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  All I can do is continue holding her until she manages to calm down and pray she doesn’t realize the hardness sticking into her ass is my cock, which is so damn inappropriate right now. I’ve no chance though. Having her this close to me makes my heart turn over.

  Chapter 2 ~ Rosie

  My face is hurting like a bitch, and all I can do is blubber all over Ruben, the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. The only man who has ever made my heart pound in excitement, and my legs quiver whenever I hear his voice. Even now, with everything that has happened, my pulse is dancing with excitement at the feel of his strong arms around me and the musky scent that is all him.

  I take another shuddering breath and squeeze out the images from earlier. Tonight had been frightening, and something that didn’t usually happen at Kenza. It was also just my luck to get in the way of a fist as the dick was letting fly at the guy who was being a coward by ducking behind me.

  I’m surprised my teeth hadn’t flown out with the force of his fist. At least the shock of him hitting me froze everyone in place and allowed Tony, and a customer I’d been talking to, Hunter, haul the culprits outside to wait for the cops. Simon quickly lifted me into his arms and carried me back here to Ruben’s office.

  And I’m now being held in Ruben’s arms, which feels amazing and I really don’t want to move because when I do he’ll go back to avoiding me. His avoidance hurts. It hurts a lot especially when I know he spends some of his nights with other women away from the club.

  Simon’s caught me watching Ruben on a few occasions. To make it worse, Simon makes sure I know every time Ruben leaves with someone, which has me spending the rest of the night locked away in my apartment. I try not to think about him being with someone else when my heart aches for him.

  I’m stupid. What would he see in me? He has money and so does his family. I hardly have any. I have a small savings account for emergencies, but nothing to write home about. But I’ve fallen for him in a big way. Every time he does something sweet for one of the staff, or even me, I fall deeper.

  Ruben also frightens me a little bit. He has so much experience with women that if the opportunity ever arose for me to be with him, he’d probably be disappointed. I’ve been with three men, well, boys I guess, in my twenty-three years, and how many women has he been with? Too many to count I bet.

  “Rosie, darlin’.” He starts to caress my back. “Is the pain getting any easier?”

  The painkillers are starting to kick in, and my other senses have started to wake up—I feel him. He’s rock hard against me, and I don’t just mean what’s going on in his pants, although I can definitely feel something hard down there. Ruben’s hard all over—smells damn good too. He has a dark sensual spice that makes me want to lean one inch closer to lick the throbbing pulse in his neck.

  “Mmm,” I moan, moving closer to him. What did he ask me? Something about pain?

  I’m not sure he realizes what he’s doing, but he has his fingers buried in my hair, holding me against him with one hand while the other continues caressing down my back.

  “The pain is more of a throb now,” I whisper, “instead of a fire.”

  My hands without any help from me start to slide through the hair at the nape of his neck.

  He shudders and presses me against him.

  I wiggle my butt to try and get closer still – positive that I’m loosing my mind—unable to help myself now that I’m in his arms.

  He growls, “Rosie,” when I rub against his hard penis.

  Not having much experience with the naked body parts of a man, I have trouble calling it anything but penis. Anne, the girl that I’m friends with from the apartment next door, loves using the word cocksucker—I cringe every time she uses it. Dick isn’t that bad, but cock; I just can’t get my head around it. When I think of a penis, my mind wanders to Ruben, and I try to imagine what his looks like. From the feel of things I’m right with the idea that he’s long with a wide girth. Is the mushroom head of his length red or plum color? Does he leak cum when he’s excited? I shudder at the images racing through my mind.

  I really need to shut my train of thought down because my panties are about to combust. Not to mention the man beneath me who is gripping my hips like he’s about to explode—his breathing uneven—I put my mouth to the pulse in his neck and suck.

  “Jesus. Fuck,” Ruben shouts, jumping up. Before I can get my lust-ridden brain to work, I find myself sprawled out on his office floor with him looming over me—breathing deeply. The bulge behind his zipper twitches as he chokes out, “Rosie.”

  I’ll never get tired of hearing him say my name in that husky growl. He’s only ever used it once before on me, and that was at his niece and nephew’s baptism. It was the tone he used after he’d kissed me—only to keep his distance from me until now.

  Running his fingers through his hair, he clears his throat before resting his hands on his hips. His eyes sparkle as he glares at me. “What the fuck am I going to do with you?” He holds his hand up in the air, silencing my answer. “Don’t say anything until you’re back on your feet,” he holds a hand out to me, which I take and let him haul me up from the floor, “because I’m only human, and seeing you lying on my office floor…flashing your pink, lacy panties, has me seconds from joining you.”

  Blushing, I look around his office to avoid meeting his eyes. But Ruben won’t let me ignore him, and taking a gentle hold of my jaw; he turns my face back to him so I can no longer pretend he isn’t standing in front of me. Our gazes meet and hold before he starts to caress my face. He moves his thumb close to my cheek and I suck in my breath from the pain. He cusses like a sailor when I do.

  I haven’t seen the damage because I really don’t want to, but from the sound of Ruben, it’s a mess.

  “It’s as well Simon dealt with the fucker, otherwise, he’d look twice as bad as you do.” He picks up the ice pack from where it fell on the floor and places it back over my cheek before resting his hand on my shoulder.

  “I’m okay. Really. The painkillers are working.” I shrug my shoulders. “I better get back out there,” I say trying to move away from him, but he stops me with a hand to my forearm.

  “You’re not going back out there tonight. You’re going to go home and rest.” He covers my mouth with a finger stifling my argument, but quickly moves it away. “Don’t be difficult, Rosie. You’re hurting. You need to get in bed. Take some more painkillers and try and sleep through some of the pain. You haven’t taken time off since you started working here so take the week off.”

  Needing space from Ruben, I break our contact. Letting the ice pack fall to the sofa, I start to shuffle toward the door as he follows me. “I’m just going to go and grab my things and head out, but I really don’t need all week off work—maybe a few days.” I can’t afford to take time off work.

  With my hand on the doorknob, Ruben crowds me in against the door—his front against my back with both his hands on the door. His breath caresses my neck sending shivers to parts of my body that really shouldn’t be shivering because of my boss. My heart flutters and my breath catches in my throat as he puts his mouth to my ear.

  “You’ll take the week off—with full pay,” he whispers, “and when you’re back you’ll stay away from the floor. I’m putting you behind the bar.”

  His words don’t register properly with me because all I can concentrate on is his body. It burns into me as his wandering hand slowly moves down toward my hip. He squeezes it before pushing himself away from me.

  “I’ll get Simon to drive you home,” Ruben says as I hear him walking away from me.

  Taking a deep breath, I turn to face Ruben, and tell him, “Thanks, but I can get myself home.” I don’t want to be enclosed in a vehicle with Simon who’s starting to give off the wrong kind of vibes.

  It wasn’t that I didn’t like Simon, it was just that he watches me, but not as a guy who watches someone he’s interested in—thank goodness, but as though he doesn’t trust me. I’ve
no idea why I get that kind of vibe from Simon, but there’s no way I’m going to willingly spend time alone with him.

  “Simon will drive you,” Ruben says, his voice firm and the glint in his eyes challenging. He does not look happy with me right now. “I don’t want anything else happening to you between here and where you live.”

  I close my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I let it out in exasperation. “I’m not ten years old, Ruben. Simon is not taking me home. There are plenty of cabs outside.”

  Pulling open the door, I quickly exit Ruben’s office and make my way to the staff room to get my things.

  The first thing I reach for as soon as I’ve opened my locker are my jeans. Kicking off the shoes I wear for work, I quickly slide my legs into the soft denim and wiggle around to get them up around my hips. With them fastened, I quickly remove my skirt, tossing it into my purse. I follow it with my long-sleeved shirt. My feet nice and secure in my boots, I shove the strap of my purse over my shoulder and make sure my locker is secure. I just want to leave and get back to my apartment to cry my eyes out for the rest of the night. My emotions are all over the place thanks to Ruben and my face feels like it’s been hit with a brick instead of a fist. I need to be alone. I’m used to being alone.

  Stepping into the hall—I freeze.

  “You win,” Ruben says, pushing off the wall he was leaning on. It’s clear that he’s waiting for me, “but I’m going to make sure you get inside a cab in one piece.”

  I sigh. I can’t complain about that. If I’m truthful I wasn’t looking forward to walking out front on my own with the line of people waiting to get in. Sometimes they can be obnoxious as shit.

  “Thank you,” I say as he takes my elbow. I take in the profile of his set jaw and smile, a wave of mischievousness crashing over me as I add, “But don’t make a habit of bossing me around.”

  His hand briefly tightens on my elbow before it slackens again. He chuckles. “We’ll see.”

  Outside in the cool air, Ruben ignores everyone shouting for his attention and opens the door of a cab for me. As I’m about to climb in, he stops me with a hand on my arm. I turn to look at him. His face is an open book to me and I can see the internal struggle play across it, but what he’s struggling with is beyond me.

  “Let me see your phone.”

  Not sure what he wants my phone for, I hesitate before passing it to him. He begins typing into it then I hear the one in his pocket beep, which he removes and checks the screen.

  “That’s my private number. Use it if you need anything. I mean it, Rosie. Anything.” He passes my phone back to me, which I clutch as he practically shoves me into the cab. Slamming the door closed, he bangs on the roof a couple of times.

  The cab pulls out into traffic and I can’t help but turn to watch Ruben in the rear window. I hold Ruben’s stare until the cab turns out of view.

  Dropping my head to the seat, I wince when my head begins to pound, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to forget watching Ruben as we drove away. He looked…lost.

  Chapter 3 ~ Ruben

  Pulling up to the side of my parent’s house for Sunday dinner, I grin when I spot Lily and Carla on the front porch with a baby on each of their laps, and Sabrina leaning over Carla to play with one of the twins.

  My mom is beside herself having grandchildren, thanks to my brother Michael and his beautiful wife, Lily. But mom is driving the rest of us crazy with questions. When are we going to get married and give her more grandbabies? Ugh!

  Ramon always manages to give her the slip. But despite that saving grace, something is always off with him. For a while now, Ramon has looked troubled, something that I’m not used to seeing since he’s always been the more carefree brother. My brow wrinkles as I think of my youngest brother…I definitely need to find time to chat with him; maybe I can get to the bottom of it, although he’s the hardest of my brothers to crack.

  Lucien takes her questions in stride, but he definitely has his shorts in a wad over Lily’s friend Sabrina. We all see this apart from him. Apparently, because of his accident he isn’t any use to anyone and certainly wouldn’t want anyone to wake up beside him and have to look at his scars. I hope he finally gets it on with Sabrina because something tells me she’ll be good for him.

  As for me, well, there’s only one woman who makes me crazy. Only one woman who I can’t get out of my head. One woman who gives me the hardest fucking cock that can pound nails. Rosie. Sweet, innocent Rosie. But she’s too damn innocent for my tastes; even though I’d be lying if I said the thought of teaching her what I like isn’t a huge fucking turn on.

  It’s taken everything in me not to visit her this past week. She’d listened to me and taken the week off and I’d wanted to check on her every single day—hell, every single minute. I gave in on Wednesday and shot her a text asking if she was okay. I received a ‘yes, I’m fine’ in response. What I was expecting I’ve no idea, but ‘yes, I’m fine’ pissed me off.

  “What the fuck?”

  Lucien brings me abruptly back to the present by opening the car door, scaring the shit outta me.

  “What, you daydreaming like a girl now?” Lucien asks, grinning like an idiot.

  Pushing the door into him, he takes a step back as I jump from the car. “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”

  Slamming the door shut, I ignore him, walking past to head toward the house. He smirks and says, “No need to get your panties in a twist because I caught you daydreaming about Rosie,” under his breath.

  Fuck! I glare at my brother. “Do I have a sign across my forehead ‘Ruben can’t stop thinking about Rosie’?”

  He starts to laugh, and says, “I never thought you’d admit it,” before rubbing his hand across his face, and meeting my gaze.

  With my hands on my hips, I expel a breath and shake my head. “I walked right into that one.” I chuckle, which turns into a frown. “Nothing can happen between us. She’s about eleven years younger than me with a look of innocence. I’d scare her off.” I look toward the house, sigh and continue, “I’m also her boss, and she is the best damn employee I have on that floor, although after the past weekend she’s on the bar for the foreseeable future.”

  “C’mon, mom keeps looking at us through the window.” Lucien gets me moving again toward the house. “I’ll leave Rosie and your love life alone for now, but not forever.” He grins before becoming serious again. “Ramon told me what happened to her. Do you think the fight had anything to do with the trouble you’ve been having?”

  “That thought has crossed my mind a few times. My gut is telling me it has everything to do with it. But how does a fight in the club have anything to do with the vandalism and break-in? It doesn’t make sense.”

  I can feel the worry lines in my brow; something is going on at my club and has been for a while now. The pisser is no matter what I do to try and find out who is behind it all I always end up with zilch—nothing.

  “I’ll come and hang out at Kenza a couple of times a week. See if I catch anything going on. Ramon can come and be social for a change. I don’t know what the fucks up with him. He’s been distracted since Carla moved in with Sebastian.” Lucien frowns as we walk up the steps to the front porch in time to hear the twins wake up—noisily.

  We watch Lily and Carla cuddle the babies, who are getting damn big for eight months old.

  Lucien moves forward and kissing Lily on the cheek, plucks Michael Jr. out of her arms. Straightening he places our nephew on his shoulder, which shuts him up immediately. Not wanting to be out done by my brother, I go and greet Carla by kissing her on the top of her head.

  “Get your hands off my woman, brother.”

  Snickering, I tell Sebastian, “She’s damn sexy with a baby in her arms, and I didn’t have my hands on her. I had my mouth.” I grin at Carla, who rolls her eyes at our teasing. Pinching Charlotte out of her arms, I get her to quiet down on my shoulder with her little face tucked into my neck. I take in a deep breath and smi
le at the little angel in my arms.

  “Besides, this is my girl right here,” I announce rubbing Charlotte’s back. I move her slightly away from my neck and kiss her little nose. God, Charlotte and Jr. have me wrapped around their little fingers. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them—nothing I wouldn’t give them. I lose my ‘man card’ when I’m around these two bundles, and no matter what my brothers say they’re just the same. The twins have everyone wrapped around their little fingers.

  “How are you Sabrina? Haven’t seen you for a few weeks.” Usually, Sabrina is at the house every Sunday for dinner because my mom has adopted her after witnessing her interaction with her own mother. Sabrina’s mom seemed more interested in her damn nails than she did in Sabrina’s sprained wrist, which she’d gotten through playing a rather vigorous game of tennis with Ramon.

  “I’m good. Thanks Ruben,” she answers, with a quick glance at Lucien before she moves toward the door to the house. “I’ll see if Pippa needs any help.” She disappears inside.

  “You have to stop scaring her off,” I turn to Lucien, “otherwise she’s going to stop coming by, which will only upset mom. Plus I really like her.” I grin, which turns into a laugh when Sebastian clamps his arm around Lucien’s shoulders.

  Sebastian grins at Carla, and says to Lucien, “If it wasn’t for my woman over there, I’d be doing something about her.” He gets an elbow in the ribs for his teasing.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lucien defends and takes the seat next to Lily, who leans in to offer her finger for her son to grasp.

  “Behave, and leave your brother alone,” Lily tells us before kissing Lucien on the cheek.

  Anyone watching would think that Lucien was the father of these babies with the way they both carry on. In fact, I’m not sure how Michael has accepted the close relationship that she has with our brother.

  We all trust Lucien—the brother code—but Lily and Lucien always seemed too comfortable with each other. Once or twice since Michael accepted her friendship with Lucien, I’ve wondered whether Lucien has stronger feelings for Lily than what he lets on. But it’s none of my business.