Ruby let the aroma of garlic and fresh tomatoes in a buttery sauce drift over her face. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“Dig in. It looks amazing.”
Later that evening when Simon dropped her off home, he walked her to the door. “Thank you for tonight. I really enjoyed spending time with you, Ruby.”
“It was a lovely evening. Thank you.” The snuffles and whines came from inside the house. Despite her earlier disappointment with him, she couldn’t refuse her pets the greeting again. “You’d better say hello to the fur babies. They know you’re here.” Ruby opened the door and stood back as her brood launched themselves at Simon. She couldn’t believe they were so attracted to him. She shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d always had a soft spot for Harley and Honey, even though he hadn’t known them for very long before they broke up.
He sat down on the floor and gave them all a cuddle and let them lick his face in turn. “Yes, yes. I love you too.” He laughed when Harley tried to crawl up his chest. “You’re adorable, you know that?”
Ruby watched as Ziggy huddled by the couch watching the rest of her tribe lose it over Simon. No matter how safe it might seem, the little pug couldn’t bring herself to forget what’d been done to her and join in the fun.
It was a little bit like how Ruby felt about Simon. She wanted to let her guard down but the very thought of doing so and risking her heart to a man who’d let her down once, scared her more than she dared admit.
Chapter 6
By the time he was due to pick Ruby up for the next date, Simon was a bundle of nerves. He’d hatched a deal with Wes that he would arrange their dates since he’d upped the details at the auction. It was time to put his inner romantic on and see if he could sway Ruby to forgive him.
When she opened the door, he almost died. Her hair was tied back, her face free from makeup and she wore the cutest three quarter pants with butterflies up the side that he’d ever seen. Her t-shirt was white with a photo of a French Bulldog wearing sunglasses, and a pink top hat. It could be a photo of his own fur baby George whom he’d left at home on his own. Simon couldn’t wait to get the chance to introduce his mate to Ruby.
“Nice morning for a ride.”
She tilted her head to one side and folded her arms. “Say that again.”
He cleared his throat. “I said, nice morning for a ride.”
Her lips tilted at the edges and laughter danced in her eyes. “Bike ride?”
Simon was starting to have second thoughts. “Yeah. Why?”
The dogs ran out of the house and danced around his feet, sniffing madly at his shoes.
Ruby chewed on her bottom lip. “Because if I remember rightly, the last time you rode a bike was when we first dated and that didn’t end well. Hearing you suggest it made me wonder what was going on and if that was what you meant.”
Heat flared in his cheeks and he adjusted his glasses, to cover his embarrassment. She was right but he thought Ruby might have forgotten that particular part of the day. He’d wanted to impress her and try to dispel her idea that all he cared about was his computer. Since she liked the great outdoors, he offered to take her bike riding. After grazed knees and elbows with a mild case of concussion, he hadn’t offered again.
“I thought it might be nice to get outside and have some fresh air. It’s a beautiful day. Barely a cloud in the sky.”
He patted the four dogs giving him the onceover. “If you’d rather, we can give it a miss and take the dogs for a walk.”
She grinned and a wicked glint appeared in her eyes. “No, a ride would be great. I can walk the dogs later.” She corralled the fur babies back inside and grabbed a small backpack for her purse and water bottle. She slapped a cap on her head and a pair of sunglasses and faced him. “I’m ready when you are.”
He’d never be ready but at least he was being brave. He wasn’t the type to spend long hours in the great outdoors but he wanted to show Ruby that he’d grown up since they’d broken up. That if she was to take a chance on him, she wouldn’t have a life watching him work. That he could do the things she liked as well. That he wasn’t as self-centered as he used to be.
Simon helped her into the car and started driving back toward San Francisco. He made small talk to hide his nerves until they got to the bike hire company. “Right, let’s go choose our transport.”
“Where are we going?” She followed him inside the store and glanced at the array of bikes.
“I thought we could go over the bridge, ride around Sausalito until we find a café for lunch. Then, it you like we can ride back or we can catch the ferry.”
Her lips twitched. “That’s not a short date, Simon. That’s going to take hours. I hadn’t planned on leaving the dogs for that long today. We usually do lots of walking together on the weekend.”
“I can help you when we get back—if you like that is. Whenever you want to go home, just say so.”
She stared at him for a moment and he had no idea what was going through her head. Eventually Ruby nodded and chose a bike. Once they’d done the paperwork, Simon led her out of the store. His first attempt at getting on the bike was less than stellar. He fumbled the pedals and slipped but soon got the hang of it.
Soon they were biking along the Golden Gate Bridge track and she was ahead of him,
