His Risk to Take (2 page)

Chapter Three

Troy watched Ruby move around his half-unpacked kitchen, her inquisitive gaze lighting on every surface, taking stock of the slightest details. His take-out menus, the brand of his whiskey. He doubted anything escaped her attention. She would have made a hell of an investigator, he thought wryly. Each time he spoke, Troy could actually see her weighing his words, searching for another meaning, discerning his tone. Street smarts were probably a necessity for someone who made their living hustling people out of money. The thought made him frown.

She took off her coat and hung it on the back of his dining room chair, once again revealing those long, jean-encased legs and low-cut black sweater. He’d nearly imploded earlier, watching her bend over in those jeans. Seeing the smooth skin of her lower back peek out just over the top each time. His mind had gone wild with the fantasy of unbuttoning those jeans, wrenching them down over her ass, and hauling her back onto his waiting erection. It had been the sweetest kind of torture, sitting aroused in the overcrowded bar, hoping for a glimpse of her cleavage, while at the same time, battling the urge to belt her back into her coat so no one else had the privilege of seeing her high, deliciously rounded breasts.

The way she’d so casually and efficiently divested the guy out of his money earlier still blew his mind. Oh, she’d done it before. Many, many times. Troy had watched her opponent get progressively angry as the game wore on and luckily he’d been there to intervene. Surely she wasn’t always so fortunate. He had a hard time believing the men she beat simply handed over their money once they realized they’d been conned.

He thought of the types of places she probably frequented looking for a game and inwardly cringed. A girl who looked like her caused a stir merely by walking down the street, let alone in male-dominated pool halls. What she did on a regular basis couldn’t be considered safe by any stretch of the imagination.

She said she could take care of herself. To an extent, he believed her. But someone had introduced her to the world of gambling and he wanted to know who. It didn’t take a seasoned detective to see she was sharply intelligent and could probably do anything she wished with her life. Yet someone had encouraged her to become a professional liar instead. One who, as far as he knew, worked alone in a dangerous city with no one to step in if things went south. It made him uneasy just thinking about the possibilities. In his line of work, he knew all too well how quickly things could go to shit. The way they had with Grant.

As always, the thought of his ex-partner sent a feeling of discomfort hurtling through his chest. He’d been presented with too many reminders tonight. First, watching Daniel and Brent interact in a way that reminded him of all too much of Grant’s antics. Then again when Ruby stumbled on the picture in his wallet. But he couldn’t think about it yet. The pain of that fatal night months ago still felt fresh as though it had taken place yesterday.

He looked up to find Ruby watching him closely, as if she could read every single thought in his head. Strangely, it comforted him, knowing he didn’t have to say the words out loud.

“Are you hungry?”

Ruby quirked a dark brow at his sudden question. “You’re going to cook for me at one in the morning?”

“Have a seat,” he directed. After a moment of hesitation during which Troy suspected she was battling the urge to ignore his instruction, she pulled out a dining chair and sat, watching him expectantly. “Omelet, okay?”

“Let’s see what you got, Chicago boy,” she responded, her lips edging up into a smile.

Troy threw an exasperated glance at her as he walked to the refrigerator to begin pulling out ingredients. “What tipped you off? The accent?”

Her smile dimmed a little, and he remembered. In the picture she’d seen of him and Grant in their uniforms, Wrigley Field had been in the background. Thankfully, she changed the subject. “What part of town are you from?”

“Oak Park. It’s a suburb just west of Chicago. You familiar?”

“I’ve been through Chicago once or twice,” she hedged.

“Really.” He pulled a Tupperware container out of the fridge and set it next to the carton of eggs. “Why do I get the feeling you weren’t there to catch a Cubs game?”

She ignored his question. “Are those prechopped peppers in that Tupperware container?”

Troy cracked an egg into a bowl. “Yeah.”

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

“Jesus,” he choked out. “How did we arrive here from prechopped peppers?”

Ruby pushed back her chair and stood, the poster child for nervous energy. “You must cook for girls pretty often to chop up peppers in advance, that’s all I’m saying. So if there are strings attached to that omelet, I don’t want it. No matter how good it tastes, the answer is no.”

“Actually, the peppers are for me.” He gestured with the spatula. “My mother is a chef back in Chicago. It’s just something she always kept in the fridge, and I guess I got used to it.”

“Huh.” She sat back down and watched him cook the omelet. Once he’d finished, he slid it onto a plate and set it in front of her, then pulled out his own chair and sat.

“Who taught you how to play pool like that?”

The fork paused halfway to her mouth. “I see. You cooked for me, so now I’m obligated to answer your questions.” When Troy simply waited, she sighed, muttering something about cops under her breath. “My father.”

“And he approves of you going to these places on your own? Using the skill he taught you to take people’s money?”

“Approves?” She quickly swallowed her bite. “He encourages it.”

Troy’s hand flexed on the table as that infuriating piece of information sunk in. “That’s great. He knowingly sends you into dangerous situations. Sounds like he really cares about you.”

Ruby flinched a little at his sharply delivered words, and Troy desperately wished he could take them back. Her hand came to rest limply beside her plate, like he’d made her lose her appetite. When she spoke, her voice sounded different. Less confident. And it sliced through him. “Maybe you’re right. But I don’t think he sees it like that.” She set her fork down, crossed her arms over her middle. “You’ve heard that proverb, teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him his entire life? Teaching me how to play pool was his way of feeding me for life. He didn’t,
doesn’t
, know any other way.”

Troy leaned forward. “Listen, I didn’t mean to say your father doesn’t care about you. I’m sorry if that’s how it sounded. I just don’t think hustling pool is the safest way to make money.”

Her chin came up, filling him with relief that he hadn’t completely shaken her self-assurance. “I didn’t come here for a lecture. We just met. You have no say in what I choose to do.”

“What
did
you come here for? You thought about taking off back at the bar. Searching for the quickest exit route. Why didn’t you blow me off?”

She smiled a little. “You’re one of the smart ones, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I am.” Troy took her plate and rinsed it in the sink, then turned toward the bedroom. “I’ll go grab you something to sleep in and get myself set up on the couch.”

He could feel the weight of her suspicious gaze on his back as he walked down the hallway.

Chapter Four

What in the hell am I doing here?

Ruby slipped Troy’s navy blue police department shirt over her head and stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. No one could accuse her of being a scrupulous virgin, but she didn’t go home with strange men she’d known less than an hour. Ever. Especially a
cop
, for Christ’s sake. What would her father, who’d taught her how to identify, avoid, and evade the police, think about her standing in a cop’s bathroom, wearing department-issued paraphernalia? He’d probably never recover from his fit of laughter. As a lifelong gambler who’d introduced his only child to the lifestyle, Jim Elliott had never spoken about members of the police force with anything but disdain. She’d grown up believing they were the ones trying to keep money out of their hands and thus, food off their table.

So why was she standing there, hoping the bathroom door would open? Hoping Troy would stride inside and kiss the breath out of her. See right through her protests and take her to bed like she wanted. She didn’t understand it. The relentless tug in her belly. The urge to fit her ass against his lap, wiggle her hips a little. Entice him into touching her. She’d been assailed by images of them together since they’d left the bar. He’d put the first one in her head. Bent over the pool table with her hair wrapped around his fist. From there they’d spread like wildfire.

How come the hesitation to indulge herself, then? She knew why. Troy didn’t strike her as one-night-stand material. Unlike her, he came from a good family. A prechopped pepper kind of family. His eyes held a trace of sadness, she suspected over the death of his partner. Even when he laughed, it still lurked there, a reminder of his pain. She shouldn’t care so much. Or be so curious to learn more about him. She should have already scratched the itch and slipped out the door as soon as he fell asleep. Only the thought of doing so left her cold. And dammit, if she left without looking back, she wasn’t so sure it would be easy to forget the drink-denying, omelet-cooking, blue-eyed detective.

She pushed the troubling thoughts aside and focused on the now. Since when did she do anything besides live in the moment? Later. She would worry about the stupid feelings knocking around inside her chest later. Hell, they’d probably cease to exist as soon as she managed to work Troy out of her system.

God hates a coward, Ruby.

With a steadying breath, she reached for the hem of the borrowed shirt and drew it up over her head, tossing it on top of a nearby clothes hamper. She took a final look at herself in the mirror, naked except for her silky blue underwear, and opened the bathroom door. Troy stood in the kitchen with his back to her, cleaning the pan he’d used to make her omelet. For a moment, she simply watched him perform the domestic chore, enjoying the sight of his forearm muscles flexing as he dried a plate. Marveling over how masculine he made it look.

Troy’s shoulders bunched, as if he’d sensed her standing there. As if he knew exactly what he would find once he turned around. She shivered in apprehension, resisting the urge to run back into the bathroom and lock the door. Troy tossed the pan onto the counter with a clatter and turned. When his hot gaze landed on her mostly naked body, he sucked in a breath. She forced herself to stand still, keep her hands from covering her breasts like they were tempted to do. Let him look his fill. Finally, when she thought she might catch fire under his heated gaze, he stalked toward her.

Troy kept coming until he’d forced her back up against the hallway wall. His arms shot out to rest on either side of her head, his gaze burning a path from her breasts down to her bare legs and back up again. Her skin felt bathed in fire everywhere he looked. Her nipples puckered for his attention. Goose bumps broke out along her arms. She couldn’t take it a second longer.

“Are you going to spend all night looking? Or are you actually going to do something about it?”

He took another step closer, bringing their bodies flush, growling deep in his throat at the contact. She watched as a transformation took place in him. Gone was the man concerned for her safety who’d cooked her an omelet. He’d been replaced by someone raw and assertive. The change should have intimidated her, but she couldn’t deny feeling a rush of excitement. Anticipation. “You might get away with running that smart mouth to other people. But you won’t get away with it here. If you continue to challenge me with every word out of your mouth, I will fuck you repeatedly until you learn to play nice.”

Part of her screamed in offense, the other half wanted to beg him to do it. In this moment, with a thousand sensations pouring through her, the latter half won hands down. “You’d better get started, then.”

“You’re going to regret that.”

His mouth descended, hard and punishing, on hers. Her desperate moan collided with his as he forced her lips open and licked into her mouth. Ruby immediately went light-headed, her balance deserting her. She clutched the front of his shirt to ground herself, give herself the leverage to return his kiss, but his mouth dominated hers, rebuking her for challenging him. She fought back, pulling him closer to suck his tongue, bite at his lips. He sunk his hands into her hair, tugging just enough to let her know how close to the edge she’d pushed him. Finally, he pulled away for breath, air racing in and out past his lips.

When he spoke, his voice sounded raw. “What changed your mind?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” He leaned in and nipped the underside of her jaw. “It damn well matters.”

Heat pooled between her legs, stealing even more of her breath. She couldn’t think of anything but the truth. “Maybe I just decided to live in the moment.”

Troy pulled back to study her, scrutinizing her expression. Base hunger clouding his features, he shook his head once. “No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

Using his teeth, he scraped a path up the side of her neck. “I mean, when I sink my cock between those insane thighs, I need to know you’re not going to regret it afterward.” He palmed her roughly through her panties. “I need you right there with me, loving every second of me riding you. Knowing I’m going to do it all over again within the hour.”

She bit back a moan as he applied pressure right where she needed it. “You’re turning me down? It doesn’t feel like it.”

“I’m not capable of turning you down,” he said on a pained laugh, gaze devouring her breasts. “I’m going to take you to my bed and pleasure the fuck out of you. But the panties stay on. It’s nonnegotiable.”

Her entire system rebelled against his words. How could he touch her, kiss her like this, and refuse to take it all the way? It didn’t make sense. Men didn’t have that kind of willpower, did they?
She
certainly didn’t have that kind of willpower. “W-what? Is it too late to give a different answer about why I changed my mind?”

“Yes. But don’t worry, baby.” Before she could register his intention, he’d swung her up into his arms. “Even with your panties on, it’ll still be the best sex of your life.”

He laid her down on the bed of his darkened bedroom, illuminated only by the light filtering in from the kitchen. His body came down on hers, pressing her into the mattress as their mouths met in a heated exchange of seeking tongues and matching groans. Desperate to feel his hard chest against her breasts, she reached down and curled her fingers in his T-shirt, then dragged it upward between them. Troy broke the kiss long enough for her to pull it over his head. Even in the dim light, she could see the tight muscles of his arms and stomach, flexing as he held himself off her. She had the sudden urge to lick every one of those muscles.

Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Troy made a hungry noise. “Like what you see? Good. You’re going to be seeing a lot of it.”

He edged down, sliding lower on her body until he found her breast with his mouth. As he took her nipple between his lips, he shuddered as if drugged by the taste of her. Ruby whimpered, gripping his hair with her fingers to encourage him. He suckled her until the rosy peak stiffened, then pulled back to flick it with his tongue, watching her expression.

“Every man watching you tonight wanted your tits in his mouth.” He moved across her chest to give a long lick of her other nipple. “But they’re in
mine
.
My
mouth. Aren’t they?”

“
Yes
.” Her answer ended on a moan when he sucked her between his lips. Ruby could feel every movement of his mouth deep in her belly and lower. She grew increasingly damp with each tug of his mouth on her breasts and couldn’t stop herself from parting her legs, sliding them up to cradle his hips. The feel of denim scraping along the soft skin of her inner thighs felt incredibly erotic, and she wanted to feel it everywhere. She rolled her body beneath him, silently asking for more.

“Tell me what you want.”

“You know what I want.” She nipped his jaw. “Don’t make me beg for it.”

He laughed under his breath. “Oh, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Breaking her hold, Troy crawled down her body until he knelt between her thighs. Strong hands gripped her knees, squeezing as if in anticipation. “Show me how far you can spread them.”

She propped herself up on her elbows. “What?”

“I’m not going to ask twice.” His expression was one of challenge. In the short time he’d known her, he already had her pegged, didn’t he? She’d never walked away from a challenge in her life. Ruby let her legs fall open until they nearly reached the mattress on either side. She felt a surge of gratification when his gaze dropped to her still-hidden core and his breath roughened. With a knowing tilt of his lips, he ran his knuckles over the silky underwear, up and down, shifting the material over her achy, sensitive flesh. Her back arched on the pillows, and she whimpered.

“Soon, there won’t be any barrier between us, Ruby. Just skin on skin. It’s going to be so fucking sweet. But tonight I’m going to make you regret saying no.”

“Who said no?” She shook her head once. “Not me.”

Laughter rumbled in his chest. “You said no matter how good the omelet tastes, the answer is no.” One knuckle pressed and held firm against her clitoris. “Next time, maybe you’ll say yes.”

Then he bent down and ran his tongue up the center of her panties, leaving damp silk in its wake. Ruby dug her fingers into the comforter, her teeth clamping down on her bottom lip. Troy eased back and huffed a single, hot breath over the wet fabric, making a pleased noise in his throat when she trembled in response. When his head dipped down once more, Ruby ceased to think, could only feel as he kissed her through the silk, using tongue, teeth, and lips. She writhed on the bed, her hips bucking and twisting in an attempt to get closer to his pleasure-giving mouth.

“Is this the kind of kiss you wanted?”

How he could pummel her senses without even making direct contact, she didn’t know. Didn’t care. But apparently, he hadn’t even gotten started. Once he’d thoroughly soaked her underwear, he stiffened his tongue and began torturing her throbbing clitoris with tight, concentrated circles. Ruby shouted something unintelligible at the ceiling, but he didn’t cease his skilled torture. The hands resting on her knees pushed even wider, opening her for his hungry mouth. It felt as though the damp silk had disappeared, leaving only his tongue against her skin, even though she knew the barrier remained. Every single one of her nerve endings were firing, her thighs quaking on the bed. She tried to tighten them around his head, but he wouldn’t allow it, keeping them open wide with firm hands while his mouth worked her. Ruby’s release crashed through her like a hot, molten wave, burying her underneath a crushing awareness of her body. Conscious thought fled her mind, leaving her only the capability to feel.

“
Troy
,” her voice shuddered out. “Oh my God.”

He growled against her navel. “Goddammit, Ruby. I’m not happy that I didn’t get to taste the first orgasm I milked out of you. Do you know what that means?”

“What?”

He dropped his hands to the button of his jeans, flicked it open with ease. The zipper came next. “It means I’m not done. It means you’re about to be even more sorry.” One hand disappeared inside his jeans. Breath hissing through his teeth, he freed his massive erection. Ruby’s lips parted on a gasp at the sight of him gripping himself in a tight fist. Her body responded immediately, writhing on the bed. Just moments before, she’d felt completely fulfilled, but now she felt a powerful, driving need to take him inside her body. Her tongue licked out to wet her lips.

She reached down and hooked her fingers in the waistband of her panties, attempting to draw them down her legs. Before she could make any progress, he stayed her hand with his free one, shaking his head. “They stay on.”

“You can’t be serious,” she cried. “I want you. I’m begging, okay? Is that what you want?”

He wedged his big body between her thighs, making her gasp when his hardness pressed against her soaked center. “Yes. Beg me to fuck you.”

Ruby’s breath shuddered in and out. She tightened her legs around his waist and bowed her back in an age-old method of temptation. “Fuck me, Troy.
Please
.”

Troy brought his hard body down on hers, grinding his hips against her. He swooped down to swallow her moan with his mouth, pumping his hips into her at a punishing pace. “What would you do for it?”

“Right now?” She panted. “Anything.
Anything
.”

“Would you bend over a pool table for it?”

“Yes!”

Troy altered his angle, so each forward push of his hips placed pressure right over her swollen nub, the wet, silky friction once more sailing her toward incredible pleasure.

He leaned down and scraped his teeth along the skin of her flushed neck. “Would you get on your knees for it? Take me into that smart little mouth of yours?”

Another blinding orgasm within reach, she rolled her hips frantically, working her fevered core against his thick erection. “Yes. I would.
I would
.”

Without breaking his devastating rhythm, he shook his head. “No.”