Page 109 of Preacher Man

Raining a kiss to the side of her neck he kept her trapped right there in the confines of his arms, water still dripping down her exposed collarbone he leaned in and licked it up.

“Who is Dwayne, beautiful?”

He felt he’d been here before. Her nose scrunched up to a cute little button.

“Dwayne? How do you know that name?”

“Just had the pleasure of talking to the douche. He called your cell a few times. He wants to you to call him back. Though from how he spoke I’d like for you not to call him at all.”

“He’s my sister’s boyfriend. Douche?” She grinned and ran her skinny fingers down his beard, he loved her touching him voluntarily, instead of him telling her;put your hands on me, grab my dick, hands on my body, Rubes.“That sounds about right. I should call though, it might be about Rita.”

“Ruby, I don’t want to sound like I’m telling you what to do … but they don’t rate you running after their asses all the time when they click their fingers. Fuck 'em. He sounded like a cunt demanding you ring him back like you're his damn servant. You can tell me where he lives, I’ll deal with the problem.”

She sighed and leaned into his shoulder, her fingers idly playing around the back of his neck, if he had the time he’d follow through with all these slight touches, and show her just how he liked to start his day, with her on his dick again. He drew a hand up the back of her thigh, kept it on the swell of her ass cheek, soft and warm from her shower, her face flawless, he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, truly fucking stole the breath out of his lungs. And when she gave him one of those genuine cute smiles ... stunning.

Preacher wanted a lot of things in this lifetime, he was a greedy bastard most of the time, some he got, some he couldn’t have no matter how much he wished it, but the woman right here, as she brushed her hair over one shoulder and turned her body fully curled against his like they were two of the most perfectly made puzzle pieces, this woman he wanted badly.

Not just sex.

Notonlysex.

It went deep and it had stayed deep. When he thought he could burn the hunger for Ruby out of him he’d been sorely mistaken. She wasn’t someone he could fuck and discard, there was no forgetting her in a bathroom stall at all and he found as days went on he was drawn deeper under her skin he didn’t want to ever get rid of her.

She made him laugh and that felt amazing.

“I know. It’s just hard, you know.” She said with a little puff of air and what do you know, she got all cozy on his shoulder laying her head. It did wicked things to Preacher’s head, not to mention his body that sprang to life behind his zipper. He coasted a hand the full length of her back, saw how she captured her bottom lip between her teeth, he stroked the back of her neck."Watch your sister. Make sure she doesn't get into trouble, Ruby. I was a kid as well, Preacher, but responsible for this other person because we had parents too bone idle, too fucking selfish to crawl out of their addictions to take care of the kids who didn't ask to be born. I feel responsible for how she is now. It’s become a habit we can’t break.

“I hate her and I love her but I've never really liked her much. She's not a likeable person, she was spoiled rotten, I needed new shoes for school, my vans were threadbare but Rita wanted her hair dyeing for a party so I had to go without for a full semester. She is the most selfish person I know, she’ll party all week long not caring if there’s food in the house, and she's ruining Seb's life. He's four and he's so strong already, no little boy should have to fend for himself. I know logically I need to step back, to allow her to fend for herself, to let her sink or swim, but it’s Seb I think about. How do I walk away my nephew?”

So, fucking tempted to stay right here and do her all day, to make her smile in the only way he could. He ran his nose down the side of her cheek, holding her tighter listening to the piece of childhood she was sharing with him.

Fuck work.

Fuck life.

This right here. He wanted to shower her in affection, everything the smaller Ruby should have had years ago. Fuck her stupid parents. He’d fix everything if she let him.

“I’m sorry you went through that. You should have had a better life, better people to care for you. Just think about it, beautiful, let them stew, you don’t owe them anything. And listen, this job hunt you’re on. I had a thought.” Her head came up, those burnished eyes holding his curiously. “The club.”

“No.”

He laughed. Damn. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“You want me to be one of those dancing chicks.” Preacher out right laughed now.

“We don’t have dancing chicks, but fuck ... If you’re offering I’ll audition you right here, start slow, and work up to a lap dance, you know how I like you to grind on my lap. Work it, beautiful.”

She hit his shoulder and left her arm dangling there.

“You do ink, right?”

“I did forever ago. Why?” Her cute little brows bunched in the middle, like she was finding it difficult joining his dots and where he was going with it. The idea came to him late last night, when he was depleted of every kind of body fluid he had and Ruby was sound asleep beside him. He didn’t want to sleep and probably wouldn’t so his mind had shifted and landed on her situation wanting a second job. While he absolutely didn’t agree that she needed one to support her lazy-fucking sister, he got an idea, he’d need to talk to Rider about it first.

“The club pays a fortune for our ink, we could do with our own in-house tattooist. If Rider is cool with it, and he can see your previous designs, it shouldn’t be a problem and you chose your own hours.”

“Oh…”

“Is it something you’d wanna do?”

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