The second she stepped outside the room, someone draped an arm across her shoulders, pulling her into their side. Reflexively, she jammed her elbow into the unknown person’s stomach, hearing a satisfying oompf for her efforts.

“God. What the f**k, Ruby Tuesday?”

She reared back. “Bowen?”

His hands dropped to his knees as he tried to regain his breath, his dark blond hair sticking out from under a baseball cap. “In the flesh.”

Glancing around, she lowered her voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, thought I’d take a pottery class, you know, just to broaden my horizons a little.” Ruby tilted her head at him skeptically as he straightened. “Why do you think I’m here? I came to see you.”

“What for?”

“Damn. Thaw out a little, ice princess.”

She sighed through a smile in spite of her irritation.

Bowen, her childhood friend and all-around goofball, tended to deflate her anger quite easily. “I’m sorry. It’s just, the last few times you’ve come to see me, it’s been to convince me to come back to work for your father.

And as I told you before, I’m not interested.”

He made a sound of acknowledgment, turning his head to check out two of her female classmates. When they looked over, he winked, sending them into a fit of giggles. Bowen had that effect on the opposite sex. “I know. I know. You’re on the straight and narrow now. You used to be fun, Rubik’s Cube.”

“Can you settle on a nickname at some point?”

“Rubella. Righteous Ruby. Barney Rube-el.”

“Don’t turn my name into a disease, and that last one didn’t even work.” She sniffed. “Righteous Ruby we can talk about.” Heading toward the building exit, she gave Bowen no choice but to follow her. “So what’s your father’s offer this time? Let me guess, he’s gotten word of a cash game in Jersey he needs me for. Why didn’t he just come see me himself, as usual?”

Bowen looked uncharacteristically uncomfortable.

“He’s lying low at the moment. Waiting for a little trouble to pass.”

She stopped him with a finger to her lips. “I don’t even want to know. I’m not interested in hearing about any trouble, and I’m not interested in any games he wants to arrange so he can take a cut of my winnings.”

Ruby scrutinized his expression. “Just tell me you didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“I didn’t.” Bowen answered with grave seriousness, a shadow passing through his deep brown eyes. “Not this time.”

With a nod of satisfaction, Ruby turned and kept walking, considering their conversation over.

“Look, we know you’re still working around the city. I even heard you had a little trouble the other night.” He called after her. “What’s the difference how and where you play? At least this way I can watch your back.”

Ruby stopped abruptly and turned. “Where did you hear I ran into trouble?”

Bowen gave a quick shrug. “People like to tell me things.”

She breathed a curse. “Stop listening, then. I work for myself. I don’t have to answer to your father anymore. Or mine, for that matter.”

“Have you heard from him lately?”

“No.” She looked away on a shrug. “Last I heard, he was working his way through Miami.”

Bowen cupped her cheek in his hand in a platonic show of comfort. “You know, we could hop a flight down there and chill on the beach for a few weeks.

Work at night. It’ll be just like the old days. You make the cash, and I take care of any unwanted trouble. You can’t admit that’s not tempting.”

She jerked her head out of his palm, but his hand only landed on her shoulder with a squeeze. “Why can’t you just accept what I’m trying to do here, Bowen? I’m not going to hustle forever. I’m going to school so I don’t have to anymore.”

“You’d deny the women of Miami their chance to meet and fall in love with me?” He sighed when she didn’t smile at his attempt at a joke. “Come on, Ruben Sandwich. This isn’t you. What’s your end game here?

A boring-ass desk job where you answer to some jerk-off boss? How is that any different than working for us? If anything, it’s worse.”

“You know me better than that.” Ruby had no intention of punching a clock or wearing a sensible business suit to work. Never going to happen. Her plans were quite different. She placed her hand on top of his larger one. “You know, just because he’s your father doesn’t mean you have no way out. You’re capable of more than being his muscle, Bowen.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed with emotion. As he started to answer, a man behind her cleared his throat.

Awareness prickled the skin of her neck. She knew who she would find if she turned around.

Bowen looked over her shoulder, his compassionate expression transforming into belligerence. “Help you, buddy?”

“Doubt it,” the voice answered. “I’m here to see her.”

Ruby turned to find a rigid Troy, blue eyes locked on Bowen and the hand resting on her shoulder. Just as she remembered, he really needed a haircut, his dark brown hair a little shaggy around the ears and neck. He wore a suit and tie as if he’d come straight from work, five o’clock shadow darkening his jaw.

Involuntarily, she dropped her gaze to his mouth, the hollow of his neck. She wanted to press her face there, inhale his scent, knowing he would smell as edible as he looked.

She felt Bowen stiffen in response to Troy’s confrontational demeanor. Bowen liked to fight.

She’d seen him in countless altercations, occasionally brought on by her taking someone’s money at the pool table, but she’d distanced herself from that and had no desire to witness it ever again. Although, she had a feeling Troy would probably hand Bowen his first loss.

“Who the f**k are you?” Bowen asked.

Troy took a step forward, and she barely resisted the urge to press herself against him. Suddenly, the two days she’d gone without seeing him felt so much longer. Now that he stood in front of her, she ached to touch and be touched. He’d come for her. Taken the time to search and find her. Something foreign, something resembling joy, bubbled in her chest.

“I’m the guy she spent Friday night with. And I’m the guy she’s going to spend tonight with. So maybe the better question is, who the f**k are you?” As he leaned in to talk over her shoulder, his jacket opened just slightly, revealing the NYPD badge clipped at his waist.

Bowen’s eyes bulged at the sight, and he laughed in disbelief. “Are you f**king kidding me, Ruby? A cop? Please tell me this isn’t for real.”

She lifted her chin, refusing to feel even an ounce of the shame her friend was attempting to heap onto her shoulders. At one time in her life, she would have called herself a sellout. But not anymore. She might have been taught to think like a criminal, but she’d grown up and started thinking for herself. Perhaps she’d only spent a short amount of time with Troy, but he wasn’t anything like the lazy, selfish cops she’d been taught to expect.

She rounded on Bowen, lowering her voice so only he would hear. “Maybe you don’t know me anymore, Bowen. If you did, you would act like the friend you’re supposed to be and support me. Stop trying to drag me back down with you.” Pain flashed in his eyes, and she immediately regretted her harsh word choice. She sighed. “Bowen…”