“Don’t go up there, dude,” Jax said. But by the way he raised his voice, Rubi knew Wes was already headed her way.
“Wes, stay out.” Lexi swung toward the stairs. “We’re not decent up here.”
He stopped on the top step, still head and shoulders above Lexi. He was grinning as he gripped her upper arms and set her aside so he could pass. “That’s just how I like Rubi best—indecent.”
Rubi huffed a laugh and leaned against the railing. “Don’t bother, Lex. He seems to do whatever he pleases nowadays.”
His gaze darted toward her voice, and he froze. One hand gripped the side rail, the other landed flat against the wall. His shocked gaze slid over her from shoulders to toes and heated Rubi everywhere. The shock quickly shifted to pure lust, and his gaze returned to hers.
“If that were true, baby,” he said, “I’d have done you by now.”
Rubi laughed. That comment probably crossed the friends line—even though they’d flirted like this before anything changed, but the man never failed to make her smile.
“You are such an asshole.” Jax appeared behind Wes, averting his gaze from Rubi—although she was wearing far more than she did on the beach in her bikini. “You’re about to get an attitude adjustment.”
“You can do that later.” Lexi fought a smile and pushed past Wes, taking Jax’s arm and pulling him behind her. “Come downstairs with me.”
Jax’s and Lexi’s voices faded and a door downstairs clicked closed. Wes still hadn’t moved. His gaze hadn’t stopped inventorying every inch of her body. And his gaze wasn’t the only thing heating her from the inside out.
He looked spectacular. He wore black suit pants, a black suit jacket, and white dress shirt, every piece hanging perfectly on his muscled frame. His hair looked damp and was combed off his face, but he hadn’t shaved, and the day’s golden stubble dirtied his jaw.
“Well, don’t you look”—Rubi caught herself before she said edible and replaced it with—“amazing?”
He’d never looked sexier and Rubi had urges she’d never had before. Urges that included more than simply fucking him. She wanted to undress him slowly, not rip his clothes off. Wanted to explore his body, not just use it. Wanted to laugh and tease and please him in bed, not just get it done so she could move on.
Every thought terrified her more than the last.
“You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t follow rules,” she said.
His mouth kicked up in that sexy way that made her stomach float, and his fiery gaze wandered downward again with a look of longing both sweet and sultry.
“Are you just going to stand there and stare?” she asked. “It’s kinda…rude.”
His gaze drifted up and met hers. Those deep-gray eyes were heavy-lidded and on fire. “Would it be less rude to throw you down on the table and fuck you?” His rough words shot fire between her legs. Then he reached down with one hand and adjusted that amazing package. The sight sent her blood into a boil. “’Cause, I’m fully equipped and extremely capable.”
Rubi’s grin spread. “You definitely have no self-esteem problems, do you?”
He pushed up the final stair, eased his suit jacket back and planted his hands on his hips. “Give me a few hours alone with you, and I’ll let you tell me if I should develop some.”
He started toward her with a predatory look that pinched her belly with lust. Rubi held her ground but gripped the railing so tight her fingers tingled from the blood loss. When he was within five feet, his scent drifted to her. Clean, spicy, sexy. It curled around her, along with his body heat, and made her dizzy.
He closed his hand on the railing an inch from hers. “I don’t think I told you how adorable you looked on set today.”
Humor tickled Rubi’s gut. “Jeans and a T-shirt? That’s adorable?”
“Tight little jeans that hugged your awesome ass. That diamond in your belly button teasing me. And a T-shirt that clung to every last perfect curve. Then there were those pretty toes of yours. I might be pushing that friend boundary a little here, but what I’ve got planned for those sensitive toes has given me a hard-on I’ve been living with all damn day. “Now I’m really crossing the line…because we’re alone…and because I really want sex…” He took her wrist, covered her hand with his, and pressed her palm to the front of his slacks, then curved her fingers over his package. “And I’m hoping you do, too.”
Rubi gasped and pulled back, but Wes’s heavy hand covered hers and guided it along his length. His entire length. Which kept going. And going. She thought she’d gotten a good feel for him at the club while he’d been grinding against her ass, but…no. She was getting a literal firsthand take of the thickness, length, hardness, and heat of his cock.
A wickedly urgent need closed her throat. Oh, yeah, she wanted sex.
“Baby,” he said, his voice soft. “Are you drooling?”
Rubi’s mind righted from its sideways slide, and she found herself feeling him through his pants, no help from Wes necessary, although his hand still covered hers. Christ, he felt…delicious. A heavy weight lay at the bottom of her belly, casting heat between her legs.
“I…um…” She lifted her gaze. His expression was tight with desire. “Might be…”
Wes laughed, the sound rolling into a groan as he pulled her hand away. “Just one of your many benefits.” He threaded their fingers and brought her hand to his mouth for a kiss. “To do with as you please.”
A laugh curled in her throat. He might be acting sweet now, but she’d seen his many sides, and she’d bet he could be a very intense lover. She’d never thought any man would be too much for her to handle, but something about all his facets made her wonder.
His free hand lifted, and he skimmed the back of one finger along the curve of her breast at the corset’s edge. The featherlight touch sent gooseflesh across her chest. Her nipples puckered, and the crimson leather showed every last curve of the hard nub. He watched the reaction with a hunger she felt all the way through her.
“You are so sensitive,” he murmured. “If I dropped to my knees, would you take pity on me?”
Want swept through her in a fierce wave. Her eyes fell closed as she whispered, “There would be no pity involved.”
Air whooshed over her skin, and she opened her eyes. Wes was on one knee in front of her, one hand still gripping the railing, his other sliding around her waist. Rubi gasped at his touch. Every inch of her skin tightened in a ripple of pleasure.
His body remained perfectly still, his hand adding the slightest pressure to her lower back and drawing her belly toward his mouth. His warm breath touched her like fingertips, and she watched as he tipped his head, lowered those golden lashes, and opened his mouth against the strip of skin exposed beneath the edge of the corset.
Something tender and impossibly warm squeezed her heart so hard her chest ached. Something that definitely didn’t fall into the friend or sex category. Then the sensation of his mouth on her skin registered, and white-hot lust slid low, pooling between her legs.
“Oh hell,” drifted from her mouth in a desire-filled exhale.
A door downstairs opened, and Jax’s and Lexi’s voices touched Rubi’s ears, dragging her back from the blissful place Wes had taken her. Somewhere she desperately wanted to stay. But all her doubts from the past washed in, cooling her heat.
She combed a hand through his hair, slid her fingers under his chin, and lifted his mouth from her belly. With regret thickening her throat, she ran her thumb over his rough cheek.
“Find a girl tonight, Wes,” she told him, serious, resolute. “Because I can’t do this. Nothing’s going to happen between us.”
“You can. I know you can.” Wes released the railing and rose. His voice was soft and understanding as he drew her close and kissed her lips with a murmured, “Plenty has already happened between us. And it’s just the beginning.”
“Wes, get down here,” Jax said from the bottom of the stairs. “Lexi and Rubi need to work. And you need to get your ass to Lure before Bolton does something stupid.”
He turned and started for the stairs. With his foot on the top stair, he glanced back over his shoulder, but his gaze didn’t slide down her body as she expected. “Come keep me company when you’re done here.”
“No. I need some space.”
He held her gaze, and she swore she could see the reality of their situation solidify in his eyes. He glanced toward the floor and gave one nod before turning away and trotting down the stairs.
Rubi’s entire chest swirled with confusion, frustration, and loss.
She didn’t hear the words Wes and Jax exchanged, but she flinched when the door to the shop shut, signaling Wes’s departure.
Lexi climbed the stairs, picked up another style of lingerie, and wandered over to Rubi. “I’ve always stayed out of your sex life, haven’t I?”
Her gaze tore from the location she’d last seen Wes and jumped to Lexi. “What?”
“I’ve never told you what I think you should or shouldn’t do. Never nagged you about sticking with one guy. Never even whined about never getting to meet any.” She offered the lingerie to Rubi. “But this time, Rubi, this time, I really think you’re making a mistake.”
“Why would you say that?” Rubi scowled at her friend and took the lace from her hand. “We both know what would happen. I’d screw him once…okay, maybe twice, because he’d just be that damn good, and then I’d walk away. He’d be pissed and hurt. And how do you think he’d feel about hanging with me then? It would ruin what we have, Lexi—this comfortable, fun foursome. And imagine when he finds another girl and wants her to hang with us. God, what a mess.”
She strode into the bathroom and stripped the corset from her body. Her heart was beating too fast. Her breathing too shaky.
In the other room, Lexi said, “And what if the sky falls tomorrow?”
She wiggled into the translucent bra bordered in leather. Damn, Lexi made the most beautiful creations. “The chances of the sky falling are about one zillion to one. The chances of things going bad with Wes are 100 percent.”
“There is another side to those what-ifs,” Lexi said. “Like, what if…you screwed him once…okay, definitely twice, because he would be that damn good, and you didn’t walk away? What if…you stayed long enough to figure out if he’s everything you want and need in a man? What if…now I’m going out on a limb here…you actually admitted to yourself that you’re already half in love with the man and could easily finish falling if you even just tried on this friends-with-benefits deal?”
Rubi stepped out of the bathroom with what felt like a boulder in her chest. She could barely breathe. Both her fight and her flight reflexes were now amped to full power, gushing adrenaline into her chest. “You just told me you didn’t think it would work.”