Read Survivor: Steel Jockeys MC for Free Online Page B

Chace had already opened it.
     
    "Don't be coy, Ruby," said Heather, holding out her cup. "I know he's more than a boss to you."
     
    "Well, that's true," she admitted, tipping the bottle and watching the liquid bubble to the rim of the older woman's cup. "He is more than my boss. He's my...my..." She noticed the older woman staring with a knowing, motherly, grin, and she was afraid it was because she was blushing.
     
    "You do care about him."
     
    Ruby nodded and gulped.
     
    "It's not surprising." She stole a sly glance over to the entrance to the garage, where Fox's broad shoulders arced sensuously over the table, his hands resting on either end, examining a report one of the mechanics had given him.
     
    "He's done so much for me, you don't even know. In fact, that's why he insisted on throwing me a party. A year ago, I was in a bad place." She hoped Heather wouldn't mind that she glossed over the details of the night Kyle died; the more she spoke of them, the rawer they felt. "Fox was the only one I could turn to. But he didn't bombard me with a bunch of questions I wouldn't or couldn't answer. He just welcomed me in, dried me off, offered me a styrofoam cup of coffee with a shot of Chace's Woodford Reserve in it and let me lie down and rest in his office. He actually invited me to stay in his own guest room, but I told him I couldn't impose. The next day, he drove me to one of his mom's rental properties and told me I could stay as long as I wanted.  Of course, I started paying market rate as soon as I could," she added, hastily filling her own cup and replacing the bottle.
     
    "Fox is a surprising man. You'd think that after having supported us financially as much as he has, he'd throw his weight around, the way some of these bigwigs do. Tell us how to do things. But he doesn't. He really listens to us." Heather sipped her champagne thoughtfully.
     
    "Once," said Ruby, “on a whim one Friday, we took off work at noon and drove to Big Sur. He takes out this big picnic basket full of baked chicken and pinot grigio. He even brought a real picnic blanket. I was speechless. It felt like a Match.com ad or something."
     
    "Oh, does he cook, too?" exclaimed Heather, pretending to fan herself with the paperwork. "Ruby, my dear, take it from a woman who's been married thirty years to man who's still figuring out where the popcorn button on the microwave is. Do not let this one get away." She leaned in close and stage-whispered. Ruby looked down to where her small hand curled around her cup, getting a brief flash of how a diamond ring would look against her lonely olive skin. It was tempting, sure, but it also felt strange. She didn't think she was ready. Not yet, anyway.
     
    "I find it hard to believe nothing's ever happened between you two."
     
    Ruby grinned. "We've been alone together a lot, and he's never once made a move. He's a perfect gentleman. Oh, he flirts, sure after work when we've both had a few. He is a man, after all. I'd be suspicious if he didn't. But I'm also his employee. We depend on each other to keep this business running, and he respects that. I admire him for it, actually."
     
    Heather gave her a knowing smirk. "You'll change your tune in a couple of years, when you turn twenty-five. That's when the train to the altar starts pulling out of the station. And if you're not on it--"
     
    Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm in no rush. I know what it's like to be with someone for all the wrong reasons." She thought of Farley, how grasping and desperate she'd been to find someone, anyone, who could pull her out of the vortex of poverty she and Kyle had been mired in. She didn't admire that about herself, and it was one of the reasons she was determined to stay independent. Sure, she'd turned to Fox to help her. But the moment after Kyle was killed was the darkest moment of her life. She'd managed to claw and gasp her way to the surface after nearly being pulled under, and she never wanted to be there