Ruby dug her heels in. He had to drag her the rest of the way into their room. He’d have picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder if she’d offered any serious resistance. He’d had a hard enough day without adding a fight with her into the mix.
He began unpacking his suitcase, ignoring the fact that she hadn’t moved from where he’d left her.
“Unpack, sweetheart, we’ve got enough time for a quick shower before dinner if you hurry.”
She stirred, a frown on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but bit her lip and looked away instead.
He stopped, a shirt dangling from his fingers. She looked…odd. Like she’d swallowed something sour. “What is it, kitten?”
She shrugged, a small smile chasing away her frown. “Nothing.” She began to unpack.
Leo had been around enough women to know that nothing usually meant something. And nothing said in that particular way usually meant everything.
He put the shirt down on the bed and went to her, wrapping his arms around her. He inhaled her sweet scent and his cock hardened immediately. “When a woman says nothing the way you just said nothing, I start worrying. Out with it, kitten.”
She shrugged again, obviously embarrassed. “It’s nothing, really.”
“Now you’re beginning to terrify me.” He bent down and nuzzled her neck through her hair, wallowing in the silky feel of her skin. He felt her shudder when he stroked her earlobe with his tongue and teeth. Suddenly, it had been way too long since he’d been inside her. “C’mon, kitten. Tell me.”
“It’s stupid.”
He licked his way from her earlobe to the top of her shoulder. “Mm-hmm.” He’d totally lost track of the conversation, his only goal now to get her out of her clothes and on her knees. Or on the bed. Or anywhere, so long as it involved a lot of naked.
“It’s just…you’ll think I’m just being whiney.”
Danger! Red alert! Red alert!
She jerked in his arms. “Did you just hear a siren?”
He pulled up abruptly, pulling his powers back around him like a cloak. “Um, no, what did it sound like?”
She frowned up at him, confused. “Like the red alert signal from Star Trek.”
“Oh. Uh, maybe Moira’s watching TV.”
She relaxed, and he held back a sigh of relief. “Oh. That makes sense. I suppose.”
“Now. What’s the problem?” No way were the words “stupid” or “whiney” going to pass his lips. He had some sense of self preservation, after all. He tried to get her to relax by stroking her back soothingly.
“This is so juvenile.”
Hell. “Spit it out, kitten, you’ve chewed it enough. What is it?”
She took a deep breath and visibly braced herself. “It’s just…well, I mean, your parents are down the hall. Aren’t they going to, you know, hear us?” That last was a furious whisper, her face beet red. She glared up at him.
He stared at her. How exactly do I want to answer that?
She rolled her eyes before he could come up with a response. “Never mind. God, I feel like such an idiot for even asking.”
“Oh, no, let’s get that one settled right now.” He forcibly walked her over to the bed and sat down, pulling her down onto his knee. He wrapped his arms securely around her waist. “Care to repeat that question?”
She punched him, hard enough to earn a grunt. “Leo! What if they hear us? ”
“First of all, I’m not twelve years old.”
She mumbled something under her breath, but he decided to let it pass.
“Second of all, you’re not twelve years old.”
She glared up at him through her bangs, looking mutinous.
“Kitten, if it bothered them, Dad would have put us in separate rooms. Do I hear an echo in here?
Ow.” Leo rubbed the sore spot that was rapidly developing on his chest. I have got to find a better use for her hands. “What is the problem here? You came with me, you’re here for me, and they put us in the same room because they know you’re mine. Do you want to sleep in my sister’s room? Because if you do, I’ll just sneak in there, and you’ll be naked with an audience.”
She sighed. “Leo—”
“I need you with me, Ruby.” He stared into her eyes, trying desperately to convey with a look what he couldn’t yet put into words. It was too soon, too much else was going on, and there were things he still hadn’t told her. Things he knew he should tell her, but he wanted to talk to his parents first. “Please.”
Again, it was the please that won the day for him. That, and the fact that he’d actually argued about keeping her with him. “Okay.” She cuddled up against him and he held her, stroking her hair. The part of her that was starting to seriously fall for him was glad she hadn’t insisted on moving out of the room despite the oddness of having his parents right down the hall from them. “But I’m still not sure about the whole nookie thing.”
“Nookie?” His shoulders quivered under her hands. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
Her head tilted to the side and she bit her lip. An idea had occurred to her, brought on by the thought of both getting clean and getting some Leo. She just hoped she was up for it. It had been a really long day and she was starting to wind down, but she was tired of fighting something they both wanted. “Didn’t you want to take a shower?” She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. “We could always take one together. With all that running water, they might not hear anything.”
She scraped her nails along the nape of his neck, enjoying the shiver that moved through him. He leaned down, his expression smoldering. She barely suppressed her own shiver when he began nibbling at her ear, taking the lobe between his teeth and doing things that made her wish dinner wasn’t in less than an hour.
“Um. Sounds…delicious.” His voice was a low growl. His nibbling had migrated to her neck and was lazily heading south. By the time he reached the sensitive juncture of her neck and shoulder she was ready to melt into a puddle of goo. When he reached up and began tweaking her nipple through her shirt she did melt into a puddle of goo.
With a low groan he pulled himself away from her long enough to yank her shirt over her head. He bent over her, pulling her in close for a kiss.
“Leo Dunne! If I don’t hear water running in five minutes you’ll know what’s what!”
Ruby looked up at Leo. His eyes were wide and bright with suppressed laughter. “Now you know why I ran away from home.” He leaned in and planted a swift kiss on her smiling lips. “Yes, Ma,” he yelled, loud enough to make Ruby wince.
“Should I make sure you wash behind your ears?” Ruby giggled. She hadn’t felt like this since she was a teenager.
“And other places?” His puppy-dog hopeful expression had her hiding her face in his shirt, overcome with the giggles.
He picked her up easily and carried her into the shower. “Let’s conserve water, shall we?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
Leo slipped quietly out of the room. She’d been too tired to make love before nodding off. His kitten was totally exhausted. She’d slipped on a tiny, silky little cream colored thing that she swore was a nightgown and he swore was a wet dream come true. She’d crawled into bed and passed out soon after dinner, curled up around him like the kitten he’d named her. The shower gymnastics he would have loved to indulge in had been interrupted by his pest of a sister, banging on the door and yelling for all she was worth that dinner was ready and he’d better get his Fae butt down the stairs before his mother came up for him. Perhaps it was just as well. He doubted she would have lasted long enough to eat if they’d made love.