Page 80 of A Real Good Bad Thing

I wrapped a hand around her throat, not too tight, not hurting. Just letting her know, like this, that she belonged to me. I squeezed gently with my thumb as I fucked her.

Like that, with a rough, hard rhythm, I showed her the truth.

“This, Ruby. This isn’t a lie.” I growled in her ear.

“I know,” she panted, gasping as I drove into her.

“This is the truth. The way we fit like this.”

“It feels so good,” she said, her voice rising as I moved in her.

It was the purity of the connection—that was what had brought us together in the first place. And on this balcony, overlooking the sea, with all the tourists below who had no clue diamonds were being stolen across the land, and hearts were being toyed with, and heists were being plotted and replotted, I proved the one thing I could.

That this connection between us was real. It was honest.

It might not last. It might have an expiration date. But for now, as I thrust into her, this was as true as the sun blazing overhead. It was as real as the waves crashing onto the shore.

She rose up on her toes, bowed her back, and gripped the railing. I dropped my hand from her throat, grabbed her hips, and took her hard. She moaned and cried my name. Soon her cries were coming faster, and I was sure someone else in the hotel might hear, but sure, too, that I didn’t care. Not as she clenched around me and whispered that she was coming.

She shuddered several times and I followed her there, my own orgasm blasting into every corner of my body. As pleasure whipped through me, the world winked off.

I wrapped my arms around her, held her close, kissed her neck, then at last, eased out.

After I disposed of the condom, I scooped her into my lap on a deck chair, and held her. She let me, looping her arms around my neck. Yes, this was the opposite of her flopping into my lap earlier. This was real. “I’m sorry someone broke into your room,” I said softly, then kissed her cheek.

“Me too.”

“You’re safe with me. Know that, Ruby. Just know that.”

“I do know that. And I do know you, and I like you.”

“Same here,” I said, then wrapped my arms around her.

I liked this contact too, far too much for my own good.

39

PARTNERS AGAIN

Ruby

We showered, Jake washing my hair and then soaping my body. I savored every second of it as he moved his hands from my breasts to my belly, then down my legs. I was slippery and wet, and he couldn’t stop touching me.

I liked it that way. I loved the attention. I was so very glad to be past my doubts about him. The mysteries around Eli, the case of the diamonds—those worries still loomed. But I could face them with Jake unreservedly as a partner and a temporary lover. He excelled in both roles, I was learning.

“I’m hardly that dirty,” I teased as he lingered while washing my calves.

“I know, but I can’t seem to stop touching you. Your fault for being so sexy.” He stood and dropped a kiss onto my nose. I smiled and sighed happily.

I wasn’t wild about fighting, but hard, hot make-up sex and a tender moment in the shower was a better resolution than I’d ever known before. I grabbed the bar of soap and returned Jake’s favor, washing his arms, flat belly, and back. I shampooed his hair too, loving the way the wet strands felt in my hands.

Once we were both rinsed and clean, we stepped out of the shower and toweled off.

And then my stomach growled.

Jake arched an eyebrow in a silent question. I grimaced. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast, which seems ages ago.” I shrugged with a coquettish jut of my shoulder and said, “Want to take me on a date, roomie?”

He shook his head, bemused as he finger-combed his hair. “An hour ago you thought I stole your diamond. Now you want me to take you out for food?”