Page 41

THIRTY-FOUR

lorenzo

“So.” Ruby drags a finger from my lips to my neck and down the center of my chest, a small smile on her lips. She’s in my lap, wearing nothing but my suit jacket draped around her bare shoulders.

“So?”

She hesitates, her gaze trained on her finger on my body. “Any regrets?”

I snort. “Yeah, about five years’ worth. I regret every other girl I wasted time on.”

She gives me a doubtful look but she’s pleased. “Maybe you needed to go through them to get to me.”

“Maybe. Right now I can’t even remember who they were.” I put my hand on top of hers. “You? Regrets?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“No regrets. But do you worry—even a little bit—things will change now?”

“Nope.”

She gives me an Are you serious? look. “Not even a little? Everyone knows sex changes friendships.”

“Does that apply when you stopped being friends a long time ago?”

“We’re still friends, though. Best friends. That’s the foundation for everything we are.”

“Yeah, okay. But it still doesn’t apply to us.”

“How do you figure?”

“When has this friendship ever followed the rules? When we were kids, everyone said our friendship would change as soon as we hit middle school, and they were wrong. When we went to high school, they said we’d drift apart because boys and girls can’t stay close like that, and they were wrong.

This friendship isn’t like anything else.

We’ve never done what anyone expected us to. Nothing could change us, Ruby.”

“How do you know?”

“Because if we weren’t best friends, I wouldn’t be me.”

Her lips form a quavery smile that seems to teeter on the edge of collapsing into crying. She inhales sharply and sighs. Then she rests her head on my shoulder, and I hold her there. She smells delicious, like perfume half washed away by sweat.

I run my hand up her thigh and push my jacket aside so I can admire the sweet curve of her ass.

With only the lights of the boat, I almost miss the dark ink marring the smooth skin of her butt cheek.

I lean over for a closer look. It’s a tattoo of an anchor.

Her smile is a little sheepish when I look back at her.

“Don’t make me explain.”

“It’s pretty self-explanatory, right? It’s about the boat.”

She nods. “And about you.”

About you. Like every tattoo I’ve seen on her.

Awe washes over me to realize the depth of her devotion and how much I’ve taken it for granted.

How close I came to losing it all. If she hadn’t asked me to choose her, would I still be sitting on the sidelines and watching her give her devotion to someone else?

Ruby’s head drops back to my shoulder. I could easily fall asleep like this, but she’s still got energy coursing through her. I can feel her trying not to squirm in my arms.

“Do you think it’s too harsh to cut my parents off?” she asks. “Just stop talking to them for a while?”

“No.”

“Do you think I should?”

“You should if you want to.”

She nods.

“Do you want to?”

“Yeah, I think I do. I don’t want them in my head right now.”

“You don’t need permission.”

She runs her fingers up and down my bicep. “You know, I never would have survived living with them all those years if it wasn’t for you.”

“Hey, don’t try to blame all those screaming matches on me.”

“I mean it. I knew I wasn’t a great daughter, but having you there meant I could believe it wasn’t all my fault. I needed someone there for me, and there was never one minute you weren’t.”

“We did that for each other.”

“I might have had your back a few times in the old days, but you’re still here, right next to me every time I think I can’t take them anymore. Literally right next to me.” She reclines her head to look at me. “I could never have stood up to them tonight if you weren’t there.”

“I’ve watched you fight back against them since our first playdate.”

“Not like tonight. That was the first time I knew I was right and they were wrong. I finally saw there was no winning.”

“Glad my shocked silence was the root of your epiphany.”

She chuckles. “Deny it all you want.” Her eyes roam my face, brimming with affection. “When I’m strong, it’s because of you.”

Something fierce courses through me. I grip the back of her head with my hand and kiss her forehead, hoping my touch can say what words can’t. This is all I’ve ever really wanted—to protect her. Her eyes close contentedly, and she lies against me.

I settle my chin on top of her head and feel her body gradually relax into slow, steady breathing. She’s asleep in my arms. I look down at her in the dark and think, This is what I wasn’t ready for?

I spent so much time telling myself it had to be perfect: Ruby’s life on track, me with a steady career and income—and the stability to support Ruby if settling down didn’t work out so well for her.

I thought it all had to be in place before we could be together, but look at us: My future’s totally up in the air, Ruby’s pulling pieces of her life together from every direction, and this is still the best night of my life. I shouldn’t have waited this long.