Page 47 of Perfect Enough

Josh reached for my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Don’t say that, Soph.”

I chewed on my lower lip. “It’s true. Heknewhow much he meant to me. I was closer to him than I am to my mother. That might sound strange, but my mom was always in my business. Not as much as she is now, but still a lot. I often found myself telling my father things that I’d never consider telling my mother. He never judged me, ever. Then he left this earth without so much as leaving me a note, telling me why I wasn’t good enough for him to stay. Whyneitherof us were good enough.”

My words faded as I turned my head and wiped away a few tears.

“I’m sorry. I feel like such a baby.”

Tightening his grip on my hand, he softly whispered my name. “Sophia.”

When I looked at him, my breath caught as his eyes met mine. For an insane moment, I thought about leaning in and kissing him.But then he spoke, and the spell was broken.

“Youweregood enough for him to stay. Something darker took him from you. Something he couldn’t fight any longer.”

I didn’t even bother trying to hide my tears. “Why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t he try, Josh?”

The next thing I knew, I was in his lap, and his arms held me tightly. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried.

I’d cried plenty since my father passed away, but this was something completely different. Sobs racked my body. And the entire time, I felt Josh’s hands on my back, lightly moving up and down, until I felt myself relaxing, melting…and then complete blackness.

Chapter Eleven

JOSH

It hadn’t taken Sophia long to cry herself to sleep in my arms. My heart broke for her, and I wanted to fix everything that made her so damn sad. It was clear she was still heavily grieving the loss of her father. Her mother’s hovering, however well-intended, wasn’t doing her any favors. And the way her cousin had treated her certainly hadn’t helped.

Standing, I carried Sophia to my bedroom and gently lay her on the bed. Covering her with a blanket from the closet, I kissed her lightly on the forehead and tried to ignore how a zip of electricity raced through my body.There had been a lot of emotions this evening, and I wasn’t about to read into any of my feelings right now.

Before I left, I turned and gave her one last look before I shut the door and headed to another room.

Stripping out of my clothes, I crawled under the covers and stared at the ceiling as I thought about Sophia in my bed, sleeping. The way she looked in that dress tonight, and then in the simplest of clothes…fuck, she was beautiful.

Closing my eyes, I pushed the sheets down, took myself in hand, and pictured Sophia. If I was being honest, it wasn’t the first time I’d thought of her while getting myself off. And it wouldn’t be the last. It didn’t take long for me to find my release,with Sophia’s whispered name on my lips as I came so hard, I swore the room spun.

After cleaning myself in the hall bathroom, I crawled back into bed and drifted into a deep sleep.

“Josh?”

I rolled over in bed and mumbled, “Sophia.”

“Josh?”

Her voice grew closer and closer, and it sounded like she was trying to find me.

“Josh? Where are you?”

Opening my eyes, I sat up in bed and quickly looked around. For a moment, I was confused about where I was, then I remembered I’d put Sophia in my room and slept in one of the guest rooms.

I pushed the covers off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “Shit,” I said as I scrubbed my hands down my face and stood.I hadn’t slept that hard in a long time. I was about to stand when the door suddenly opened.

“Josh? Are you in here?”

Sophia let out a small scream, then covered her mouth with her hand. I blinked a few times to clear the sleep from my head and eyes.

When I stood, she let out another yelp and covered her eyes. “Josh, you’re, um…you’re not wearing any clothes.”

I glanced down, and my damn dick was jutting out like he was begging for the woman standing there to give him attention.

“Shit!” I said as I quickly reached down and grabbed my sweats, pulling them on.

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