This outtake takes place at Oxford, after Ruby has started graduate school there . . .<\/p>\n
~*~*~*~<\/p>\n
Oxford Maggie stopped in my small shared office before she left for the night, putting her hand on my shoulder. \u201cStill working on the report?\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded, looking at her over my shoulder. \u201cAlmost done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou leave in the morning?\u201d<\/p>\n I clicked \u2018save\u2019 on the file and swiveled my chair to face her. \u201cYeah, back on Monday. You sure it\u2019s okay? I really don\u2019t have to go along with him, I\u2019ve only met the groom and can assure you they won\u2019t mind if I\u2019m not there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course it\u2019s fine,\u201d she assured me. \u201cI think Niall will love having you on his arm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Maggie.\u201d<\/p>\n She sat down next to me, smiling. \u201cAt the risk of overstepping my bounds, I\u2019m so glad everything worked out between you two. I\u2019m very fond of him.\u201d<\/p>\n I started to thank her and then immediately paused. How did Maggie even know there\u2019d been a time things hadn\u2019t<\/em> been good with me and Niall?<\/p>\n Her brows lifted, mouth formed a little \u2018o\u2019 of understanding. \u201cAh, I\u2019ve stepped in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaggie<\/em>,\u201d I warned playfully. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe came to see me,\u201d she admitted sheepishly. She cupped a hand over her mouth, looking so young when her eyes lit up with embarrassed amusement. \u201cOh, Christ he\u2019s going to slaughter me. He came to see me when the two of you had only just split. He was insistent that I not listen to Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe came here to tell you to take me into your program?\u201d<\/p>\n She waved a hand. \u201cIt was a few days after you\u2019d come yourself. I assured him his presence did nothing but show me that he had the ability to be in love, which, I\u2019ll admit, was worth the weak tea and dry croissants we suffered that day.\u201d<\/p>\n My curiosity was eating me alive. \u201cMaggie, do you happen to remember what day he came?\u201d<\/p>\n Closing her eyes, she said, \u201cWell, let\u2019s see. It was a Wednesday because I\u2019d only just finished office hours . . . first week of April . . .\u201d<\/p>\n The sequence was coming together in my head: I came to see her the Monday after I\u2019d been fired. Niall came that Wednesday. Later that night he\u2019d come to my flat, professed his love, and never mentioned that he\u2019d just come from Oxford.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t need credit for trying to help me. He just wanted me.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw you Monday<\/em> that week,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you did.\u201d She stood, rubbing my shoulder. \u201cAll right then, have a nice trip to Boston. Make sure you get Niall on the dance floor. If memory serves, he\u2019s something to behold.\u201d<\/p>\n Dazed, I waved to Maggie as she left the room and sat, staring at the monitor.<\/p>\n I heard the even pace of Niall\u2019s footsteps in the hall just outside.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve come to fetch my girlfriend,\u201d he said, walking in and kissing the top of my head.<\/p>\n \u201cYou went to see Maggie?\u201d<\/p>\n He bent lower, kissing my cheek, my neck. \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n I stood, turning and stepping into his arms. \u201cYou came here to see Maggie.\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t know why it mattered so much. Maybe it was because he\u2019d done it so selflessly\u2014not as a form of currency to get me back, but because he knew how much it meant to me. Or maybe knowing he\u2019d come to Maggie felt important because I\u2019d always secretly wondered if Niall had agreed with Tony on this one point\u2014whether he\u2019d condemned Tony but also seen my behavior as unprofessional and, despite falling in love with me, had wished I\u2019d conducted myself differently.<\/p>\n \u201cI came to see Maggie when?\u201d he asked, and then his brows lifted in understanding. \u201cOh. Before. Yes. It\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s nothing<\/em>,\u201d I repeated, stretching and kissing him. \u201cExcept that it\u2019s everything. My boyfriend has my back.\u201d<\/p>\n He nodded, saying, \u201cI do indeed,\u201d while reaching for my messenger bag and sliding it over his shoulder. \u201cShall we?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep,\u201d I said, bending to hit send on the email with the report for Maggie. \u201cJust need to get this off and then I\u2019m all yours.\u201d<\/p>\n I followed him out of the building and to the road where he\u2019d left his little car with the hazards on. We\u2019d started a new routine of commuting between London and Oxford most nights\u2014usually by train, but when he could, such as on the weekend, Niall would pick me up at school and bring me back to his flat.<\/p>\n I suspected he liked the drive best since, as he once said, \u201cMy girlfriend can provide me with the most sublime oral pleasure while we\u2019re en route.\u201d<\/p>\n I did love the drive, too. His car was minuscule, and felt like this sweet, perfect bubble where we could talk about anything without any weirdness or filter.<\/p>\n He followed me in, leaning over to kiss me again before starting the car and reaching to put his left hand on my leg as he drove away from the campus.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m good.\u201d<\/p>\n We talked about the report I\u2019d just turned in, and gave the smallest bit of attention to Maggie\u2019s slip. Niall didn\u2019t want to linger on that time\u2014either because he didn\u2019t want to relive the pain or because his loyalty was so deeply assumed; he moved on. He told me about his day\u2014a meeting with Richard and HR to lay out clear terms for internships, the completion of the Diamond Square project\u2014and then we fell into an easy quiet. Tony had recently been let go from the firm, and I know it made Niall tense whenever his former colleague came up in conversation: he felt like he had let things go unchecked with Tony for so long. He felt responsible for so many things.<\/p>\n I squeezed my eyes closed, taking a deep breath to clear my head and the mild chaser of stress that always hit me, too, when I thought of Richardson-Corbett.<\/p>\n As Niall said to me on occasion: Onward.<\/em><\/p>\n Taking another slow breath, I hummed, loving the smell of Niall\u2019s aftershave, loving the soft feel of the cotton of his dress shirt where the wrist cuff brushed against my legs, loving his long fingers spread around the top of my thigh.<\/p>\n As if he was reading my thoughts, his hand slid under my skirt and he pressed his fingertips between my legs. \u201cI’m thinking about kissing you here.\u201d<\/p>\n Rolling my head to look over at him, I said, \u201cWell, now I am too.\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced at me, eyes soft, lashes dark against his cheek when he slowly blinked back to the road. \u201cTell me you love me,\u201d he said quietly.<\/p>\n I felt an enormous smile spread over my face. \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n He hummed, fingers sliding under the hem of my underwear.<\/p>\n \u201cPay attention to the road, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n Niall gave me a tiny flicker of a smile. \u201cI\u2019m just feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n I closed my eyes, quickly reaching the point where I might need to tell him to pull over to see if it was physically possible to have sex in this car.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat time is our flight?\u201d I asked, breathless.<\/p>\n \u201cEarly,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s at five. We may as well skip sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n I let out a gasp as he slid two fingers up and down and over my clit.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to go home and lie on the carpet naked and feed each other take-away,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever you want, just don\u2019t stop what you\u2019re doing with your hand.\u201d<\/p>\n I could hear the teasing in his voice. \u201cMaybe noodles? Does Thai sound good?\u201d<\/p>\n My orgasm was building so hot and slick right where his fingers were playing. \u201cSo good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter, I want you to ride me. I want your ass in my hands and those glorious tits in my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n He gave my clit the sweetest little pinch, rubbing it in tiny tight circles and I felt my legs go as wide as they would in the seat, bracing one hand on the door and the other on the dash and coming so hard my voice had gone hoarse by the time I was done crying out.<\/p>\n Niall\u2019s fingers slowed and he trailed his fingers down the inside of my thigh. \u201cGood?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHoly crap,\u201d I ran a shaking hand over my neck. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you were ambidextrous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good thing I have an automatic, I\u2019ll admit that.\u201d<\/p>\n Laughing, I closed my eyes, weaving my fingers with his. \u201cIf you expect me to stay awake after that, you\u2019re insane.\u201d<\/p>\n He fell quiet for a few minutes before saying, \u201cMy mother will be at the wedding. You haven\u2019t met her yet, but she\u2019s very excited to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe too,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople will ask her this weekend if you and I are getting married.\u201d<\/p>\n My eyes flew open. \u201cThey will not<\/em>. Oh, God, your poor mother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, please. My mother loves to talk about marrying off her children, and we\u2019re going to a wedding<\/em>. People have no boundaries at weddings.\u201d He paused as the entire scenario seemed to play out in his head. \u201cThen she\u2019ll ask me, of course.\u201d His brow furrowed. \u201cBloody hell, I hope she doesn\u2019t ask you, but if she does . . . I\u2019ll tell her that of course it\u2019s too soon, and\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGod, just tell her we are,\u201d I said, shaking my head and closing my eyes. I loved bumbling panicky Niall so much I almost pulled his hand under my skirt again, but we were headed into traffic. \u201cI mean, obviously we are, but in like two years or something. People just need to calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n I opened my eyes and glanced over at him.<\/p>\n The Number of Times Niall Couldn\u2019t Hide His Enormous Grin When I Said We Were Getting Married Someday: One.<\/p>\n ~*~*~*~<\/p>\n We hope you enjoyed that little peek into their lives down the road! If you haven’t already, make sure to swing by your local Target for a special signed edition of Beautiful Secret. Beautiful Beloved is even printed inside! Or, you can order a copy online<\/a>!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Ruby<\/em><\/p>\n
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