“Ruby,” he moaned. “You are making my mind leave me.”
Ruby laughed wickedly, then quickly removed her chemise and climbed atop him. She reached into her navel and removed the ruby and placed it on the table next to the bed, not wanting to scratch Alberto with it when she would scoot her body along his. Then with all the skills that she had learned, she began to slide her body back and forth over him, feeling the stiffness of his manhood, feeling desire mounting inside her, as no man had caused for some time now . .. not since Michael Hopper.
She had grown so fond of Michael's skills at love-making that it had frightened her. She had worried that Clarence would grow suspicious of her going with only one man. Clarence. Her husband—who had been so savagely castrated by some furious whites so many years ago, after it had been discovered that Clarence… had raped … a young white girl. Ruby had wanted to kill Clarence herself after finding out the ugly truth, until she had found what the men had done to him. It was Ruby who had then nursed him back to health, loving him even more as each day passed. But Clarence, not being able to quench her desires for a man any longer, had agreed to let her start this house of girls . . . enabling Ruby to hide her own lusts behind the skirts of so many other girls.
Ruby's lips crushed down onto Alberto's, making Alberto's mind begin a slow swirling. He reached upward and squeezed first one breast then another, arching his body upward until his manhood was swallowed deeply inside Ruby. She moved her hips up and down, moaning softly, but when Alberto began to tense, realizing that it was happening again, that he was becoming smaller instead of larger, Ruby's eyes opened wide, searching his face, seeing pain, torture, grief. . . .
She reached upward and caressed his brow, whispering, “Alberto, relax.” She continued to move her body up and down, but she felt his manhood come from inside her to lie limply beneath her.
“Ruby, please,” he said, clenching his teeth. He was once again humilitated. And this time with Ruby. God, how he hated her knowing. “I just… can't, Ruby“
Ruby reached downward and began to caress him, but saw that it was of no use. “Honey, why?” she said, moving from on top of him, handing him a towel.
Alberto climbed from the bed and began to wipe himself down with it. He knew that his face was crimson from the embarrassment. He had just proven to himself that he still was not a true man. In any sense of the word. “I don't know what causes me to react so,” he said, reaching for his breeches. He stepped into them, anxious to hide his manhood from her probing eyes.
“Is there someone else, Alberto?” Ruby asked, moving from the bed, toweling herself off. “Is that the reason you still cannot enjoy me or any of my women? If so, who is it?”
Alberto looked quickly away from her as he pulled his shirt on. “I do need to talk to someone about it,” he said thickly.
Ruby repositioned her red stone inside her navel, then pulled a robe on and tied it in front of her. “You can always talk to me,” she said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She had so hungered for his body. And damn. He was the first man who had actually been unable to have sex successfully with her. Whoever this female was who had captured Alberto's heart had to be truly something extra special.
“I don't know how to say it,” Alberto said, kneading his brow. He slumped down onto a chair. “It's such an unnatural thing. I don't know what to do.”
“What is it, Alberto?” She sat down on the floor in front of him, staring upward into his dark pits of eyes.
“I actually kissed Maria a while ago,” he stammered.
“All brothers kiss their sisters, Alberto. What's so unnatural about that?”
“What's unnatural?” he stormed. “I enjoyed it as a man enjoys kissing a woman. It gave me strange stirrings. I desired her. This is why it was unnatural. I've desired her for years now. I am tortured. Day and night. What shall I do?”
“I see,” Ruby exclaimed, rising, pacing the floor. “Yes, I see,” she said once again, lighting another cigar.
“And when I kissed her, I know she realized that it wasn't the kiss of a brother,” Alberto continued. “She must think I'm a freak. I don't know what to do.”
“Well, you said she was no . . . longer .. . your sister,” Ruby said. “So why even worry yourself about anything she will think?”
“But don't you see? That doesn't help me with my state of mind. I c
an't enjoy a woman the way I should. I should have been able to enjoy you. God, Ruby. You're beautiful. You had my mind and body going for a while. I don't know what happened. Just suddenly, it just quit feeling good. I couldn't feel anything. So see? What am I to do?”
“What are you to do? Wait until the right woman comes along. Just as most men do. You'll see, that will happen. This thing for your sister. It is just a passing thing. One day soon a beautiful, innocent thing will just happen along and your heart will be gone from you. Also thoughts of your sister.”
Alberto's eyes wavered as he looked upward at Ruby. “Do you really think so?” he murmured.
“I'm sure of it,” Ruby said, going to her wardrobe to search through her many dresses, choosing one for the night's activities.
“But until then? What shall I do? And what about Maria and that damned Nathan Hawkins?”
“About Maria? I am sure you will find there is more to her marriage than what you have permitted her to tell you. And as for the other problem? Why not go to the gambling room and have some fun? Gambling is sort of a way to seduction. You have learned that. We should have a wild game going soon. Go on and have some fun.”
She went to her liquor cabinet and pulled a bottle of port from inside it. She handed it and a long-stemmed wine glass to Alberto. “And in the meantime, get drunk.” She laughed hoarsely, guiding him toward the door. “You just make yourself at home. There might already be some action in the gambling room. Maybe some have come as we've been … uh … talking.”
Alberto turned to Ruby and lowered his eyes, then looked at her sternly for a moment. “I do appreciate your friendship, Ruby,” he said. “Without it, I don't know what I would do.”
She slapped him on the back, laughing throatily. “And I also enjoy you. One day, I plan to enjoy you to the fullest, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes. Let's hope,” Alberto said, then hurried from the room, and having both hands full, kicked at the door that led into the gambling room. When the door swung open and Alberto found himself face to face with Michael Hopper, he felt an inner excitement that he had momentarily forgotten. He smiled crookedly, and said, “Well, look who we have here. My ex-sister's ex-boyfriend.”