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She’d always known this would happen. Why was she taking it so hard? Perhaps it was just that with Luke gone she wouldn’t have him to lean on when she and Jacie did the presentation they’d been working on for The Rialto tomorrow morning. She hadn’t spoken to him about it, at all, because they’d both been careful to avoid any questions about The Royale’s future.
But without Luke’s sturdy, steady presence by her side, as a lover and a friend, and his expert skills in the sack to send her into an endorphin coma, reality just seemed that much more real.
This wobble wasn’t really about Luke and his imminent departure, this was about her and all the pressure she’d been busy refusing to acknowledge since they’d begun their nightly bonkfests. Avoidance had been wonderful while it lasted, but she couldn’t spend the rest of her life relying on Luke to make her feel good.
‘Perhaps you could persuade him to stay?’ Jacie offered.
Ruby’s heart punched her ribs as she shook her head.
‘No, I couldn’t. And even if I could …’ And luckily, even she had never been that delusional. ‘I wouldn’t.’
Jacie shrugged, but didn’t argue the point.
As Ruby headed upstairs to prepare for her first – and probably last – proper date with Luke Devlin, the hole in her stomach didn’t feel quite so bottomless.
She and Jacie had worked up a brilliant proposal and they’d gotten the green light from The Rialto to make the presentation tomorrow. She didn’t need Luke to save her, because she’d always been capable of saving herself.
She was going to make the Happy Ever After finale of The Ruby Movie happen even if Luke Devlin was about to leave the building.
***
‘Hey, Ruby, long time no see,’ Brynn wiped down the bar and sent Ruby his sauciest smile when she stepped into the local pub three minutes after six o’clock. The place wasn’t too packed yet because it was a week night before ten and Brynn wasn’t doing any of his special events to attract customers like Drag Singalong, or Drag Stand-Up or Drag Queens’ Quiz Night.
‘Hi, Brynn,’ she said, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darker light inside the bar.
‘By the way, Ruby, do you fancy some free entertainment for your Babs and Bob night on Saturday? I thought I could do my version of The Way We Were for the punters. I know how much Matty adored that song.’
‘And your rendition of it,’ Ruby added, smiling. ‘That would be absolutely wonderful, Brynn, I’ll stick it on the poster, if you’re sure?’
‘Course I am, honey,’ he said, then pointed her towards the back of the bar, beside the stage. ‘Your man’s in the corner booth waiting on you. You want me to fix you a lemon-tini?’ he added with a wink.
‘Yes, please.’
Your man? Had her and Luke’s liaison been a secret from anyone at all?
She hesitated by the bar, not wanting to dash straight over to Luke and give away her eagerness.
‘You go on, I’ll bring it over,’ Brynn said, picking up on her eagerness anyway. So much for subtlety.
As she approached the back of the bar, Luke had his head down, tapping out something on his phone with both thumbs – probably travel plans – and nursing a Sam Adams, which she now knew was his favourite craft beer. Funny to think of all the pieces of useless information you could pick up about a man after sleeping with him every night for close to three weeks.
Spotting her, he clicked the phone to sleep mode and stood up as she approached.
Had it really only been twenty days?
She absorbed his muscular physique in the dark designer suit, the jacket unbuttoned and the perfect crease in the trousers. He looked like the man she’d first seen up close in Ryker’s office, rich and reserved, and nothing like the man who had lived in worn overalls and a tool belt doing manual labour for the past five and a half weeks.
‘Hi, Ruby, glad you could make it,’ he said, touching her arm and guiding her into the seat across from him. ‘Is that a new dress? I haven’t seen you in it before,’ he said, his gaze skating over the green satin mini-dress she’d taken out of mothballs.
‘Let’s be honest, you haven’t seen me in much except my Royale T-shirt,’ she said, trying to smile flirtatiously past the ball of misery forming in her throat.
Why did everything seem so formal all of a sudden? And why was having that hot appreciative gaze on her once more only making this tougher?
‘I’m starting to believe in kismet,’ he said, his gaze finally returning to her. ‘Because the dress is perfect for what I had in mind for tonight.’
‘It is? What did you have in mind?’ she asked because his gaze had gone past formal straight to feral, and as much as she wanted to keep it there, the not knowing what the heck was going on was not relieving the tension in her tummy.
‘I need you to rescue me.’ He covered her hand on the table and stroked his thumb across the knuckles, making heat coat the knots in her stomach. ‘Please tell me you got Jace to sub for the whole night?’
