the top of her head, and wild, loose curls cascade down and around her shoulders.
A cream-colored sweater dips down and off a tanned shoulder, and the fabric of her dark denim jeans hugs her ass perfectly.
I smile to myself, thinking about how I had that bare ass in my hands just this morning as she laughs at something Kevin says. It’s weird, being okay with my woman having someone who undoubtedly wanted to fuck her at one time as her best friend, but I’ve been around him enough in the last couple months to know he’s a good guy.
In fact, he was rooting for my success behind the scenes all along. Who knew?
I’m just about to admire the thigh-high, brown suede boots my woman is wearing in a concerted effort to give me a raging boner when Ruby’s dad walks up next to me and stops.
I smile. When it comes to Mark Rockford, you really never know what might come out of his mouth, and I seriously love that about him.
“Well, son. I met your folks.” I nod. It is our engagement party, so some mingling of the parents was inevitable. Still, I can’t wait to hear how it went.
“And?”
“Jared’s good people. Maybe a little bit of a pushover, but I like him.” I laugh to myself at Mark’s candid description of my dad. He really doesn’t give a shit about being facetiously polite at all. “Your mom’s a real shrew, though. The wicked stepsister to my Connie.” Mark shakes his head. “It’s perfect.”
I jerk my head back at his unexpected assessment, and I laugh.
“Perfect?”
“Oh yeah. Connie’s so preoccupied with trying to decode Vicky that she’s forgotten to keep tabs on me and Ruby.” Speaking of my beautiful bride-to-be, she looks across the room, smiles, and gives me a little wave.
The corner of her mouth curls into her cheek, and her eyelashes flutter as she rolls her eyes at something her mom is saying across from her. I’m fucking done mingling. All I want is my woman.
“Sorry, Mark, but I’m—” I start to excuse myself.
He laughs and interrupts. “No worries, son. I can see the look on your face. It’s a lot like the one I had the night we made Ruby.”
I bark a laugh and slap him on the shoulder before stepping away and heading straight for my little red jewel.
I grab her by the hand and pull her away without saying anything to the women she’s now standing with. She balks but, seeing as I’m not letting go of her hand and it’s attached to her body, she comes with me anyway.
I pull us to the front of the large, inviting space. One of the caterers passes me a microphone, and Ruby shakes her head and rolls her pretty little eyes. Everyone else laughs.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” I say into the mic, and the crowd murmurs its sentiments in return. I scan the faces to find almost everyone we love looking back at us, with the exception of my sister, Lena, now that she’s off to Milan, and my buddy Theo, who is busy globe-trotting in the name of opening new Cruz nightclubs across the world. “Ruby and I want to thank you all for coming out to celebrate our engagement. Truth is, I never thought I’d be a guy who said something like that, but it feels good.”
Ruby sways toward me and leans her head into my shoulder. I grin. I can’t help it. “Really good, actually.”
The women in the group collectively coo.
“We hope you’ll hang around for a while. Drink, eat, mingle. And when you’re done, don’t forget to take a favor.”
I glance to Ruby as she draws her eyebrows together, and the doors open behind me on cue.
Barks sound, and puppies yip as dozens of dogs from the local shelter fill the room. A titter starts up in the crowd, some of the women bending down to scratch little puppy ears while Vicky climbs up onto a chair, horrified.
I put the mic back to my mouth and look directly into Ruby’s beautiful blue eyes. “See, my girl here, she loves dogs. Loves them. So, she’s gonna pick one out, and we’re gonna take it home.” Ruby’s face melts, tears springing to her eyes and running down her cheeks immediately. A crying woman used to terrify me. But I can tell at this point in our relationship, these are the good kind of tears.
I wrap her in my arms and breathe her in for a minute, and