desires.

“Spit it out, Steel.”

I’d known for a while that both of my brothers—as well as my father, according to Wendy—enjoyed the darker, baser side of their dominant personalities. Not that we talked about that shit. We never had. But Jonah had a dungeon in his house. I’d come across it once while I was house- and dogsitting for him. I hadn’t said anything to him. He’d probably be mortified if I knew.

I had never tried anything like that, but now, with Ruby, her sweet submission so intoxicating, I wanted to.

But how to bring it up? Ruby had two sides. Her tough cop side, who wasn’t afraid of anything and knew how to take care of herself. But she also had a vulnerable side. The side who’d been nearly raped by her own father and who’d left home at fifteen. Who’d spent her whole adult life, until now, as a virgin, afraid of getting close to a man.

The two times I’d gotten a little rough and forceful with her, she’d taken it. Had seemed to enjoy it, even.

And as she said, she didn’t do anything she didn’t want to do.

“Would you be willing to try some…new things in the bedroom?”

She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Then, “Like what?”

I opened my mouth to respond, when I suddenly realized I didn’t know exactly what to ask her for. I burst out laughing.

“Ryan. You’re freaking me out here.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I really am. I’m just trying to say that I like taking the dominant role in bed, more than I imagined I would. And I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m naturally dominant, or because you seem to be naturally submissive, which, frankly, surprised me a little bit.”

She arched her eyebrows. “Ryan, honestly, it surprised me a little bit too.”

“But you’re okay, right?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Like I said—”

“You don’t do anything you don’t want to do,” I finished for her.

Now she burst out laughing.

And I realized how absurd this whole thing was. “How about this? We continue doing what we’re doing, and if you don’t want to do something, you just tell me no.”

“Sounds reasonable,” she said. “Since that’s pretty much what we just said.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” I grabbed her. “Just kiss me.”