The Crown Jewels (49 page)

“You ready to go back to the room?” she asked, her pretty eyes flashing seductively, as she slid into the booth sensually.

“You bet your sweet ass I am,” I replied, my cock raging in my jeans.

Ruby

I picked up on the first ring.

“Crit, are you okay?” I asked.

“Of course, why?”

“Well, I saw what you did to Lincoln,” I replied, accusingly. It was good to hear his voice, but his nonchalance was driving me crazy. I’d been pacing in my room all day, waiting for him to call. I’d called him when I woke up, but he didn’t answer, and he didn’t call me back for hours - in contrast to the hundred times he must have called me yesterday, I feared he had given up on me. “I was hoping you could tell me why punching him was necessary.”

“Fuck that guy. Ruby, you have to stay away from him. He’s bad news.”

“Why did you fight him? Did he hurt you?”

He scoffed, and I could hear him smile through the phone. My stomach flipped as I pictured him in my mind. I wanted to kiss him full on the mouth and never stop, I wanted to lose myself under him, around him, and feel his touch all over my skin

“I’m fine,” he finally answered. “Not a scratch on me. Are you okay?”

“Yes, Crit, I’m fine. Listen, I’m sorry,” I said, the words rushing out before I could even believe I was saying them. “I hate fighting with you. I had no idea about the farm, about Olly dying. Crit,” I said, my voice lowering, “you could have told me.”

“Some things I just have to deal with alone, Ruby. I appreciate it, though. You’re a sweet woman, babe. But don’t you worry, I’m going to figure all of this out, and everything is going to be just fine.”

I smiled, not surprised one bit that he would maintain his usual stance of being the one in control. From what Lincoln had told me last night, it sounded like this time Crit wasn’t in control. But the confidence he was exuding was just the way he moved through the world, no matter what he was facing. I thought about how he had held the family together after his parent’s death, and realized he was right. I had no doubt he would figure this all out on his own, and everything would be okay.

“Even if there’s nothing I could do, I could listen. I’m here for you, Crit, whether you want me to be or not.”

“You know I want you, darlin’. There is one thing I need from you now, Ruby.”

“What’s that, cowboy?” I asked, my body coming alive at the sound of his voice, at the return of the easiness between us, the joy and closeness that I so craved to feel with him, putting me under its spell once again.

“Just don’t go out with that city fella. I need you to promise me, Ruby.”

“Perhaps I could think about agreeing to that,” I said, teasingly. “I might need you to come over and help convince me, though.”

A low growl sounded in my ear, and I smiled, knowing exactly what that familiar sound meant. I could almost feel his cock growing in my hand.

“I’m on my way.” The phone clicked in my ear, and I threw it down on my bed.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” I whispered, talking to myself in my bedroom mirror. “Patience, Ruby. Patience.”

CRIT

I couldn’t get to her fast enough. I wanted to forget about everything, pretend, just for a few moments, that there was nothing wrong, nothing making me feel trapped or hopeless, that none of this was even happening. Ruby was my only escape. Somehow she seemed to effortlessly make everything disappear - with just a smile, a caress of her gentle hands, or a soft, sultry moan.

By the time I got to her house, I was throbbing with anticipation. She greeted me at the door, a fiery tornado of sensuality, pure sex, and heartbreaking sweetness.

I glanced at her sleeping father on the couch, and we quietly stole away to her bedroom, falling onto her bed wordlessly. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to think. I just wanted to feel her.

Her kiss was gentle, soft, searching and loving. As our clothes melted away and each inch of her milky skin was exposed, I felt every worry-filled thought float away, until there was nothing left but our two souls on a shared journey into the blissful magical ecstasy that only we could find together.

“Ruby, Ruby…” I whispered in her ear as I sank into her, needing to be as close to her sweetness as possible, to fill her surrounding me, enclosing me with her love.

Our hips rocked together, our hands grasping flesh, and the love flowing between us like two people that were meant to be together forever.

By the time we lay spent, panting and snuggled close together, I believed with all my heart that no matter what happened with the farm, I had found my true home right there in Ruby Rae’s arms.

Ruby

This time, when Crit left my house, he did it with such loving tenderness, I felt like my heart would break as I watched his truck back out of my driveway.

I could still feel his caress on my skin, his lips on mine, his throbbing masterpiece still moving inside of my body. With a promise to return as soon as he could and a last, lingering kiss, he had disappeared, once again leaving me alone and able to think about nothing but him.

Crit Hope was without a doubt the man of my dreams. I didn’t care if he lost the farm, if he was homeless and moved in with my dad and me, I didn’t care where we ended up, as long as we ended up together, as long as I got to fall asleep in his arms every night for the rest of my life, I would be happy.

He was all I needed.

My father stirred as I closed the front door, and I stared at him, lost in his usual drunken stupor, sleeping away what was left of his life in an effort to make it all go faster.

I couldn’t understand it. I wanted nothing more than to find a way to slow everything down so I could cherish every moment of my future with Crit. I sighed, and padded back down the hall to my room.

My phone was ringing when I entered my room. I picked it up and saw that it was Lincoln. I hadn’t talked to him since I watched him be led away to his hotel room, and I had no interest in talking to him now, let alone seeing him again.

I picked up on the third ring, as soon as the protective side of me kicked in.

“Lincoln, hello,” I answered.

“Hi, Ruby,” his voice was low, and he sounded a little tired. “Thanks for getting me back to the hotel last night.”

“It was no problem. I trust you made it to your room okay?” I asked.

“I did. Did you take a taxi home?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry about that. I feel like an ass. Why don’t you let me make it up to you? I’ve got some business back in New York for a few days, why don’t you come with me? We’ll leave tomorrow. I’ll get you a room at the Waldorf, and I can assure you it’s nothing like the dump in Houston.”

“The Four Seasons is hardly a dump,” I replied.

“Whatever. Come to New York with me. I’ll show you a great time, I promise. You said you’ve never been,” he said.

“Actually, Lincoln, I’m sorry, but I think it’s best we don’t see each other again.” I was turning down a free trip to New York with the richest man I had ever met and the part of me that had been poor all my life was kicking the other half. I kept Crit’s face front and center in my mind, and listened to the icy coldness that crept into Lincoln’s voice.

“Is that so? Your cowboy got to you, did he?”

“Crit is not my cowboy, Lincoln. He has nothing to do with it,” I lied. “I just don’t think we’re a good fit. Thank you for everything, though. That trip to Dallas was really fun.”

“Are you seriously turning me down? Do you have any idea who I am?”

“I think I’m beginning to, yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. I was so tempted to tell him to leave the Hopes alone. It was obvious he had so much money he was only causing trouble because he was an asshole. The steely nastiness that I heard next only proved it.

“You have no idea. This whole fucking town doesn’t know who they’re fucking with!” He was yelling into the phone now. “I’m going to destroy Crit Hope and that fucking farm of his.”

“Why, Lincoln?” I asked, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “What’s in it for you to do this to someone you hardly know?”

“Sometimes, you just need to put people in their place. And Crit Hope is one of those guys that needs to learn who to respect.”

“So, because you have more money, he needs to respect you?” My heart was racing, and I realized just how screwed up this guy was. “What about you respecting him?”

“He would be wise to respect me because I own his land now. He’s got nothing without me.”

“But that wasn’t his doing. His father died before —,”

“—tough shit!” he roared. “You have to be prepared at all times. If he was any kind of responsible businessman, he’d have been on top of this long ago. Way before my uncle died.”

“I can guarantee you that Crit is the most responsible person I know. If he had known —,”

“—and whose fault is that? Mine? Fuck no! Fuck that hillbilly buffoon!”

“Lincoln, please —,”

“—no! You’re going to choose him over me, Ruby? Not that I give a shit, because I eat girls like you for breakfast. But you have no idea what you’re giving up. A girl like you will never have an opportunity like this again. You’re going to live to regret this.”

“You know what, Lincoln? What I regret is ever speaking to you in the first place. You may have money, but you are sorely lacking in integrity and manners!” I was livid now. How dare he insult me like that. He had no idea what I went through, how hard my life was, or even what kind of ‘opportunities’ that may come my way. He was nothing but an arrogant prick.

“Do me a favor, Ruby,” his voice lowered to a menacing sneer. “When you’re living in a shack out in the woods, and your precious cowboy is impregnating you with his penniless heir with his poor man’s sperm, think of me, will you?”

“Kiss my ass, Lincoln!” I hung up the phone with shaking hands.
What a disgusting piece of shit,
I thought, as I threw the phone on my bed. How could I have ever gotten in a car with him? Was I that fucking gullible to not see through his act? Was I that blindly distracted by shiny things?

I picked up my phone and dialed Georgia’s number. It was time for Ruby Rae Rust to take the bull by the horns.

LEE

Dixie was a wild cat in the sack. She was an entirely different person away from her rich, socialite friends and once she let her hair down, she became much more likeable.

I had been nervous wreck when she arrived. Eva had left hours ago, insisting she didn’t want to wear me out before the client arrived.

When the knock on the door came, I was rock-hard because I couldn’t stop thinking about fucking Eva. But, after one last reminder to myself that this was business, and wanting to make Eva happy, since she seemed to be so invested in our new business venture, I put on my best smile and showed Dixie a good time.

A very good time, according to the way she was had been writhing and squirming on my cock for the last several hours.

I thrust into her, over and over, my strokes long, firm and intentionally slower than she probably wanted, drawing out her pleasure as long as I possibly could, watching for the tell-tale flush of her cheeks, and then speeding up, pounding into her harder and harder until the loud moans turned to frantic gasps.

When the look of blissful ecstasy washed across her face, silencing her moans into a stillness that took complete hold of her, rendering her motionless, freezing her in its gripping pleasure, I pushed into her faster, harder, until she broke her silence, crying out again, cursing me and praising me all at the same time, as she clenched around me. Afterwards, she melted below me with submissive acceptance, her hips offered up in a wanton offering as I hammered into her until my heat exploded inside of her, burying myself deeply in her warmth, her softness quivering around me, until I was spent.

Gently, I pulled away, pulling off the condom and discretely depositing in the trash before joining her on the bed and pulling her into my arms. Eva had insisted I cuddle each and every client, no matter what, informing me that it was just as important as the orgasm. I disagreed, but I was a sex-addicted man, so what did I know?

Dixie was sure enjoying it. The smile spread across her face made me feel as if I had at least done something right.
Eva will be proud
, I thought to myself.

***

The next morning, hours after Dixie had left, I was on my way to breakfast. While I was waiting for the elevator, I ran over my conversation with Eva in my mind. I had told Eva all about my date, and she told me she had already booked three more. I had a feeling I was going to be spending a lot of time in this hotel.

A door to one of the other hotel suites opened and I turned my head when I heard a man’s voice yelling.

“Get the fuck out, you whore!” The man from the restaurant earlier, the man with the bruises and busted lip, was pushing a beautiful woman out of his door. “You weren’t worth the money I spent! Tell Mario I want a fucking refund, and to send me a woman with some class next time! For fuck’s sake!” he roared.