Riskier Business (Crossing the Line 0.5)(24)

“I know. I love you.” Her quick exhale fanned his neck. “I can’t believe Mya is my mother.”

Inhaling her scent greedily, Troy nodded. “Baby, I really need to get you out of this dark alley in New Jersey before I have heart failure.”

A shaky laugh escaped her. “Okay, let’s go.” Reluctantly, they parted, both searching the darkness in confusion.

“Where’s Bowen?” Troy asked, realizing they were alone in the alley, Bowen nowhere to be seen.

After a beat, Ruby sighed and started for the car. “He’ll show up again when he’s ready.”

Forty-five minutes later, they stood outside their apartment door. On the other side, he could hear pacing, layered above the television. On the way in, he’d double-checked to make sure Brent was stationed outside in his squad car, as promised. Knowing Jim might already be on his way to Mya’s apartment, ready to break and enter if necessary, Troy had asked Daniel to remove any trace of Mya’s professional ties to Ruby from the woman’s apartment. But Jim Elliott was a smart man. He would make the connection sooner or later. Mya wouldn’t be able to remain in their apartment forever. Until tonight, he hadn’t been aware that Ruby’s mother was a potential witness against Jim, making her proximity to Ruby all the more dangerous. The longer she stayed, the more risk mounted for Ruby. Troy would prevent that at all costs.

Before turning the key in the lock, Troy paused. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” Ruby shook her head as if to clear it. “This is stupid. I spend every day with her. It’s just Mya in there.”

He brushed his thumb over her jaw. “Because it’s different now.”

“Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “I never let myself think too hard about my mother, but now I have a thousand questions. I don’t even know where to start.”

Troy started to answer, but the door swung open, revealing Mya. Silhouetted by light, her face was obscured by shadows, but her relief at seeing Ruby unharmed was unmistakable. She steadied herself with a hand on the doorjamb as lessening tension deflated her. “Don’t you know never to go to New Jersey on days ending in Y?”

Ruby crossed her arms, chin going up a notch. “What, are you my mother or something?”

A beat of silence passed, before both of their mouths edged up into hesitant smiles. Mya stepped back to let them into the apartment. “I deserve that.”

“You think?”

Mya rubbed her arms vigorously and nodded toward the living room. “Can we talk? Alone?”

Wanting to give them their privacy to hash things out, Troy nodded encouragingly at Ruby and headed for the bedroom, but she snagged his hand before he’d made it two steps. “I want to talk. But Troy stays. We don’t have any secrets.” She looked at him meaningfully. “Never again.”

Christ, if they didn’t have an audience at that moment, he would have kissed her within an inch of her life. He let the feeling of happiness replace the dread he’d been experiencing for days, allowing himself to simply be grateful for her. For what they had.

Just for a moment, Troy wanted to stop mentally replaying the ways he’d almost lost her, everything he had to do to keep her, and what his life would be like without her. Instead, he pulled her onto his lap on the couch and enjoyed her familiar weight. Her hand, so trusting, in his. His girl needed his support and he was all too ready to provide it, for as long as she’d have him.

…

Ruby stared at Mya and tried to reconcile her former wild-child employee with the woman she’d subconsciously created to fill in the gaps since childhood. It made sense now. The immediate bond she’d felt for Mya from day one. She’d always wondered about it, but had ultimately decided to count herself lucky instead of thinking too deeply about it. That female bond had been lacking in her life, and the sudden appearance of it had made her uncomfortable enough to push it aside. Not inspect it for flaws or inconsistencies.

Now that she knew what to look for, their relationship became glaringly obvious. Ruby didn’t know if she was projecting the resemblance she suddenly craved like air, but she saw it nonetheless. Underneath her piercings and heavy eyeliner, her mother looked back at her.

“Are you just going to stare at me all night?”

Yup. Definitely my mother. Based on Troy’s grunt behind her, he’d had the same thought. She elbowed him gently in the ribs, but he only tightened his hold.

Ruby sat a little straighter on Troy’s lap, taking a moment to acknowledge the rightness of having him there for this life-changing conversation. “So, I guess you didn’t just have an insatiable interest in the custom pool cue business?”

Mya’s lips twitched. “It’s growing on me.”

“My professor, when he said he had a friend who was interested in investing…?”

“We were sleeping together.”

Ruby wrinkled her nose. “All right. We’re going to have to set a whole new level of boundaries now that I know you’re my mother.”

“Boundaries are boring.” When Ruby prompted her to continue with silence, Mya sighed. “I asked around the old neighborhood and found out where you were going to school. I might have…met your professor on purpose. Dug around a little bit.” She lifted one shoulder and let it drop. “I saw the opportunity to get to know you without any of the inevitable pressure of a reunion. And I took it.”