“Oh yes!” he replies with such an exaggerated excitement that it makes me laugh. “Where are they this time?”
“Bali!” I reply back with flourish and Caleb throws a fist into the air, mouthing the word, “yes,” as he turns toward the bathroom.
He’s in and out in less than ten minutes and we take in the quick thirty-minute episode of House Hunters International discussing as we do if we could ever move to Bali. It’s what we do as we watch, talk about all the places we’d love to live someday. It’s kind of become our thing and I love it.
Caleb yawns next to me, stretching his arms over his head and I take it as a suggestion that it’s time for bed.
“I’m gonna go…” I start, but stop, a thought crossing my mind. “Would you want to sleep in my room?” I ask, wondering if maybe he’d feel more comfortable, less nervous if he had the security of a room with a door.
“Don’t be silly, Ruby. I’m not making you sleep on the couch.”
“I don’t have to sleep on the couch. I have a queen size bed and I’m happy to share it with you.” My intentions are nothing but the best and I have no thoughts that this would mean anything more than just me trying to help Caleb sleep better.
“Ruby…”
“Seriously, Caleb. Nothing but sleeping unless you don’t think you can handle sharing a bed with a girl,” I tease, dragging out the word girl at the end of my sentence.
“I can share a bed with a girl. I’m not fifteen,” he jokes back, shooting me an uneven smile along with a tsk on a hard exhale.
“So what do you say, roomie? Maybe you’ll sleep better.”
“And maybe I’ll ruin any good night’s sleep you’ll have,” he replies, a more serious tone now. “I have nightmares, you know that. I could have one and wake you up.”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
“Fine, okay,” he concedes, as a small sigh of relief leaves his lips and I know he thinks I didn’t hear it. “But if I’m impossible to sleep with you need to tell me to get my ass back on the couch.”
“Deal.”
Chapter Eight
Caleb
Despite my earlier assurances, the second Ruby closes the door and we find ourselves alone in her bedroom, I start to second guess whether I really can share a bed with her after all. She wasn’t lying when she said she had a queen size bed, but right now, the thing looks fucking tiny and all I can think about is how the hell I’m going to sleep beside her without touching her.
Or more.
“I’m just gonna go put my PJs on,” she says, grabbing a bundle from her bed. “Make yourself at home, or…” she waves a hand around, trailing off.
I nod, watching as she walks out of the room again, leaving the door slightly ajar this time. I turn and take in my new surroundings, the one room in this house I have yet to venture into.
Everything in it just screams Ruby, like if I could take all the things I imagine and know about her so far and put all of that into a box, it would be this room.
The bed dominates the space, two small side tables on either side, with a lamp on one that casts the room in a soft glow. Photos are stuck to the far wall beside her bed. A huge collage of pictures of her and Sienna, other people too, all laughing and having fun. Having a normal life.
There’s a small desk shoved in another corner, textbooks piled high next to a jar of pens and pencils, and folders of her work strewn across the surface. A bookcase is close by, the shelves lined with novels and candles and what look like tiny random figurines.
Chuckling, I walk closer, my fingers gently picking one of them up. It’s a tiny Yoda figurine, although it’s not just Star Wars ones that she has. There are also little Lego men, a Hello Kitty toy and other random ones, all spread across the shelves.
“I see you’ve discovered my secret addiction,” she says as I hear the soft click of the door closing.
Turning, I have to bite the inside of my cheek just to stifle the groan that almost falls from my mouth at the sight of her. Fuck me. She’s dressed in these tiny little boxer shorts that barely cover her ass and a tight tank with a Captain America logo on the front.
How the fuck am I supposed to sleep next to this?
“Star Wars and The Avengers, huh?” I ask, smiling as I gesture toward her with Yoda.
Ruby bites her bottom lip, even as she fights the smile. “Yeah,” says, almost shyly.
I chuckle. “It’s cute.”
She rolls her eyes at me, but she’s smiling. “Which side do you want?” she asks, her eyes scanning over to the bed.
I replace the little Yoda before turning back to her, my hands up. “Your bed, Ruby, your choice.”
She pulls the duvet back as she stands by the side of the bed that’s closest to the door. “Do you want to be closer to the door?”
“This is good,” I say, shaking my head as I walk toward the bed.
She nods. “The window is open, but it’s got a security screen. We can close it if—"
“It’s okay, Ruby,” I say gently, pulling my side of the duvet back. “Seriously.”
She gives me a smile, not saying anything as she climbs into bed, lying on her back as she watches me. Normally I’d pull off the t-shirt I’m wearing, but that somehow feels like too much given the circumstances, so I don’t. Instead, I slide into the bed beside her, still dressed in my sweats and t-shirt, a couple of feet between us.
“You okay if I get the light?” she asks.
“I’m good,” I murmur, my eyes on the ceiling which plunges into darkness as she switches it off. But before my eyes have a chance to adjust though, a soft glow comes from her desk. Glancing over, I let out a chuckle at the night light in the shape of the Death Star.
“Wow, your obsession knows no bounds.”
I feel the bed shift a little and when I look over, Ruby is lying on her side, her head on the pillow beside me. She smiles as she whispers, “You have no idea.”
I roll over to face her, my body mirroring hers, that foot or so of space still between us. It does nothing to stop the scent of her though, wafting toward me, embracing me and consuming me. I feel a flicker of lust deep in my belly, my dick twitching on instinct and I have to slide my hands under the pillow just to stop myself from reaching for her.
“Where are you from originally?” I ask, needing to get my mind off thoughts of pulling Ruby closer, of rolling her beneath me. Of doing so many other things.
Her smile widens. “Lake Tahoe,” she says. “Have you ever been there?”
I shake my head. “Until coming here,” I tell her, “I’d never left Rhode Island.”
Ruby nods once, no sign of pity or sympathy on her face though as she says, “I’ll have to take you there one day, you’ll love it.”
“Mmmm, sounds good. Do you have brothers or sisters, a big family?” I ask, wondering why in all the weeks I’ve been here, we haven’t talked about this stuff. It always felt easier just to talk about random shit, like movies and TV shows we were watching.
That or the big elephant in the room of what was going on with me.