Page 59 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

Oh shit. The alcohol was making her extra emotional and talkative. She wouldn’t like that in the morning. Especially if she continued to confess things she would never confess sober.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Kamilah said, gently brushing Sofi’s hair out of her face. “But we’ll go again when the cathedral is open and this time you will know all the tricks and tips so we won’t wander around like a bunch of idiot tourists.”

She smiled dreamily. “We’ll be like real Parisians.”

“Exactly,” Kamilah agreed.

“Kamilah, I want to tell you something I should’ve told you a long time ago.”

Fuck fuck fuck. Red alert.Leo couldn’t know for sure, but something was telling him that Sofi was about to air all their business to his sister. And while he’d always been the first one to say that she needed to know, now was definitely not the time. “Drink this.” He shoved an open bottle of water into Sofi’s mouth, forcing her to spill, swallow, or choke. Anything to get her to shut up.

She shot him a face-melting look and snatched the bottle from his hands but continued to drink.

“You two can go. I’ve got her,” Leo assured his sister.

“I have myself,” Sofi argued when she finished her water. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’m fine.” She took a few steps; except she didn’t actually go anywhere. She went from one side to the other but didn’t go forward.

“Whoa, slow down, you speed demon,” Leo told her. “You’re practically sprinting.”

“Fuck off,” she told him with an adorable scowl.

Liam laughed while Leo smiled in delight. Something was definitely wrong with Leo, because he loved her sassy side way too much. Whenever she snapped at him, he got hard. It was a real problem, but not one he was looking to fix. “Seriously,” he told Liam and Kamilah. “I’m a good roommate. I’ll make sure Sofi gets tucked in nice and tight.”

Sofi blew a raspberry at him, but Kamilah didn’t. She stared at him with eyes exactly like their mother’s. Maybe that’s why he felt oddly naked when she said, “I know. I honestly wouldn’t entrust her to anyone else.” His sister gave him a soft smile and a kiss on the cheek. She took a few steps toward Liam, who met her and scooped her up. She put her head on his shoulders and closed her eyes, content to knock out now that she knew Sofi was taken care of.

Liam looked at Leo. “Tostón is probably asleep in our bed by now. Do you want to just leave him with us for the night?”

“No,” Sofi groaned. “I want my baby. I can’t sleep without him anymore.”

Leo gasped like an old-timey detective who just discovered the pivotal clue. “I knew you were sneaking him out of the kennel at night. That’s why he cries every time I try to put him in there.” He scoffed, “He just needs to get used to it, my ass.”

Liam chuckled as he carried Kamilah toward the door to their place. “I would’ve expected her to want to make a coat out of a dog like Cruella de Vil, before she’d ever let one sleep in her bed.”

That just went to show how good Sofi was at playing the part of overly ambitious, coldhearted, diva. “I’ll wait for Tostón in the hallway. Just let him out once you get her settled.”

As soon as they disappeared through the door, Leo spun on Sofi and scooped her up too.

“Leo,” she gasped. “Your shoulder! Put me down.”

“Absolutely not, bombón. If I let you walk, it will take us hours to get home even though it’s next door.”

“It’s your fault,” she grumbled, as Leo hit the light switch and walked them out of the automatic locking side door next to the closed garage doors. “You didn’t need to make all those drinks and you certainly didn’t have to make them so good.”

“I actually do feel a little bad about that. I didn’t mean for everyone to get fucked up.” Leo turned the corner of the building and walked them to the back door that led to their apartment. He put her down so he could grab the keys out of his pocket.

“Can I ask you something?” Sofi asked suddenly. Her tone made him a little apprehensive, but Leo wanted to be open and honest with her.

“Shoot,” he said.

She frowned at him. “That’s not funny. It’s too soon. It will always be too soon.”

For a moment he was confused, but then he realized that she thought he was making a joke about his shooting in the alley they were standing in. He had to chuckle because normally that was totally something he’d do. “I meant go ahead,” he corrected, pushing the door open. He went to scoop her up again, but Sofi took off up the stairs before he could. He followed closely so he could catch her if she fell.

“Do you really not want to see other parts of the world or did you just say that because you hate flying?” she asked.

“I guess I’ve had random thoughts like,It’d be cool to go on a safari, orI wonder what it would be like to see the pyramids up close, but to really make firm plans or actually look into it? No.”

Sofi stopped on the stairs and turned to face him. “I used to sit in front of the TV watching all the travel and nature channels for hours and hours. When he was around and not off playing baseball, my tío Manny would watch with me. He used to ask me what places I wanted to see the most. We’d go back and forth like that, naming our top spots.” She leaned against the wall and stared over her shoulder as if lost in a memory. “One day when I was like seven or eight he showed up with this map of the world. We marked all the places we’d visit together when he was done playing baseball.” She gave a sad smile—one full of nostalgia. “I still have that map. It’s in a box of my tío’s things in my closet.”

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