He took a long run in the neighborhood to clear his head, purposely leaving his phone behind. When he got back, however, it stared up at him like a silent reproach.
What the hell’s the matter with you, Stewart? If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were falling…
He shook away the ridiculous thought before it was fully articulated.
He managed to busy himself for a few hours. When he couldn’t think of another thing that needed doing, he picked up the phone once more, cradling it in his palm as he silently willed Ruby to call or text him.
Why hadn’t he gotten her damn number yesterday? What the fuck was wrong with him? He never should have left her in the first place. He should have insisted on taking her out to dinner and then brought her back to her place so they could have made love for the rest of the night, Bob and BDSM Connections be damned.
He scrolled through his phone and found Taggart’s contact information. Since he’d already met and hung out with Taggart a couple of times on the BDSM convention circuit, Evan felt comfortable reaching out to him. Before he could overthink it, he thumbed a quick text. “Hey there, Tag. Any chance you have Ruby Beckett’s contact info? Or maybe Rylee’s got it?”
It took a minute or two, but Taggart finally responded. “Sorry, buddy. I don’t have that, and Rylee’s not around at the moment. But I do have Allie’s number. She’ll know how to get in touch with Ruby. Glad you’re reaching out to her. You two make a great couple.” He added Allie’s phone number, along with a winking smile emoticon.
Evan snorted. Were they all matchmakers in Portland? Still grinning, he copied the number into his contacts, along with her name. Then he clicked on the message tab and typed, “Hey there, Allie. Evan Stewart here. I need to get in touch with Ruby Beckett. Any chance you have her cell number handy?”
Almost immediately, the wavy ellipsis appeared, indicating she was responding.
“She’s actually here with me in my workshop. I’ll let her know you’re trying to connect.”
“Great. Thanks.”
His phone dinged a moment later.
“Hi, Evan. This is Ruby. What’s up, handsome?”
In spite of himself, Evan’s heart lurched, making him grin at himself. “Jesus, Stewart,” he said aloud. “You’ve got it bad.” He shrugged. What was the big deal? Why hold anything back? He’d be gone in two weeks, and Ruby would just be another fond—albeit very fond—memory.
“Thinking about you, gorgeous,” he texted. “We were just getting started. Care to pick up where we left off?”
There was a longer pause this time. Then she replied, “That sounds fun. Dinner tonight?”
No, damn it. I want to see you now.
“Sounds good. I’ll pick you up at 7:00?”
“It’s a date.”
Somehow, Evan made it through the rest of the day. When Ruby opened her front door, she moved immediately into his arms, pulling his head down for a long, hot kiss that made him forget all about dinner. He was ready to scoop her up and carry her back into the house, but she pulled away.
“There,” she said, blowing out a breath. “I just wanted to make sure the spark was still there.”
Evan grinned. “Is it?”
“You have to ask?” she teased with an adorable toss of her head. She looked especially sexy tonight, wearing a short dress that molded to her curvy figure and showed her shapely legs.
“Let’s skip dinner and move right to dessert,” he growled, lunging for her and pulling her close again.
They kissed for a long moment, and again it was Ruby who broke the contact and pulled away. “We’ve got all night. I’m hungry. Knowing you, I’m thinking I’ll need fortifying,” she added with a devilish grin.
Evan laughed. “That you will, little girl. I have all kinds of devious plans in mind for you.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” she replied with a laugh.
They went to a seafood place Taggart had recommended. The large restaurant was crowded but somehow they snagged a small table in a secluded alcove. They ordered a bottle of white wine to share with their meal. After the waitress had opened the bottle and poured them each a glass, Evan lifted his toward Ruby. He tried to come up with something clever to say, but then spoke from his heart. “To us.”
She clinked her glass against his with a smile.
While he would have happily skipped the meal and gotten right down to the fun stuff, he enjoyed getting to know her a little better outside a dungeon or bedroom. Ruby was well traveled and interesting. She shared funny stories about mishaps and misunderstandings that had resulted from cultural differences. She seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say and asked questions about his business and the BDSM scene in general that showed her understanding and passion for the lifestyle.
Eager to learn everything he could about her, or even just hear her smooth, sexy voice, Evan said, “So, tell me about your childhood. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“Boy, do I,” she replied with a rueful grin. “I’ve got four sisters and two brothers. I’m the youngest. I never had a room of my own, or any clothes that hadn’t been worn by at least four other kids. My dad ran a hardware store and my mother was a stay-at-home mom. We only had one bathroom until I was eight.”
“Wow,” Evan said. “No wonder you travel the world alone. You need your space after all that. I bet all of you couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
“Nope. Every single one of my siblings still lives within twenty miles of our parents in upstate Massachusetts. They’re all married with kids. I’m the aberration, the one they talk worriedly about in hushed tones until I enter the room. Then they all look up with false, bright smiles and pretend they were talking about the weather or something.” She laughed, no trace of bitterness in her tone. “My mom’s given up asking me when I’m going to settle down and have children. She just prays for me at church on Sundays.”
Evan laughed. “Sounds rough. My parents were both dentists who worked all the time. I just have one brother. He’s two years older than me, unhappily married, with two kids.”
“That’s too bad. The unhappily part, I mean,” Ruby replied with a frown. “I don’t know if my siblings are truly happy or not. I doubt it’s something they would even take into account. In my family, you date one person starting in high school, eventually get married and have kids and go to church and that’s that. Divorce is not an option, and feelings aren’t something we discuss.”
“How in the world did that family produce you, Ruby? You’re like the polar opposite of all that.”
“Even when I was little, they used to joke that I was switched by accident in the hospital nursery, and Mom was too tired to notice. I don’t even look like the rest of them. I used to fantasize that it was true, and my real parents, who were adventurers who lived on a boat and traveled from port to port all over the world, would come back to get me and take me with them.”
She shrugged, her smile a little sad. “They never showed up, though, so I just took off on my own.” She took a sip of her wine. “What about you? Where are you from originally? Do your parents know what you do for a living?”
Evan shook his head. “Not precisely. They know I set up events and conventions that require me to travel a lot, but I’m vague about the details. Easier that way. And we’re from California—the San Francisco Bay area.”
“You still live there when you’re not traveling for work?”
“I have a small house there that I inherited from an uncle when I turned twenty-one. It’s the only thing I kept from my divorce. I do short-term rentals for most of the year, keeping it vacant for when I need a place to land. The rents make me more money than my actual job,” he added with a laugh.
“Your divorce,” Ruby repeated, homing in, as he’d known she would, on that particular detail. Normally, he didn’t mention his failed marriage to girls he hooked up with. Why had he told Ruby?
Because you can trust her, a voice whispered in his
head.
He and his ex had both been twenty, juniors in college and very much in love. At least, Evan had been. Marriage hadn’t been on the table, at least not in the near term, until Marissa had discovered she was pregnant, despite using a diaphragm. Evan, a hopeless romantic at the time, agreed with both sets of parents that marriage made sense. Marissa had been less sure, but she’d caved under the pressure.
Ignoring her hesitation, Evan had been stupidly, deliriously happy on their wedding day, chalking up her lesser enthusiasm to new-bride jitters. But when she’d miscarried only three months into their marriage, everything had changed.
Despite Evan’s best efforts to comfort his grieving wife, she steadily withdrew from him. The cracks in his heart grew longer and deeper as the months passed, and yet he doggedly tried to force the marriage to succeed. Though she stuck it out for a full year, Marissa finally admitted she’d never loved him the way he’d loved her, and she wanted a new start.
He had been devastated. It had taken a long time to get over losing her, but it had been fifteen years, and plenty of scar tissue now covered those old cracks. No point in raking all that muck up. He wouldn’t bore Ruby with the sordid details of his sad but probably all too common tale.
Forcing a light tone, he offered only, “Yeah. It was years ago. We were still in college. She got pregnant, we got married, she miscarried, we divorced. End of story. Stupid shit.” He looked away, hoping the heat that suddenly scorched his face wasn’t showing as a blush.
“That’s not stupid shit,” Ruby said gently, putting her hand over his. “That’s a lot for two kids to handle.”
Evan shrugged. “Yeah, it was rough. But probably for the best. Anyway, it’s ancient history.” He forced a smile. “So, what about you? Ever been married? In a long-term relationship?”
“Never married,” Ruby replied. “As to a long-term thing, I guess it depends on your definition. I’ve lived with various guys over the years, some of them vanilla, most of them into the scene. I was pretty serious about one guy, but we called it quits after about two years. He wanted to settle down in one place, while I still wanted to travel. And, probably more at the crux of things, I wanted more intensity in our BDSM relationship than he felt comfortable giving me. We parted as friends, though.”
Evan leaned forward, intrigued. “Tell me about that—about you wanting more intensity. Are you talking about erotic pain, or something more encompassing, like a 24/7 thing?”
“Oh,” Ruby said, suddenly flushing. “I don’t know. I guess some of both. Sometimes you want to find out if your secret, dark fantasies could be brought to life, you know?” She looked away, emitting a small, nervous laugh. “Just ignore me. That wine went right to my head.”
“What dark fantasies, exactly?” Evan leaned over the small table and placed his hand on her bare arm. He was both excited and intrigued by her sudden discomfiture. “Don’t be shy. Tell me. You’ve piqued my curiosity.”
The waitress chose that precise moment to appear with the bill. Instead of discreetly melting away once she’d left it, she stood there, staring down at them, her expression both impatient and apologetic at once. Evan realized then they’d been there quite a while, their food having been cleared some time ago. She probably needed to turn over the table. Having been a waiter himself back in the day, Evan could sympathize.
He was determined to pursue the intriguing conversation they were having, but decided to let it go, for now. He pulled out his wallet, refusing Ruby’s offer to split the check. As they got to their feet, he said casually, “Shall I take you back to your place? Pinky and Noodles probably need their pedicures.”
Ruby laughed. “They should be all right a while longer. I was thinking we could take a walk along the lake we passed on the way here. It’s such a beautiful evening.”
“Your wish is my command, my lady,” Evan said with a mock bow.
They drove in companionable silence the few minutes to the lake, and Evan parked in the lot beside it. As they walked along the path in the cool evening air, stars glimmered in the velvety black sky and only a few clouds scudded across the nearly full moon. Evan reached for Ruby’s hand, which was cool and soft in his. His cock hardened just from touching her, and he led her to a bench and pulled her gently down beside him.
Taking her into his arms, he kissed her for a long time, exploring her mouth with his tongue as he pulled her close. He loved the feel of her breasts against his chest, separated only by the fabric of their clothing.
When they finally parted, she stared up at him with shining eyes, her lips gleaming from their kiss. He could feel her desire, which matched his own. “I want you, Ruby. I want to make love to you again.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Take me home.”
Once inside the front door, Evan dropped the gear bag he’d packed in hopes she’d ask him back to her place after dinner. He wrapped his arms around Ruby and hoisted her into the air.
She clung to him, wrapping her legs around his waist. Her skirt rode up high on her legs, and Evan gripped her ass as he kissed her. His cock was throbbing. He fell back against a wall, Ruby still in his arms. Keeping her aloft with one hand, he reached for his jeans fly and yanked down the zipper, along with enough of his underwear so that his cock sprang free.
“Yes,” Ruby breathed, reaching between her legs to pull her panties aside. “Do it, Evan. Fuck me. Fuck me hard. Fuck me now.”
Wild with lust, he shifted, managing to position his cock at her entrance. Just as he was about to plunge into her, he came to his senses. “Fuck,” he swore softly.
“What?” Ruby gasped, her legs and arms still wrapped around him. “What is it?
“A condom. I’ve got one in my wallet—”
“No,” she interrupted. “Don’t. It’s okay. I’m on the pill. I’m clean.”
“Me, too. You sure?”
“I’m sure.” She shifted in his arms, angling herself as one hand sought his cock. “Fuck me. I want you.”
“I want you.” He eased into her wet heat, groaning with pleasure as it enveloped him.
They rutted like animals, panting and grunting. Evan held her ass as he thrust into her. She gyrated against him, her fingers digging into his shoulders. “Oh, yes, yes, yes, just like that. Like that, like that,” Ruby cried, her voice rising. Her cunt muscles spasmed around his shaft, sending him over the edge. He came in a series of convulsive thrusts, his face buried in her hair.
He slid down the wall, Ruby still in his arms. They sat like that, Ruby on his lap, until their breathing returned somewhat to normal.
Something soft and feathery brushed against Evan’s arm, startling him.
“Hey, Binky,” Ruby said, smiling at the cat, who meowed loudly in response. “Snack time.” She untwined herself from Evan and got to her feet, pulling her dress back down. “And I found some great gelato in the freezer. Want some?”
Evan sipped some sparkling water as he watched Ruby eating sea salt caramel gelato. Just watching her eat a bowl of ice cream was sexy as hell. The quickie in the front hall had taken the edge off, but the night was young, and he was ready for more.
Happily, she seemed to have the same idea, because when she’d finished her dessert and tended to the cats, she fixed him with a sexy gaze and said, “Shall we go upstairs and explore what you packed in that gear bag of yours?”
“You read my mind,” Evan replied.
~*~
“This looks like something my grandmother would hang her stockings on to dry,” Ruby said, pulling out a large metal ring about nine inches in diameter. It had six clothespins attached to thin, stretchy black bands that were tied equidistant from one another around the ring.
Evan’s smile was at once cruel and sensual. “That’s one of the toys Bob ordered. It’s called a pussy spreader, and I can’t wait to try it out on you.”
Ruby made a face. “Ouch. I’m afraid to ask what the clothespins are for.”
“They’re exactly what you think they’re
for.” They were sitting on the bed, the gear bag open between them. Evan reached for the toy. “You need to get naked and lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat, legs spread wide. Then I’ll press the ring between your thighs, right over your cunt and use the clothespin to open you wide. I brought the electrosex e-stim toy along as well. Once I have you spread wide, I’ll shock that pretty little pussy of yours from the inside out.”
He reached into the bag and took out what looked like a hair-curling wand, except it was shaped like a penis. It was made of black rubber with metal plates attached on either side, a handle with a cord beneath it. Presumably, he’d brought the power box she’d used on his cock as well.
Ruby was both intrigued and nervous at the thought of submitting to these strange erotic torture devices, neither of which she’d experienced before. She hugged herself, hesitating. “Hmm,” she said aloud. “I’m not sure about that.”
Evan lifted his hand to her throat, spreading it so his forefinger and thumb framed her jaw. As he increased the pressure, a frisson of delicious erotic fear tingled through her nerve endings, making her nipples hard. She swallowed in his grip, a pulse beating at her throat. She melted inside, any words of protest vanishing from her vocabulary.
He squeezed a little harder. “You’ll do this for me, Ruby, because it pleases me.” He kept his hand on her throat as he stared into her eyes, but his expression softened. “And because you know you can trust me.”
Yes. She did know that. Somehow, she’d known it since the first moment she’d seen him. Still caught in his grip, she managed a small nod, her heart pounding.
He released her, his eyes smoldering. “Take off your clothes and lie on the bed like I told you, on your back, knees spread.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
Evan placed the ring between her legs, holding the cold metal against the backs of her thighs, the clothespins dangling inside it. Crouching in front of her, he pulled her left labia taut and closed one of the pins onto it.