“You’re not going home, Ruby. Not yet and definitely not by yourself. If you want me to call Sola or Kennedy or someone else, I’ll have them come get you and take you to their—”
“Calm down, Liam. I don’t want to leave.” Ruby spilled the truth before she could think better of it. “I can hear it when you guys go at it in here. Even with James overbuilding this place, there’s no amount of insulation or soundproofing that’s going to block out moans and thumps like that. You know that, don’t you?”
“What?” Liam stumbled backward. He seemed as horrified by her disclosure as she’d been by the brutes chasing her in her dream.
“Whoops.” One corner of Ace’s mouth kicked up in a grin.
“So are you boyfriends? Or fuck buddies?” She put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me. I’ve just…spent a lot of nights wondering.”
Ace blew out a sigh that fluttered the dark hair dusting his forehead. “Liam’s right. We’re nothing. I’m convenient for him, that’s all.”
“Is that really what you think?” Liam asked, his head cocked.
“Am I wrong?” Ace fired back.
“I—” Liam shook his head. “I don’t know anymore.”
He edged toward the door, clearly in full retreat.
“Running away?” Ace sneered. “Doesn’t seem like you.”
“I need…a shower.” Liam growled as he left the room.
“Funny, I’m pretty sure you’re the cleanest person at Shields headquarters these days.” Ace flopped to his back on the bed when Liam disappeared anyway. “Fuck my life.”
“I’m sorry, Ace.” Ruby wasn’t sure what he’d welcome. Her company, her nosy meddling, or even a hug. So instead, she sat huddled at the top of his bed, afraid to step wrong again.
“You know what? I’d pretend I need to take a shit, but I’m not the fucking coward around here, now am I? I need a minute to myself.” Ace rolled from bed and locked himself in his bathroom.
“Well, that went pretty good,” Ruby whispered to the navy and gold dragon stuffie beside her, hoping it understood sarcasm.
She took a minute or two or ten to come down from the mixture of extreme emotions she’d flown through from fear, to desire, to embarrassment, to jealousy, and finally to sadness.
It was a lot to process.
She might have stayed lost in her thoughts a while longer except she realized she needed to pee.Damn it.Ruby got up and knocked on the bathroom door, but Ace either wasn’t listening or didn’t intend to answer. Great.
She thought about running over to her place, but although she thought the risk to be nearly nonexistent, she wouldn’t break protocol like that. So instead, she jogged over to Liam’s room, which mirrored Ace’s in their apartment’s layout.
The sound of running water didn’t help her situation, so she tapped on the door and called his name urgently. “Liam? Hey, do you mind if I come in and pee quick? I’ll be fast. Ace is in the other bathroom.”
No response.
So she tried the door handle and it turned.
Steam billowed from the crack as the door inched open. The sink was to the right and beyond that, before the ginormous shower, was a separate toilet room. She’d sneak in, pee, and leave before he even knew she was there.
Ruby darted through the main area of the palatial bathroom and shut herself in the small space. After taking care of business, she prepared to do the same in reverse.
But when she opened the door, Liam was right there, in front of her. Okay, so he was really across the room, in the shower, but he was all she could look at. Especially as he stood—his back against the wall, warm water and soapsuds sliding down his gorgeous body—while he fisted his fully hard cock.
She would have slammed her eyes shut and made a run for it, no way was she brave enough to announce herself after what had just happened, except the glint of silver between his fingers caught her attention.
Was that…?
Ruby took a tiny step from within the toilet room into the main area of the bathroom. Her mouth dropped open and a hand cupped over it, muffling any sound she might have been able to make given her shock.
“I thought spying was our job,” Ace murmured in her ear, refusing to let her go or turn away now that she’d been caught.