Page 23 of After Paris

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ruby

Saturday, July 5, 2025

7:00 p.m.

Dinner at the Indian restaurant with Jeff was terrific. Like in the old days, we recited Star Trek lines, we complained about our shared distaste for brussels sprouts, and we discussed which Mission: Impossible remake was the best. He offered a few updates on my brother’s dating life. As it turned out, Eric had seen Susan twice since he’d first met her. My evening with Jeff was easy, fun, and flirty with hints of sexual innuendo.

When he walked me back to my hotel room, the air had cooled, and there was a soft breeze from the Potomac. We weren’t holding hands, but I wouldn’t have pulled away if he’d taken mine. As we walked through the hotel’s automatic doors, I was ready to invite him up to my room.

“Ruby.” Scott’s voice cut across the lobby as he moved toward me with quick, frustrated steps.

My stomach dropped. “Scott.”

Jeff’s gaze leveled on Scott. His jaw pulsed with anger, but he remained silent. I’d often called this look Jeff’s Death Stare. I’d only seen it a couple of times. Once, when a classmate claimed his dissertation didn’t have proper sourcing, and another time, when a nurse was a little too aggressive while inserting an IV line into my arm. He’d never raised his voice, but in every instance, the other party had backed off.

“Scott,” he said.

Scott glanced at him. “Who are you?”

“Jeff.” He stopped short of saying “Ruby’s date” because, well, we were friends who’d gone out for dinner.

“What do you want, Scott?” I asked.

“We have unfinished business,” he said. “And it would be better if we had this discussion in private.”

“Here is fine,” I said. “I have no secrets from Jeff.”

Scott’s gaze scanned Jeff in a new assessing way. “Are you dating?”

“Not your business,” I said. “We said all we had to say earlier.”

“We haven’t,” Scott said. “We aren’t close to a resolution.”

“You don’t like the resolution, but the matter is closed,” I said.

Scott raised his chin a fraction. “I’m hiring an attorney.”

“Feel free.” I knew how much Scott made, and this wasn’t an expense he could afford. He wasn’t good at bluffing, so the comment made me wonder if the fiancée had underwritten this fight.

“This could get very ugly,” Scott warned.

“It might be uncomfortable and expensive, but ‘ugly’ ... that’s a harsh word. I’ve lived through ugly, and this fight will be child’s play for me.”

Jeff remained silent, but he hadn’t missed a word. He knew me well enough to know I could fight this battle.

“Is that a threat?” Scott asked.

“A promise. Why do you care?” I asked. “You’re getting married and raising your baby. These eggs and embryos are my only shot at motherhood.”

“You have your unfertilized eggs. I’m asking you to destroy the embryos,” Scott said.

“You don’t want to take all my chances, but you want to cut them in half.”

“I don’t want a kid of mine watching his mother die.”

With care, I drew in a breath, absorbing the blow of his words. “You signed away all rights. As I remember, you didn’t argue or ask for anything.”

“I didn’t understand,” Scott said.

“Understand what?” I asked. “Is the fiancée worried about one of my children making a claim on your finances or showing up one day and messing up what you have? Or if I die, are you worried you’ll have to raise this child?”

“I’ll take responsibility for the child,” Jeff said.

I looked up at Jeff, seeing the resolution etched in his features. He’d meant what he said. Emotion clogged my throat, and I couldn’t speak.

“You can’t do this!” Scott gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

Scott had always lived a charmed life, using his good looks to boost his moderate intelligence.

“Leave,” I said.

“I’m going to sue.”

“That’s your choice,” I said. “I’ll contact Eric first thing in the morning and alert him.”

“Eric.” He ground out my brother’s name as if it were an oath. “He’s not as smart as he thinks.”

“He’s a lot smarter,” I said. “And you’re about to experience the full weight of Eric’s legal team.”

“Time to go, Scott,” Jeff said. “We can keep going around in circles, but it’s redundant and boring.”

“You don’t get a say,” Scott said.

“He does,” I said.

“What gives him the right to weigh in?” Scott demanded.

“He cares about me more than you ever did, so that gives him the right.”

“I stood by you when you were sick. I held your hair back when you threw up, hung with you while you took chemo, and gave up my life for months.”

“And then you got on with your life. Which I don’t fault you for,” I said. “I’m getting on with mine.”

“This is bigger than us,” he said.

“You’ve made your point,” Jeff said. “Time to leave.”

Scott stood at least three inches taller than Jeff and outweighed him by at least thirty pounds of muscle. “Make me.”

Jeff reached for his cell phone. “An arrest record isn’t going to help your career. But if you want to press this, I’ll file harassment charges.”

“I’m not harassing you,” Scott said.

“You’re bothering me,” I said. “I’ll file the charges.”

“This is bullshit,” he shouted.

The clerk at the front desk had been watching us, doing her best not to stare. “Everything all right?”

Realizing an audience had gathered, Scott muttered an oath. “This isn’t over.”

“It is, but if you want to believe otherwise, go ahead,” I said.

Scott stalked out of the hotel’s front door, and his tall frame vanished into the day’s dimming light.

“Sorry about that,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to deal with my drama.”

“Not a big deal,” he said. “I deal with Scott’s kind of drama all the time.”

“His kind?”

“Guys with an unjustified sense of entitlement.” A wink wiped away all traces of the Death Stare. “Not my first rodeo.”

“Not the best way to end the evening.”

He took my hand in his, rubbing my palm with his thumb. It was subtle but sexy. “I want to kiss you.”

He’d been listening to my dating advice to Eric. And he’d also internalized it and was using it on me. And it was working. I forgot about forever. I only cared about now. “Okay.”

He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. It was a soft, testing touch, but when I relaxed closer to him, he wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me a little closer. We both deepened the kiss.

Desire rushed through me, warming my body. This feeling was so natural and right. “Come up to my room. I haven’t had a drop of wine.”

He traced a small circle at the base of my spine. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

His gaze pinned mine. “Does this have to do with Scott?”

“No,” I said. “It has to do with you and the heat.”

“Heat?”

“Yeah. You know how to bring it.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. You do.” Tonight was just tonight. It wasn’t forever. We were both healthy and young and willing. And that trifecta was hard to ignore.

“Okay.”

I took him by the hand and led him to the elevator. We rode it to the fifth floor, and I swiped my key over the door lock. Inside the room, I dropped my purse on the unused double bed closest to the door and kicked off my shoes. He shrugged off his jacket and pulled me into an embrace. The kiss went on and on. He was in no hurry to stop, as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

I unfastened the buckle of his pants. I didn’t want to rush, but it had been a couple of years since I’d had sex. I missed the desire, the skin-to-skin contact, and the sense of connection.

During intense moments, Jeff often quoted Star Trek ’s Captain Kirk. But he didn’t say anything as he reached for the zipper skimming along my back. He pulled it down to my waist and peeled the dress off my shoulders until it puddled at my feet.

His gaze glided over the strapless black lace bra and matching panties to the PICC line scar under my left collarbone. “Stands to reason you’d choose something French and lacy.”

“Of course.”

He shrugged off his shirt and removed his pants. Soon, we were both naked and in the center of the bed. “I’ve dreamed about this for a long time,” he said.

“You have?”

“I fell for you the day you came home from your sophomore year abroad. You were dressed like a French fashion model. All grown up in all the right ways.”

In those days, Jeff had been Eric’s buddy. He was another big brother whom I’d worshipped. I still adored him, but not in the old ways. Not ever again.

As he kissed each breast, I smoothed my hand down his muscled back. “You’ve been working out.”

“I have.” He continued to kiss me, slower again, taking his time just as he did when faced with one of those intricate math problems he loved so much. Each moment, each discovery was a thrill to him, and he didn’t rush the process.

But right now, a faster pace would be okay. I guided him to my entrance. “Maybe a little faster?” I asked.

He hesitated, holding back, teasing. “What, you’re horny, Ruby?”

“All the blood has rushed from my head.”

“Sounds serious.”

“So serious.”

A sly smile added a devilish, sexy glint to his eyes. Very slowly, he pushed inside of me. My body, accustomed to celibacy, resisted, but he moved with calculated patience, content to wait for my body to open.

When he pressed in to the hilt, he kissed me. “All right?”

“Feels amazing.” I’d feared I’d never feel something like this ever again. “So amazing.”

A slight smile tipped the edges of his lips. “I’m just getting warmed up.”