She tasted different. Even more delicious than usual. Or maybe it was the passion our emotion had aroused. I didn’t know, but I had to have her. Didn’t know what I’d have done if she’d sent me away.

Thank God she hadn’t.

Her climax happened quickly, more quickly than I’d expected. I shoved two fingers into her heat and rubbed at her G-spot, milking more and more orgasm out of her. She moaned, cried my name, and with each “Ryan” that came from her lips, my cock grew harder and my passion grew more intense.

And the anger, the need to punish, subsided.

I wouldn’t punish her. I would fuck her. I’d eat her and fuck her until I passed out next to her.

I’d lose myself in her tight little body, her tight little cunt, and maybe she could take the nightmare away.

I’d deal with the fallout later.

I removed my fingers from her pussy and replaced them with my tongue, alternating between sucking her slick folds and tonguing her clit. I pushed her thighs farther apart, attempting to go deeper and deeper into her heat. Wanted—no needed—to get closer. To taste the deepest parts of her.

Her pussy had never tasted so sweet. I devoured her as if she were my last meal, and when she claimed her second orgasm, I was rewarded with sweet nectar all over my lips and chin. Her moisture fueled my passions further, and I dived back into her heat.

She cried out, another climax imminent, and I smiled against her folds as I sucked at them. Again, I said inside my head. Again. Come again.

As if she’d read my mind, she shattered around me, and I forced my two fingers back inside, scissoring them, rubbing her anterior wall, trying to touch every part of her channel. Needed more. So much more.

“Again,” I said against her wetness. “Again, goddamnit. Come again.” I nipped at her clit.

“God!” she screamed. “No. Too soon. I can’t.”

“You can,” I said. “Come. Now.”

And again she unraveled, drenching me in her sweet cream. I lapped it up like a feline, still finger fucking her, still trying to touch her innermost parts.

But my fingers weren’t long enough. I needed my cock now.

But not until she came once more.

I sucked at her, ate at her, drove her to the edge until she tumbled over the precipice, her cries a sweet symphony to my ears.

I was still fully clothed, but I couldn’t take the time to undress. I unbuckled my belt, undid my jeans, and pushed them and my boxers over my hips. My cock jutted out, as erect as it had ever been. I shoved it into her swollen pink cunt.

Ah, God, sweet suction.

She cried out, her eyes squeezed shut.

I wanted to milk another climax out of her, but I couldn’t. Not now. Not when I needed my release so badly. A release inside her tight body.

A salvation.

I thrust and I thrust. I fucked her and I fucked her.

And when my balls tightened and I shot my semen into her, the freedom flowed through my veins into every cell of my body.

I collapsed on top of her.

Sated.

---

I awoke the next morning alone in a strange bed.

Ruby’s bed. It was Sunday, so she wouldn’t have gone to work.

A clock radio on the nightstand said ten o’clock. Ten? I’d slept until ten? That was unheard of.

And then everything came crashing down again. What I’d learned yesterday, and how the world had tumbled down around me. My whole fucking world. My identity. How Joe and Talon had tried to talk to me, to bring me down from my rage. How I’d run out on them. How I’d come to Ruby’s, intent on having it out with her for her involvement.

Instead, I’d nearly raped her.

I raked my fingers through my hair. God, I was still sweaty.

Why hadn’t she stopped me?

Another reason to hate my life.

I still had my jeans and boxers around my thighs. My shirt was still on. Only my boots had been taken off.

Had Ruby even slept here?

I got up and pulled my pants back up. I walked out into her small living area. She was seated on the couch, typing on her laptop and sipping a cup of coffee. I opened my mouth, but no words emerged. What could I say to her?

I hadn’t wanted to hurt her. But I’d been so angry. Still was angry.

I cleared my throat.

She looked up. “Good morning,” she said.

“Good…morning.”

“Coffee’s in the kitchen.”

The kitchen was two steps away, so I helped myself to a cup and then went back to her. “May I sit down?”

“Sure.” She scooted over a bit.

The couch was more like a loveseat. This apartment was so damned small.

“I need to…” I stopped and cleared my throat again. “I need to…apologize.”

“For what?”

“For…taking advantage of you last night.”

“No need. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. Trust me.”

Thank God. “I was just so…”

“So what? Angry? I get that, Ryan. I’m angry too. I’m angry at this whole thing.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re angry? You’re not the one whose life just shattered around him.”

Then she glared at me with those intense blue eyes. “Really? My whole life has been like that, Ryan.”

“I just mean…”

“Look. I wish I could take all this away for you. That’s what last night was about. You know it as well as I do. You once told me you didn’t want to be my escape. I never wanted to be yours either, but last night I was. You needed it. I needed it. It was a momentary reprieve. But we’re back to real life now, and you and I both have to deal with this. The question is—do you want to deal with it with me or without me?”

The million-dollar question. She’d been a part of this whole thing—of keeping the truth from me. I wasn’t just angry with her. I was angry with all of them. Mostly I was angry with my father. I was angry with a dead man.

A fucking dead man.

Who the hell was Bradford Steel?

And now, to find out that I grew in the uterus of a crazy woman…

“You should have told me,” I said.

“Yes, I should have. I was hoping the test would be negative and you’d never have to know. Then I could have saved you this pain.”

“I know. My brothers explained that. Still, they should have told me.”

“I agree. So do Jade and Melanie. But they felt the same way I did. They didn’t want to hurt you if it could be avoided.”

“You gave them my hair.”

She nodded. “I did.”

“You’re just going to admit it?”

“Why not? You want me to try to blame the whole thing on someone else? What good would that do? Yes, I gave them your hair. What I didn’t tell them is that I came upon the hair by accident. I didn’t pull it out of your head or go searching through your brush. The hair was on my neck that morning…after…”

He nodded. “Okay. Still, you didn’t have to give it to them.”

“You’re absolutely right. I didn’t have to. In fact, I thought a lot about whether I would. In the end, I decided to, on the chance that the test might be negative. That way, you wouldn’t be hurt.”

“Fuck, Ruby. You should have come to me.”

“I won’t deny it.”

“So you’re just going to sit there and agree with everything I say? Fight me, goddamnit! I need a fucking fight!”

“Sorry. You won’t get one from me. You want to walk out that door? Say good-bye to me and anything we could have? I won’t stop you, Ryan. I’ve lost a lot in my life. One more thing won’t kill me.”

Her eyes softened a bit then.

“Won’t it? Could you really say good-bye to me?” I asked.

And then her eyes turned blue as the morning sky. “Could you say good-bye to me?”