“That will never happen.”
Sarah got to her feet, and brushed her lips against his. “We’ll see.”
Chapter Ten
The following night, Ruby woke up to the blaring of music. It was filling the apartment, and surrounding all of her thoughts, breaking through, driving her need to dance. Throwing the blankets from her body, she left her room, and paused when she saw Oliver, holding a remote, and strumming it like a guitar, dancing around the room.
Seeing him let go, reminded her of what she’d done the first time she was at his apartment, and not bound by chains. Folding her arms, she watched him release all that pent-up anger and aggression that she used music to release. Since hurting that man in the cells the previous day, she’d been a little on edge. Shaken. She didn’t understand it.
Fighting had been part of her life for so long, but now, since knowing the truth about Lionel, it felt, distant, wrong.
She had followed a path her family had never wanted for her, and yet it was there. In the past twenty-four hours, she had wanted to be more like Harper and Betty than she had ever wanted to be like anyone else.
Oliver spun around, and saw her, immediately turning the music down.
“I’d left my door open, and you have the music even louder than I do. You must be pretty annoyed.”
“Yeah, it’s proving to be difficult finding out who stole the fucking codes, or who had them. We know it was a Colton. Those bastards in the cells were working with them. Their bank balances show they had been paid off, each of them given a quick fifty grand for their part. It’s a shame that money now belongs to us.”
“Hundred and fifty thousand dollars, that must help pay off some that was lost.”
“If I told you there was at least five million in the safes, what would you think?”
“How the fuck do you clean that money?” she asked. “Cops must know.”
He shook his head. “That money is to do business with. It goes on the streets. It pays for deals. It’s money that can’t be traced to us, Ruby.”
“Any leads on who it might be?”
“Several.”
“Any you have brought in?” she asked, moving closer to him.
“No. What does your guy say?”
“My guy is still working on decoding my brother’s files. It seems Lionel had a big issue with trust. More than I realized. I thought he’d have taught me to decode stuff for him.”
“He didn’t want to put you in danger, Ruby. He loved you, and I know if it was Tamsin, I’d have done the same thing. Everything I could do to protect you.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close.
Every time she was next to him, her whole body felt alive, awakened by his touch.
Cupping his cheek, she stared into his eyes, and followed the swaying of his hips. It wasn’t much, not really, but she just loved being near him, surrounded by him. “When I’m with you, I do feel safe, Oliver. I don’t know why I do. I just know everything feels right.”
He didn’t say anything, and seconds later, his lips were on hers.
She didn’t fight this time.
Accepting his kiss, she opened up, meeting his tongue halfway, tasting him for the first time, and not wanting anything to stop.
Oliver sank his fingers into her hair, holding her in place, and she accepted it, taking what he was giving, and loving it.
Moving her hand to his shoulders, she held onto him as his other hand grabbed her ass tugging her close. Her body went into overdrive, needing him more than she’d ever needed anything else.
Biting his lip, she pulled away, staring into his eyes. Her pussy was on fire, and she was tired, so tired of fighting him. Staring into his green eyes, she tugged her shirt over her head, throwing it to the floor.
At the same time, Oliver started to remove his shirt. She liked seeing him naked. His tats were few, but they were cute. She especially liked the dolphin on his hip, which she discovered he got because of a bet with Jacob and Abel.
Shimmying out of her pajama shorts, she stood before him completely naked, wet, begging, and desperate to feel him.