Page 37 of Dare to Dance
I almost laughed again. He was the second or third person to give me that advice. “You didn’t let Lizzie be. Besides, we’re Maxwells. We don’t walk away, especially from family.” I was getting ahead of myself. I still didn’t know if I was a father. Nevertheless, I would do anything and everything to help Ruby and Norma get off the streets. Norma had confirmed that they’d been homeless until that waitress, Alex, had taken them in.
Man, Dillon was rubbing off on me. After hanging out with him and listening to his business plan for a homeless shelter for girls in need, I couldn’t help but admire the dude. I’d told him I wanted to help him in any way I could, although I’d never imagined I would be in a real-life situation with a homeless girl, especially one that had a small home in my heart.
“You never stopped caring for her, did you?” Kelton asked.
“Seeing her after all these years, I don’t know. She’s beautiful, Bro.” Even battered and bruised, the sight of her had given me goose bumps. “She still makes my stomach do crazy things.” When she had crashed into me with those drinks, my body had heated and my heartbeat had pounded all over the place. It was as though I’d bumped into her for the first time all over again. Her skin was soft beneath my touch. Her blue-green eyes flashed with a look that told me she wanted me as much as I wanted her. It was then I had wanted to show her how much of a man I’d become—a man who was dedicated, responsible, protective, caring, and had a heart.
Kelton chuckled. “The stomach thing is the first to go before you drop to your knees and worship her. Good to hear that my brother may be falling for a girl. Later, dude.”
I chuckled. Ruby and I had millions of miles separating our lives with problems stacked so high in between us, I wasn’t sure we would ever meet in the middle.
Pocketing my phone, I crossed the vast expanse of the trash-ridden floor to the room I’d seen Ruby duck into. Broken windows helped to infuse the building with a light scent of salt air from the harbor, which masked the acrid scent that was attached to my nostrils.
“Is this where you live?” Ruby’s voice filtered out of the room.
I poked in my head to find her talking to the black-and-white cat that was perched on a sink. Ruby was petting him, then she sneezed.
I stopped in the doorway. “Bless you.”
The room appeared to have been a lunchroom. In addition to the sink, a picnic table and a dented fridge were scattered about.
She dragged her hands down her jeans. “I’m allergic.”
“I remember.” The academy had a stray cat or two, and she’d always petted the creatures even though her allergies got the best of her.
Her gaze met mine. “You think I’m beautiful?”
“Eavesdropping?” I smirked, but inside, I was jumping up and down for joy. “Yes.”
“Even when you found me fighting?”
The cat hopped down, brushed against my leg, then slinked away.
“Honestly, yes.”
She looked away, biting her lower lip ever so gently.Fuck. My body came alive. One minute, she could be spunky, then the next, she was shy. That combination made my blood heat in ways I hadn’t felt since I’d been with her. Since we were sixteen, dancing under the stars, cuddling under a blanket on cold nights near the Greenridge Academy football field while I played with her hair or kissed her body anywhere she would let me.
Calm the fuck down, dude.Shit, no girls I’d been with since Ruby made me feel the high I was experiencing at the moment. “So, I’m on your turf. Do we duke it out now?” I teased. I wanted to be that lower lip so fucking bad, I had to conjure up images of punching my opponent in a ring. Kelton had told me he always recited a mantra of sports or some shit when his dick wasn’t cooperating. I’d laughed at him. Now I was laughing at myself.
She puffed out her chest. “I might be able to kick your butt in the ring.”
I turned one side of my mouth upward. “Is that so? Maybe we should head down to the gym. I’d love to get you in the ring.” I’d love to do more than box, but that wouldn’t happen. Not now, anyway. Fuck if I wasn’t a pervert at the moment. I wanted answers, yet all I was doing was thinking about the physical and not in an emotional, professional, or friendly manner.
She dropped her gaze. “I’m fighting again on Saturday. I might take you up on that offer.”
“What?” I pinched my eyebrows. “You can’t.” My tone was hard. I didn’t want to watch her get her butt kicked again. She’d been all over the place with her punches while her opponent had been determined to knock Ruby’s lights out. Not only that, people died in illegal underground fighting. On the boxing circuit, I heard all kinds of stories about those who hadn’t made it out alive. “You’ll get hurt.” The only good move she’d exhibited was her footwork. But that wouldn’t get her far since she didn’t know how to anticipate her opponent’s next move. “Also, you shouldn’t be working for Tommy. The dude is into some bad shit. If you need money—”
Her rosy cheeks darkened. “Don’t.” A snarl cut through her pretty face. “Don’t you dare. I can take care of myself. You think you can ride in on your high horse and save me? Well, news flash. You can’t. And another news flash. You were the one who got me into trouble with Tommy.”
I raised my hands. “I’m sorry about that. I’ll talk to him.”
“No. Stay out of it.”
“Look, I’m offering my help.”
“No, you’re not. You’re bossing me around, something I recall you and your brothers doing a lot of with kids at the academy.” She huffed then sank back against the sink, holding herself. “Why didn’t you return my calls?”
I stretched my neck. “Why did you tell me you weren’t pregnant if you were?”
