I shrugged as I brushed her hair out of her face. “You look like an angel when you’re sleeping.”
“I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”
“But it’s not. You look like an angel and snore like a freight train. It’s a glorious combination.” I kept a firm grip on her because I knew she would squirm away. “Stop,” I whispered into her hair. “Let me hold you.”
I expected her to fight a bit longer. Instead, she went limp, her face disappearing into the hollow next to my shoulder.
“Well, that was easier than I expected,” I admitted after several seconds.
“Yeah.” She tiptoed her fingers up my chest, then flattened her hand there. “I’m going to tell you something that’s easier to say when I don’t have to look you in the eye.”
My natural instinct was to pull back enough to stare at her, but she stopped me.
“Just let me get through this,” she instructed.
Since I had no choice, I held her close and nodded.
“I didn’t expect us to end up here. Like … at all.”
“That doesn’t mean we don’t belong here.” Something inside of me was starting to panic that she was already going to send me away. I couldn’t bear the thought.
“That’s not what I mean,” she said, her hand moving over my bicep. Not in a lascivious way, but to anchor me. “I’m saying that, well, I think I knew what I was doing the night of the party.”
This was so not what I expected her to want to talk about. It was so much better. I nodded to propel her forward.
“It’s just … I’ve been thinking about it a lot since it happened,” she explained. “I remember how good you looked that night. You looked really, really good. I remember you and my brother having a laugh about how foul the pink drinks were.”
“They were foul.”
“I kind of liked them. They were fizzy and optimistic somehow, just like your sister. That’s neither here nor there, though. I remember seeing you laugh from across the bar. You were mocking your sister, and bonding with my brother, and your smile was wide enough to swallow the entire bar.”
“I’m still not sure what you’re saying, Ruby,” I admitted.
“I’m saying that I remember looking at you and thinking that I wanted to kiss that mouth of yours so you would be smiling at me.”
I could no longer force myself not to look at her, and when I glanced down, I found her smiling at me sheepishly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I asked finally.
“Yeah.” She was mortified but continued forward. “I think I seduced you, Rex. Not only that, I think I knew I was going to do it hours before I did it.”
A multitude of emotions flooded me. Amusement. Adoration. Lust. She was so many things all at once in this moment. Most of all, she felt like mine. So, I could’ve given her a hard time and watched her squirm. The old Rex would’ve done that. This Rex wanted to meet her halfway, however.
“You were wearing a purple dress that showed off an amazing amount of cleavage,” I said out of nowhere. “When you laugh it sounds as if angels are singing. That’s what I thought when I saw you that night. You were drinking the pink drink. The reason I wanted to leave early is because I wanted to make bad decisions with you, too.”
Her eyes almost popped out of her head. “Wait … are you saying you wanted to seduce me too?”
“I’m saying I wanted to do everything I did with you that night. I knew if I stayed, it was going to happen. There was just a vibe floating around that night.”
“There really was,” she agreed.
“I think we both knew what was going to happen,” I continued. “We both knew … and we didn’t care about the consequences.”
“Yeah.” She was solemn. “Do you want to know something else?”
“Always.” Nothing could’ve dragged me from her bed in that moment, and not for the reasons I normally couldn’t be forced out of a bed. Just her warmth and smile were enough to keep me there forever.
“When it first happened, I thought the consequences were somehow … punishment or something.” She licked her lips. “Now they don’t feel like a punishment.”
I grinned. “Are you saying I’m a reward?”
