Page 82 of Taming Her Temptations

“I wish I could say I did.” I grin at her. “But that’s all Daisy. She’s a smart one.”

“Mm-hm,” Ruby smiles a small smile back at me and hell, I’ll take it.

I place my hands on her waist, feeling like I’m touching the entire ocean.

“Ruby,” I say quietly. “No matter what happens tonight, I just need you to know that we’ve missed you so damn much. It’s been fucking torture.”

She looks at me straight on.

Damn, I’ve missed staring into those big, beautiful eyes of hers. I can see the ocean reflected in her dark pupils.

“My dad told me about the visits to him,” a small laugh escapes her lips. “I thought about answering your calls. I really did. But, well, I told you. I just needed to pretend you didn’t exist for a little bit.”

“And did it work?” I sway with her to the music.

“No,” she shakes her head. “Maybe for a minute at a time. But I thought of you guys so much.” She sounds relieved like she’s sick of having her walls up with us.

A million promises are on the tip of my tongue. I want to give her whatever she needs to feel safe with us again. I open my mouth, but a loud sound interrupts us.

We both turn our heads.

Dean is standing on a table, and he’s somehow found a microphone which was not part of the plan.

“Good evening everyone,” he starts. “I just want to thank you all for coming. You’re the people who have passed the vibe check in this often toxic town.”

“Oh, god.” Ruby whispers, but she has a huge grin on her face.

“We threw this party tonight, or sorry, gala.” He winks at Ruby. “We threw this gala because of one very special person. You guessed it, Ruby Rivers. Let’s all have an applause for Ruby Rivers.”

Everyone in the place claps, and Ruby is really laughing now, waving back at everyone.

“The fact of the matter is, this town has a lot of bull shi-” he stops himself, looking at the group of middle schoolers that were Ruby’s former students. “B.S. This town has a lot of B.S. But Ruby grew up here and still didn’t become disillusioned. Even though people treated her badly, including us. So in honor of Ruby, we want to throw this gala every year to remind people of the good things about this town. The gorgeous sea, the kind hearts that still thrive here, and most importantly, the one and only Ruby Rivers. Let’s change this town for the better and make it a better place for all the babies I hope to pop out with Ruby River in the next one to five years.”

Ruby covers her mouth, but she’s now laughing hysterically.

“Grandkids, huh?” Mr. Rivers pulls up next to us with Odette on his arm.

“Dean’s being optimistic as always. We haven’t even gotten the official pardon,” I whisper to him. He is well aware of our plan to grovel until we get back on his daughter’s good side.

“Looks like it might be coming soon,” he nods towards Ruby and I follow his gaze.

She’s still smiling as Dean and Levi head over our way, and that’s a good sign.

“Follow me,” she says as soon as all three of us gather around her.

We look at each other nervously but do as we’re told. Ruby has that effect on us.

We follow her wordlessly onto the beach.

She leads us to an empty lifeguard shack a short way down the beach and runs her hand along the lattice of the deck until she finds a small key.

“Thank god some things in this town don’t change,” she says as she gets up on the small building and unlocks the door. She opens it wide and signals for us to hurry and get in.

The red light of the sunset streams through the windows as we all crowd into the small space.

Finally, when we’re all settled in front of her, she crosses her arms and leans back on a surfboard rack. She takes what feels like forever just looking at us and I’m holding my breath the entire damn time.

“Okay,” she finally says. A smile creeping across her lips.

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