Read Online Along for the Ride by Ruby Laska - Free Book Online Page A

attend to his needs rather than her own frenzied ones. Yet each time the heat of the encounter returned, it conquered even her shame, reminding her of how it had been to feel him rock her so deeply.
    It was after lunch when the phone rang. Lauren was in the conference room, preparing for a meeting, setting up her equipment. She answered, trying to keep her voice capable and cool.
    “Ah, Lauren. How I miss you.”
    She sank down in one of the upholstered chairs, and took a deep breath. “Rafi?”
    “Of course.” There was a note of amusement in his voice. “Do all your lovers call you at work?”
    “No. No! I mean…”
    “Lauren, I want to pick you up at the airport tomorrow.”
    The words took Lauren off guard. After the let-down of not hearing from him last week, she’d come to assume that Monday mornings were the only time she would see Rafi, her sole entry in his date book.
    “Yes,” she said hastily. As if he might take back his offer if she gave him a chance. Yes . Any time he wanted her, in fact, even as she squeezed her eyes shut in mortification at how she’d behaved during their last time together.
    “Good, then.” Rafi sounded odd, his voice strained. “I’ll make the arrangements, don’t worry.”
    “My usual driver—”
    “Yes, I know him well. He won’t mind.”
    There was a pause.
    “All right, then,” Lauren said, suddenly unable to bear the lengthening silence. “Listen, I have to run—”
    “Of course. Tomorrow then.”
    The line clicked in her hand.
    #
    Armed with rag and cleaner, Rafi studied the apartment critically. He’d gone over it twice, and there was nothing more he could do; all the surfaces shone. Fresh flowers in a water glass covered a burned spot on the kitchen counter. A cloth covered the old table. Wine chilled in the refrigerator.
    He had emptied a drawer in the vanity in the bathroom. A woman had her things, he knew—the myriad bottles and tubes of her ritual. Rafi longed to watch her at the sink, applying lotion to her creamy skin. He wanted to watch her brush her hair. Perhaps she’d allow him to brush it sometimes, and he would, with great care. He’d gather it in his hands, press its coiled length to his face. She would protest playfully, and they would scuffle, their play leading to lovemaking. That was the way he imagined it to be with couples, those who have been together a long time.
    He would not ask her to move in with him; not until he had more to offer. A better apartment. Not until he was worthy. But he longed to wake up with her. He wanted to take his time, to please her, to spoil her. He wanted to ask her to be his and his alone.
    Rafi knew it might never come to pass. A thousand things could go wrong. She might be put off by his desire to take things further. She might have already had her fill of him. She might not be able to bring herself to introduce him, her young lover, to her accomplished, professional friends.
    But Rafi had already accomplished more than most men by sheer will. And now he would gamble everything for a chance to win Lauren.
    He took a final look around the simple, sparse room. He would take more care with this place, fill it with good things, things of beauty. Perhaps someday he and Lauren would shop together, and his home would be a reflection of her presence in his life.
    #
    Lauren’s heart pounded as she walked along the jetway in the midst of the throng of business travelers. Every week she scanned the faces quickly, searching for her name on a card in bold black letters. She didn’t let her glance linger on the families, the women who waited for their tired husbands, the children craning to see the faces of their grandparents.
    But today someone waited for her .
    She smiled in anticipation, and then she saw him, and her smile became a grin, and she didn’t care. She hastened her step, nearly running. He was standing apart from the others, dressed in a soft chambray shirt, his hair combed carefully and his face