Page 18 of Reckless Flames

“Sophie, I want to feel you around me.”

“Yes, yes, Ben. Fuck me hard. Now.” I moved up until the tip of my dick was just at her entrance, the anticipation driving me crazy while I caressed her breasts, teasing her, wanting to draw out this feeling of being on the edge as long as possible. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I plunged my length between her tight, wet walls. She arched again.

“Oh God, yes. Hard, Ben. Fuck me hard.

I did. I pounded myself into her, and she rose to meet me at every stroke until we came together, a climax that rolled over us and through us until we lay panting, still joined together.

“Do you realize that we’re members of the Mile High Club now?” I asked Sophie a few minutes later, when my breathing had gotten closer to normal.

“And we achieved that dubious honor in a lot more comfort and style than most people do,” she said.

Back on the ground, I drove us home, and the only thing we wanted to do once we got there was to go to bed. I told Sophie I’d love for her to sleep with me if, by any chance, she wanted to do that. Even though I emphasized the sleep part of the invitation,she said that date night was over, and she would sleep in the guest room.

Every so often, I catch a glimpse of a hesitation on her part, a doubt about something to do with me, or maybe a reluctance to face the possibility of a relationship with me. I know that we still need to talk about why I kept Caleb a secret, and I wish we could do that soon and get past it. I just feel increasingly as though Sophie could be someone important in my life, and I’d like to explore that. But I need her to be willing to explore that with me.

I woke up late the next morning and phoned the couple who had arranged the sleepover for their son and Caleb, wanting to see if he was ready to come home. He was, so I drove into town to pick him up. I do need the occasional break from parenting, but I’m always so glad when we get back together afterwards. He’s such a good kid: easy-going, usually happy, just a joy to have around.

He’d already had breakfast, so he wanted to go up to his own room while I made myself something to eat. Sophie appeared in the kitchen just in time for me to add a couple more eggs to the pan and make her breakfast too.

“I passed Caleb on the stairs,” she said. “He told me about some of the things he and his friend did yesterday. Sounds like they had a good time.”

“Yeah, I like the friends he’s made. We have sleepovers here too sometimes, and they’re all good kids. What are your plans for the day?” I added, changing the subject.

“I need to spend some time writing, and Madi may come over to talk wedding preparations. You may not see a lot of me today.”

“Well, I’ll try to bear up under the disappointment,” I said, smiling to show that I was joking, even though I actually was a little disappointed. I got an eye roll in return. I had something I needed to ask her, though, so I handed her a plate of eggs and toast and continued.

“I’m sorry to bring up the stalker, Sophie, but I was wondering…Have you ever noticed anyone at a book signing or some other public appearance who just seemed off in some way?”

“You know, there was something that happened at the last book signing I had in the city before driving home for this visit. I didn’t think that much of it at the time because there are a lot of people in New York that, well, march to the beat of their own drum, you could say.”

“What happened?”

“Well, this guy had bought a copy of my book and wanted me to sign it. You know, like everyone else in line, but this guy wouldn’t leave after I signed his book. He kept asking me questions about myself, and he looked at me so intently, as though the answerswere of huge importance. Some of his questions were pretty personal, too, like what part of New York I lived in and so on. I didn’t tell him, of course, but I didn’t know how to get him to move on. Fortunately, the store employee who was kind of orchestrating the whole thing walked over and convinced him to let the next person in line get her book signed.”

“Do you happen to know if the store has any cameras covering that area. If by any chance, there’s some video footage of the guy, it might help the police identify him and then rule him out or look at him more closely, depending on what they find out.”

“I have no idea if there are any cameras there, but I’m sure we could find out.”

Later, when Sophie had gone back upstairs to work on her book, I spent a few minutes trying to decide whether to go to Detective Roberts with this possibility or go around her to someone from my past who could accomplish the same thing. In the end, I decided to see what the detective could do and not risk alienating her in some way by running an unauthorized investigation.

Chapter eleven

Sophie

Ihad made up my mind not to have sex with Ben again until I felt I knew him a little better and, hopefully, I had whatever evidence I needed to dismiss my doubts. Then, I basically seduced him on the flight home.

In my defense, it had been such a fabulous night, and he had been so…everything! Thoughtful, generous, considerate, fun, caring and, most of all, clearly not expecting sex as a reward for it all. I might have had a little more wine than I usually drink, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with it.

Well, I didn’t regret joining the Mile High Club with Ben, but for the foreseeable future, I would return to my original decision.

After breakfast the next day, I put in several hours on the new book. That’s not saying I made much progress, but I think I came up with a central idea that I could be excited about—one with enough bandwidth to flesh out an entire book.

Madi turned up in the middle of the afternoon.

“I’m so caught up at work that I left a little early today, and I wanted to see you. I loved having you back home, Soph, and now I miss that.”

“I miss you too. It’s weird being this close to home and not be able to stay in the house with you all like I usually do.” I hesitated and then asked, “Has there been any sign of our unwanted visitor?”

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