Free Sweetest Sin: Bad Boy Bundle by Delilah Wilde Page A

so vampy. I'm not trying to look like a madam from a brothel."
     
    I swiped the tube from her.
     
    "Yeah, it's not your color. Thank you Trisha, I owe you big time," I said, taking the lipstick towards the checkout. We both said goodbye. I could only hope that she would be true to her word, for once in her life.
    “Tell Jeff I said hi,” she winked as she said goodbye. I didn't argue, though I wanted to. She didn't know after all. I was safe.
     
     
    Nate
     
    I got a text from my cousin Trisha a few minutes after I had dropped Ruby off to her apartment.
     
    "Did Ruby tell you anything when you sat next to her at the wedding?" she asked. She'd told me a lot of things, of course she had, but Trisha didn't need to know about our relationship. No one did. Especially now that it was basically over. I replied with one word, 'No'. My cousin only ever texted me when she wanted gossip about someone and I knew how competitive she was with Ruby. I wasn't going to help her in any way. I got another text a few minutes later.
     
    "She's back with her ex. She told me. Poor Ruby loves being heartbroken. Don't tell anyone!" I turned off my phone and went to work. I didn't need this shit.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    Ruby
     
    Trisha was full of shit. Jeff was full of shit. The two of them were total shitlords but that didn't stop everyone believing them when they told everyone who would listen that Jeff and I were back together. It became apparent as soon as I returned home that Trisha hadn't known about Nate. My voice mail was overloaded with messages from my mom telling me that this was a bad idea, Trisha telling me that she had no idea how this information had gotten out since her lips were sealed like always and Jeff saying that he was sorry, and could we talk, and could I just give him a chance (the term 'heartless bitch' was also tossed in for good measure). It was annoying, but after calming my mom down and deleting the other messages I felt a sense of relief wash over me. No one knew about me and Nate. They would never have to know, because it was over now. I put the lipstick on and went back to work for the rest of the evening. This was fine. I was fine.
     
     
     
    Nate
     
    As much as it hurt me to do it, for the next month or so I kept away from Ruby. I deleted her number, dumped the clothes she had left at my house and did my best to remove her from my mind. It shouldn't have been difficult for me. After all, my schedule was so hectic. Hopping from city to city in an attempt to inspire people keeps a man pretty busy. I should have been enjoying myself, drinking and going to bed with beautiful women from around the world. That's what I would have done in the past. But now it was different. Now my appetite for life, for women, seemed to have died. I found myself missing the feel of Ruby's skin underneath my fingers. I missed the way her back arched when she climaxed. I missed the taste of her. It didn't matter. It was over.
     
     
     
    Ruby
     
    My twenty fifth birthday arrived all too soon, without a single attempt at contact from Nate. I had thought that I might get some teasing text messages, or maybe that he would have shown up at my apartment with a bottle of wine and that cute smirk. He must know that he could win me over easily. Yes, I had freaked out the last two times we had had sex but that was me. I was neurotic and silly. He had to be able to see how much I enjoyed being with him? Even if it wasn't socially acceptable. There had to be some way that we could continue our liaisons in secret.
    Obviously, Nate didn't want to. He had moved on to the next girl in the next city with the next shade of lipstick. Men like variety, as Trisha had always said. They don't like to be tied down to the same woman. Jeff had gotten with Amy because I hadn't made enough of an effort to keep things interesting for him. I should have made him nicer dinners and dressed up in sexy lingerie more often. Then he might have stayed.
    My mom