AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“See you soon.” She waved as she walked away.
I lowered myself down onto the blanket and was overwhelmed with something that took me a second to identify. It was peace. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t anxious. I wasn’t stressed about when I was going to get my next audition, how I was going to make rent and pay my bills, or if I was going to get an injury and how bad it would be.
The sun was shining, and a soft breeze was blowing through the trees. Harper was giggling as she slid down the slide. I had a PB&J sandwich and apple slices with my name on them. Tonight, I was going to go home and have dinner with Kane. On Monday, I was going to get to start teaching again. Life might not be what I had expected, but I certainly couldn’t complain.
20
KANE
“They call it falling in love for a reason. If it wasn’t scary, they’d call it sitting in love.” ~ Miss Dottie
I stood outside Ruby’s door and told myself to keep walking. To go downstairs. To leave and go back downtown. During the summer, the town had cookouts on Saturday evenings, followed by an outdoor movie. They called it Movies in the Park. I’d been at the cookout with Harper when she was invited to spend the night at her friend Lilah’s house. So, I’d walked back with Bandit to grab her an overnight bag.
It was the weekend, and Ruby was off duty. I knew I should leave her alone and let her do her own thing, but I found myself outside her door in the hallway.
In the month and a half that she’d been living in my house, I’d somehow managed to keep my distance from her. I saw her in the mornings, when I got home from work, and in the evenings, when I made dinner before I left for work. I’d done my best to keep busy on my days off, so I had no downtime.
We hadn’t discussed or even flirted with the topic of what happened between us since the night she moved in. In theory, that was good. The problem I was finding was that as each day passed, it felt like the night we’d shared hadn’t happened. My mind was playing tricks on me; it was almost as if I’d dreamed the entire thing.
But then something would happen—some evidence that not only had the night we’d spent together actually happened, but she was thinking about it just like I was. We’d share a look that lasted just a few seconds too long. Or I’d see a flush rise on her cheeks when I walked into the room. There would be an accidental brush of our hands as we passed the salt at the dinner table, and I’d notice a tremor run through her. Or our arms would graze as we passed one another in the hallway, and I’d hear the short intake of breath, indicating she still felt the attraction between us. I’d linger just a moment too long beside her or in front of her as we navigated around the kitchen or in the hallway and find myself frozen in place, unable to move, as if she held me in a gravitational field or we were floating in a bubble where only the two of us existed. Those were the moments I’d be reminded of, not only the night we’d been together but also of how connected, in tune, and explosive our coupling had been.
The night we’d shared wasn’t just something to get out of our systems. We both still felt the attraction. And yet, we both knew that we absolutely couldn’t act on it.
So why was I standing outside her door? Why was I drawn to her like a moth to a flame when I knew that one, or both of us, would get burned? Why couldn’t I just go back to thinking of her as Remi’s little sister and not the sexiest woman I’d ever known?
I had to admit that witnessing Ruby with Harper had only increased my attraction to her. She was so good with my daughter. She was creative and fun. She was nurturing, kind, and listened—really listened—whenever Harper talked, which was often.
Over the past month and a half, we’d created something I’d yearned for all my life. We’d been a family. I kept telling myself that this arrangement was temporary. Ruby was clearly made for bigger and better things than living in a small town.
Through the closed door, I heard music playing, and Ruby was singing along. Her voice was beautiful. Every time I heard her beautiful voice when she was singing in the shower, singing in her room, or singing with Harper, I was reminded of just how much her talent was being wasted.
The smartest thing to do would be to turn around and go back to the park without her. I already feared the fallout of her leaving. I knew it was going to create a massive void in my life. My heart and my head had never been at odds before. Even after the night I’d shared with Taylor, which Harper had been the product of, I knew that we weren’t meant to be together.
Things in my life had always been black and white. Right and wrong. There were no shades of gray. But when it came to Ruby…she was all fifty shades of gray.
My feelings for her were completely inappropriate. Her brother was my oldest friend. She was too young. She was destined for so much more than just living in Wishing Well.
But I’d crossed a line with her, and the consequences of that were the knowledge of how sweet she tasted. I knew how soft her lips were. I knew the sounds she made when I was buried deep inside her body. I knew the flush that appeared on her cheeks when she reached the peak of climax.
That carnal knowledge had haunted me. It lived rent-free inside my head, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t evict those memories. They played on a constant loop inside my mind.
I was turning around to head downstairs when the door flew open, and Ruby walked straight into me.
“Sorry!” I quickly apologized as I caught her in my arms. She scrambled to pull up a white terrycloth towel that was wrapped around her body. She quickly secured it back in place, covering her perfect breasts. She hurriedly explained, “I thought you all were at the park. I didn’t know anyone was home.”
I swallowed past the large lump of lust that clogged my throat. All of the blood had traveled from my head straight down to my cock. It was throbbing painfully behind the zippered constraint. “We were. Harper’s still there. Um, I just walked back to get her backpack. She’s spending the night at Lilah’s.”
Ruby’s breath hitched as a flush rose on her cheeks. “Oh.”
I stared down into her large, crystal-blue eyes, and the energy between us crackled with anticipation. Part of me keeping my distance from her was avoiding situations where we would be alone. I always made sure that either Grandad or Harper were in a room with us as a buffer. But now I found myself alone with Ruby. Harper was gone, and Grandad was asleep in his room.
If I didn’t do something quickly, I was going to strip her out of her towel and carry her into my bedroom. Just the thought had my palms dampening and my heartbeat racing.
“Did you want to come to the park with us…to watch the movie?”
Her weight shifted from one foot to the other as she bit the inside of her mouth, indecision filling her aqua gaze. When she licked her lips, the sight of her tongue caused my balls to tingle. Even though, logically, I knew it was just a nervous habit, my dick hadn’t gotten the memo. Her lips called to me like a homing beacon. I felt a magnetic pull toward her, and I had to actively fight to resist.
“Um, yeah, just let me get changed.”
