When the tremors subsided Ruby noticed that the sun coming through her frosted-glass window seemed brighter; the noises outside came through the walls louder. Standing in the tub, she grabbed a towel. She loved her flat, but for some reason it seemed stifling today. She wanted to be outside, to see the open sky. She didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts.
After she was dry, she went to her room to get dressed. Twenty minutes later she was outside and on her way to the park.
She nearly ran into the tall, thin man as he came around the corner of her street. And when she jerked her head up to see Mark gazing down at her, she forgot everything and felt her smile turn up to full blast. She couldn’t help it.
“Mark! What are you doing here?” she asked, staring up at him.
He seemed to scan her entirely in the sweep of a single gaze. “I was worried about you.”
“So you just came to San Francisco? What about your band?”
His stare was unwavering, slowly drawing her in. “We needed to come back here today anyway. To finish recording.”
“Right. Recording.” Seeing him brought back all her raw feelings from the night before, had her head twisted in confusion. Angry and jealous, excited and scared; her heart beat madly as so many emotions rushed through her.
He dropped his bag, reached out and took her into his arms. She buried her face in his neck, inhaled his woodsy scent. He was long and hard, warm against her body, and it was heaven.
Lust hit her. Bone-melting, liquid desire for this man made her entire body go weak.
She felt his voice vibrating right into her body. “Listen. Let’s just be together right now. No promises, no explanations. Whatever happens, I’m here now.”
She nodded silently, her nose brushing the warm skin of his neck. He was here. He had gotten on a plane and come to her. No matter what he’d done while away, he was here. In San Francisco. He’d come to check on her, and that was something.
At the moment, it was everything.
She pulled back and looked up at him. “Do you have the day free?”
He nodded, his eyes dark liquid behind his glasses.
Butterflies were going crazy in her stomach. “What do you want to do?”
He glanced at his bag and back at her. “I have a few ideas.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
The minute the door shut behind her he backed her against it, overwhelming her with his strength. His hands were everywhere, his lips hot and insistent as he kissed her mouth, her neck, behind her ear. He was pulling off her cardigan and sliding it down her shoulders, pausing to hold her arms beside her.
“Nothing happened last night,” he said, and his voice sounded hoarse. “With those girls.”
“I don’t care,” she said, but her heart felt lighter hearing him say the words.
He kissed her again and again, as if he couldn’t get enough of her. His tongue searched hers, slowly tasting, licking, sucking. She felt the kiss in her knees, her breasts, between her legs.
“I lied,” she said, pulling his shirt up and over his head. “I do care. I’m glad you weren’t with anyone else. Neither was I. I never wanted to be!”
“I know. I figured that out as soon as you hung up on me.” He started unbuttoning her shirtdress, and soon that was being pushed off her body as well. Then she was standing in just her bra and underwear and flats.
Laughing, she jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his strong back.
He caught her, kissing her as he walked to the bedroom. Somehow he managed to get her bra off in the hallway, and by the time he put her on the bed her hair was a total wreck.
He pulled off one of her shoes and placed a kiss on her ankle. “I missed you.”
“Oh, Mark,” she sighed, resting on her elbows. “I always miss you when you go.”
Removing her other flat, he kissed that ankle as well. “I never realized it would be so hard. To leave someone, I mean.”
For a second she pictured herself and Claire, waving good-bye to their parents as they sailed away. She pushed aside the memory. “Take off your pants,” she said, smiling.
“Take off your panties.”
As she slid them down her legs he removed his boots and jeans and boxers. Then he climbed on top of her and gave her that cocky grin. “You are so much more agreeable about taking off your panties now than when I first met you.”
“I told you. You make me lose my mind.”
“Glad to oblige,” he said, sinking between her legs.
She paused, cupping his strong jaw in her hand. “I don’t even know you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know your middle name or where you’re from. I don’t know if you have any siblings. I don’t even know if you sleep on the right or left side of the bed.” So far they’d never slept together, one being, one body, all through the night.