Yvonne scoffed. “Are you seriously lecturing me on how to fix my ‘marriage?’ I thought you didn’t approve of it in the first place.”
“I don’t. But I know you well enough. I know that you’re too stubborn to do anything other than see this ridiculous charade through to the end. So you need to make it as easy as possible, which means you need to make nice with Ruby.” Before Yvonne could protest, Madison stood. “I need to get going. Blair left an hour ago, and unlike you, I’m not about to leave her waiting up for me all night. Just think about what I said. Make nice with Ruby. And go home.”
Yvonne muttered a goodbye. Madison left her office.
Yvonne opened her laptop up again. ‘Making nice’ with Ruby was not an option, no matter how much Yvonne wanted to.
That image flashed in her mind again. Ruby on the bed, in nothing but a simple black dress, her hair falling down her shoulders like gold silk. All Yvonne’s toys scattered on the bed around her, a tempting cornucopia of tools with which Yvonne could lavish endless agonizing pleasures upon her. Yvonne should have been furious that Ruby had invaded her space, gone through her things, touched the precious toys she so painstakingly cared for and stored. Yet Yvonne had been too deeply distracted by her desire for Ruby to care.
As Yvonne played the scene over again in her mind, she finally realized what that change, that shift in Ruby had been that night. It was as if the mask Ruby wore, the one that transformed her into a seductive fantasy, had fallen away. At that moment, Yvonne had gotten a glimpse of the real Ruby.
It had been the real Ruby who had said I want this. It had been the real Ruby who had pleaded for Yvonne to teach her. It had been the real Ruby who had gotten on her hands and knees and crawled to Yvonne’s feet.
And that side of Ruby was even more irresistible than the woman Yvonne had met at the bar.
Ruby stared at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. It was late, almost midnight, and she was alone in the apartment. There was no sign of Yvonne at all.
As far as Ruby was concerned, that was a good thing. Since that night in Yvonne’s ‘playroom,’ Ruby had been avoiding Yvonne. However, she suspected she didn’t need to avoid Yvonne at all. Yvonne had been spending even more time out of the apartment than before. Ruby had no doubt that she was the reason.
Crawl. Despite all the days that had passed, Yvonne’s command still haunted Ruby. She kept replaying the scene in her head, over and over and over. She’d been so helpless under Yvonne’s gaze, unable to resist the urge to do exactly what Yvonne had told her. And the worst part?
Ruby had enjoyed every second of it.
Ruby rinsed out her mouth and splashed some cold water on her burning face. Just thinking about that moment gave her the same thrill that she’d felt that night. Ruby had always had submissive tendencies. She liked giving up control, liked letting others take charge in the bedroom. But it was one thing to have someone spank her during sex, or to mess around with a pair of handcuffs. This was something else entirely. That moment when Ruby had gotten on her knees and crawled to Yvonne’s feet—it had triggered something inside her, that dark, insatiable side of her that craved submission. And she may have been imagining it, but she had sensed a shift in Yvonne too. What had passed between them?
It had felt so right.
But Yvonne had turned her back on Ruby. She’d left Ruby kneeling on the floor. And that stung.
Ruby headed back into her bedroom. It was time for yet another night spent lying awake, wondering if she’d made a mistake by agreeing to this sham of a marriage. The situation had been bad enough before, but Ruby had made things even worse. She should never have tried to seduce Yvonne.
Could she really survive a year of this? Of living with a woman who was equal parts sexy and cold? Who awakened all of Ruby’s fantasies, who pushed all her buttons?
Shedding everything but a t-shirt and her underwear, Ruby slipped into her bed then turned off the light. She shut her eyes, desperately willing sleep to come and save her from everything she was feeling. Regret. Hurt.
Desire.
Ruby sighed. Despite it all, despite Yvonne literally turning her back on Ruby, she wanted Yvonne even more.
As the beginnings of sleep finally began to take her, Ruby heard the faint sound of the front door opening at the other end of the apartment. So Yvonne was home. Ruby didn’t care. As Yvonne’s footsteps echoed down the hall, growing closer, Ruby rolled over and pulled the covers up over her, waiting for Yvonne to pass and continue to her bedroom.
But instead, the footsteps stopped at Ruby’s door.
Ruby’s heart thumped. She waited. Five seconds, then ten, then twenty. But all she heard was silence. Perhaps Yvonne had already moved on and Ruby hadn’t heard her? Ruby turned over in bed again, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling nagging at her.
Quietly, Ruby switched on the lamp, got out of bed, and padded to the door. She turned the door handle and opened it wide.
Yvonne. Yvonne was standing in the doorway.
Ruby looked at the woman’s face. In the dim light, it was shrouded in darkness, but Ruby could see that it was set like stone, even more expressionless than usual.
But within Yvonne’s eyes, a fire smoldered that set every part of Ruby’s body alight.
“Yvonne,” Ruby whispered. “I-”
“Don’t speak.”
Ruby fell silent. Yvonne gazed back at her, probing, piercing, stripping away all of Ruby’s layers, until all that was left was the part of her that had answered
