On the Rocks (Becker Brothers, #1)

by Kandi Steiner

“Don’t act like what you want doesn’t matter.”

“You deserve to have the things you’ve dreamed about, Ruby Grace,” I said. “And when you marry someone, you become a team. It’s not all about him and his dreams and his achievements. You are not just a sidekick.” I paused, licking my bottom lip as I considered my next words. Ruby Grace’s eyes were soft, wide, almost a little scared as she watched me. “You are the heroine just as much as he is the hero,” I reminded her. “And if he loves you, he will support you and your dreams just as you’ve supported his and will continue to in the future.”

“If you were mine, Ruby Grace, your dreams wouldn’t come second to anything.”

I would have been perfectly content to stare at her, just like that, for as long as I lived. Even if I couldn’t have her, if I couldn’t kiss her or touch her or pull her into me and shield her from every unwanted harm — just looking at her was a blessing. I felt her presence swell into my chest, filling me up in some way that I never would have realized before. Because I didn’t know I was empty. Not until she poured into my life.

“Thank you, for talking to me, for being my friend when you didn’t have to be.” Her brows bent together, a shade of pink tinging her cheeks. “I never feel more like my real self than I do when I’m with you.”

I’d promised her — just friends. And I would respect those boundaries until the day she didn’t belong to another man. Until the day she was actually mine.

And I just sat there, hands on the steering wheel, eyes on my passenger seat, and heart somewhere down the road with a girl who didn’t even realize she had it.

There isn’t a man alive who could be loved by you and not kick himself every single day for fucking it up.”

“You are, without a doubt, the most caring, loving, passionate, intelligent, and classy woman I have ever met. You walk with a confidence unparalleled by anyone in this town, and you give without ever expecting anything in return, and you’re brave.” I shook my head. “You are so fucking brave.”

You’re not meant to be a puppet in some man’s sideshow, Ruby Grace. You’re meant to be his entire world.”

This wasn’t just a kiss. This was a dream, a fantasy — and every part of my body surrendered to the impossible realism of it all.

If he was a dream, I would sleep, just so I could keep him a little longer. I’d sleep, and maybe — just maybe — I’d wake on a day where I got to keep him forever.

She hadn’t stirred since we fell asleep together, which was late afternoon yesterday, other than when I’d woken her up somewhere around midnight because her sweet ass was rubbing against my erection. We’d slowly made love, both of us on our sides, our eyes still closed, and as soon as we’d both reached our climax, she’d passed out again.

“I love you.” The words knocked the breath from my chest, and I shook my head, trying to move around him. “You love me, too,” he said. “And you don’t have to say it for me to know it. But what you do have to do is stay. Right now. You have to be brave, and you have to stay.”

She took a step. I stood. Then, amidst the gasps and murmurs of four-hundred Stratford residents, Ruby Grace Barnett was a runaway bride. And I was her getaway car.

“Because you’re making one of my dreams come true,” she whispered. “I want to make one of yours come true, too.” I swore, if any of my brothers could feel the way my heart melted at her words, they’d punch me in the arm and call me the biggest wuss in the world. But I didn’t care. When it came to Ruby Grace, I was the biggest wuss in the world. “You already did,” I whispered back, brushing her hair from her face. “I dreamed of finding a woman like you, of finding a love like this.” I smirked. “And here you are.”

I cried because I’d miss her. I cried because I’d never wanted to let someone go as much as I’d wanted to keep them forever. But I didn’t cry because I was sad. I cried because I was thankful. I was thankful I could finally show her what I’d wanted to all along — that she could be in love and be loved while she had a life and dreams of her own. I was thankful for the two-week vacation I had coming up in a month so I could fly to Utah and spend Christmas with her. I was thankful for my family inside the house behind me, for the group I had to support me while Ruby Grace was gone. And more than anything, I was thankful I’d found the woman I was sure didn’t exist. More than a thousand miles couldn’t separate us — not really. She was still here with me, and I knew she took me with her, too. For now, I wiped my tears and headed back inside to celebrate Thanksgiving with football and leftovers and time with my family. After all, I had one little brother stressed over his new trainee at work and the other holed up in his room over a girl we all knew was trouble. I was needed in Stratford, and she was needed in Salt Lake. So, I counted down the days until she’d be in my arms again, until she’d be back in Stratford, until we’d make our plans for where we’d go next. Until I’d get down on one knee and give her the ring stashed in my bedside dresser drawer. And though my ring wouldn’t be the first to don her delicate finger, I had no doubt it would be the last.