…
Already on the edge after watching her come, Lucas held his breath as Ruby rolled the condom onto his straining cock. That was bad enough. When she lowered herself down onto him, so tight, he had to do equations to keep from losing it right there. He clamped his hands onto her hips and held her still against him, loving that he had the taste of her on his lips even as his dick was buried in her.
“This is more than tonight.” It had to be. Something this right didn’t disappear when the sun came up.
She didn’t argue. She didn’t agree. Instead, she tossed back her head, planted her palms on his chest, and rode him hard, grinding her clit against his pelvic bone at the end of each downward stroke. It was almost enough to drive them both into oblivion, but he wasn’t going as a passive observer. Hell no.
He took one hand off her hips and wrapped her long hair around his fist, pulling her head back. She made that moan that just about killed him every time and increased her pace, arching her back even more. The
angle allowed him to hit the sensitive nerves just inside her entrance with each forward and retreat. It was beyond good, but he needed to feel her come all over him. He released her hip and reached between them so he could circle her clit with his thumb. She tightened around him and he nearly lost it. Keeping an iron grip on the last shreds of his self-control, he kept himself right on the edge, refusing to fall into the abyss until she did.
Her legs began to shake and she rocked harder against him, digging her nails into his chest. One. Two. Three strokes. She came with a harsh groan, squeezing him tight.
Only then did he follow her over, raising his hips off the bed and driving into her as deep as he could. Five rough, deep strokes and his balls tightened. The vibrations built at the base of his spine, and he made one final thrust before coming hard enough level a brick wall.
Ruby collapsed next to him, her chest heaving in time with his own. He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. At least that was what he tried to tell himself. The truth was, he didn’t want to let her go. It was idiotic. It was illogical. It was fact.
“I’ll be right back,” he said before taking a quick trip to the bathroom to discard the condom and then turn off the bedroom lights.
When he got back, she was curled up on her side. He got into bed beside her, pulling the covers over both of them, and tucked her in close to him. He stroked her hair, so smooth and cool, as she snuggled closer. With any other woman this was the moment when he snuck out, but there was nowhere he’d rather be than with the woman he loved, even if it was only until dawn.
“Love you, rainbow girl,” he whispered against her hair, the words coming from a place in him that he didn’t even know existed until he met her.
She propped her chin up on his chest, the look in her eyes as sad as it was wistful. “I wish it was a simple as that.”
He wasn’t a man for games or fantasies. Life had taught him long ago how stupid it was to lie to yourself, but he couldn’t help himself. For as long as he could make the night last, he’d do what he always seemed to do when it came to Ruby—he’d break his own rules because being with her was worth it.
“For tonight, let’s pretend it’s that simple.” He pushed a strand of blue hair away from her face.
“I love you,” she said, then brushed a kiss across his lips and laid her head down in the pocket of his shoulder.
What else was there to say? They couldn’t make plans for the future. They couldn’t commiserate about the past. They only had right now. So he held her close as she drifted off to sleep, but he couldn’t.
There was too much he wanted to memorize about her, the slope of her shoulder, the line of her neck, the curve of her hip, the feel of her fitted perfectly against him like she’d been made just for him. It was one of his life’s cruelest ironies that the only woman he’d even fallen in love with could never be his.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, Lucas got dressed next to Ruby in silence. Everything left unsaid hung in the air between them, even though the time for talking had passed. The clock was ticking. They had to call off the wedding and he had to get Ruby off Fare Island so that whatever happened after the Silver Knights took Henriksen into custody wouldn’t blow back on her. Keeping her close to him wouldn’t be loving her, it would be signing her death warrant.
“Ready to go jump off the fjords?” Ruby asked, already heading for the bedroom door.
Lucas swallowed the protest building up inside him and gave her a curt nod. The urge to take her in his arms and kiss her nearly overwhelmed him, but he couldn’t give in. His part of the mission was complete. The Silver Knights were setting up in Luxembourg now, prepping the site for Henriksen’s arrival in a few days. He was needed back at headquarters, and she needed to be anywhere but here. The longer he kept her here, the more danger she was in, and he refused to leave her like that.
Seeming to understand the personal battle he waged, she gave him a trembling, bittersweet smile before letting out a deep breath and opening the door. They walked down the hall, stopping in unison at the top of the stairs.
There were people everywhere. The foyer was crowded with wedding guests, their chatter and polite laughter filling the air all the way up to the top of the cathedral ceiling.
“I didn’t realize everyone would be arriving en masse this morning,” Ruby said, worry forming sharp lines across her forehead. “So much for making a quiet announcement to my mom and Rolf before the guests arrived.”
The fact that more than one hundred people, coming in from all over Northern Europe, had ended up arriving at nearly the exact same time set off Lucas’s sixth sense. It couldn’t be a coincidence. What it was, he didn’t have a clue. He’d figure it out later. Ruby’s safety came first.
“This doesn’t make it any easier, but we’ve got to get you off this island.” He glanced around at the sea of people. “Do you see your parents?”
“Over there in the corner.” She nodded her chin to the right. “Rolf is talking to the short man in the navy suit with his back to us. Mom is listening to that woman wearing the purple fascinator.”
Hand in hand, they went down the stairs and wound their way through the well-wishers until they were right behind her parents still deep in conversation with the short man.
“Relax.” Rolf clapped his hand hard on the other man’s shoulder. “This was the perfect idea. The package arrived with thirty other yachts and smaller crafts. Even if they’re watching, they’ll never have any idea what’s on board. I’m telling you, the wedding is the perfect cover.”