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  His head fell forward on a weary sigh. “If it comes down to a choice between your safety, your life, and keeping you as my girlfriend, I’d keep you safe every time. I’m sorry. It’s how I’m built, Ruby.”

  Ruby swiped at the tear rolling down her cheek. “What about how I’m built?” She didn’t wait for him to answer, but turned and descended into the station, feeling Troy’s hard gaze on her back until she disappeared from view.

  Chapter Six

  Troy stood on the sidewalk outside Ruby’s workshop, wondering at the reception he was going to get inside. It had been two days since his fight with Bowen in Brooklyn and their subsequent confrontation. Two miserable days wherein he’d kept as much distance as he could. Letting them both cool down. He’d spent the time working around the clock, tracking down her uncle, Robert Bell, in New Jersey. From that point, he’d thought it would be smooth sailing. Find Bell’s sister, also known as Ruby’s mother, and avoid the upcoming match. Unfortunately, Pamela Bell had virtually dropped off the face of the earth over two decades ago. He’d searched for Pamela Elliott, too, in case she’d married Jim at some point and Ruby hadn’t been made aware of the union. Nothing.

  With the clock ticking down and none of his work panning out, he’d finally left his desk. He’d needed to clear his head, find a different angle to work. Before he knew it, he’d found himself here. Knowing she was on the other side of the door was making him crazy. They hadn’t spent a single night apart since their first week together, and it was starting to take its toll on him. Whether it led to an argument or something beneficial, he needed to see her. God willing, she’d let him touch her. He needed that connection. Their relationship transcended the physical, but he wouldn’t deny that sex with Ruby grounded him. Right now, when he felt frustrated, helpless to repair any of the problems on his plate, he needed her with startling intensity.

  Yet as badly as he desired Ruby, he wouldn’t lay a finger on her unless she initiated. The first night she’d left, asking for space, he’d tried to use their mutual attraction against her. Inexcusable. Then he’d made the situation infinitely worse by going to battle with Driscol in the middle of an intersection. He didn’t regret the fight. No, it had felt too damn good. But afterward, hearing the pain in Ruby’s voice when she questioned his trust…that had been unbearable.

  Now that he’d gotten some distance, he could easily see how she’d drawn the false conclusion that he didn’t trust her, when he did with his whole heart. She was the most loyal person he knew, by a mile. That didn’t mean he could stomach the sight of another man comforting her, the night after he’d failed to do just that. He’d reacted out of self-disgust on top of jealousy. Two days passing without an opportunity to apologize or explain had been his punishment.

  If he’d just stopped to explain his position to her sooner, this argument could have been avoided. When you loved someone as much as he loved Ruby, it was impossible to imagine someone, namely Bowen, spending five minutes in her presence and not feeling the same way. It was why he’d never been able to reconcile their friendship. Not completely.

  Without giving himself a chance to further question his decision to come, Troy walked into Ruby’s workshop, the smell of sawdust and teak oil permeating the air. He loved coming here, seeing her current projects. Watching her speak on the phone with such confidence and authority. Today, however, he didn’t know what to expect. White paper bags balanced in his hand, Troy came to a stop in front of Mya’s desk. She jumped a little at his presence, the blaring death metal having drowned out his approaching footsteps.

  “Troy. Jesus, there goes ten years off my already rapidly dwindling lifespan.”

  “Sorry, Mya.” He handed her one of the bags. “Brought you a slice of pizza.”

  “All’s forgiven.”

  “Is she here?”

  Mya’s gaze flickered. “Y-yes.” She hesitated.

  Troy looked past her to the stockroom. “But you’re not sure she wants to see me.”

  “She hasn’t really been herself this week.” Mya shrugged one shoulder. “I figured you two must have gotten into it—”

  “Mya, is someone here?” Ruby walked out of the stockroom then.

  And turned Troy inside out.

  In a short, tight black dress, she looked like forbidden sex on legs. The snug hem sat just a single devastating inch above the midway point of her thighs, revealing the skin she usually kept hidden in public underneath jeans. Jesus, if she were to stand in front of him, he’d only be required to nudge her panties to the side, dip his hips, and he’d be inside her in one hard upward thrust. Black suede knee-high boots completed the outfit, turning the dress from sexy to downright naughty. Her breasts, high and round, were braless and ready to bounce into his hands as soon as he tugged down the material to reveal them. Her pouty little nipples were outlined behind the thin material, making his palms itch to touch. His mouth watered, starved for a taste.

  Any other day, he wouldn’t hesitate to back her into the stockroom and ring her fucking bell. She’d love it, too. Ruby loved it when he couldn’t control himself, because it was so rare. Control defined him. The fantasies playing themselves out in his head began causing him physical discomfort then, because he’d made up his mind not to touch her. Not unless she wanted it. He’d tried to use their intense sexual connection against her the other night. It sickened him that he’d taken something so pure and tainted it. As much as it killed him, he needed to walk away now. He couldn’t have her, no matter how badly he needed to sink deep inside and reassure himself that no matter what differences lay between them, she craved him just as much as he craved her. No. If he took her now, when he risked losing control, she could slip even further from his reach. When he inevitably tried to control her, she’d take it as a sign that he still didn’t understand her need for independence.

  “I brought you lunch.” He set the bag down on Mya’s desk. “You look beautiful today, baby.”

  Cursing once under his breath, he turned to walk out the door, still seeing her image in his mind’s eye. Knowing he was doing the right thing did nothing to ease his blistering arousal.

  “Troy.” Ruby’s voice behind him made his spine stiffen. He looked back over his shoulder to find her staring after him, a mixture of confusion and longing on her face, completely disarming him. They stayed that way for long moments before Mya cleared her throat in the sudden silence.

  “I’m going to go grab some lunch.” She rounded the desk, booted heels scuffing along the floor. “Be back in an hour.”

  “Okay, Mya.”

  When the door closed, neither of them moved. Troy could tell she was waiting for him to say something. Explain his odd behavior. “I came down here to talk, but now…” He shook his head. “It’s impossible be this close and not hold you.”

  She took a few hesitant steps in his direction. A little closer and he could reach her. “Maybe I want to be held.”

  …

  “Maybe?”

  Ruby’s pulse pounded loudly in her ears. She absorbed Troy’s image greedily, reacquainting herself with the broad lines of his shoulders, the clearly defined muscles underneath his uniform shirt. The last two mornings, she’d woken with a powerful ache pulsing inside her, the one Troy was usually all too eager to satisfy. Her anger with him still existed in spades, but it did nothing to dull the insistent, consuming need. She’d kept it in check until now. Seeing him here, looking so tortured and frustrated…it was like looking in a mirror. Her body pleaded for relief. Pleaded for his relief, too. In her ears, the echo of her own shallow breathing sounded rhythmic, erotic.

  “Just because we’re in a bad place, doesn’t mean I stop wanting you.”

  “I want you, too.” His voice sounded harsher than moments before. “But I won’t make this worse. No matter how difficult you’re making it to walk away right now.”

  Ruby’s heart tugged painfully at his honesty. They should talk. Straighten out the mess between them. Some stubborn part of he
r wasn’t ready to do that, however. So instead, she closed the distance between them in a slow, sensual walk that elicited a deep growl from his throat. She felt her thighs flexing with each step and watched Troy’s eyes linger there, rise to her gently swaying hips. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, as if desperate to touch her. Good. She was desperate to be touched.

  When she finally reached him, she glided her hands over his hard chest. “How could it make things worse when we’ll feel so much better afterward?”

  He gripped her hips and groaned. “You’re not playing fair, hustler.”

  Ruby went up on her toes to kiss his neck, smiling to herself when he tilted his head to make room for her mouth. “Are we going to play, Troy?” She dragged her curves over the rigid muscle of his stomach and laid her mouth on top of his, brushing lightly, tempting him to deepen the kiss. With a sound of raw hunger, he fused their mouths together. The contact immediately made them insane, frantic. Tongues met, flicked against each other, then tangled ferociously. She buried her fingers in his hair, used her grip to pull him closer. He pushed his thick erection against her belly, proving he was ready to give and receive pleasure. Rough hands fell to her ass, smoothed over the round cheeks, and squeezed. A growl erupted from his throat, mingling with her surprised whimper. Ruby felt the material being drawn upward, toward her waist, baring her bottom for his kneading hands.

  “Christ, baby, I need to—”

  “Do it.” She cried out as the sting of his palm against her naked flesh reverberated through her entire body, creating a heaviness between her thighs. “Troy, I need you. Now.”

  He tore his mouth away from her neck. “I can’t take being away from you much longer. If bringing you home means giving you space, I’ll do it.” His mouth moved over hers in a hot, provocative kiss. “I’d kill to fuck you right now, but not if it sets us back.”

  Ruby grasped his face in her hands, locked her gaze with his. His pupils were dilated, cheekbones flushed red. “The only way you’ll make it worse is if you don’t take me back into the stockroom. Let’s take what we both need.” She traced his bottom lip with her tongue. “Don’t you want to feel how wet I am?”

  A harsh noise escaped him. “I don’t need to touch your pussy to know it’s dripping for me. But fuck, I want to. I want to lick it clean.”

  “I need that, too,” she moaned at his ear.

  “You need me.”

  “Yes.”

  Before the word fully escaped her mouth, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and they were walking at a fast clip back toward the stockroom. He slammed the door and locked it behind them. Immediately, he unbuttoned his shirt and shed it, all the while watching her with erotic intention, as if plotting exactly how he would take her. She started to remove her dress, but he stopped her with a barked command.

  “Leave it.” Troy’s white undershirt came off next, revealing his rigid wall of muscle. Broad chest, tapering into narrow hips, a black path of hair disappearing into his pants. The man knew how his body affected her, and his confidence only increased her craving for him.

  He still had his badge and handcuffs clipped to his uniform belt, but when he started to remove them after he’d put aside his gun, she stopped him with a breathless whisper. “Leave them.”

  She watched his eyes darken seconds before he spun her around. “Now I see what you want. A little role-play to justify letting me have you while you’re angry?” He pressed his mouth to her ear, his voice raw. “You won’t make this impersonal. I won’t let you.”

  “Do what you have to do.” She punctuated her challenge by turning her head and nipping his lip with her teeth.

  “I’m too far gone not to oblige you.”

  “Good. No holding back.”

  He stepped back. “Reach under your dress and remove your panties,” he growled. “Lower them all the way to the floor. Don’t bend your legs or you’ll get the best use of my hand.”

  His authoritative tone sent her senses reeling. It was perfect, exactly what she needed. To break away from herself for a brief while. “Yes, Officer.” Ruby slipped her thumbs beneath the lacy sides of her thong and glided them slowly down her hips and thighs. She knew at what point her bare bottom showed because she heard him curse, followed by the sound of his belt unbuckling.

  “Go sit on the edge of the desk,” he rasped. “Open your legs.”

  She did as instructed, but couldn’t help sliding her hands up her rib cage to cup her breasts. Their tips were puckered, begging for contact. The smooth, cool desk felt illicit against her flesh without the benefit of clothing to serve as a barrier. When Troy moved between her thighs, her eyes slipped shut and she tipped her face up, desperate for his mouth. Instead, her hands were pulled behind her back and bound together with a click of the cuffs. Ruby’s breath escaped in an excited rush.

  “You want your breasts played with?” He drew her neckline low and slipped a hand inside to cup her. “It’s going to cost you some of the time I’d have spent between your legs, worshiping your delicious little clit.” He licked his upper lip, the movement causing her belly to tighten. “Which is it? I’ve got an aching hard-on for you and I’m impatient to fuck.”

  She whimpered. “Both. I want both.”

  Having her hands restrained behind her back naturally caused her back to arch, but when Troy yanked her top down, Ruby couldn’t help but bow her spine further and present her breasts, offering them up to his mouth. When his tongue dragged over her right nipple, red-hot lust shot straight to her core. He sampled her other breast in the same manner, slowly, teasingly, until she begged incoherently for more. Finally, he drew a nipple into his mouth and sucked long and hard. The pull in her belly felt like an assault on her sanity. Legs spread wide on the desk, her bottom circled, tempting him closer, but he wouldn’t come. With her hands cuffed, she couldn’t use her hands to pull his hips against hers.

  “Yes, baby.” A long pull on her nipple. “I know what you want. You want to wiggle your wet pussy all over my lap and turn me into a madman. Too bad. The next thing you feel between your legs will be my tongue.”

  “Please…just do it now.”

  He flicked his tongue out, curling it around one stiff peak. “What happens to impatient girls who try to tell their man what to do in bed?”

  She stifled a sob of pleasure. “They have to wait longer.”

  “Correct.” He dropped to his knees in front of the desk. Lips grazing the insides of her thighs, Troy draped her legs over his shoulders. Panting with anticipation, Ruby moaned when he bit the inside of her knee gently, trailed higher with his wet mouth, then bit her again. He transferred his attention back and forth between the soft skin of her inner thighs, placing bites, until his mouth reached her center. She bit her lip hard to refrain from begging and was rewarded with a stiff-tongued lick directly over her clitoris.

  “Troy!” Her body shuddered violently. “Please, more. Please.”

  His answering growl vibrated through her system. “Christ. How long has it been since I’ve gone down on you? Three days? Four? That’s a fucking sin.” He scooped his hands beneath her bottom and hauled her hips toward his mouth. “Let me get a fix, baby.”

  The suction of his mouth robbed her of rational thought. With a strangled moan, she fell back on her restrained hands, legs falling open as if boneless. His skilled mouth moved over her as if for the first time. He couldn’t get close enough, even lifting her bottom clear off the table to get a better angle to perform his blissful torture. Every time she felt the orgasm tightening her belly, tingling in her limbs, he took her higher. Held her back. And each time her release loomed brighter, more intense, until finally he had mercy on her. The tip of his tongue placed firm pressure over her clitoris, rubbing back and forth rapidly, easing and strengthening until her world caved in around her. In the distance, she heard herself yelling, but the exquisite squeezing of her sex overpowered everything else.

  Troy slammed into her while she was still midorgasm
, sending her senses reeling. The sudden fullness inside her clenching center pushed her over the edge again immediately. Her hips were lifted off the desk, supported by Troy’s strong forearm as he brought her down hard on his erection, over and over. When their mouths fused together in a kiss, the blistering contact cut off screams she hadn’t even been aware of issuing. The only sound left was wet, slapping flesh and Troy’s loud grunts of pleasure.

  He tore away with a curse and worked his hips faster. “Hot, slippery girl.” Her ass hit the desk, giving Troy more leverage. At an angle, he drove deep, giving her a swift, accurate pounding. “Did you need Officer Bennett to come by and give you a nice hard ride?” Without pausing in his assault, he wrenched her thighs wider. “Well? How the fuck am I doing?”

  Ruby shuddered as his words tempted another release. “Fucking amazing. Perfect. Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.”

  “Go on, baby. Tighten up and come again.” He pressed their foreheads together, locking his gaze with hers. “As soon as you do, I’m going to sink all the way in, to the back of your pussy. I’m going to do what only I have the privilege of doing. And you’re going to take my seed and love it.”

  Ruby’s eyes went blind; her head fell back. Dizzying heat and relief raced through her veins as Troy followed through on his promise. His hoarse cries against her neck only prolonged the moment as she came down from the highest peak she’d ever known.

  Suddenly, the feelings were too much to bear. Her emotions felt battered. She was drowning in them and needed something to hold on to, to ground herself, but her hands were cuffed behind her back. Uselessly, she pulled at the restraints, metal clanking loudly on the desk. A loud, frustrated sob racked her chest.

  Troy pulled back, horror dawning on his face. “Ruby. Baby, what’s wrong…did I—”

  “Uncuff me,” she croaked.

  Quickly, he drew the keys from his pants pocket. When her wrists slipped free, she sucked in a relieved breath, but it released on a shaky cry. The events of the last week blasted her like a tidal wave. Her father returning, fighting with Troy, dealing with deeply buried emotions concerning her mother. She’d been keeping it firmly tucked beneath the surface, but the dam had finally burst. Tears she couldn’t control poured down her cheeks.