Page 59 of Just Like in the Movies

Uncertainty flickered across his face, and she braced herself for the excuses, the polite denials. It wouldn’t be the first time a guy had hit on her and run. At least this time she had something to show for it. An afterglow from the two best orgasms of her life which would keep the black bottomless pit at bay till morning.

But to her surprise, he simply said. ‘Are you sure? This is kind of a small bed.’

It wasn’t that small, he was just a tall guy, but she was too elated at his reply and the willingness in his voice to think of the practicalities.

‘Then I guess we’ll just have to snuggle more,’ she said.

‘I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,’ he replied and the bounce of elation hit her tonsils.

He was going to stay the night? And snuggle? Even without the awesome orgasms, this would be the best date night of her entire life.

She didn’t even care that it would be over in the morning. Because tomorrow was a galaxy far far away.

Rolling on to his back, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She snuggled against his side, listening to his breathing and loving the feel of him. So warm, so solid, so steady, so sexy, so there, beside her.

She found her eyelids drooping, even though she didn’t want to miss a thing.

As he petted her hair, he said softly. ‘Thanks, Ruby. I needed you tonight.’

She gave him a squeeze, hearing the note of sadness and confusion in his voice again. And tried not to think about where it came from.

‘Ditto.’

Chapter 12

When Luke’s eyes opened the next morning, he saw the twinkle of green lights above his head, heard a melodic voice singing about lemon drops and chimney tops in the distance, felt the squishy softness of the mattress beneath him and breathed in a lungful of evocative aromas. Rose shampoo and sex and … was that coffee?

Had he been transported to a triple-X-rated Land of Oz?

He shifted, the twinge in his back from the too-soft mattress protesting. As Ruby’s bedroom came into focus, the memories from yesterday flowed back.

His mother’s ashen face, the shocking revelation about his father and Matty, the hours spent wandering the streets of West London, re-evaluating his whole childhood and adolescence and everything he’d known about his old man – or thought he’d known – ending up in Brynn’s Babes knocking back one too many spiced rums while the crowd went nuts for a queen called Tina Turn You On doing a dead-on rendition of ‘River Deep Mountain High’…

And then Ruby.

Her soft smiles and hungry kisses, her incredible rack and the taste of her – so sweet and exotic – on his tongue. Then the tight clasp of her body as he shot his load in two seconds flat. He would be humiliated, if the memory of that moment wasn’t giving him a morning boner.

But then the hours after his titanic orgasm came back too, and the woody wilted. It had taken him until two am to finally fall asleep, and he still hadn’t got much straight in his head, but listening to Ruby’s soft snores, stroking her lush curves, inhaling that exotic scent, he’d figured out one certain truth from the whole cluster fuck of yesterday. Sleeping with her last night had not been his smartest move.

His whole existence had been crushed and mangled yesterday with his mother’s news – like a steel girder under too heavy a load – and sleeping with Ruby had been a way to un-crush and un-mangle it – to feel normal again. To feel better than normal for a few hours at least.

He breathed in the addictive chicory scent of the coffee and detected the salty aroma of bacon. His stomach grumbled. And the guilt and shame threatened to gag him. To add insult to injury not only had he used her for sex last night – mind-blowing unforgettable sex – but then he’d stayed the night.

Ruby was cooking him breakfast. As if they were some kind of a couple – which they weren’t, not really.

He rolled, or rather bounced, off the too-soft bed and located the clothing he’d flung off yesterday neatly folded on a vintage armchair in the corner of the room.

After getting dressed, he followed the scent of coffee and bacon down the apartment’s hall, his stomach rumbling all the way as he listened to Ruby’s soulful voice caress the lyrics of the show tune that had gotten them both arrested what felt like a lifetime ago.

Reaching the doorway of the kitchen, he propped his shoulder against the frame and stopped dead, taking the opportunity to watch her unobserved.

She wore a silk robe decorated with sunflowers, tied tightly around her waist, her bounteous curves jiggly beneath it as she stirred a pan full of eggs. Was it any wonder he’d taken what she offered last night? Not just taken, gorged himself on it. And her. She was so good just to look at. He loved the way she moved, the way her forehead puckered in a frown of concentration, the quick flicks of her wrist to push her wild hair out of her eyes as she worked. Watching Ruby gave him a buzz that went beyond the sex.

Something warm spread across his ribs then sunk low to glow in his empty stomach. Filling it up with … Comfort? Contentment? Desire? He wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling. But whatever it was, it probably wasn’t good news.

Not least because his parents – between them – had managed to screw her best friend over, years before he died.

He cleared his throat.

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