Ruby's Fantasy (8 page)

A sigh met his ears and her thighs clenched around his hips. ‘Surrender to me, Princess,' he murmured as he kissed her throat.

‘You want too much.'

But he felt her press her pelvis against his. ‘I want you, Ruby. In my arms, in my bed.'
In my life.

Her hands shoved against his chest. ‘I need to move slower. You're crowding me.'

‘I'm an all or nothing type of guy.'

‘I won't spend every night in your bed. I need time alone.'

For a moment he was met with a look of confusion in her eyes and saw the real, vulnerable woman behind the mask of Dominatrix confidence. Ruby needed looking after whether she liked it or not.

‘You make me feel special, but you're so intense.'

He reached around her hips again and pulled her closer so that her lower torso met his. He was so damn hard for her. ‘You just worked that out?'

Ruby's face broke into a smile. ‘Don't you have a low voltage button?'

‘No,' he growled, pressing his pelvis against hers.

‘What is this thing going on with us?' she asked huskily.

‘I don't know but I can't let it go. I can't think of anything else except having you,' he said, so hungry for her that he contemplated slamming the shop door shut and taking her right there on the counter.
Having her, needing her made him feel whole again. Slow down, Jake.
Moving back slightly, he put his hand between her legs and was met with crotchless panties. Her petals parted for his fingers. ‘You're so wet.'

‘You left me alone in bed this morning.'

‘I'm trying to be a gentleman.'

‘Who said I wanted one? You made me want you. I was so disappointed when I woke up and you weren't in bed with me.'

His brain caught fire as his fingers slid inside her. She was so tight. Ruby responded to him by clenching around his fingers pulling him further into her. He knew the sex would be wild, but he wanted more than that, had to see if there could be more. He needed to ground himself in this relationship and blot out the pain of his brother. Life was fleeting and he had no time for frivolity. Afghanistan had taught him that. ‘You're so responsive.'

She rolled her hips against him. ‘Oh I like it when you touch me. When you stroke me it's like everything else disappears. I've never felt so turned on before.'

He jammed himself against her then remembered Ghost. ‘You know Ghost is next door checking the camera is working.' But he didn't want to stop touching her. He ran his fingers up and down her warm sex. Her lips were moist and her eyes hooded, her mouth was open and she was starting to pant.

‘Ghost...next door. You have to stop,' she said shakily.

Jake's whole body clenched as he tried to force himself to calm down. He could smell her arousal when he put his fingers to his mouth and he desperately wanted to keep going, but he was well aware that the camera was trained on them. ‘You torture me, woman.'

‘You seem to be enjoying it.' She rubbed her hand over his crotch and he groaned.

‘When it's you, I enjoy everything.' He swallowed, throat parched. ‘I just don't want Ghost enjoying it, too.'

Ruby clamped her legs together and lowered herself to the floor. She put her hand on his shoulder for support.

‘I'll have dinner ready at six. Surprise me with your outfit. If you're not planning to stay over, come as a virgin.'

Ruby laughed. ‘I'll think of something suitable for the evening.'

He picked up her mobile phone from the counter. ‘What's your password? I'll punch in my number and you can text me when you're ready. I'll come around and escort you.'

‘I'm capable of walking next door,' she protested, putting both hands on her hips.

‘I don't want you leaving the shop without a bodyguard. When you need to go somewhere, call me. If I'm out installing surveillance equipment, call Ghost. I'll put in his number too. The rest of the time I'll be monitoring you so that I know you're safe. Until I find this spider freak, you stay close to me. A knife can do a lot of damage fast.'

Ruby opened her mouth as if to protest and shut it again.

‘Please?'

A sigh left her lips. ‘My password's quadruple two.'

He unlocked the phone, filed her password away in his memory and punched in his and Ghost's phone numbers. ‘Now I need your email account. I'll connect the phone to your computer in case it's ever stolen. All you'll have to do is log onto the phone site and you'll know where to find it, plus I can trace you if you're snatched and you have your phone with you.'

‘Anything else you want to do before you leave?'

A flame of desire heated his blood to boiling. ‘Keep teasing me, Princess, and I'll throw you over my shoulder and take you upstairs.'

But Ruby just smiled and blew him a kiss. ‘Now that's a fantasy for another day. I have the perfect outfit for that one. Bye, Jake.'

Jake shook his head and walked next door to his shop. Why didn't she trust him? Something was going down tonight and she didn't want him there. Abe lived life on the edge. Anyone who treated women like he did wasn't Jake's style and if Ruby was planning to get involved with him in any way, she was asking for trouble.

Ruby looked around the shop. Jake had mounted one camera in the front of the shop and one in the back, which meant she had to put the samples for the strippers in a bag in one of the changing rooms, which was the only place in the shop where the camera had no access.

She spent the morning serving customers and organising samples that she thought would appeal to strippers and while she had no intention of modelling the outfits for men she was comfortable with demonstrating them for women. Gathering up beaded panties, thongs and bras with matching studded collars, she put them in the bag, along with spectacular crochet lust teddies that Emerald had designed. It was fine for Jake to insist on relying on him, but it wasn't in her nature to expect a man to protect her. She'd always looked after Emerald. Besides, the strippers wouldn't talk to Jake, especially with Abe looking on. Things like that made women lock up their secrets. What if they knew something? She was determined to find out.

Jake marinated some steaks in red wine and garlic. Lots of the pungent herb. No one was getting close to his princess. He sautéed some vegetables until they were crisp before looking at his watch. Six o'clock. Would Ruby call? She wasn't keen to rely on him that was for sure. He'd noticed the darkness in her eyes when she'd struggled with whatever had hurt her.

His phone buzzed and he took in a deep breath of relief, glad he'd managed to get through to her. He strode down his stairs, through his office space and out his front door. Ruby was waiting inside her shop for him.

She unlatched the door and stepped out.

Jake's gaze moved over her. Her blonde curls were pulled off her face and curled high on her head before toppling down to her neckline, giving her face with its cut-glass cheekbones a more severe look. She was still wearing the dark eye make-up and light pink lipstick so that his focus was drawn to the intensity of her sky-blue eyes. She was wearing a black off the shoulder top over skin-tight black pants that could have been sprayed on and shoes with high, sharp stiletto heels. They appeared lethal. She locked her shop door.

‘Who are you tonight?' he asked, glancing up and down the street before putting his arm around her and guiding her to his premises. Her waist was curved and he liked the way his hand fitted just above her hip.

‘I'm thinking Olivia Newton John who played good girl Sandy in
Grease
in the scene where she's about to lose her virginity to the bad boy.'

‘Planning to keep those “eat me” shoes on while you're losing it?'

‘Got a thing for sharp black stilettos?' She walked through Jake's business and up the stairs into his landing area.

‘With you in them naked. Yeah!' There was something about her wide-eyed look combined with the erotic intensity of her outfit that made him want her. He walked over to the table where he'd laid out the plates, glasses and cutlery needed for dinner, uncorked a bottle of Merlot and poured two glasses.

Ruby put her handbag and phone on a coffee table nearby, took a glass and raised it in salute before striding over to the kitchen and sniffing appreciatively. ‘You never said you could cook.'

‘Army food's not great. I learnt from necessity.' Jake walked over to the back door, opened the bi-folds and put the steaks on the barbeque. The aroma of the steaks, the marinade of garlic, rosemary and wine hit the air.

‘I thought you were going to say your mother taught you.' Joining him on the outdoor patio she shielded her eyes from the sun, which filtered through the trees and reflected off the rooftops. In the distance she could see the Centrepoint Tower and the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

‘No, my mother was a socialite. She never cooked. Sent us both to boarding school from the age of seven.' He named one of the exclusive schools in Sydney's expensive Eastern Suburbs.

‘That seems very young to send a child away.' She took a sip of her red wine.

‘If it weren't for my grandmother who lived where The Cross joins Elizabeth Bay I wouldn't have had a family life. I practically grew up on these streets on the weekend.'

‘Was your mother unwell?'

‘No. Just didn't like young boys. My brother and I were too active, hence the boarding school.'

‘Must have cost a fortune to send you.'

‘Drop in the ocean for my father. He inherited several coalmines out west from my grandfather and he wasn't home much. He wanted me to become a mining engineer and follow him into the family business. I had my own ideas and enough of an inheritance from my grandfather to follow my dreams.' Jake turned the steaks. The fat sizzled and hissed. He hadn't spoken to his parents in months. Not since Remmy's funeral where his father had laid the blame squarely at his door for his brother's death. The pain of it had hit him so hard he could hardly breathe. Even now, he couldn't talk about it.

‘What did you do?'

‘I joined the army straight out of school. My father threatened to disinherit me but I didn't care. My grandfather had looked after me. I still studied engineering while in the army. Specialised in explosives. I never liked to play it safe. Not then anyway.'

‘What changed?' She swirled the wine in her glass and took a sip.

‘I value life now,' he said quietly.

‘You've gone pale.' Ruby put her hand on his shoulder.

Jake shrugged. ‘I don't need the adrenalin of combat anymore. I just need to know that the people I care about are alive and well. That's good enough for me.'

‘Did something bad happen?' She rubbed his back between his shoulder blades as if she could sense his pain.

Jake didn't look at her though her voice was soft and laden with sympathy. Instead he concentrated on cutting into the steak to check how deep the barbeque had seared the meat. He couldn't talk about his brother. He understood Ruby's concern over Emerald's disappearance. Born eleven months apart, he and Remmy had been close. His hand gripped the barbeque fork, his knuckles white. He'd promised his parents he'd take care of his brother as best as he could, but war was an impossible situation. His brother's agonised face when he knew he was dying flashed in front of him. Gone. One bullet. The difference between life and death, a few minutes. Love and family were the only things that mattered to him now, and it had all disappeared so quickly. That's when he'd lost all interest in the army. Missing Remmy was a permanent scar and the guilt for encouraging his younger brother into joining the armed forces when he'd finished school instead of going into the family business, surged up to choke him. ‘I'm fine. Just hungry. Bring the plates over, would you, Ruby?'

Jake hadn't answered her question and she didn't want to push. The playful, sexy mood had changed. Ruby didn't know why, but she didn't miss the look of raw pain on Jake's face. She wasn't the only one with problems. Goodness knows she'd carried on enough about her own. She realised how little she knew about him, but she wanted to know more.

Instead she sat where he indicated her to sit and helped herself to the vegetables he'd prepared, while quietly taking in how well renovated his half of the terrace was. Gone were the creaky wooden floors and the chipped paint she had on her side. Jake had put in polished concrete that felt warm under her feet and a modern kitchen with a caramel stone bench. Near the chocolate-coloured sofa sat several picture frames and Ruby itched to examine them to find out more about him. When Jake discussed his parents, she'd noticed it was in a flat distant tone. What kind of parents put their child in a boarding school at seven?

She cut into her steak savouring the flavour. ‘This is done perfectly. It's the first decent meal I've had since I've arrived. I think my sister lived out of cans.'

‘Everything's better fresh. What day do you close the shop? I'll take you down to Watson's Bay for a fresh seafood lunch and a swim.'

Ruby took another mouthful and swallowed. ‘Monday would be nice. I feel cooped up living here. I'm not used to it, plus it would be great to see more of the harbour. It's not like I had an opportunity to go when I lived in Blackheath.'

‘So what did you do there?' He put down his knife and fork on his plate and studied her. ‘I mean you told me Emerald did the designs but what did you do?'

‘Emerald was always the dramatic twin. The costume designer. She'd always push the limits and get herself into trouble. I'm the straight twin.'

His lips curled into a smile as he looked her up and down clearly taking in her off the shoulder top and tight pants. ‘That right? You don't look so straight right now.'

‘Don't be fooled by the outfit. Emerald made this to fit our dimensions.' She finished off her meal and relaxed back taking a sip of her wine. ‘I did accountancy. I have my own business in Blackheath.'