Her words nearly broke my heart. I’d only kissed her once, brushed my lips softly against hers, and I wanted her more than I’d wanted any woman. She stood, in her tight black miniskirt and silver sequined camisole, strappy black slides on her feet.

“You look beautiful.”

She blushed under the resort lighting. “These are Marjorie’s clothes again. Jade’s shoes.”

“I didn’t say the clothes were beautiful. I said you are beautiful.” I touched her cheek, and to my surprise, she didn’t flinch. Her skin was like silk under my fingertips. “Did that bastard hurt you?”

She shook her head. “He just scared me, like I said. I told him no and tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Luckily we were in a public place, and my cop instincts kicked in.”

“You wouldn’t have put yourself in that position in a private place. You’re too smart for that.”

She blushed more. “Thank you for saying that. I…” Her eyes misted with tears.

“What is it, baby?”

She widened her eyes slightly at the word “baby,” but then she spoke. “It’s Juliet and Lisa. I wish they had been smart enough not to put themselves in a dangerous position. I wish I could have stopped them.”

“You did all you could.” God, her cheek was soft. “Maybe I’m the one who should have done more.”

She sniffled. “We both should have.”

“You’re right. I wish we had done more. But Juliet and Lisa—and even Shayna, because she went along—were being stupid. They’re grown women, and they were looking for a good time. They weren’t thinking about the consequences. What young woman hasn’t dreamed of being swept off her feet by a foreigner?”

“I haven’t.”

“No. Not you. But Juliet and Lisa probably haven’t been through what you have.” And I still didn’t know exactly what she’d been through. I wanted to ask, wanted her to know that anything she told me was safe with me, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.

“I daresay that by now, Juliet and Lisa have been through way worse than I have.” She shook her head. “I just wish…”

I stroked her gorgeous hair. “I know, baby.”

“I want to talk to Shayna.”

“She may not even be on the resort anymore. She probably wanted to get the hell out of here.”

“You’re right. But still, I’m going to check in the morning. Maybe she’ll be willing to talk to me.”

“All right. I’ll go with you if you want. But why? Why is this affecting you so deeply?”

“Because, Ryan, my father… God knows how many other girls and boys he has hurt in his lifetime. I feel for every single one of them. And even though my father probably has nothing to do with Juliet and Lisa, I feel for them too.”

“You can’t save them all, Ruby.”

“God, how well I know that. But I want to talk to Shayna.”

“There’s nothing we can do about that until morning.”

She looked around. “I suppose I should get back to Melanie and Jade’s party. Why aren’t you with the men?”

I laughed. “It broke up pretty early. Those two are so ridiculously in love that they weren’t in the mood for heavy drinking and strippers.”

Just then, Melanie, Jade, and Marj came out of the dance club.

“There you are. Ruby, are you okay?” Marjorie asked.

“I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry I pressed you to dance with that guy.”

“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known he was such a lech. It was my decision.”

“We’re pretty wiped out,” Jade said. “Plus Mel and I have to look gorgeous tomorrow for the wedding. We’re going to head back.”

“Okay,” Ruby said. “I’ll come along.”

I touched her forearm. “Would you stay out here a little while longer? With me?” God, I sounded like a lovesick schoolboy. Ridiculous.

“I don’t know…”

“Stay out if you want. You’ll look great tomorrow no matter what.” Marj laughed. “When we get back, I want you to take me to your gym. Show me how to get that body of yours. I’m holding you to it.”

“And I’ve told you. There’s nothing wrong with your body,” Ruby said, smiling.

Marj was my sister. Somehow, I never thought of her as having a body. Although I was getting more uncomfortable by the minute every time she and Bryce were in the same room together. He’d been giving my sister some very unbrotherly looks.

Ruby turned to me then, and I saw something in her blue eyes that I hadn’t before. I couldn’t put a name to what I was seeing, but I liked it. I liked it a lot.

“I think…I would like to stay.”

Marjorie smiled then and arched her eyebrows. “Okay. See you guys in the morning.”

“Bye,” Melanie and Jade both said.

Ruby smiled shyly. “What do you want to do?”

I smiled. “Whatever you want.”

“A walk on the beach?”

“Sounds great.”

I wanted so badly to take her hand, but I didn’t. Ruby was a special person, a person who had been through a lot of shit. Whatever we had together, it would go at a snail’s pace. As much as I wanted her, I had to be okay with that. Did I like this woman enough to move at a slow pace?

The truth of the matter was yes, I did.

We didn’t talk much, just walked on the beach, me carrying two pairs of shoes. I had dressed better tonight, in shorts and a printed rayon shirt. Tomorrow, for the wedding, we were all wearing white pants and white shirts. I didn’t know what the women would be wearing.

All I knew was that Ruby would look beautiful.

I was content to simply walk beside her, letting the soft breeze ruffle my hair and shirt. Her hair was down tonight—soft, silky, and straight, flowing over her creamy shoulders and down her back.

Then we came to the nude beach again. Other couples were walking, and some were under cabanas. This part of the beach had several cabanas containing beds. They were walled off, but open on top so the stars were visible.

I longed to be alone with Ruby, to take her into one of the vacant cabanas.

But I knew how she would react to that.

“You want to go for a swim?” I asked.

She sighed. “Now that’s something I would normally say no to, but I think I might like to. It’s a beautiful night, and I haven’t been in the ocean yet. But what will we do with our clothes?”

Here was my shot. “Why don’t we put them in one of the empty cabanas? We can set them on the bed so they won’t get all sandy.”

“All right.”

I led her to one of the straw cabanas, and we went inside. We stripped off our clothing, and my cock was at half-mast again. She turned away from me as she undressed. I didn’t think anything of it. At least she was undressing. She folded her clothes neatly, set them on the bed, and then turned toward me, her arms over her chest. She had trimmed her bush since this afternoon. And, oh my God, I could see the lips of her pussy. So beautiful. Pink and fleshy. Plus, her sumptuous tits. Nice and plump with pink-brown pencil eraser nipples.

Fuck.

My cock tightened and threatened to grow. The cold ocean water would take care of that in quick order. I took her hand in mine. I ran with her to the water, and we splashed in.

Ruby laughed—she actually laughed—as her hair got wet and plastered to her shoulders and back. “Stupid move on my part. I should’ve put my hair up. This will be a bitch to brush out.”

“But you look so pretty. Like a mermaid.”

And she did. She was up to her belly button in water, her beautiful black hair plastered all over her body, her breasts plump, her nipples dark and hard. Her blue eyes sparkling. It was easy to imagine a glittering aquamarine fishtail underneath.

Of course, what was underneath was much better than a glittering fishtail. Between her legs was heaven. Beautiful heaven.

Shit, this water wasn’t doing much for my cock. Easy, Ryan. You walk out of the water with a giant hard-on, and she’ll run screaming in the other direction.

I touched her cheek again. She had let me do that before. Her lips were dark and glistening in the moonlight. I ran my thumb across the lower one.

“Ruby,” I said, my voice low and husky. “I’m dying to kiss you.”

She slid her tongue out and touched it to the tip of my thumb.

My God. My dick was raging. Just because this woman had touched her tongue to my thumb. What would happen if I actually kissed her? Really kissed her? Not a silly brushing peck like last night, but the joining of our mouths, our tongues, our lips sliding and slipping?

Just a kiss. That’s all I needed. Just to kiss those beautiful lips, slide my tongue between them…

She closed her eyes and lifted her face.

Was that an invitation?

Whether it was or not, I decided to go for it. She would stop me if she didn’t want it.

As much as I wanted to crush my lips to hers and take her mouth, I went slowly.

I leaned down and pressed my lips across hers once, twice, three times.

She tensed a bit, but then relaxed.

I cupped both of her cheeks and kissed her lips again. And then once more. I kissed her cheek, tiny little kisses until I got to her ear and gave her lobe a tug with my teeth.

“Let me show you a real kiss, Ruby,” I said into her ear. “Open for me. Let me in.”

She sighed, and I trailed my lips back to her mouth, gliding my tongue over her lower lip and then her upper, sliding it between the seam.

When she opened slightly, I slipped into her mouth.

She tasted of raspberries. Sweet raspberries. When I touched the softness of her tongue, I nearly exploded right into the ocean. From a kiss. A fucking kiss. A gentle kiss at that.

I quickened my pace, swirling my tongue with hers, running it over her teeth, her gumline, and then tangling it with hers again.

I pulled her closer to me, our chests touching, her gorgeous boobs rubbing against me, her nipples poking my chest.

She broke away, panting. “Oh my God.”

“You’re wonderful,” I said.

“Oh my God,” she said again. “Please. Kiss me again.”

This time I smashed our mouths together, taking her tongue with mine, swirling them together. Again, she was tense at first, but within a few minutes she was kissing me back.

We kissed for several more minutes, until she broke away, panting again. She looked down at my rigid cock bobbing on the surface of the water. Her eyes were wide.

“I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

“It’s not like I’ve…never seen one before.”

“None of that matters. All that matters is you and me, the two of us beneath the moon, in this beautiful water. I can’t help the way my body responds to you, Ruby. I enjoy kissing you. I think that’s pretty obvious.” I smiled. “But like I told you last night, you have nothing to fear from me. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”

“I never thought I could want something like this.”

I touched her cheek. “What do you want?”

“I don’t know. I only know what I’m feeling at this moment.”

“And what are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling…” She looked up to the sky. “I’m feeling something I never thought I would feel. I don’t even know how to describe it.”

“Let me tell you what I’m feeling, then,” I said.