Rebel (21 page)

“I did,” she finally said. “Make an offer, Jax. I love this house. I love you. I want both.”

Lexi opened her eyes and pinned Rubi with a sharp, what-the-fuck-did-I-just-do look. Rubi still had her hand over her mouth, her chest bursting with happiness. Lexi pressed the phone to her body and whispered, “I think I’m going to puke.”

Rubi couldn’t hold back anymore. Laughter rolled out of her. Lexi’s laughter echoed Rubi’s.

Lexi disconnected with an ecstatic Jax, and they finished touring the house. But Rubi couldn’t get Lexi’s earlier words to Jax out of her head:
“I need you to push me past these fears, because I don’t want to lose you over them.”

Her own fears could easily ruin something with Wes that she knew in her heart had the potential to be really good.

In the driveway, Rubi hugged Lexi good-bye. When Lexi pulled away, she held Rubi’s arms firmly, her eyes direct. “It’s your turn to jump. Don’t leave me hanging out here by myself.”

“Have I ever left you hanging?”

The smile that beamed across Lexi’s face was filled with giddy excitement. “Keep me posted.” She stepped back, pointed purposefully at Rubi while walking backward toward her car repeating words Rubi had once said to Lexi, not that long ago. “And I want details, girl.
Details
.”

Rubi didn’t follow Lexi down the hill. Instead, she took out her phone and tapped a message to Wes.

Thirteen

Wes crouched in front of the second of four identical Ducatis he was working with on this series of scenes. The first bike, the one he’d crashed a few days ago, lay alongside the others—a burned-out corpse he would part-out to keep the other three running. Keaton wiped a rag over the handlebars and scrubbed the body until the red paint shone.

“She’s insane,” Keaton said. He’d been droning on about some girl he’d been banging. “She lives alone, but she’s got a two-bedroom apartment, and the extra room’s filled with sex-toy shit. Like…
serious
…sex-toy shit. I don’t know, man. I mean, I’m up for just about anything, but honestly, this chick kind of freaks me out.”

With the clutch cover removed, Wes listened with one ear and sprayed compressed air over the metal to clear residual dust. The bike groaned every time Wes switched gears, pissing off the audio gurus. And while Wes could pull apart any motorcycle and put it back together drunk, standing on his head, he was having a hard time focusing on a simple clutch clean today. And Keaton’s chatter wasn’t the problem.

His gaze blurred over the machine, and his mind drifted toward Rubi. Toward the sight of her spread out on the kitchen counter. Her wickedly sinful, drool-inducing body smeared with chocolate ice cream. His cock hitched against his jeans, and Wes clenched his teeth.

Ping. Clank.

The can of compressed air hit the concrete, and Wes startled.

“Yeah.” Keaton laughed the word. “I about dropped the lube bottle just like that.”

Wes had no fucking idea what Keaton was talking about, but right now, he didn’t want to know. He was having enough trouble dealing with all the heat tumbling through his body and emotion expanding his heart.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and his mind jumped to Wyatt. He’d already talked to his mother today, but…

He pushed to his feet and pulled out his phone, thinking a hundred different things. Shock sizzled low in his belly when he saw the text was from Rubi.
Her
contacting
him
today…or any day in the next week…was the opposite of what he’d expected.

Don’t get your hopes up, dude.

RUBI: Hey, handsome. Do you have your rig with you or is it at your place?

His mind tried to read ten different meanings into the text. It took him a minute to realize she was talking about the rig for Wyatt. But the fact she’d reached out to him at all had to be a good sign, right?

WES: Baby, I carry my rig everywhere
.

“Is that Rubi?” Keaton asked.

“Yeah.”

“She’s kinda out of your league, isn’t she?”

Wes looked up only long enough to shoot the other Renegade a glare.

“Just sayin’.” Keaton held up his hands, palms out. “I can totally see why you went for her, but…not your usual type.”

“I’ve only heard that half a dozen times already.” His phone buzzed again, and he glanced down.

RUBI: Did you find someone to relay that beautiful rig of yours?

His lips twitched up into a cautious grin. Not a
“Last night was so hot I can’t wait to have you again,”
but Wes would take what he could get.

WES: That’s all you, baby. I don’t want anyone else touching my rig.

“I’m going over to Tommy’s Burgers for lunch,” Keaton said. “Wanna come?”

“Kinda early for lunch, dude.”

“I’ve been up since four. Starting a new workout. I go to this CrossFit gym near my place. Man, those bitches work me into butter. I’m burning so many calories and building so much muscle, I can’t keep weight on.”

“I’m not hungry.” At least not for anything but Rubi. “You go on.”

Keaton tossed down his rag and straightened, stretched. His groan was one of those damn-I’m-sore groans. “All right. I’ll bring you back a burger.”

Wes nodded absently just as Rubi’s message came through.

RUBI: You’re on, but I need that baby in my hands to program it properly.

Wes’s face broke out into a full grin as Keaton turned for the trailer. Current sizzled through his body at Rubi’s flirty innuendo. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have made much out of the comment. But after last night, the fact that she was still flirting with him was another great sign.

WES: Holy shit. My rig’s circuit just blew. You know I can’t work when it’s jacked. Come and fix me up, baby.

RUBI: Do you have time now?

A breathy laugh exited his chest, and Wes swore his heart beat three times in the normal span of one. His cock had already been half-hard just from the memories of the night before. Now it was rubbing his jeans again.

WES: For you? Hell yes.

Wes glanced up, surveying the movement on set. Based on the sketchbook open amid a group including Jax, Duke, Troy, MacKenzie, and three camera guys, and the speed of Jax’s hand moving a pencil over the page, Wes knew they wouldn’t be running the fire scene for at least an hour. His phone buzzed, and he looked back down.

RUBI: Already headed straight for you…and your kick-ass rig.

He drew a slow breath through pursed lips, creating a low whistle. A flutter irritated his belly. He told himself not to get his hopes up. She’d been as clear as glass when she’d told him she fucked guys once and only once. She hadn’t agreed to the friends-with-benefits proposal, and even after the best sex of his life—hopefully hers too—she still hadn’t been sure what she wanted. He wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d change her MO for him. Or after so long. Yet something whispered hope in his ear. Told him what they had was already more than she’d given any other man. And that fact spiraled through his chest, making him both high and horny.

“Wes.” Jax’s irritated voice pulled Wes’s gaze. Even his boss’s bark couldn’t kill his smile. “Are you fucking that phone, or can you give us a minute of your attention here?”

Wes pocketed his phone. He couldn’t say what exactly he’d expected from Rubi after last night, but it wouldn’t have surprised him if she’d tried the whole nothing-happened or even the cold-shoulder routine. He knew he shouldn’t get excited about a few flirty texts, but hell if he could control this inner tornado.

“What’s up?” he asked, wandering toward the men. By the stern looks on their faces, whatever they were talking about couldn’t be good.

Jax waited until everyone but MacKenzie had stepped away from the group and Wes was standing in their small circle. “Rimer’s guru working with Bolton says he’s fucked up.” Jax’s voice lowered. “He’s starting a two-week crash rehab program Monday. It’s not a solution but a temporary fix to get Bolton through the movie. We’re going to have to revamp the filming schedule.”

The implications of that unraveled in Wes’s mind, and anger heated his gut. “Dude, that’s going to leave me sitting on my hands. It’s going to mess up my break to go see Wyatt.”

And going home to Missouri now could very well mess up what was happening—or what he hoped was happening—with Rubi.

MacKenzie stepped back, his expression as pissed-off as Wes felt. “I’ll let you guys handle the details.”

Wes glared at the man’s back as he disappeared into the production trailer.

“We’ve already reworked the next couple of days since we knew Bolton would be out,” Jax said. “Why don’t you finish up those scenes and head home?”

Because,
fuck
, he didn’t want to leave Rubi right now.

And… “I don’t have the rig ready.”

He wasn’t all that thrilled about facing his entire family without it. While he knew he could go home to see Wyatt without the rig, the thought of facing all twelve-thousand extended relatives who’d be coming in and out of town to see Wyatt and their parents made his gut tighten. He could hear the derogatory comments from the spattering of uncles, grandparents, and holier-than-thou cousins already.

“You’re almost thirty, Wes. When are you going to grow up?”

“Wesley, when are you going to stop fooling around and come home where you belong?”

“I just made partner. Pulling down seven figures. What’s new with you, Wes?”

On one level, Wes was secure and fulfilled enough with his life to tell them all to go fuck themselves. But on another, he yearned to make his parents proud. They’d always defended him in the family, despite their reservations with his decisions after college. And then there was Wyatt’s physical therapist—Melissa. The woman who’d left Wes after six years together and dissolved their marriage plans because he’d refused to spend his life in a cubicle at her father’s engineering firm.

“Have I mentioned how much I fucking hate Bolton?” Wes asked.

Jax rolled his eyes. “I recall—”

“And have I mentioned that I’ll never fucking double that bastard again?”

The growl of an engine drew their attention. Rubi pulled the Aston into a nearby lot, and Wes’s emotions twisted in a whole different direction. Damn, now he was in a pissy mood. Even her hopping out of the car in short jean cutoffs, loose lacy sweater exposing her belly, and spike-heeled boots barely lifted the new shadow. His body, however, responded like a champ. He would have reached down to reposition his “rig,” now standing at attention, but wanted to avoid another “keep your focus” lecture from Jax. As if Jax didn’t lose his own every time Lexi stepped on set.

Wes forced ease into his stance and turned his mouth in a smile. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin Rubi’s feisty mood. But halfway across the distance, Rubi’s expression grew serious, and by the time she reached them, she was frowning. It was difficult to get his mind around what might have caused that transition, because the simple act of watching Rubi walk rerouted his brain and sent those electric currents zinging through his cock.

Those long, lithe legs—legs that had been clamped around his waist just hours ago—flexed with each step. Her perfect breasts—breasts that had been in his hands and beneath his tongue—jiggled playfully in the V-neck opening of her sweater. The bounce of her long, dark, shiny waves—hair that had been fisted in his hands as he’d tasted her—spilled over her slender, shoulders.

An insane and urgent need consumed him, gnawing at him from the inside out. But the light, happy expression she’d come with was gone.

“Christ, Rubi,” Jax said. “I
just
told you not to come on set dressed like that.”

“I’m not staying.” Her gaze darted between Jax and Wes, then those gorgeous eyes held on Wes’s face. He might just be letting his imagination create what he so desperately wanted, but he swore there was something more intimate between them now. Some kind of intangible connection that jumbled Wes’s insides with a warm thrill. She reached out to lay her hand on his bicep with true worry in her expression. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Just some scheduling stuff,” Jax said. “Hey, would you mind stopping your work on the apps and funneling all the attention you can toward Wes’s rig?”

A flash of surprise eased her expression, then unmistakable humor. Humor she tried to hide by pressing her lips together. She released Wes’s arm and crossed hers, did a damn good impression of serious consideration

Finally, she lifted one shoulder as she met Wes’s eyes with a stern gaze. “Why aren’t you asking me to divert all my focus to your rig, Lawson? Do you want me to work on your precious toy or not?”