Ruby Ink (Clairmont Series Novel Book 1) (24 page)

“Aaron, it could be anything. Anything from what I suggested yesterday, Ruby just reliving a moment to something a whole lot bigger.”

“And at this point, I’d stake my life on bigger.”

“I told you, my contacts did a thorough check on Stefan. He reads clean—Hamburg to here.”

“Or he’s really good.” Aaron hopped down off the hood of the car. With his uninjured hand, he grabbed the biggest rock that would fit in his fist. It sailed, hitting the water like a missile. Aaron was surprised it didn’t land on the other side.

“So what’s your next move? Let me rephrase. What’s your next move that won’t land you back at Biddeford?”

Gingerly, Aaron pulled the blood-soaked napkin from his hand. At least it was the left one, and the bleeding had stopped. “Talk to Ruby. But the way she avoided me… Either she didn’t want to, or she couldn’t. But nothing back there added up—including Vanessa Trudeau.

“The fuckable redhead? Honor’s pointed her out. What’s she got to do with this?”

Aaron sighed, his eyes narrowing. “Honor’s right. You are a pig when it comes to women. According to Shauna, Vanessa is deep into all Stefan’s business dealings. But the vibe I got, the way she was acting—that wedding bomb had her as rattled as it did me.” He snickered at his brother. “Of course, you’ll love this part. Out of nowhere, Vanessa does this wicked one-eighty and invites me up to the carriage house—”

Alec hopped down off the car, slapping his brother’s arm. “Was I wrong?”

“You weren’t,” he admitted. “Vanessa seriously offered to fuck me at my earliest convenience.”

“No shit? Damn, different circumstance and…” He raised a brow at his brother. “Sorry. Keep going.”

“Vanessa clearly did not have any love for Ruby, something about not liking anyone who got between her and Stefan. What do you make of that?”

Alec’s arms folded across his broad chest. “I’d have to say it sounds like something is going on there. But Aaron, whatever you do, you need to— ”

“I know. I need to be damn careful for all our sakes, but mostly Ruby and Honor… hell, maybe even Troy.”

“Troy? When did he roll into this mess?”

Aaron shook his head. “Big brother, I’m afraid I have some bad news about little brother. That and now I’m wondering how he might fit into a Stefan Gerard puzzle.”

Ruby was positive about one thing—Aaron wouldn’t give up. He’d demand an explanation. Damn. He may not even wait for that much. He’d just want her away from Stefan. So she took a risk, one that would ensure privacy and keep Aaron from storming Abstract Enchantment. A move like that would be a guaranteed disaster. Sitting, waiting, Ruby understood that her chosen location would require incredible strength, inconceivable resistance. She closed her eyes and curled her fists tight. Emotion could not run this room. Instead of reliving every heated moment that had taken place in the space where she sat, Ruby imagined Aaron in prison. Stefan’s threat was real, as would be Aaron’s fate. Twenty more years of his life behind bars, twenty years as a free man—even if it was without her. There weren’t any choices to make, just the mission she had to execute.

With her eyes closed, Ruby thought about Honor, a woman who’d fought back from two tragedies, her parents’ deaths and Rowen’s. Ruby would not be the cause of a third. And Troy, he’d barely lived. It would kill Aaron to see his brother hooked on drugs or suffering any of the outcomes Stefan had promised. But it was within her power to stop it—all of it. Stefan had set a price, and Ruby would pay it. So she continued to sit, eyes shut, focused on Stefan’s ugly to-do list. Eventually, she heard the door creak open and Ruby’s heart nearly leapt from her chest. How deep was her resolve? Ruby guessed she was about to find out.

“What the—”

The door shut, and Ruby opened her eyes. Seeing him made time fly backward, slamming into her stomach, keeping her seated. Aaron stood in his bedroom, Ruby staring up from the overstuffed chair. Funny. She couldn’t recall ever just sitting there. Well, it was a whole damn new world, wasn’t it?

“Why didn’t you call me? Are you okay? What the hell is going on and how long have you been here?”

Ruby held up a hand. “A while,” she said. “I don’t have your cell phone number. It took you longer to come back here than I thought. I was starting to think I’d guessed wrong. That maybe you’d… Did you go back to—”

“Abstract Enchantment? No,” Aaron said, dropping his keys onto the nightstand. “I talked to Alec. He convinced me to wait until tomorrow to burn the fucking place down.”

Despite the inevitable brutality, Ruby smiled. She’d come in time. Aaron appeared physically unaffected—well, almost. She saw a bandage. “What happened to your hand?”

“Nothing compared to what’s happening to my life. But you’re here. So you must be willing to at least talk.”

“Yes, talk. That’s exactly why I’m here.” But his presence had flustered her internal calm, and Ruby was having trouble finding a starting point. She remained in the chair, her fingertips digging hard into its arms. Even in a white dress shirt, which was so not Aaron, he radiated magnetism. Being in a room with him, it forever had the strangest influence. Ruby felt like someone else around him—or when he was around her. All the years gone, and her mind still clouded with visuals, the small mannerisms that matched her memories—Aaron’s rolled-up sleeves revealing the tense muscle of his forearms. Penetrating eyes—they looked right through her, a sweet divot in his chin. His shirt buttons were undone, a sleeveless undershirt exposed. Aaron always favored that kind, the ribbed cotton riding his body like a soft layer of skin. Skin that had so perfectly melded with hers. Pinching her eyes shut, Ruby turned her head. Since he’d walked in, the tension had increased tenfold. Maybe she could say her piece with her eyes closed.

“Ruby.” His voice was filled with so many things—confusion, anger, pain… need. “Look at me.”

She refused, refocusing on the braided rug beneath their feet. Locks of hair slipped forward, covering her face. It helped.

But clearly Aaron was done making polite requests. His hands clasped around her shoulders, and he plucked her from the chair. “Tell me what’s going on. Tell me why that son of a bitch is under the impression he’s marrying you next week on the beach—our beach.”

“Because he is,” she said, fast and sharp. Ruby felt a quake to her body—she wasn’t sure if it was an internal tremble or Aaron shaking her. Her hair shuffled back and bravely Ruby met his dismal gaze. “Be… because that’s what I want. That’s why I came here,” she said firmly. Aaron let go, and it surprised her. Ruby’s gut screamed
“Wait… hold onto me…”
Her brain maintained control. “Last night was a mistake. I realized that when I got back to Abstract Enchantment. I’m sorry if that hurts you. I’m sorry if I’ve confused things. Aaron, you and I… we have an intense physical attraction. I admit that.”

He snickered at the remark and turned in a tight circle. Looking back at Ruby, he narrowed his eyes and thrust his hands to his waist.

“My relationship with Stefan, it might not be that—but it’s mature… multifaceted. You can’t build a life based on hot sex.”

“So sex,” he said, an eyebrow arching. “You want to tell me our relationship is about nothing but sex—no substance?”

“The fact that I’ve shown up here to tell you proves how serious I am on the subject. If you’re waiting for me to say I don’t want you physically, I can’t do that. You’d never believe me. It’s not true. But I’m willing to risk being here, in your bedroom, in order to prove my loyalty to Stefan. I want what I have with him more.” She managed to produce an expressionless face. “You’re going to have to accept that.”

She could tell he was fighting words and actions, everything from calling her a liar to throwing her onto the bed and succumbing to the heat they both felt. Ruby needed to drive her point home. She didn’t know how much longer she could be here. Gently she clasped her hands together—the way you might in church. That was good. She could use a prayer. “What we had,” she said, glancing fast at the bed, “it was once in a lifetime. But it’s not the kind of thing you make a lifetime out of. We’re not right for each other for so many reasons. You should think about that. I have.”

“Changed that much in seven years, have you? Changed enough to want some slick suit who kisses your ass—publically anyway. Why Ruby? When did money and power become such turn-ons for you? The girl I knew didn’t give a shit about any of that. She was a nurse—she helped people. She stayed late after her shift to play with the kids on the peds floor who didn’t have families who gave a damn. She wanted a family something like mine. Did Stefan so easily do away with all that?”

Ruby pursed her lips and summoned the words. “No,” she said, brushing past him and toward the exit. “You did that.”

The door opened a few inches, and Aaron’s hand came from behind, slamming it shut. “You’re that determined. Stefan is so what you want, prove it to me. Stay in this room and prove to me that our relationship is nothing but sex.”

Her back was to him. Aaron wasn’t touching her, but she could feel how close he was—his breathing, his body. “I just told you what I had to. I acknowledge a twisted physical addiction between us—probably the kind that would benefit from counseling. Clearly, it survived the past, and it survived prison. Other than words, Aaron, how, exactly, would you like me to make the point?” Ruby closed her eyes once more, and this time she did pray. She prayed for the kind of self-control she knew was in short supply with Aaron. She prayed for the ability to focus on the end game, the plague-like prophecies that would befall Aaron and his family. She needed to be stronger than the tug between them. This was too important. Determined to keep things under control, slowly, Ruby turned.

Aaron looked equally determined. “Undo the dress.”

“What?”

“The dress,” he said, glancing at the sash set to the waist of her wraparound dress. “Untie it.” He shook his head. “Don’t worry. I have respect. I’m not going to touch you.”

“Then—”

“Just do it, Ruby. I swear, what I’m after, it has nothing to do with sex.”

Aside from hot and funny and clever, Aaron was also wickedly smart. She’d have to surpass the challenge in order to win the argument. Ruby shrugged as if he’d asked her the time. The cleavage of the dress rose as she breathed deep and followed the instruction. The silky fabric slid lazily to the sides. She stood before him in pale-pink underwear, a matching bra. She felt her stomach muscles clench, nipples growing hard at the exposure.

Regardless of his claim, the stirring between her legs was automatic. Aaron’s mouth opened slightly, and then it closed. He took his own deep breath. “There,” he said, pointing toward her bare thigh. “I want you to explain to me how those two pieces of body art got there, especially the first one.”

Instinctively, Ruby’s hand covered the unique tattoos. “You know how they got there.”

“You bet your ass I do. But the way you’re talking, it seems you don’t. In our sex-crazed relationship, explain to me the reason they exist. Here, let’s make this even. That way I can make myself perfectly clear.” Aaron shucked off the dress shirt and pants, and Ruby was forced to take in a less-dressed Aaron.

She went for the safety of a medical route, imagining this was the way he’d present himself for a physical exam. But it was a weak front. She’d never looked at any man from this perspective, not in that situation. Ruby was confronted by tense, muscular forearms that met with defined biceps and broad shoulders. She wanted to rip the damn undershirt off him. Aaron read her mind, obliging and removing it. There was no safety zone. Ruby’s gaze traveled downward—a hard-on strained the fabric of his briefs. It was Aaron’s turn to shrug. “Like you said, that kind of reaction is just a given between us. Ignore it.”

She snorted a laugh and worked like hell to stay within the boundaries of the current conundrum. She did her best not remember how it felt when Aaron was inside her. She forced her focus away from yesterday, when his tongue touched her in that shattering way. Ruby struggled in vain, not envisioning his mouth on hers, or how he’d fucked her more than once against the very wall where they now stood. A tremulous breath sucked in. She’d underestimated the power of facing him in this room.

But Aaron remained true to his word. He didn’t touch her. His talk wasn’t about the steamy memories pounding at her brain. “Tell me, Ruby—about the ink… our ink. How did the tats get there—and you can skip the literal translation, Al’s Body Art on Third Street.”

There was a slight nod. It was the only body part she dared move. “We, um… we earned them.”

“That’s right. And how did we do that?”

“By, um… by not having sex.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Yes you do.”

“A while, a few months.”

Aaron’s arms braced on either side of her head. “A few?”

“Fine. Eight. More like eight.”

Aaron stood with his legs slightly parted. “And do you remember which one came first—because it sure as fuck wasn’t me.”

Ruby didn’t know why, but she didn’t have control of her own actions. Her hand moved forward, placing her palm on Aaron’s leg, covering the symbol for love. “This one…we got this one first,” she said as if he didn’t know. The muscle tensed under her touch. He inched closer. There was little left between her argument and Aaron’s besides his rock-hard cock.

But Aaron didn’t deviate from his verbal point. He didn’t touch her in any way. “And even after we got the first tat, it took more time, didn’t it? We were in this thing months before we had sex. And it wasn’t a celebration. In this relationship, you had to work hard for Ruby ink.”

“Aaron, I…” Was he so close that she could feel his hardness make contact with her body? Or was she just wishing it would? A heavy swallow rolled through her throat, recalling the rules of Ruby ink.

“And the second tat, did we get that one right away? Did we run right out and paint ourselves with happiness ink?”

Ruby shook her head, no longer able to look at him. Finally, he did touch her, Aaron’s hand wrapping gently over her thigh. It made her body stir in some dizzy way that bordered on out of control.

“No, we didn’t. After we got around to the sex part—the thing you claim owns this relationship, we earned happiness.” Aaron’s hands drew to her face, cupping it from either side. She could hear bitter and anger in his voice. “We may never get to peace, Ruby. But don’t you stand here and tell me that you’re marrying that bastard because sex is all we’re about. You make me understand, sweetheart, because you’re not leaving this room until I do.”

Ruby wished she was of the passing-out nature. It seemed like the only plausible escape. Unable to move right or left, she slipped from his hold by sitting hard on the floor. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t save him, or his family—not like they needed to be saved. Years’ worth of tears spilled out, the open dress puddled around her like petals plucked from a flower. A second later, Aaron was there. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “That’s what I thought.”

He picked her up off the floor and in one fluid motion deposited them on the bed. Comfort and terror made for combative bedmates. Overwhelmed and out of options, Ruby gave into the peace she so desperately wanted—even if it wasn’t real, even if it was only for a sliver of time. Aaron loomed over her, kissing her. She kissed him back, their tongues mingling, his lips on her neck, his hand cupping between her legs. Every old sense kicked into gear, watching him, feeling him. He wasted no time, unhooking the bra, the dress lying open around her. “Do you know how many times in the last seven years, I thought about this? How beautiful you are… How…”