“Because I don’t kiss strangers. I’ve never kissed a man that I don’t know.”
“You know me, and you know I’ll protect you. Have you ever kissed anyone before?”
She shook her head. “I’ve saved all my energies for something else. I didn’t have time to think about kissing, and boyfriends.” She stroked his cheek. “Right now, I really don’t know what to do.”
“What do you want to do? What is your heart telling you?” he asked.
She licked her lips, and it made him think of doing something else entirely with her lips.
Ruby released her hold on him, and he had no choice but to put her down. She moved away from him, and he saw her grab the coffee table, and place it back in the center of the room. “You have an awesome music collection.”
“Thanks.”
“Do you dance around often like that?” she asked.
“Whenever I need to forget. The apartment is soundproof. My life doesn’t allow anything else. I can have the music as loud as I like, and drown everything out.”
“That must be so nice.”
“It really is.” He licked his lips, sure he could still taste her. “Do you dance often, or was that a one off?”
“I dance when I can. Most of the time I have headphones to drown everything out. I don’t have the luxury of soundproofing.” She smiled. “I have to dance. It’s the only way I can deal with … everything. It’s not training or anything. I just have to forget. The pain, it hurts.”
“The pain?”
“Remembering my family. Knowing I’m alone. When I was younger, I would go running, and it would help for a few hours.” She looked down at her body. “The weight soon fell off me.”
“Weight?”
“Yeah, I was a chubby kid. I usually hated exercise, and I was teased about it all the time.” She shrugged. “When Lionel died, a part of me died along with him. I know he was only my brother, but I adored him. He was my best friend.”
“He was much older than you.”
“I know. I was a mistake. My parents went through one of their, ‘we’ll be together’ moments. I was conceived, and Dad didn’t believe in abortion, or something. Anyway, my mom was forced to have me, and she made sure I knew how much of an inconvenience it was on her body.” She chuckled. “She had a smooth stomach, and when I was born, there was a small pouch of fat around here.” She pointed at her stomach. “I don’t know why she never went for plastic surgery.” She shrugged.
“I bet you were adorable.”
She frowned, looking at him. “You know, according to my research, out of all of the brothers, you’re supposed to be the asshole.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you find out?” he asked, genuinely curious.
“Maddox is the leader. Stuart has personal issues because he had an affair with the nanny. Jacob has control issues. He always has to be the one to make decisions. Abel has some weird knife fetishes, and he kills through torture. Damian is into serious kink, which is strange considering he’s now got a kid with a nice girl. Gideon, well, he’s got a thing for pain, and you like to fuck other men’s wives.”
Oliver winced. That wasn’t good.
“You did your research.”
“That’s just some of it. You all have a vice. Landon, he’s too young, but he’s got a temper. It’s why you sent him away.”
“How did you find all this stuff out?” he asked.
“Men like to talk a lot. I’ve learned how to manipulate people to get what I want.”
He chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re being that honest.”