Page 119 of Spark

My heart bursting, I kiss her again.

“I have another confession to make,” I say, breaking contact with her lips. “Your place has been move-in ready for weeks now. Sorry about that.”

“What?”

I tell her what I’ve done—the bribes I’ve paid to her building manager—and Ruby looks shocked. Flabbergasted to the extreme.

“How much did you pay him?”

I tell her the outrageous number, and to my relief, Ruby throws her head back and belly laughs from the tips of her toes.

“You’re psychotic,” she says, still laughing. “I’m so turned on.”

I laugh with her, basking in an ocean of relief and love for her. “It was Savage’s deranged idea. I can’t take full credit for it.”

“Of course, that was Adrian Savage’s brainchild. I should have known.”

“I’m the one who executed on it, though,” I say defensively. “So, I think I should still get most of thecredit. Enough for you to feel turned on by meand only me.”

“Oh, I do, baby. Most definitely.” She strokes my face and grins. “Is there anything else you need to confess? Any other insane lies that need to be untangled now, before we officially start this thing and promise total honesty going forward, or is every dastardly secret of yours out in the open?”

I twist my mouth. “Hmm.”

“Oh boy,” she says. “Lay it on me, baby. Now’s the time.”

“I actually passed out cold during the flight from New York to Vancouver. I slept like a baby, as a matter of fact.”

Ruby chortles. “Why did you lie about something as stupid as that?”

“Because you said you’d take a nap with meifI didn’t get any sleep on the plane!”

“Kendrick!”

“I would have said anything to get to lie down with you in an actual bed, Ruby. Also, in my defense, I was still sleep deprived when I woke up. I had a lot of catching up to do. So, it was only a tiny lie.”

Ruby giggles. “Anything else, you psychopath?”

“That journal in my nightstand? It was a decoy, babe. My old journal from last year.”

“Kendrick Cook.”

I can’t help grinning proudly at my chess playing. “I knew you’d snoop around to find my journal the second I left you alone?—”

“I didn’t!”

“So I left something for you to find and get turned on about.”

“I swear, I didn’t snoop. Like I told you, I was looking for a place to put my bag of nighttime stuff.”

“Liar.”

“Oh,you’recallingmea liar—after all the lies you’ve now admitted to telling to get me into your bed?”

I snicker. “Good point. Not only to get you into my bed,though. I’ve always wanted more than that.” I touch her hair. “So much more.”

“Oh, Kendrick.”

I gasp. “I just thought of another lie. Those handcuffs in my nightstand? I bought them specifically for you to find, along with the decoy journal. That huge bottle of lube, too. I didn’t already own any of that stuff. It was all a set-up, designed to feed into your frenzy over ‘Spank.’”

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