Page 71 of On the Rocks

“Please,” she said again, scooting closer to me. She placed her water on the coffee table, leaning into me, her small arms wrapping around my middle as she rested her head on my chest. “Please.”

I blew out another breath, but this time, I let it out slower, wrapping my arms around her in return. There was nothing I wanted more than to drive across town and give that motherfucker exactly what he had coming.

Nothing, except to hold Ruby Grace and be the one who made her feel better, the one who showed her that what he did to her did not define who she was.

“I feel so stupid,” she said after a while, her head still on my chest. “All this time, I thought I’d hit the jackpot. I had the perfect guy, the perfect ring, the perfect future. I didn’t mind sacrificing my own dreams for his, because I knew he loved me. I knew that I’d be his partner, standing by his side, and he’d bend formywants in the future.” She paused. “I thought I’d found what my parents had. And that was all I’d ever wanted.”

My heart broke with that admission, because I knew the feeling all too well. Ruby Grace had watched her parents grow in love just as I’d watched mine, and it was what we had pictured forourfutures.

Now, her picture had been shattered.

I tilted her chin up, leveling my eyes with hers. “He’s an idiot,” I stated simply. “And I know that doesn’t fix anything. It probably doesn’t make you feel better, either. But, he is. And he’s going to regret the day he lost you. He’s going to regret that he didn’t realize what he had when he had it.”

She sighed, leaning into my hand. “I doubt he’ll even care. He’ll find someone else who can play the part, and he’ll run for office just the same.”

“He’ll care,” I promised her. “Trust me. And he’ll regret it. There isn’t a man alive who could be loved by you and not kick himself every single day for fucking it up.”

A steady silence fell over us, her eyes on mine, those words between us.

“I don’t even know how tobegintelling my mom,” she finally said, and those eyes watching mine welled up with tears again. “It’ll break her heart.”

“She’ll understand. She loves you.”

Ruby Grace shook her head, letting out a long, heavy breath. “Everyone is going to be talking about this, Noah.Everyone. Forever.”

“Let them talk. They don’t know you or the situation, and their judgment doesn’t affect who you are.” I held her gaze, running my thumb down the line of her jaw. “Do you hear me? What they think of you is not who you actually are. They do not have that power over you.” I smirked. “Plus, someone else will fuck up and give them a change of subject. I mean, just leave it to me and my brothers. We’ve been doing it all our lives.”

She chuckled, but it died quickly, sadness washing over her again. “I feel like a fool.”

“It’shimwho’s the fool,” I assured her, searching her eyes with my own. “You are, without a doubt, the most caring, loving, passionate, intelligent, and classy woman I have ever met. You walk with a confidence unparalleled by anyone in this town, and you give without ever expecting anything in return, and you’re brave.” I shook my head. “You aresofucking brave.”

Her eyes softened, her voice just a whisper again. “You didn’t mention the way I look in any of those bullet points.”

“You’re beautiful,” I said easily. “But that’s not what makes you the woman I l—” I swallowed, throat constricting like her eyes held it in a vise grip. “That’s not what makes you the woman you are. You are more than your eyes, and your hair, and your strawberry smoothie lips and long, lean legs. You’re not meant to be a puppet in some man’s sideshow, Ruby Grace. You’re meant to be his entire world.”

Ruby Grace let her eyes wander over every inch of my face, as if she was just noticing me for the first time.

And maybe she was.

“I love the way you see me,” she whispered.

I swallowed, heart picking up speed as she leaned in closer, her hands fisted in my shirt, her eyes on my lips.

“I just see you with my eyes.”

“No,” she argued, her lips centimeters from mine, her sweet breath invading my senses. “No, you see me with your soul.” She swallowed, eyes flicking up to mine before they fell back to my mouth. “And I feel you with mine.”

Her lips touched mine tentatively at first — feather light, each of us releasing a shaky, anxious breath. I felt that tiny, almost non-existent touch in every inch of my body. A wave of chills rushed through me, our lips hovering, breaths hard and heavy with want.

Withneed.

Then, my hands slid into her hair, and I pulled her into me, claiming her mouth like it had never touched another man.

She moaned, melting into me as I deepened the kiss, my lips hard and hot on hers. Her hands twisted in my shirt before she let it go completely, sliding the warmth of her palms beneath the fabric and over my stomach. I shivered at the touch, groaning against her kiss and pulling her closer.

I felt stupid for ever thinking I could know, could fathom, what it would be like to kiss her, to have her in my arms like this.

Kissing Ruby Grace wasn’t like kissing a normal girl. It was like kissing royalty, like kissing a goddess, like being hand-picked by the heavens to surrender your heart forever in exchange for just one, tender, earth-shattering moment.