Country Gal Gone Wild - Chapter 19.2

“Yes, that’s his last name all right,” Ruby replied. “Hold on a minute. Let me go to my office for more privacy. Clayford can’t seem to concentrate on his work for watching my face. I think this dude might actually be trying to read my lips.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“I kid not. Let me go to the back before he ends up hurting himself. And none of us want that, despite his nosiness.”

“Sure,” Gavin said, behaving as patiently as he always did.

Ruby kept her face neutral and her mouth closed as she walked down the narrow corridors of the shop. She didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself. “Okay, I’m back,” she said as she entered her office and closed the door securely behind her.  

“Cool. I think our mystery suspect is your ex, too,” Gavin replied, picking the conversation back up at a pivotal point.

“Yeah, but I doubt if we can prove it,” Ruby said. “Logan was a lousy boyfriend, but he’s always been very thorough with his work. I bet that package came without a return address on it.”

“It sure did.”

“And with Logan being a cop, I’m sure he removed every fingerprint there was before sending it. That’s only if he didn’t use gloves in the first place.”  

Gavin growled.

Ruby sat at her desk and squeezed her legs together at that sound. Focus, girl! she scolded herself before she got too far off track due to her intense attraction to him. Every little sound, expression, and nuance this man made turned her on.

“I’m just so glad I told you about the DVD beforehand. That way it wasn’t such a shock when you opened that package,” Ruby said, forcing herself to concentrate on the issue at hand. She couldn’t let sex become her newest escape from reality.

“I am, too. Even so I probably would have still married you,” Gavin confessed.  

“Really?” Ruby smiled.  

“Yes. I did a lot of stupid impulsive stuff in my past, too. So it makes no sense and would be downright hypocritical to hold your stuff against you.”  

“You? Impulsive? I thought I was the bad influence on you.”  

“Hardly.” Gavin laughed. “Baby, all you’ve done is pull on what’s already inside of me. I know I only alluded to it before, but I was quite the wild child myself once upon a time. Though I didn’t do drugs, I definitely drank too much, partied too long and hard, and had enough sex for a lifetime all before I finished high school. Matter of fact, during my last year of high school, I even tried to elope with my steady girlfriend.”  

“You’ve been married before?” Ruby asked in a low, shocked tone.

“No, I said I tried to get married. I found out once we got there that I was too young. At just seventeen, I still needed parental consent. Shelia didn’t since she’d already turned eighteen by then. Incidentally, that one event almost made me want to become a lawyer like my mother. I never wanted to be trapped or hindered by my ignorance of the law again.”  

“I take it your parents didn’t give you the permission you needed.”  

“No,” Gavin replied. His voice sounded pained and full of disappointment. “Though they approved of Shelia as a person, they did not approve of us getting married so young. Her parents felt the same way. When we got back home, both sets of parents made us promise to wait until we were finished with college before marrying.” He paused to clear his throat before going on. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make it past our sophomore year of college.”  

“What happened to break you two apart?” Ruby took the office phone off the hook. She didn’t want anything to interrupt this conversation. Not after hearing the thick emotion in Gavin’s voice.  

“I got too serious for Sheila,” he replied in a deadpan tone. “While she was still hitting every party and club, and participating in every social activity on campus, I was hitting the books. Not only was I taking a double major in general dentistry and specialized oral and maxillofacial surgery, I was also helping my father out in his practice. I literally didn’t have time to party anymore. My drinking became limited to the occasional glass of wine for obvious reasons.”  

“That’s understandable. You had to be clear-headed for work,” Ruby replied. “That’s exactly why I keep my drinking limited to just the weekends.”

“Exactly.”  

“Did you and Shelia part as friends or enemies? As you can tell, Logan and I parted as enemies. Bitter enemies.”  

“Sheila and I parted as friends. For a long time, I kicked myself for letting her get away. She was a really good woman. One of the best. I promised myself that if I ever found another good woman like that, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from making her mine in every way.”  

“Which means you don’t really love me, huh? You just love that I remind you of Shelia,” Ruby deduced aloud. Actually saying those words hurt deeper than she thought they would. But why should they? She didn’t love Gavin. She never claimed to, which was a lot different from what she could say about him. 
       “Okay, first of all, that came out wrong,” Gavin replied. “What I meant about finding another good woman like Sheila simply refers to my desire to marry a woman that can touch me on multiple levels. Secondly, you and Shelia are worlds apart in looks and temperaments. The only thing you have in common is your impulsiveness which, by the way, I also have in common with you, but am better able to control these days. And last but not least, I do love you, Red. In fact, I love you way more than I ever loved Shelia.”  

Ruby sucked her teeth in disbelief. “Yeah, I bet. You haven’t even known me a tenth of the time that you knew her.” Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the jealousy from her voice.

“My heart doesn’t seem to care about the time factor. Besides, Shelia couldn’t make me howl even when the moon was out. Only you can do that to me, Red. And you do it so well, too.” He moaned. “So let that green-eyed monster that just reared its ugly head go on its merry way,” he added semi-jokingly.  

Ruby shifted in her seat as desire pooled below. It turned her on how quickly he was able to read her. And that moan! It made a woman want to fill her ears with hours of them.

“How much howling do you want to do tonight, Vinny?” she practically purred out.  

“As much as it’s going to take to get me through supper with your parents tomorrow,” Gavin replied.  

Ruby chuckled. “Be ready for a long night then.”  

“I will,” Gavin answered in a husky whisper.  

Suddenly there was a knock heard in the distance.

“I have to go, baby. Mrs. Munsen just knocked on my office door, which means my first patient has arrived. And don’t worry about this package. It’s going in my safe with the rest of my valuables,” Gavin quickly concluded.

Don’t keep it anywhere, destroy it immediately, Ruby mused, thinking what she never got a chance to say before he rushed off the phone. I’ll just tell him later.

(c) 2014 by Mi'Chelle Dodson/Suprina Frazier

Photo Credits:

http://www.thequotepedia.com/quotes/jealousy/page/21/