The moment the car door slammed shut, the silence of the car was heavy and thick. Ruby pulled back from Max, her fingers fumbling blindly with her sunglasses. She began to fight with her red jacket, tugging at the sleeves as if the expensive fabric was a cage she had to escape.
"It's fine, let me," Max murmured, his large hands steadying her trembling ones. He eased the jacket off her shoulders and then leaned down, his movements slow and reverent, to unstrap her heels.
"Come here, darling," he whispered, pulling her into his lap the moment she was free of the armor she'd worn into battle.
Ruby collapsed against him, her forehead resting against his neck as she took ragged, shallow breaths. But as the adrenaline of the boardroom curdled into a different kind of heat, her grief and rage began to transform into a desperate, frantic hunger.
