“So,” she asked coyly, “do you do things like this for the other girls too?”
That was enough to snap me out of my stupor. Ruby was fishing for some kind of confirmation that she meant more to me than all the other girls, and it was way too soon for that. While she might very well be more special, I still didn’t know where this was going. Shit, it had been a big step for me to break my rule, so I was not about to take it a step further and profess feelings for this woman.
“Nah, never have, but it’s no big deal,” I said coolly, then changed the subject quick. “You hungry?”
She looked disappointed by my less than enthusiastic response, but knew enough not to complain like she was my woman or something. “Sure. Did you change your mind? Should I cook for you?”
“No. You’re wearing the hell out of that dress. I thought I’d take you out to a restaurant. No doubt you’ll be the most beautiful woman there.”
I was right. There was not a woman in the place whose looks came anywhere close to Ruby’s. One woman actually had to smack her husband to make him stop staring. I knew how dude felt, though. Halfway through the appetizers I thought I was going to lose my mind watching the way she ate her shrimp cocktail. She dipped a fat, juicy shrimp into the cocktail sauce, brought it up to her mouth ever so slowly, rested the tip on her tongue, then wrapped her full, sexy lips around it, sucking off the sauce before she bit into it. I don’t have to tell you what she had me thinking about. I was so into this sexy show that a moan almost escaped my lips right there at the table.
“So, you broke your rule for me, Mr. Orlando,” she said with a flirtatious smile. “And not only have I been invited back for a second time, but you’re taking me out in public—and to such a fancy place.”
Again, she was fishing for compliments or commitment or something, but I wasn’t going there. “You know, I was a little worried that Remy wouldn’t be able to find you. He tells me you’re no longer working for him.”
She lowered her eyes. I’d hit a sore spot. “Yes,” she said with a sad little sigh. “After my night with you I told him I didn’t think I was cut out for this line of work. I was not raised this way. My parents would die if they knew what I was doing here in the States.”
“They’re still in Jamaica?” I asked.
“Yes. My family is the only reason I agreed to come back when Remy called. I had no other way to earn money to send back to them.”
Now, I understood family loyalty, but damn, this was taking it to another level. “You’re saying you can’t find any other line of work? Something that will make you happier?”
The way she appeared to withdraw into herself, I realized maybe my question hadn’t been very sensitive. After a long moment of silence, she practically whispered, “I don’t have a work visa.”
I nodded. “Say no more. Forgive me for prying.”
She seemed to relax a little, I guess since she saw that I wasn’t going to report her to the INS or something. “I only plan on doing this for a while. Once I’ve earned enough, I will go home to my parents and my daughter.”
“You have a child?”
She nodded, then looked away quickly. “You must think less of me now, no? What type of woman leaves her child behind and goes to another country to sell herself to strangers?”
Rules be damned, this woman was arousing feelings of tenderness in me I thought I might never allow myself to feel again. I reached across and put my hand under her chin to make her turn and look at me. Her eyes were glistening with tears. “Hey, you’re doing what you have to do to take care of your child. I don’t judge you for that, and you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Thank you,” she said and wiped her eyes.