Page 61 of Theirs to Take

“I appreciate that man,” Ranger gushed, pulling him in for a quick side hug.

Ruby cleared her throat, interrupting their bro moment. “Um, I’m Ruby,” she said. “Luke and I work together.” She looked at Luke as if to confirm that she had said the right thing and he nodded and smiled at her.

“It’s a little bit more complicated than that,” Luke admitted. “But we’re still negotiating everything.”

“So, you two are together and you came here thinking that no one else would add that up?” Ranger asked.

“Well, that part isn’t really his fault,” Ruby defended. “I mean, today was the first day that Luke really talked to me. He said that I was hot when we were in the elevator together, and well, I didn’t believe him until he showed up here. He interrupted my dinner with Millie, but I was fine with that. I shared my Chinese food with him, and he kissed me. Well, he more than kissed me, but that’s mostly private stuff that you really don’t need to know.” God, Luke found everything about Ruby to be completely adorable—even the way that she rambledand overshared when she was nervous. “Is she for real?” Ranger asked.

“Yeah, Ruby overshares when she’s a little frazzled,” Luke said. “Pretty cute, huh?”

“Um, sure,” Ranger said. “But that was a whole lot of oversharing.”

“Sorry about that,” Ruby whispered. “I don’t really have a filter, especially when I’m nervous, and being around two hot guys tends to make me more nervous than usual.”

“Two hot guys?” Luke asked. He didn’t like that Ruby thought about Ranger that way.

“Yeah—you and Ranger are both hot,” she said. “I picked up your name from when Luke and you were having your special reunion. I hope you don’t mind me calling you by your name.”

“No,” Ranger breathed. “I mean, everyone calls me Ranger, so have at it.”

“Is that your real name?” she asked.

“No,” Ranger admitted. “But if I told you my real name, I’d have to kill you.” Ruby looked nervously between him and Ranger and giggled. She didn’t stop until she realized that his buddy wasn’t laughing, and poor Ruby stopped giggling and cleared her throat.

“I see,” she whispered.

“Listen,” Ranger said, “you two aren’t safe here anymore. As I said earlier, if I found you, the guys trailing you will be able to find you too. You’ve put her in danger by coming here.”

“I know,” Luke admitted. “And I feel like shit that I did it, but now, I have to figure out my next step. It’s what we were doing when you showed up—figuring out what comes next.”

Ruby giggled and cleared her throat again when he shot her a look. “I bet that’s what the two of you were doing. But I’m here now, and I think I can help with the next steps. I’ve got a placewhere you both can lie low for a bit until we can fill in the blanks. You two up for a little road trip?” Ranger asked.

“What about Millie?” Ruby asked. “She saw him here. Will they hurt her trying to find out where we went?”

“Who’s Millie again?” Ranger asked, rubbing his head, trying to keep up with Ruby.

“My neighbor—the one that I was supposed to have dinner with tonight until Luke showed up here,” Ruby said.

“Right, I’ll keep an eye on her to make sure that no one shows up here asking questions. You’ll need to introduce her to me on your way out,” Ranger ordered.

“I’m sure that she’s going to love meeting you,” Ruby teased.

“Great,” Ranger grumbled. “You two have ten minutes before you have to hit the road. Get packing.”

“I’m already packed,” Luke said, nodding to his duffel bag. “I still travel light.”

“I see,” Ranger said. “You now have nine minutes, Ruby,” he said, looking her over.

“On it,” Ruby said, running back to her bedroom.

Luke watched her go to the back of the apartment and turned to Ranger. “I hope that I didn’t just get her killed, because I really fucking like her,” Luke admitted.

Ruby

Ruby wasted no time packing up some of her things. She should have been worried about how she had gotten mixed up in this whole mess, but she wasn’t. In fact, Ruby felt downright giddy that she was about to go on an adventure with one of the hottest men that she had ever met. What the hell was wrong with her?

All she could do was chalk it up to the fact that she really never had anything exciting happen in her life up to this point. Her life was utterly boring and predictable and there was nothing that she could do about it. Sure, she tried to put herself out there—honestly, she did. But she never found acceptance and because of that, she was never really invited to join in anything fun or exciting.

---