Then a tall, broad shouldered man appeared carrying a small overnight bag. His auburn hair was streaked with gold, cut longish on top and short on the sides. He had a Roman nose and a square jaw. As if drawn to her by her gaze, he turned his beautiful gray-green eyes in her direction and then stood stock-still, so that the middle-aged woman behind him nearly collided into him.
All the air whooshed out of Ruby’s lungs, her heart kicking into high gear. Evan, she mouthed. There he stood, in the flesh, even more gorgeous than her memories. His face lit up like a Christmas tree as they stared at one another. And then he began to walk again, moving faster and faster until he reached her.
She rose as he approached, still not fully comprehending what was happening. His arms opened as he got to her, and she slipped into his warm, strong embrace, pressing her cheek against his firm chest as he held her close. When his grip loosened, she lifted her face to his. They kissed for a long moment, their tongues touching, the breath sighing between them.
They were startled apart by the loud speaker saying, first in Spanish and then in English, that the flight would be boarding shortly for Portland.
They looked at each other and started to laugh. “What’re you doing here?” they asked each other in unison.
“Allie called and…”
“Taggart read me the riot act, and I realized…”
“I think we’ve been manipulated by those guys,” Ruby finally said when they’d sorted out their stories.
“Because they care about us,” Evan said with a good-natured laugh. “Apparently we’re both total idiots, did you know that?”
Ruby grinned back at him. “I’m beginning to figure that out.”
Again the loudspeaker interrupted them, this time calling for anyone who needed extra time to board. “Oh, shit,” Ruby said. “What’re we going to do? I’ve got a flight back, and you just got here.”
“What do you want to do?” Evan stared down in her eyes, and she could feel the power and passion in his gaze.
“I want to be with you,” she whispered.
He put his hands on her shoulders. “I love you, Ruby. I’ve loved you from the second I saw you. I know that sounds insane but—”
Ruby put her finger to his lips. “I love you, Evan. I should have said it sooner. I should have let you know. I guess I was waiting…”
“I don’t know what the hell I was waiting for,” Evan interrupted with a laugh. He looked around the crowded airport. “I’ve never been to Mexico City. Maybe we could stay a few days and sort things out? Have an actual vacation together, just you and me?”
“Yes,” Ruby said excitedly. “That’s a great idea. Let me just see about this ticket.”
They walked together to the credenza by the gate. “I have a ticket for this flight and I already checked in,” Ruby explained. “But a family emergency has come up and I need to see if I can reschedule for a later date?”
The young woman lifted her head, her expression grim. “If you’ve already checked in, it’s unlikely,” she said ominously. Standing on tiptoes, Ruby noticed the Spanish novel on her desk, one of those bodice-ripping romances with swashbuckling heroes and swooning heroines.
She switched to Spanish, deciding to tell the clerk the truth. The woman listened, her grim expression softening and then lifting into a wide smile. “Eso es muy romántico,” she said, now busily tapping on her screen. After a moment, she looked up and continued in Spanish, “I could get you on a flight in two days. I’ll be able to waive the two hundred dollar rebooking fee.”
“You’re wonderful,” Ruby said sincerely.
She turned to Evan, translating what the clerk had said about the flight. “Does that work? We can spend two days here and then fly back to Portland?”
“Like a charm,” Evan agreed. Turning to the clerk, he flashed a smile. “Can you get a ticket for me, too, señorita?”
Apparently still entranced by their romantic tale, she agreed that she could. As Evan pulled out his wallet, the clerk said in Spanish to Ruby, “He’s absolutely gorgeous, girlfriend. Don’t ever let that one go.”
~*~
The first thing each of them did was text their friends—Evan connecting with Taggart, Ruby with Allie, to let them know they would be staying in Mexico for two days and would forward the return flight information. They shared the replies with each other, laughing.
Allie had texted back, “What’s the emoticon for fist pump?!” Taggart had replied, “Good job, dude. Score another one for true love.”
Ruby found a charming boutique hotel off the beaten path. As soon as they entered the room and dropped their bags, Evan started to speak, but Ruby stopped him by pulling him down for a kiss. Her mouth was eager, even urgent, and Evan let himself be swept into the kiss.
He pulled her close. Her mouth was sweet, her skin soft. As he slid his hands along her bare arms, she shivered. He dropped his arms, his fingers seeking the hem of her embroidered sundress. He lifted it, pulling it over her head.
She shook her hair, which spilled in shiny waves over her bare shoulders. Her lacy bra had a clasp in front, and she reached for it, letting her lovely breasts tumble free. At the same time, he reached for her silky panties, tearing them from her body in his eagerness.
She hurled herself again into his arms. Evan ducked his head and kissed her throat, her shoulders, her breasts. She clung to him, breathless, as he slid his tongue over her nipple and drew it into his mouth. His hands on her waist, he guided her to the large bed that took up most of the room.
As he pressed her down onto the mattress, she reached for him, gripping fistfuls of his shirt. He pulled away from her just long enough to kick off his shoes as he yanked his shirt over his head. His eyes on her, he pulled off his jeans and boxers, his fully erect cock springing free.
Ruby reached for him again, her lips parted, her eyes shining. He crouched beside her, placing one hand on her neck, the other between her legs. He could feel the pulse at her throat as he brushed his knuckles lightly against her sex. He kept his eyes on her face as he rubbed his thumb against her clit.
She moaned.
He tightened his grip on her throat as he continued to stroke her.
A shudder wracked her body. “Please,” she begged throatily. “Please…fuck me. Fuck me, Sir…”
The Dom in him thrilled to the honorific, but he ignored her pleas, continuing to stroke her perfect cunt. He dipped his fingers into her and drew a long line of silky wetness over her labia. She moaned again, color rising up her chest and spreading into her cheeks.
Then, all at once, she thrust her hands at his chest, knocking him back onto the bed. He barked a startled laugh as she climbed over him.
“I said please,” she gasped, though her eyes were dancing. She eased herself onto him, enveloping his cock in her velvet, tight heat. As she rocked, he placed his hands on her hips. He tried to keep his eyes open so he could watch her. She was wild and beautiful, her breasts heaving, her hair flying, her cunt tight and wet around his cock.
But as she swiveled over him, the pleasure was too great. His eyelids closed of their own accord, his mouth going slack. A rising climax moved through him in widening ripples as she held onto his shoulders and rocked against him.
“Evan, Evan,” she murmured softly as he groaned helplessly and surged up against her. She pressed her knees hard against his thighs, clinging to him as the waves of a juddering orgasm rolled relentlessly over him.
“Ruby,” he cried, his voice breaking. “Ruby, my darling, my love. I love you. I love you. I love you…”
~*~
Ruby lay beside Evan in a pleasant stupor. She’d come hard and fast as she’d straddled him, and it had taken the edge off her desperate need of him. There would be time later to continue their lovemaking. But now he was probably hungry after traveling. They could go out for some authentic Mexican food and she could show him around the city a bit.
“Hey, you,” she said, turning to focus on the handsome man bes
ide her.
Evan raised himself on one elbow and looked at her. His face was so open and vulnerable in its ease and fulfillment and tenderness that she had to reach up and touch his mouth. This led to his taking her in his arms again, and Ruby forgot her plans for dinner as their lips met…
When Ruby next opened her eyes, it was dark outside. They’d made love twice more. At one point, Evan used two of Ruby’s scarves to tie her down, reminding her with the crack of his hard, perfect palm on her ass that he was still the Master in the bedroom.
She glanced at the clock beside the bed, which indicated it was nine fifteen. “Hey, Evan,” she said, giving his shoulder a little shake. “You awake?”
“Mmm,” he said sleepily. But after a moment, he lifted his head and focused on her, his mouth splitting into a wide smile. “Wow, you’re real.” He reached for her, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “I thought for a second I had to be dreaming.”
“I’m real, all right,” Ruby agreed with a laugh. “And I’m starving. How about you? Want to get something to eat? I know a great little place not that far from here.”
~*~
The food was delicious—fresh and spicy, nothing like the TexMex Evan thought of as Mexican. They were seated outside on a large patio near the water. The space was lit by hundreds of tiny Christmas lights strung across poles overhead, and a live band played on a small stage in the corner. While he enjoyed the meal and the atmosphere, he wouldn’t have cared if they’d eaten at Taco Bell as long as he was with Ruby.
He told her about the offer Bob had made to get a BDSM Connections Dungeon going in London. “I haven’t given him an answer yet. He’s got money in the budget to include a partner. He even mentioned you specifically as a possibility.”
“Really?” Ruby said, leaning forward. “Tell me more.”
They discussed the details, what little Evan knew of them. “He wants us to scope it out and see what’s there. If it looks like the right fit, we would jump in with both feet to get it up and running. Organizing a BDSM dungeon might not be as fulfilling as helping to resettle refugees or teach little children how to read, but it would definitely be something fun and different.”
“A new adventure,” Ruby agreed enthusiastically. “I knew there was a reason I hadn’t figured out my next project. I’ve never done anything like that, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather do it with. Count me in.”
Evan thought back to the airport when those words he hadn’t uttered in over a decade leaped of their own accord from his lips.
I love you.
The world hadn’t tilted precariously on its axis at his pronouncement. No walls had crumbled, no thunder had cracked, no iron ball and chain had suddenly locked itself onto his ankle.
Reaching across the small table, he placed his hand on Ruby’s arm and said it again. “I love you, Ruby.”
Her dark eyes shone with an inner light, her lovely mouth lifted into a sweet smile. “I love you, too, Evan.”
As they sipped strong coffee and shared a delicious, creamy flan for dessert, Evan contemplated the light, pure feeling that loving Ruby brought to him.
“What?” Ruby said, tilting her head as she regarded him. “You seem lost in thought. What’re you thinking?”
By reflex, he started to say, “Nothing important,” but he stopped himself. This was important. And he wanted to share it with Ruby. “I was thinking,” he said instead, “that I’ve never really been in love before.”
Ruby lifted her eyebrows. “But you said you were married. Surely you loved your wife? At least at first?”
“I thought it was love at the time, but looking at it now, now that I’m actually in love, I think I’m figuring out I was at a time and place in my life when I was in love with the idea of being in love more than anything.”
Ruby nodded. “That’s not unusual, especially when you’re a kid. You were, what, nineteen? Twenty?”
Evan nodded. “Looking back at it now, I wasn’t really even capable of love back then. I didn’t have girlfriends—I took hostages.”
“Hostages?” Ruby laughed. “What do you mean?”
“Back then I was super possessive and controlling, and it had nothing to do with being a Dom. It didn’t have much to do with love either, not as I would define it now. I think it had everything to do with being insecure. I would essentially take a girl over and completely lose myself in her. I gave and demanded full devotion and constant attention. It had to be kind of overwhelming to them.”
“You were a kid,” Ruby reminded him.
“Yeah, but I’m no kid now.” He shook his head, marveling at the close call. “I can’t believe how stupid I was. I almost blew it. I would have let you go, Ruby, if Taggart hadn’t stepped in and forced me to look at what I was doing.”
“You know, a good friend once said a wise thing to me. She said, ‘It takes what it takes,’ meaning we go through what we need to in order to get to the next place in our development. That’s just life. You need to stop beating yourself up over this stuff. Especially about me, because I did the same thing, Evan.”
“Huh? No.” Evan put his hand on Ruby’s arm, confused. “You were the most wonderful, open, loving person I’ve ever met in my life. And you took this teaching thing because you were helping out a friend. You’re this amazing, free-spirited, altruistic gypsy girl, and instead of being thrilled to my bones that you were with me, I got all pissed that you were leaving me.” He gave a small, brittle chuckle. “There it is again, all about me, me, me.”
“I get that. You were a little bit of a dick,” Ruby said, flashing a grin. “But I was, too. I kept waiting for you to say you loved me. Though it wasn’t a super conscious thing, I was damned if I was going to say it first. And when Alan asked me to fill in for him, I could have said no. Ernesto could have found someone else. I think a part of me was waiting for you to object, and when you didn’t, I took that to mean we weren’t meant to be. And while I was down here, I could have been more honest. I could have sent the texts I actually typed, the ones that said how much I missed you and longed for you and needed you and…loved you…” She trailed off, her face suffusing with color.
Evan’s heart contracted with surprise and delight. “You wanted to text those things? Really?”
“Yes!” Ruby laughed. “Yes, Evan. I wanted to call you, too, and tell you those things. So why the fuck didn’t I? I’m thirty-two years old, and I was acting like a teenager, waiting for the guy to call. I’m so used to telling myself and the world that I’m a gypsy and I have to be free that I almost let the best thing to ever happen to me—you—slip away.” She laughed. “It’s a good thing we have friends like Allie and Taggart, right? Left to our own devices, we’d have totally fucked up this relationship.”
“Maybe,” Evan said. He put down his napkin and got to his feet. Stepping around the small table, he held out his hand, and Ruby took it, allowing him to pull her upright. Taking her into his arms, he said softly, “I guess it takes what it takes, huh? I want you to know that my heart belongs to you, and only you. That doesn’t mean I expect to own you or control you.”
“Not even in the bedroom?” Ruby retorted with a mock pout. “Damn.”
“Okay, okay,” he amended with a laugh. “In the bedroom, I promise to own and use you as I see fit, sub girl.”
“Phew,” she said with a laugh.
“But seriously, Ruby. I get it that you have your own ideals and your own dreams. I promise not to take you hostage, except maybe during a fantasy kidnapping.”
“Oooh!” Ruby said, hugging herself. “That sounds yummy.”
Evan laughed, the tight coil of anxiety and pain he’d carried since her departure now completely unwound inside him. “You’re incorrigible, young lady. I think another spanking may be in order.”
“Yes, Sir,” she agreed eagerly, making him laugh again.
~*~
When they emerged from customs at Portland International two evenings later, Ruby saw Allie first. L
iam was beside her, and he waved as they approached.
“Hey, there’s Taggart and Rylee too,” Evan said, pointing to the couple who stood just behind the other two.
Ruby laughed. “What the heck are they all doing here?”
When they reached their friends, they exchanged hugs, hearty backslaps and kisses. “In case you’re wondering why we’re all here,” Rylee said with a grin, “we couldn’t agree on who would come get you. We’ve all gotten kind of invested in the outcome of this crazy romance of yours.”
“About that,” Evan said, looking at them each in turn. “Thank you all for what you did.” He put his hand on Taggart’s shoulder. “Especially you, buddy. Thanks for knocking some sense into my thick head.”
Ruby smiled as she watched the two men, her heart warming. She turned to Allie. “And thank you, girlfriend, for reminding me that even gypsies can fall in love.”
“I gotta ask,” Evan said. “Were you guys in cahoots? Tag, when you were telling me to get on the next plane, did you know Allie had sent Ruby a return ticket?”
Taggart’s laugh was hearty. “We acted independently, if you can believe it. But then Rylee and Allie told each other what was going on, and we figured out what we’d done. We were just deciding how to handle it when Ruby texted Allie.”
“So it was kismet,” Liam said. “You two were destined to reconnect. We just gave a helping hand.”
They all piled into Taggart’s big truck, which had two bench seats and easily accommodated them all. Taggart, Rylee and Liam sat in front, Allie, Ruby and Evan in back.
“You guys hungry?” Allie asked as they got on the road. “Bonnie and Matt are waiting for us at this great Italian place downtown.”