ClaimingRuby by Scarlett Sanderson Page B

squeezed her inner
muscles and his cock twitched.
    He swatted her butt. “Tease.”
    Shakily, she smoothed his hair. “I’m sorry.”
    “So you should be.”
    It was her turn to swat him. “I think we better get cleaned
up.”
    He pulled out and it elicited a groan from both of them. As
he disposed of the condom, she wiped between her thighs with a washcloth. Her
body hummed and vibrated with sated lust but underneath lay a deeper happiness.
This had been about possession, taking what was his.
    Too late. She already belonged to him. It was irrational.
Too fast, too soon, yet she couldn’t deny it. He owned her physically and she
was already half in love with him. After all he’d said moments earlier, maybe
he felt the same.
    She helped him straighten his tie and basked in the glow of
a comfortable silence. No matter what Julia said, she wasn’t the one who’d just
fucked Joshua in a bathroom.
    “Ready to go back to the party?” She ironed out a wrinkle in
her dress.
    He held out a hand. “Together?”
    “Together.”
    Fuck Julia Lowe and her bitchy attitude. Joshua Quinn
belonged to her. Even if only for the time being.

Chapter Seven
     
    Ruby stretched. She’d been sitting at the bookstore counter
for hours, going over budget spreadsheets. Her muscles burned, her inner thighs
throbbed and her hip bones felt tender. She’d been well used last night and
punished for her insolence. Possessed. It amazed her how wild he’d been, that
edge of danger lurking under the surface.
    Joshua had taken her will and demanded she give herself to
him. He’d surrounded her with control and sex. She pressed the heel of her hand
to her chest and massaged. She’d fallen in love with him. Hard. Fast.
    Stupid or not, she couldn’t deny her feelings.
    He’d taken her, claimed her, but how did he feel? She’d
never been one for casual sex. It was partly the reason she’d never sought a
play partner—the other reason was she’d worried all Doms were like her ex.
    Pushing aside black thoughts, she focused on the now. The
raw sensuality coursing through her veins. She belonged to someone. A
Master—one who made her soul sing and soar.
    Jamie slapped a tabloid on the counter. “You need to look at
page seven.” From the firm slash of her lips, her friend wasn’t happy.
    Ruby skipped through the pages and stopped at number seven.
Joshua’s rugged face stared back from a page full of glossy photographs. He
looked startled, eyes wide, a frown marring his brow. One arm was snug around
the waist of Julia Lowe in an intimate gesture as his fingers splayed across
her pelvis. In one image, they were locked in a kiss.
    The coy expression on Julia’s face punched a hole in Ruby’s
gut. Her muscles became heavy. The weight of disappointment, hurt and anger
were a heavy burden.
    “Look when it was taken.” Jamie pointed at the date.
    Last night. After they’d had sex. The publishers must have
rushed the photograph into the last edition. While she’d been home thinking
everything was roses, recovering from amazing sex at the party, Joshua had been
with her .
    Without reading the caption, she slammed the cover closed.
    “That rat bastard.” Jamie’s arm snaked around Ruby’s
shoulders and pulled her into a comforting embrace. “I’ll geld him. Do you want
me to geld him, honey?”
    Unshed tears threatened to fall. Pain seeped into her pores.
A knot tightened in her stomach and she swallowed bile.
    After all he’d said, done, drawn from her, he’d abused her
trust, lied and done exactly the thing she’d feared. The need to curl into a
ball, lie in a dark room and cry was overwhelming. But she was stronger than
that.
    “I’m okay.” She patted Jamie’s forearm. “Really. I’m pissed
as hell but okay.”
    She snatched up her keys, purse and the offending magazine.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To put an end to this.”
    The drive to the offices of Quinn Enterprises flew by in a
blur. She shouldn’t have been driving in