Rebel (Renegades #2)(81)
Author: Skye Jordan

Wes didn’t immediately answer. He reached up and stroked a hand over her hair. “I grew up with strict, God-fearing parents in a small Southern town, Rubi. Every moment of every day, I was being molded into a socially acceptable Southern boy—whether that was by my parents, my teacher, or the storekeeper on the corner. You can probably already see that I’ve had a habit of either falling a little short of that standard or simply veering off on my own path. By Hollywood standards, I’m as vanilla as they come. But by Missouri standards, I was trouble waiting for the wrong place at the wrong time.

“But I love my parents. I love my sister and my brother. And I’m the middle child—a peacemaker. So I found small ways to stay within the boundaries to make a portion of the population—and more importantly, my parents—happy. That involved choosing acceptable women to date.

“Melissa’s father had been a bit of a rebel in his younger days as well and saw it as a benefit, not a curse. Melissa and I dated from our sophomore year in high school through my junior year of college. I—obviously—never quite broke out of that mindset for how I chose my girlfriends.”

Rubi waited, a million questions swirling in her head, in her heart. She knew she wasn’t up to either asking most of them or receiving the answers. But she really did need one answer now; otherwise, her mind would churn and churn and she’d never get to sleep. “And why did you two break up?”

“She wanted me to be someone I wasn’t.” His answer came so quickly, with such surety and conviction, Rubi tensed, trying to take in the information. “After graduation, she and her father wanted me to join her father’s engineering firm. Her father generously offered to put me on a track to make partner in several years. But the thought made me claustrophobic. I couldn’t imagine living in a gray cubicle for the next thirty years.”

Rubi winced. Wes in a cubicle? He’d have been happier in prison.

“When I declined,” he said, “Melissa broke off our engagement.”

Rubi gasped and glanced up. “Engagement?”

“We were going to get married after we graduated. But I wasn’t willing to fulfill her image of who I should be. And without that position with her father’s firm, I didn’t amount to someone she believed could support her financially. At least not the way she’d been supported all her life.”

Rubi read the darkness of his gaze, the hurt pulling his mouth. And their argument at Dolph’s office echoed in her head.

“I’m talking millions. Many millions. I’m talking about you being able to buy houses like Jax’s any time you wanted. I’m talking about never worrying about money for the rest of your life.”

“Oh my God,” she murmured.

“It was a long time ago.” But his voice still held some element of darkness. “I’m only telling you all this so you can understand—”

“I didn’t mean—” She lifted her gaze to his again, reached up, and covered his hand. “Wes, what I said about the rig, about selling it, that wasn’t because I wanted you to be someone different. It was because I want you to always be able to do just what you’re doing. To be able to be just as happy and complete as you are now. I’m worried about you being able to do what you love if something unfortunate happened and you couldn’t physically do the stunts. Selling the rig only gives you the money to ensure you’ll have that opportunity.”

He fingered back a piece of hair on her forehead, his gaze a little distant but soft. “You really don’t care if I can buy houses like Jax’s?”

“No.” She laughed the word, but it was filled with pain and regret. “It makes absolutely no difference to me. I’ve always had money, Wes, but I’ve never had the more important things that money took from me. I’d give up everything I had then, everything I have now for a childhood—and a family—like yours.”

His lids closed, and he leaned his forehead against hers. “I know it kinda freaks you out, but…fuck…I love you so much.”

Rubi winced at the sting of fear. But at the same time, her heart was doing somersaults. The clash felt excruciating. “Wes…”

He exhaled loudly. “I know. Dammit, I’m sorry. I just…you just… Fuck it.” He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled a pillow underneath his head. “I’d better go to sleep before I get myself in any more trouble.”

Rubi slid her hand up his arm and over his shoulder. “Sleep isn’t what I had in mind. Trouble was.”

A smile curved his mouth, but he covered her hand with his and pulled it between them, then threaded her fingers. He laid his chin on the top of her head and pulled her close, until their chests and bellies pressed, until his thick, muscled legs were tangled with hers. “Close your eyes, precious. I want to fall asleep with you.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

He tilted his head down for a quick kiss. “Try it and see. And if you’re a really good girl, I might wake you up sometime tonight in a very creative way.”

Twenty-Four

Rubi stretched awake without opening her eyes. She rolled under the covers and pulled a pillow to her chest, sighing with comfort. She felt cocooned. Warm and safe and happy. Her mind drifted toward her day ahead. She needed to check e-mail. Contact a couple of different clients to help her decide which project to start on next. She wanted to go for a run. Maybe she’d do that first thing. The beach was always beautiful and quiet in the morning—

Muffled laughter sounded somewhere nearby. A split second of alarm flashed through her before she opened her eyes—and recognized nothing. Which then pumped a much longer, much stronger flash of panic through her. She pushed up in bed at the same instant her location and situation registered.

Wes. Missouri.

Panic seeped through her chest.

Rolling toward the nightstand, she picked up her phone. Checking her messages, she found two pictures of Rodie from the sitter and one text from Wes.

WES: Good morning, beautiful.

Rubi smiled. A sliver of her sudden panic ebbed. After all, she did have the hottest Renegade of them all under the same roof. And he had followed through on his promise of waking her in the middle of the night in a creative way. She warmed at the thought, and aches she hadn’t been aware of upon waking snuck in.

She clicked into the other messages and looked at pictures of Rodie—passed out in his dog bed, his favorite toy nearby. Playing tug-of-war with his buddy, Titan, a Golden Retriever.