I like it.”
“Since you’re tired, perhaps you’d like to turn in? I’ll show you the guest room.”
“What about the wine? Don’t you plan to be hospitable?”
“Look, sweetheart, it’s almost midnight.”
She didn’t move. “I’ve been up this late before. Lots of times, in fact.”
He took a deep breath, admitted defeat and went to his kitchen for the wine. When he returned to the living room with two glasses of white wine, she had removed her coat and the jacket to her dress, exposing her beautiful brown shoulders and just enough cleavage to excite him.
He put the glasses on the coffee table. Damned if he was going to let her make a joke of him. “As soon as we drink this, I’m taking you upstairs.”
He must have appeared foolish with his mouth agape as she picked up the glass, drank the wine, put the glass back on the table and said, “Okay. I’m ready.”
She walked up the stairs ahead of him, and he could have told her to save the rear action; he’d been looking at it for years, and he knew it well enough to write a sonnet about it.
“To your left,” he said, doing nothing to squelch the annoyance that crept into his voice. How was he supposed to deal with her? He didn’t know this side of her, wouldn’t have dreamed she had it, and seeing it made her even more enticing. “Not in there,” he said as she strode toward an open door. “That’s my room.”
Without so much as a pause, she turned and entered his room.
“I said this is my room,” he repeated. “You’re sleeping across the hall.”
“Okay,” she said. “Where across the hall?”
He directed her to the guest room, and when she walked in, he stepped out, closed the door and slumped against it. “Thank God, I can breathe.” Once inside his own room he removed his jacket, tie and shirt and sat on the edge of the bed to remove his shoes. Then he heard her knock. Now what? With a bare chest, but still wearing trousers, he got up, opened the door and gazed down at her.
He gulped. “What is it, Ruby?” The voice he heard must surely belonged to someone other than him; he’d never squeaked.
“Would you…uh…unzip my dress, please?” she asked him, managing to appear fragile and helpless. Oh, hell! Maybe it just seemed that way to him.
“Unzip your…Who usually unzips it?”
“Nobody. This is the first time I’ve worn it.”
Instead of turning her back, she stepped closer, and he thought his knees had turned to rubber. “Please,” she said.
“Turn around,” he said gruffly. His fingers shook as he attempted to grasp the zipper, and he fumbled uncontrollably. Finally he managed to hold it, closed his eyes and pulled. He didn’t hear the dress drop to the floor, and shock reverberated through his body when he realized that she had handed it to him. He opened his eyes and stared at the voluptuous beauty before him.
“My God,” he uttered with a groan. He pulled her into his arms, let his hands roam over her breasts, arms, waist and buttocks until she reached up, clasped his face between her palms and parted her lips beneath his. He lost himself in her arms.
Ruby awakened and sat up suddenly, alarmed at the weight of a hand on her bare thigh. It didn’t make sense. And why would a sledgehammer be pounding the top of her head? She looked to her left and gasped. Good Lord, that was Luther. What was…? It came back to her with blinding accuracy. At that moment he awakened fully and propped himself up on his left elbow.
“What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep?” He reached out to put his arm around her, but she slid farther from him.
“Wh-what have I done?”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry or that you didn’t know what you were doing,” he said. “I’m having none of that.”
She slid off the bed. “I’m sorry, and I apologize for…for…I don’t know what came over me. Would you please close your eyes?”
“Why?” he said in an odd voice that didn’t sound much like Luther’s comforting baritone.
“Just please close your eyes. I want to dress.” She got into her clothes as quickly as possible. “I’m going home. Do you know where my car is?”
He sat all the way up. “In front of the house. Are you telling me you don’t remember me driving your car here?”
“Luther, please forgive me for any pain or inconvenience I’ve caused you.” He started to get out of bed. “No, please don’t. I don’t want you to get up. I can find my way out. I…uh…thanks for everything.” She wasn’t sure why she was thanking him, but she hoped she would upon reflection.
She found her car keys on the table beside the living-room sofa, next to her coat. When she got into her car and put the key into the ignition, she glanced up at the house and saw Luther standing at the window.
“Lord, I must have been out of my mind to make love with Luther. He’s like a brother, and…what can he possibly think of me? She rubbed her forehead in an attempt to ease the pain. “That’s the last champagne I’m ever drinking. No. That’s the last alcohol. From now on, I’m going to stay as sober as a judge.”
She drove home, and after she walked in the door, her first thought was of the lonely echoes of her steps as she headed upstairs. The flashing red light on the phone beside her bed told her that she had messages. No doubt from Pearl and Amber. Tomorrow would be time enough to deal with them.
“What do they think?” she said aloud. “And Lord, what was I thinking? I had no business going to Luther’s house that time of night. I must have been out of my mind.” She showered, put on a nightgown and prepared to get a few hours sleep. She hadn’t been in bed five minutes when the memory of the moments in Luther’s arms came back to her as clear as a bright summer morning.
The man sent her through the stratosphere. For the first time in her life, she had exploded in orgasm after orgasm. And oh, how he had loved her. He’d worshipped every inch of her, kissed her from forehead to feet, and when he finally got inside her…the earth had moved, and it wouldn’t stop. She sat up in the bed and let out a sharp whistle. Then she blinked rapidly; she hadn’t known that she could whistle. She wondered what he’d thought of her wildness, her completely uninhibited behavior. If only she didn’t have to see him again. Well, he would learn that she didn’t plan to chase him. Never!
Luther stood at the window of his bedroom and watched as Ruby pulled away from the curb. What had he done to himself? An ache settled inside of him, more painful than any he’d ever experienced in the years of longing for Ruby. He’d known all along that, if he got a taste of her, he’d need her more than ever, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself. She had stood before him, almost nude, with her lips parted and that look of expectancy, that invitation to madness on her face. He couldn’t stand it. Her gaze had roamed his face and settled on his lips, and he’d pulled her body to his and plunged his tongue into her waiting mouth.
He turned, limped back to the bed—his limp was always most prominent when he was unhappy—and
