Page 57 of Saving Sophia

“That’s a great name. If anyone can relate to challenges from her past, it’s Ruthie.” He settled back into scrubbing my shoulders. “Now, tell Ruthie about your locket.”

I took a deep breath and looked at the doll. My tongue relaxed. “Well, Ruthie, ever since I was little, my parents … my father especially …” I paused, resisting the memories. I didn’t feel silly talking to a doll in front of him, but I did feel the pinpricks of pain my childhood always brought back.

I took another breath. “Well, he had expectations. He’s a professor. So is my mom. Their kids were supposed to be prodigies. But … I was a daydreamer. I rescued dolls and didn’t really like school. He was disappointed. They both were.”

I propped Ruthie up on a low shelf next to the tub and swirled my fingers around in the bubbles, breathing in their sweet scent and staring into her bright eyes. I was already planning how to give her a more spirited expression, more suited to a pirate wench.

“Keep going, baby,” he said, his voice so low I barely heard him.

I sighed. “It got worse when they found out I would be the only child they could have. I don’t know the details. I was maybe six or seven? But I remember them arguing, and him saying they wasted their chance on me.”

Ethan sucked in a breath. His hands stopped rubbing. They rested lightly on my shoulders.

“I tried to be what they wanted. But I wasn’t great at school. He took all my toys, my dolls …” The avocado shifted in my throat. “Said I could earn them back with good grades, but they were never good enough.”

I picked Ruthie up again, plucking the little plastic strings from the packaging in her box out of her hair. “I was never good enough.”

I blinked hard and continued. “He’s written six books on genetic engineering, which is impressive, I guess. My mom’s a board chair for a behavioral neuroscience center. Eventually they stopped hoping I’d ever be anything they could be proud of.”

I sighed. I hadn’t even gotten to the locket. “You’re a good listener, Ruthie. I’m sorry this is so depressing.” I set her back down and dropped my forehead onto my knees.

Ethan reached around and took my hand, stroking the palm then kissing each finger. When I finally looked up at him, he said, “Your fingers are like prunes, baby girl.”

I looked at the swollen ridges in my fingertips.

He pulled me to my feet, wrapped me up in a towel and helped me out of the tub, an arm slipping around my shoulders. “Your parents are fools,” he whispered into my ear. “I don’t care how smart they are.”

The avocado in my throat doubled in size, and I burrowed down into his embrace. He lifted me into his arms, carried me up the stairs to the loft, and laid me down on his bed.

I should have been nervous, stammering, awkward, but I wasn’t. “Am I sleeping on the couch tonight?”

He sat down, reaching for me, and his thumb grazed my bottom lip. “We can sleep on the couch or in my bed, but I’m not sleeping without you again.”

Happiness poured over me, and I watched, wide-eyed but unafraid, as he stood up and undressed for me. His abs flexed as he unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off, then pulled off his belt with a swishing sound. Shirtless, in dark gray dress pants, he looked even more gorgeous. His body came together at exactly the right angles, strong and sinuous, his abs well-muscled, his waist tapering to a sinful promise below.

I blushed and looked away when he took down his pants, a giddy shyness making me cover my eyes, but not before I saw his black silk boxer briefs. They rode his hips superbly, and I couldn’t help licking my lips.

Beyond his raw sex appeal, though, something else made my lower parts heat. The pain of talking about my past, the embarrassment at the restaurant, even the fear about the secrets I still kept, all felt smaller around him.

He made it easy for me to just be. He took me seriously, gave me space to be myself, no matter how silly or ridiculous. I guess Ruthie wasn’t the only one he released from a display box.

And those forbidden-sounding words, the ones I only ever read in books, woke something up inside me that definitely wanted to come out and play.

Call it Amber Jade, call it whatever you want. Something new unfurled inside me, reaching out a hesitant tendril to his awaiting touch.

I’d love it if you called me Daddy.

The more that echoed in my mind, the more I admitted that I might love it too.

17

ETHAN

When she asked me, with such a mix of innocence and hunger, about sleeping on the couch, my control seriously wavered.

Images of taking her straight to my bed, spreading her open, and showing her just how much I wanted her to call me Daddy flew through my mind. She asked me to take control, and that lit me up in a deep and primal way.

But I wanted to do this right. Desire for her had been building ever since I saw those gorgeous espresso eyes at the police station. But this sense of investment was new. Sophia was beautiful, and absolutely perfect for me, but she was also tender and needed me in a way that no one else ever had. She was real.

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