The Billionaire Book Club

That she and Ruby Rockford are, in fact, the same person.

“I’ve long-since felt cursed by love,” she narrates, the soft seduction of her voice filling the whole of the smoke room and then some. It’s the first time I’ve listened to a book by her, and I’m starting to wonder if it might be a mistake. “Cursed by the men who could never find it in themselves to open up, cursed by the men who opened up to any woman they encountered…cursed by the man I’d yet to find.”

Alarm bells go off inside my head, and I start to feel as though she’s speaking directly to me. Like Ruby herself is telling me the details of her past and the secrets of her heartbreak.

And I don’t really know how to handle it.

“I knew that it was only a matter of time and patience—that the man who would complete my life and fill the voids of my soul would eventually come—but waiting was a form of bittersweet agony.”

“Man, she is sexy as hell,” Harrison says gruffly, rubbing at his chest in a way that kind of makes me want to punch him in the throat. “Why haven’t we been listening to these books all along?”

Wes nods. “I’ll second that vote.”

I narrow my eyes. “He wasn’t voting. There’s no vote.”

“Hey, man. You should be happy,” Thatch interjects. “This is the happiest these fuckers have been about Thatch’s Book Club since we started it. So what if it takes a sexy voice to get them engaged?”

“I just…” I pause, stumbling for an explanation that doesn’t include some mysterious possessiveness over a voice I can’t explain. “I don’t think we can fully emotionally relate to a scene if we don’t read it ourselves.”

Kline draws his eyebrows together. I avoid his gaze. I have no fucking doubt the he-witch inside of him has the ability to see my secrets.

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Theo says logically, and as much as I’d like to argue with him, I can’t. I’m straight up pulling shit out of my ass at this point.

But I had no idea how much it would bother me to have these fuckers lusting over Ruby’s voice.

I mean, what is that?

It’s got to be some sort of psychological defect where my inner child doesn’t want other kiddies playing with my toys.

God, get it together, Cap.

Kline continues to eye me closely, I can see it out of my peripheral vision, but the rest of them drop it pretty quickly when I say, “Whatever. Fine. Let’s just listen.”

Trent and Quince have known me the longest, but when it comes to me, I actually think that’s a disadvantage. They’re used to me being wild. Used to me making sense in my own way—or not making sense at all.

They’re disillusioned and numbed.

But Kline…he’s too smart for my own good.

“When I walk into the bar that night, a man immediately stands out from the crowd. It isn’t his shirt or his shoes or his hair that distinguishes him from the rest, though. It’s a feeling. An overwhelming wave of sense of self and peace that emanates from him like an aura. Is this… Could this be…the man of my dreams?”

I reach down and pause the book on my phone, and silence settles over the room as it stops playing through the Bluetooth speaker.

“Well. There you have it,” Trent says with a laugh. “You just have to be. Let your aura speak for you.”

“Don’t be so fucking elementary, bro,” Thatch challenges quickly. “It’s not about being a mythical creature. It’s metaphorical. For being what the woman you’re pursuing needs. Georgia needs Kline’s level head and stability. Winnie needs Wes’s surprisingly supportive nature of both her and her daughter. Greer needs Trent’s unconditional acceptance, and Emory needs Quince’s ability to be easygoing and positive. Maybe needed Milo’s confidence in her and her abilities, and Cassie needs my dick. The magic is in the match, motherfluffer. Cap just has to figure out what it is his Ruby needs and how the hell he’s the perfect one to give it to her.”

The room grows silent for a long minute as we attempt to digest Thatch’s long-winded ramble.

Until Wes pipes up on a laugh. “God, it still surprises me, to this day, how fucking intuitive this motherfucker can be.”

The rest of the group breaks out in smiles.

Thatch just grins, adding, “Harrison and Theo…well, you fluffers will just have to wait your turn, but I’m sure we’ll get to you eventually.”

“What is it that Ruby needs from you?” Quince asks, his eyes moving to me, and it’s only a short moment before something comes to mind.

It was true at the party, it’s true at the office, and maybe, just maybe, it’s true all the time.

“Fun,” I respond. “Pushed boundaries. She doesn’t know how to let go and lead with her heart instead of her head.”