And then he turned his head towards her and the seat space she’d made sure to put between them seemed to disappear. ‘I tried to answer your question,’ he said quietly.
‘I know.’ And in doing so he’d got to her. Again. ‘Did you think it would get you into my bed?’
‘Not really, no.’
‘Then why do it?’
‘Maybe I just wanted to know what it felt like to be that open.’
‘And what did it feel like?’
‘Wrong.’
They lapsed into silence again, a brooding, swirling silence that complemented the black leather seats and the cavernous limo interior. Ruby rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes against the pull of him.
She’d wanted honesty from him. She hadn’t realised just how much it would hurt.
‘Maybe it’ll get easier,’ she offered quietly. ‘Maybe you just need to find the right person.’
‘Maybe.’ But the word held a world of defeat in it, and Ruby opened weary eyes and turned her head and held his gaze.
She edged a little closer, moving slowly. It was the only way she knew to approach such a wild and wary thing. He didn’t move towards her, but he didn’t move away. Just watched in silence and when she set gentle lips to his he shuddered in silence too, before pulling slowly away.
‘What was that for?’ he whispered.
‘That was for you. For trying, because I asked you to, even if it didn’t go so well. Consider it my Thank You.’
‘Oh.’
This time he was the one to initiate the meeting of lips, and although he had no way with words he knew exactly how to pour emotion into a kiss. Longing and regret and she knew he still wanted her in spite of his inability to be open with her, and it made her want to cry.
‘That was You’re Welcome,’ he whispered.
And then he kissed her again and she wound her arms around his neck and his hands were gentle on her waist as he drew her onto him, over him, and pressing up into her with a sensuality she’d always known he commanded.
Not just kisses any more but the slide of her body against his and the rapid beating of his heart beneath her hand. He had a connoisseur’s touch and she had a powerful need for that touch tonight. Did it really matter that she knew next to nothing about him and probably never would? She knew he wanted her—wasn’t that enough?
Passion fed and passion burned as their kisses grew deeper and more urgent, and when the limo started to slow and Ruby looked out of the window through glazed eyes and saw her high rise up ahead she groaned, and Damon groaned with her.
‘Drive with me a while,’ he whispered, and she knew what he was asking and she’d resisted him before but there was no resisting him now.
Slowly, she lifted her hand to her headband and slid it from her head and dropped it to the floor. ‘Yes.’
Damon reached for the intercom switch and said, ‘Take us for a drive,’ and the limo moved off.
Time enough now to loosen Damon’s tie, and the buttons on his shirt, with her forehead pressed to his and their breath mingling as he slid the straps of her dress down her arms with gentle fingers.
‘Tell me you know what you’re getting us into,’ he muttered. ‘Tell me you know what you’re doing.’
‘I know what I’m doing.’ While the top of her dress peeled away from her body and she drew his head down to the curve of her breast. ‘So do you.’ As her strapless bra came apart beneath his fingers and he claimed her nipple with his lips and set her to arching back and biting her own.
He explored every hollow and worshipped every curve and before too many minutes had passed he had her beneath him on the seat, half naked and wholly mindless as he moved inside her, every stroke a revelation.
‘Tell me you can taste the truth in this,’ he whispered. ‘In me.’
‘I do taste it.’
In the way he savoured her, honoured her, and in the way his touch made her tremble. ‘Tell me you won’t regret this.’
‘Never. Damon, not ever.’ As the driver kept driving and Ruby and Damon got lost in each other.
It had to end eventually. Love-making always had to end. With Ruby climaxing in Damon’s arms as he emptied himself into her. With Damon swallowing her cries of completion and groaning softly as her body grew boneless and his did too, and somehow she ended up stretched out on top of him, with Damon’s arms around her waist keeping her there.
The interior of the limo looked like someone’s messy closet. Her clothes would be here somewhere and she would get around to putting them back on soon.
But not just yet.
‘That was …’ Damon didn’t seem to know how to finish the sentence ‘… a revelation.’
‘I concur.’ Ruby pushed herself up into a sitting position, still straddling him, still very, very naked. Damon’s gaze fell to her breasts and his lazy grin turned lopsided.
‘Here’s a tip,’ he said huskily. ‘If you ever want to win an argument with me, just get naked.’
‘Something to remember,’ she murmured. ‘Are we going to argue now?’
‘No.’ He slid his hand around the back of her neck and rose up to kiss the side of her mouth. He wasn’t done with her yet, and the notion delighted her. ‘Not right now.’
She couldn’t seem to get enough of his touch. Of his kisses. ‘So what shall we do?’
‘Ladies’ choice.’ He leaned back against the seat, his slitted gaze not leaving her face as he began to harden against her once more.
‘Good. Because, right now I just want to sit back and enjoy the ride.’
They found their clothes and put them on eventually. They made it back to Ruby’s apartment building, and it was after one, and technically Christmas Day already, and Damon had places to be—like with his family—and Ruby had things to do, like go inside and figure out what she was going to do with Damon West for the rest of the undoubtedly short time he would be around.
He was as dishevelled as Ruby, but he got out of the car when it stopped at her door, and extended his hand for hers and brought it to his lips as she alighted from the limo with most everything in place, including her headband.
‘Merry Christmas, Ruby.’
‘You too,’ she murmured, and took her hand back and headed quickly for the door before she turned around and held out her hand for him to join her. Only when she was safely inside the foyer and heading for the lifts did she look back and smile at what she saw.
Damon, leaning against the car with his hands in his pockets as he watched her retreat, and secrets or not she knew more of him now and she had not met with disappointment.
He didn’t want true intimacy from her, and a wise woman accepted the things she could not change.
A wise woman took the gift of passion and pleasure that he had given her and cherished them for what they were.
Best Christmas present ever.
Damon West had as much self-awareness as the next man. He knew what he was good at, and seduction was one of those things. He knew what derailed him, and commitments of the personal kind headed that list. He’d set foot on the hackers’ path at the tender age of twelve when he’d hacked into his school’s academic database. At seventeen—with five more schools under his belt—he’d blitzed his exams, hacked the filter the department of education used to expose students of interest, and MIT had come knocking. He’d