Page 28 of The Forces of Love

Never had Sophie thought she’d look forward to overtime. But at this point, being in the Archives at night with Mitch was becoming an erogenous zone.

Sophie’s eyes fluttered closed. The image of it was so incredibly hot in her mind. Mitch pounding into her while she sucked him down. Fuck.

“Oh, you like that.”

At this rate, she was going to come untouched. And Mitch thoughthermouth was indecent. His was incendiary.

She said nothing as she sucked his fingers down farther, curling her tongue around them in a filthy promise. Smiling when Mitch grabbed the base of his cock and moved his fingers into her hair, tugging her to him. Sophie might not know a thing about dating, butthisshe was good at. Maybe if she distracted him with enough good sex, he wouldn’t notice how attached she had become. Wouldn’t see the relief in her eyes when he sauntered into the Vault every day. If she pretended it was casual, he couldn’t use it to hurt her when he left.

Hopefully.

* * *

MITCH

“Annette gave this to me.” Sophie held up a flyer for a rooftop showing ofSpice World. “Said she heard I liked ’90s music. Wonder where she heard that…”

Mitch shoved a forkful of salad into his mouth, shrugged.

To his surprise, she laughed. She did that a lot when her guard was down. It was contagious and enthusiastic. Utterly memorable. Also, kind of loud? Mitch swore it echoed like chimes through the old halls. It had taken him days to realize he was hearing it in his head. Not just at work, either, but in his sleep, in the shower, on his drive home.

“Do you think we should be doing more than this?”

Lunch had becometheir time. After some quick thinking, Mitch had convinced Sophie that people who worked together could eat in the same room without any type of romantic undertone. Even though, for him, it was a big fat lie. Because it meant getting her like this, soft, open, talkative.

“More than what? Steady jobs and good sex?” Andgood friends, though he’d barely avoided saying it.

“Yeah. We’re smart, in our thirties. Don’t you ever think of doing more than this? You could be in Rufus’s job.”

“So could you. Easily.”

Sure, he’d thought about it. Even liked the idea of a promotion, but Mitch wasn’t hungry for it like others were.

“I want it someday, for the stability more than anything, but I’m not really built for upper management. Can you imagine? No, I want to clock out while the sun’s still up and leave the bullshit here. When I have a family, I want to be home with them instead of being stuck at the office, finishing up quarterly reviews or whatever.”

Sophie nodded, silent as she chewed.

“Is that what you want? CEO Sophie Anderson has a ring to it.”

She swallowed. “Definitely not. I’m happy here. Do you know how often we had to move around after Dad left? Jumping from one rental to another. New schools, new people. Then Mom started volunteering, and I was following her after school and weekends. I’m happy to sit tight for a few decades. Plus, this is my little heaven. I’m not about to give that up. They’ll have to drag me out when I retire.”

“That’s a lot of change for a kid. Must have been tough.”

Sophie dropped her chin, drawing a pattern in her sauce silently for several beats.

“I’m okay on my own. It’s false friends I hate. You don’t need to be alone to feel lonely.” She laid her fork down. “I love my life. Living alone, doing what I want…”

“Yeah, but having people stick around is nice.” Pulling on her hand, he guided her into his lap. He needed her to understand that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Of course you’d say that.”

“You want it to,” he risked. “Even if you don’t like admitting it.”

Sophie dragged a hand through his hair, her nails sparking electricity over his scalp. Big blue eyes searched his, naked with hope. Trust.

Man, whatever he needed to do to keep her, he’d do it.Thiswas his heaven.

In response, Mitch ran his hands along her thighs, then captured her cheeks between his palms. “You’re someone worth holding on to, Sophie. I won’t give you up easy.”

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