Ruby’s rosy cheeks went white as she looked at her phone.

“What is it, babe?”

She cleared her throat. “Nothing.”

“Bullshit. Who texted you?”

“I don’t know, actually.”

I grabbed the phone out of her hands, not caring whether she liked it or not. The text was still on the screen.

Don’t go home tonight.

What the fuck?

I motioned to our waiter to get the check. “You’re coming home with me,” I said.

“Look, I’m sure—”

“Don’t even try to tell me this is nothing. Can you get into your office system from anywhere?”

She nodded.

“We’re going to trace this number, figure out who sent this and what it means.”

“I can do that right now,” she said, “if you’ll give me my phone.”

I handed it back to her. The waiter came by with the check, and I handed him a credit card while Ruby tapped away at her phone.

“Anything yet?” I asked.

“Nothing in the regular phone database. Which means it isn’t Wendy stealing an orderly’s phone again, unless someone at psych lockup has a privatized number, which isn’t likely. I’ll have to do a more in-depth search.”

“Which you can do from my office at my place.” I scribbled out a tip and my signature on the credit card receipt the waiter had set in front of me. “Let’s go.”

---

I poured two glasses of wine for Ruby and me and then looked outside. It was a nice night. Early November. Thanksgiving would be here soon. We’d celebrate at Talon’s like we always did, his being the biggest house on the ranch, and this year, we’d have two new family members to include.

Thinking of such a nice family time should have made me happy, but my nerves were jumpy. Ruby was in danger, and that didn’t sit well with me at all.

“Any news from the department?” I asked her.

“Not yet. They’re keeping watch. No one will get in or out of my place tonight.”

“I’m just glad you’re not there,” I said. “If something…”

“What?”

“Nothing.” I handed her a glass of wine and then took a sip from my own. “You want to sit in the hot tub? I need to relax.”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact. Relaxing sounds great.”

After we’d shed our clothes and donned robes, we headed out into the cool night air. I took the cover off the tub, and the steam rose up around us. We took off our robes and got in. I inhaled, remembering our times in Jamaica under the stars. Even though we lived in the country, so many more stars had been visible in the Caribbean. I inhaled the night air.

“Sometimes I wish we were still in Jamaica,” I said, “without a care in the world.”

“Jamaica had its own issues,” Ruby replied.

“Damn!” I stood and sat on the edge of the tub. “Can’t we relax? Can’t we just remember the good times? I’m so sorry about those two girls. I really am, Ruby. But my life has taken a one-eighty since we got back, and I just want to relax. To remember.”

She stood as well, taking my hand. “Get back in the tub, Ryan.”

I obeyed, sitting down next to her, her wet skin against mine. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I want to relax too. You have to understand, though, that I haven’t really relaxed in the last seventeen years. I even fought it in Jamaica, and then, after Juliet and Lisa…”

I turned toward her, cupping her cheeks. “We had some amazing times. Even after Juliet and Lisa.”

She nodded, though she didn’t smile. “We did.”

“Can we concentrate on those times this evening? So much has happened, and all I want to think about is you. You. Here. Safe. There was no way I was letting you go to your apartment tonight.”

She opened her mouth, but I shushed her.

“Let me finish. I know you can take care of yourself. I get it. You’ve been doing it forever, and you’re a cop, and you’re armed, and you know self-defense. I get all that, Ruby. I do. But goddamnit, let me protect you. I need to.”

I did. Talon had protected me all those years ago, and though I’d lay down my life for my brothers and my sister, a new surge was rising within me now. The need to keep Ruby safe was stronger than the need I felt toward my siblings.

That scared the hell out of me.

And that trust thing? When she’d given my siblings my hair for the DNA test without telling me? My love was stronger than that. We’d work through that issue. Together.

“I don’t need—”

“Christ, Ruby, did you hear anything I just said?”

She sniffled. I didn’t think she was crying. It was probably the heat.

“I did hear you, Ryan. I heard every word. I just can’t abide the idea of not protecting myself. It seems…unnatural to me.”

“Well, get used to it. You’re mine now to protect.” I grabbed her and smashed our lips together.

She opened immediately, accepting my kiss, though perhaps not my offer of protection. We’d work on that.

I needed to keep her safe. Needed to keep her with me.

I wanted her with me all the time. She’d have to move in. She was no longer safe at her apartment anyway. Someone was clearly after her, and someone else had sent that warning.

She’d have to—

My thoughts jumbled as she swirled her tongue around mine.

No more thoughts. Only emotion. Pure emotion and physical need. I needed this woman. Needed her in more than a physical and emotional sense. It had transcended beyond that.

This was what my brothers had found, and now I knew why they would never let it go.

I’d never let this woman go.

I groaned into Ruby’s mouth, trying to express all the feelings jumbling in my head with this one kiss. I ached for her, longed for her, needed her in the most visceral way.

Damn it, I would have her. I stood and lifted her, turning her so her back was to me. “Hold on to the edge of the tub,” I demanded.

With a swift thrust, I entered her, filling her balls deep. “Ah!” A groan of satisfaction left my lips.

This was what it felt like to be home. Home within the body of my love.

I had to tell her. Had to tell her I’d fallen in love with her. Had to tell her she was moving in with me, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer.

I demanded everything from her. Right now, and I demanded it as I pounded into her body, taking what was mine. For that’s what she was now.

Mine.

I plunged as deeply as I could, taking refuge in her tight little pussy, in her beautiful body. Away from the mess my life had become. Away…

And I came into her, making her mine as I filled her with my semen.

When the orgasm finally subsided and my flaccid penis slipped from her slick channel, I sat down into the water, bringing her with me onto my lap.

“I needed that,” I said.

She nodded, saying nothing.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t give you a climax.”

“That’s okay.” She let out what sounded like a nervous laugh.

My heart was pounding so hard against my sternum. I had so much to tell her. So much to give her. So much…and I feared she wouldn’t be ready to receive it.

She’d have to.

There was no going back for me now.

I was all in.

I looked deeply into her blue eyes.

“Ruby. I’m in love with you.”