Page 43 of Saving Sophia

His command opened something inside me. Something I wanted … craved … but didn’t even know existed until that moment. He opened a door in me, and I burst through with no more hesitation. I didn’t just kiss him, I inhaled his mouth, sucking in his bottom lip and moaning a little sigh of pleasure at his taste, his smell, the bliss of his arms shifting and pulling me closer.

He growled into my kiss, his hand flattening against the rise of my tummy and sliding lower into my shorts. “That’s my girl.”

Amber Jade quietly purred her approval in my head, polite enough not to distract me. She even suggested I arch my back to get his hand closer to my panties. Something awkward would probably tumble from my lips soon, but in that moment, I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to say dirty words to him. I wanted to obey him on my knees. I wanted to confess my sins and have my flesh forgiven by his caress.

Suddenly, he pulled back, cursed, and leaned his forehead against mine. I huffed out a protest and lifted my lips up, hungry for more.

Why was he stopping?

Heavy knocking at the door broke through my haze and made me understand why he’d stopped. Who was there? How long had they been knocking? How would I ever forgive them for interrupting the single best moment of my life?

He untangled himself from my clinging arms, stroking my cheek and tucking back a strand of my hair. I flounced into a more normal seated position, waffling between embarrassment and frustration. As I adjusted to the loss of his heat, a trickle of fear slipped down my spine and pooled in my tummy, chilling the excitement that lingered there.

What if Mr. Roscoe sent the moon-faced man to finish the job?

Ethan opened the door with a sigh. “Hey Rook, come on in.”

“Not interrupting anything am I?” Rook stomped in, tossing a sly glance at the glasses of wine and water on the table. Heat flushed my skin as I tried to be normal. Was my hair rumpled? Were my shorts hiked up?

Rook’s heavy footsteps echoed through the cabin as he entered the kitchen and pulled a cold beer from the fridge. “Ah, Finchie brought supplies,” he said happily.

“Help yourself,” Ethan said, mouthing the word ‘sorry’ before sitting next to me and taking my hand. The connection to him sent tingly electricity up my arm.

“So, good news, bad news.” Rook cracked open the bottle and sat heavily in a chair opposite us. His dark eyes moved to our interlaced hands, and he tugged at the beanie covering his coal black hair, a grin warming his face. “You sure I’m not interrupting?”

“You are.” Ethan leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee, keeping my hand in his. “So it better be all good news.”

Rook released a thunderous laugh. “Wish I could oblige you, brother.”

“What’s going on?”

“Bats are being vacated tomorrow. That’s the good news.”

“And the bad?”

“Design team issues. I’m not sure they’re going to meet the first set of deadlines.”

Ethan sighed, scrubbing his hand against his goatee. “What’s going on?”

Rook took a long pull from his beer and began to describe what sounded like a lot of drama within his interior design team. Ethan kissed my hand and gave me an apologetic glance before asking a few more questions.

I felt awkward, listening to business I didn’t know anything about, so I stood up and wandered over to a bookshelf next to the door, with its dusty stack of board games. As I perused the boxes, I glanced furtively over at Ethan, now deep in discussion with Rook about how the weather would also impact the construction schedule. I could hardly believe I’d just been kissing him, experiencing a wonderful, reckless loosening inside that might have led to all kinds of questionable decisions.

He said he wanted a sweet little girl to lead. Why did that sound so amazing? He called me his naughty little Sophie, and that had sent fireworks through every part of my body.

I stared at the games on the shelf while they talked. Monopoly. Had there ever been a stack of board games anywhere on the planet that didn’t include Monopoly? What else? Chess. Checkers. Two boxes were puzzles.

After a few more minutes, Rook stood up. “Well, I’d love to stay, but I have a date.”

“The yoga instructor?” Ethan stood up and walked him to the door.

“Nah, she wasn’t the one. But this one could be.” Rook pulled the door open, and a chilly breeze blew in, raising goosebumps on my arms. He turned to look at Ethan. “One more thing.”

Ethan tilted his head, listening.

“The security system is complete shit. Nothing is working. I know Griff’s coming out to work on it, but I wanted to let you know. It’s bad. Good thing we’re out in the middle of nowhere.” He laughed his big booming laugh. “I doubt there’s a line of criminal types looking to infiltrate our empty resort.”

I shivered and rubbed my arms. The tiniest hint of a frown crossed Ethan’s face, and he glanced at me before looking back to his brother. “Thanks for letting me know.”

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