Ruby's Fantasy (6 page)

‘I'll pay for the surveillance equipment and the security screen. I have standard ones in stock. The boys are doing the glass at cost. They owe me. You can pay me back for the window when you have it,' he said.

Ruby pressed her hands to her temple. He wasn't listening to her. ‘I can't borrow money from a stranger,' she said through gritted teeth.

Jake's sensuous mouth tightened and hurt pierced his eyes. ‘I'm hardly a stranger, Ruby.'

She thought about last night. With the morning's troubles on her shoulders, the night seemed eons ago, part of a fantasy that didn't belong in real life; certainly not life on the strip. Jake had been wonderful, kind and so, so sexy, yet the fact remained, they barely knew each other. She wouldn't borrow money. Owing money to a man changed a relationship, took away a woman's power. Life back home had taught her that when the drunks her father had fallen into debt to, had come to her home expecting to collect. ‘Jake, you're not listening to me. I won't borrow from any man.'

She saw his features harden and his jaw set in a firm, grim line. ‘Why?'

‘Because taking money off an acquaintance is wrong.'
A man thought he owned a woman when she was beholden to him.
The reoccurring sinking, swirling feeling overtook her, the way it had as a child when the twin's father had come home drunk and broke and she'd known there'd be no money for food, then the debt collectors would call at home, along with her father's drinking buddies who had stale breath and clutching fingers. No wonder her mother had fled that life. Sure she'd left the twins a reasonable inheritance but why hadn't she taken the twins with her? Ruby shuddered. No borrowing money. No reliance on men. Ever. She'd worked too hard for her and Emerald's freedom.

Jake took her coffee cup from her hand, gathered her to him and stroked her cheek. ‘What is it, Ruby? Are you afraid to need a man?' He tilted her head so that she had to look him in the eyes. ‘To need me?'

She saw him swallow. Saw his Adam's apple move up and down in slow motion. Felt her own eyes fill and prayed a tear wouldn't seep down. ‘Of course not.'

‘Ruby?' She tried to pull out of his arms but he held her tightly. ‘I don't need you. I don't need any man.' A tear fell onto her cheek.

‘Yes you do, Princess.' He bent and touched her lips with his. ‘You weren't made to be alone.'

‘You forget. I'm a twin. I have Emerald.'

‘Not at the moment. It's just you and me.' He leant in close to kiss her.

Ruby wanted to close her mouth, to shut him out, but the pressure of his questing mouth and tongue was demanding. The push of his lips parted hers and their teeth clashed until she opened her mouth and he possessed hers. Gradually, she could feel the tension leaving her body as she moulded herself to him. When he pulled back, she was left with the physical ache of wanting and a hollow need in her heart that she didn't want to acknowledge. ‘Jake, I don't want to be beholden to you.' She could see questions in his eyes but instead of asking them he stroked her hair in a rhythmic, soothing pattern.

‘Trouble happens fast here. I'm going to take care of it.'

‘But I'm used to looking after myself,' she protested. That was the way things were.
Don't trust a man. Don't get hurt.

Jake took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. ‘That's fine in the country but this is a rough area and you're a nice girl. You need someone who knows how to handle it. Let me protect you. I'm good at what I do.'

‘You don't know anything about me. I'm tougher than I look.' Memories flooded her mind. Pulling one of her father's drunk, loser friends off Emerald when they were teenagers. Kicking him the way she'd been taught in self-defence. Dodging his fist. Yeah, she could handle herself but it didn't mean she liked doing it. A churning sensation hit her stomach. No one had been there to protect the twins, except her.

Ruby took a deep, steadying breath. ‘I can manage.'

Jake's expression hardened. ‘What's this really about, Ruby? You saying you don't need a man? You don't want me?' His hands dropped from her shoulders.

‘Jake, I want to be with you because I like you. I don't want to need you. There's a difference. I've found needing a man means I have to pay the piper and I refuse to be like that.'

His deep blue eyes gleamed with intelligence. ‘I don't see it that way. The way I'm trained, loyalty is everything. I've always worked as a unit. You do what you say you're going to do and you survive. You need your buddy to watch your back. One slip up, you die.'

‘This is not a war zone.' She didn't want to hurt him. She didn't. But he had to understand how things were for her.

‘Believe me, you have set up shop in a war zone. Don't be fooled by the pseudo gentility here and the posh names of the nearby suburbs. You don't know The Cross like I do. Predators live here. Pure evil exists here. The inhabitants will eat you alive without me to protect you.'

‘But I'm used to handling things myself, doing everything for myself.'

‘So you keep saying.' His expression changed from his serious demeanour and he gave her a cheeky grin.

‘What's so funny?' she asked suspiciously

‘I live right next door.' He pointed to her kitchen where a wall divided the other semi from hers. ‘I heard you in the bath yesterday. The walls are thin. Sound travels. Sounded like you needed me big time.'

A hot flush raced up her throat and she felt it scour her cheeks. ‘You…live…next door? You mean upstairs?'

‘You want me bad, Princess.'

She felt her mouth drop open.

‘I heard you calling my name.'

Ruby clapped her hands to her cheeks. ‘That's so embarrassing.'

‘Hope you're impressed with how well I answered your call.' He glanced at his watch again. He leant forward and gave her a swift kiss. ‘The glass company will be here in twenty minutes. I'll see you downstairs.' He flashed her a devastating smile, turned and walked down the hallway to the stairs that led down to her shop.

Jake and his business partner, former commando Gray, otherwise known as Ghost, fitted the heavy security screen door to the front of Ruby's shop. Next to him, the glass company men cleared away the remaining broken glass and prepared the windowsill for the new pane.

Jake rubbed his forehead for a moment. Something was eating at Ruby. He got it. She had trust issues. Clearly money was one of her hot buttons too, but it wouldn't take a lot to improve her security.

He didn't take chances. He had a prenatal sense of danger, an edgy sensation that resonated up and down his spine, the type of feeling that had kept him alive in Afghanistan. If he had a hunch something wasn't right, he obeyed his instincts, and his buddy, Ghost, followed him, since he'd saved his arse numerous times in Ghan.

‘Morning, gentlemen. Have some trouble here?' asked a passerby Jake recognised as Abe Malouf, the owner of a strip joint and club situated next door to Ruby's shop.

Jake gave him a nod. Ghost grunted before fitting the drill bit into their tool. ‘Give me a moment, Ghost. Abraham, can I have a word?'

The club owner pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one. He drew back hard and his eyes narrowed. ‘The blonde upset someone?'

Jake could see dark circles under the man's eyes. His skin was pallid and he had a paunch, a legacy from long night hours and little exercise. From updating the club's security, Jake knew Abraham had a network of relatives that stretched through The Cross and beyond. His club held regular strip shows, which weren't Jake's thing, but Abe was keen to keep the bikie domination of the drug trade out of his club because it brought in the cops and Jake was more than happy to assist by installing top security measures. ‘Looks like it. I was hoping you could help me with a lead. A man with a spider tattoo on his face climbed in the shop front window last night. Description fit anyone you know?'

Abraham paused to consider before shaking his head. ‘Come down to the club. Ask my bouncers. They'll be back on tonight. I also need you to check the security device over the bar on the second floor. It's not recording. Had some complaints from customers last night about the service and I went to see for myself what was going on. Couldn't play the recording back to check it.'

‘I'll come by later. Thanks.' Jake shook his hand, but the club owner didn't move on.

‘Good looking woman bought the property. Nice neighbour to have.'

‘Better looking than you, Abe.'

Abe snorted. ‘Bound to draw some notice.'

‘Yeah.'

‘Blonde. Great legs.'

‘Yeah.'

‘Saw you sniffing around there. She hot stuff naked?' Abraham said.

Jake clamped his lips.
Yes.
Damn good and he wanted to get her clothes off again, but that was none of the club owner's business.

Abe gave him an assessing look. ‘Think she'd be interested in auditioning? We have a spot free. Easy work. Just has to dance semi-naked in a cage.'

‘No! Not that sort of girl. She's a sweet country girl,' Jake said through clipped lips.

‘Single?' Abraham asked.

‘Taken,' Jake said.

‘You sure she's sweet?' Abraham's face wore a leer and he looked over Jake's shoulder as if he were fantasising about Ruby.

Jake shifted. The only man who was going to pay attention to Ruby was him. ‘Not the right type for you. Real girl next door.'

Abe raised bushy eyebrows. ‘Glad she's next door to me. That Dom dress and whip she's carrying are sensational. Got several Macquarie Street merchant bankers looking for that kind of action. She could turn some real money dressed like that.'

‘Huh?' Jake turned just as Ruby walked up to him. He felt his jaw drop and he swayed on his feet. Instantly, he got hard as a stone. With commando-trained speed, he moved in front of Abe so that the man couldn't see her.

‘Nice tits,' Abe said.

Jake heard a chuckle behind him as he shielded Ruby from Abe's gaze. No matter that he was a client, he wanted to ram his fist into the club owner's face and only years of discipline restrained him.

Even Ghost, his mouth open, sat back on his haunches, his drill cocked high.

Ruby was laced into a black leather corset that pushed up her breasts so that they tipped over the corset barely covering her nipples. The outfit was pulled severely in at the waist and finished with a short skirt that flared over her hips and stopped just below her panty line. Her perfectly shaped long legs went on forever. On her feet she wore black stilettos and in her hand she carried a riding crop. Her blonde hair was piled high on her head, so that when she came close, she reached his eye level. When he met her stare he saw that Ruby had her eyes rimmed black like she meant business.

‘So Jake, how long do you think these modifications will take? I want the shop open.' She tapped the whip on her thigh.

Jake was about to reply. Well he would have except his tongue had stuck to the roof of his mouth. Instead, Abe moved beside him and stuck out his hand. ‘Morning, neighbour, I'm Abe Malouf.'

Ruby took his hand and gave it a shake. ‘I'm Emerald. I own the costume shop and this is my design,' she said waving her hand down her body.

‘Works for me,' Abe said.

Ghost grunted.

Emerald? What the hell? ‘You mean Ruby,' Jake interjected. There was no way he was going to let her take on her sister's persona and put herself in danger. Wasn't last night enough?

‘I think I know my own name,' Ruby shot back.

‘I don't think you do.' Anger blasted through him like a bullet. When he got her alone, he was going to make it clear that she was not to pretend she was her sister or to leave the store without him. Putting herself as bait was stupid.

‘Out of my way, Jake. I have business to discuss with Abe,' Ruby said, whacking him with the riding crop on the thigh.

‘Now you're talking,' Abe said as his gaze sat hungrily on her breasts as he licked his lips appreciably.

‘Like hell you do,' Jake said. His hands itched to snatch the riding crop and put it to work on her derrière. It looked like she'd grown her sister's bossy personality and he didn't like it one bit. A growl rolled from his throat. He had a whole lot to say to Ruby about survival in The Cross but she turned her back on him and walked down the street, stopping in front of Abe's club with the nightclub owner following her like a dog on heat.

Cars honked. Passersby swivelled their heads, their gaze moving from the top of her blonde curls, over her curves, down to her sensational legs.

Where was the Ruby he knew? The one who'd clung to him last night when the creep with the spider tattoo had frightened her; his Ruby who had experienced her first multiple orgasm in his arms? Oh hell. Last night had clearly given her confidence.

What had he set loose?

Someone had to know something about Emerald and if Ruby could talk to the nightclub workers, she might find where her twin had fled and why. Emerald had told her that strippers from the club next door regularly came into the shop to buy gear. There was no way she could sit day after day wondering what had happened to her sister. ‘I'm glad I met you, Abe, because I have a proposition for you,' she said, sounding more confident than she felt.

‘That's good because I have a proposal for you, too,' Abe said.

A shiver inside cooled her bones.

Behind Abe, a few feet away out of hearing distance, Ruby could see Jake glaring at her. How long before he stormed over? ‘I'll ask first, if that's okay? I have terrific outfits in the shop that I'd love to show to your strippers. I want to make a time and invite your girls into the shop.'

Abe's eyes narrowed and he rubbed his thigh, the sweat of his palm leaving a stain on his trousers. ‘I have a better idea. You come to the club with your outfits and demonstrate the clothes, let everybody see how they peel off.'