She’d been doing it ever since. As soon as she knew he was there, she either hid or left. It was driving him insane. He’d managed to hide his presence from her once or twice, and caught glimpses of the warm, funny woman she truly was. He’d finally called in the cavalry in the form of Mandy, who’d been delighted to set up her shy best friend.
He’d have made his move sooner if it hadn’t been for Kaitlynn Malmayne and the negotiations with the Malmayne family. Hopefully she now understood that Leo was unavailable for anything she might want from him. He’d finally gotten Kaitlynn and her posse back on the plane to L.A. It was time, past time, to claim his woman.
Tonight he was going to do everything in his power to see to it that this time Ruby had no reason to run. He turned in place again, sighing in disappointment.
If I can find her, that is.
When he finally saw her, he nearly choked. The two women stood together, looking around. They’d obviously just arrived, and were checking the party out, seeing who was there. Mandy wore a white leather miniskirt, white satin corset, silver belt, and white choker with a silver charm dangling from it. Her thigh-high white leather boots had four-inch heels, making her already impressive height even more impressive.
White strips of cloth dangled from two wires protruding from her back, and Leo figured they were meant to represent wings. A silver halo gleamed above the golden curls that drifted across her shoulders.
Peeking out from behind her white wings was the sexiest little devil Leo had ever seen.
She wore the same exact outfit Mandy did, but in red and black. Gleaming red satin cupped the smooth golden globes of her breasts. Red leather clung to her hips. Black thigh-high boots hugged those delicious legs. Tiny red horns peeked out from her reddish brown hair. A black bit of glass dangled from the red choker surrounding her slender throat. She looked terrified. He studied her face, feeling a sense of completion that never failed to stun him.
She was the most beautiful woman in the room.
Dark brown brows arched delicately over a pair of sherry eyes tipped with the darkest, longest lashes he’d ever seen. Her nose had a slight tilt at the end. She nibbled anxiously at her full bottom lip, her high cheekbones flushed with excitement and trepidation. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for something or someone.
Mandy pulled Ruby out from behind her and shoved her into the room with a grip that would do a cop proud. Ruby glared at her friend and wiggled, obviously trying to pull her arm free. That little jiggle did things for her body that had to be illegal in several states.
He suddenly wished his leather pants weren’t quite so tight. His body saluted the little devil, straining against the leather. When she took a deep breath, those amazing breasts pushed up and out of the corset, forcing Leo to swallow a groan.
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9
Dana Marie Bell
Damn. Talking Mandy into giving him a hand getting Ruby to relax had been seriously worth it. The woman who’d haunted his dreams for months looked incredible. Even under the shapeless clothes she wore to the office he’d known she was sweetly rounded, just the way he liked his women. Ruby had generous breasts that begged for a man’s hands and mouth, hips you could hold on to while riding her to oblivion, and an ass he’d die to sink his teeth into. Voluptuous, that was the word. And her scent. That vanilla and peaches scent that drifted around her wherever she went. It was enough to drive him insane. Hell, he’d passed a bakery on his way home the other night and gotten hard just smelling the vanilla scents drifting out the door. If it hadn’t been for the negotiations with the Malmaynes, he would have been after her a hell of a lot sooner. Escorting Kaitlynn around town and showing her the sights had bored the spit out of him.
Kaitlynn’s saccharine sweetness was like nails on a chalkboard, not that he’d tell the blonde princess that.
And her sycophantic, selfish cousins were even worse.
If he had to even look at another leggy, flat-chested, half-starved, self-absorbed socialite he’d go stark raving mad.
Now he just had to convince his shy little devil to take a chance on him. He moved through the crowd, determined to claim her before anyone else could.
Ruby glared at Mandy, wondering if a jury would convict her if she killed her best friend. Mandy merely grinned and nudged her again, causing Ruby to lose her balance in those damned four-inch heels.
“Oh!” She squealed, preparing herself for a fall to the hard wooden floor.
Instead, she landed on a hard, bare chest. An incredibly hot bare chest. The best male chest she’d ever felt before in her life. She had to resist the urge to pet and stroke the rock hard muscles rippling under that silky skin.
“Sorry,” she muttered, feeling herself turn red. She risked a peek up.
And up. The owner of the chest was tall. Her head barely topped his shoulders in her four inch heels.
She nibbled again at her bottom lip, her eyes tracing their way up to the face above the chest.
Oh boy.