Page 4 of Redeemed

Sofia tried to slow her heart as she walked back through the swinging doors to the dining room. JT thought she was pretty. She couldn’t contain the grin that broke across her face as she picked up a pitcher of tea and headed to the nearest table.

Chapter four

Cuervo, Chicken & Waffles

Thenextweekend,Sofiawas coming home late from Sunday dinner at her sister’s house that had almost turned into a fight over what Tia Magda had done. Selena thought she had been clever in contacting Magda for Sofia, even though her sister had declined the suggestion. She thought Sofia had needed a little push for her own good. Once Selena had heard about their tia sending the men to Sofia's work, however, she was horrified.

"Oh my God, Sofia! I'm so sorry!" Selena cried when Sofia told her what had happened. "I can't believe she did that! Maybe it was a misunderstanding?"

"Uh, no," Sofia retorted. "They were obviously given my work address. I was humiliated. And it could have been worse if JT hadn't been there to make sure they left. The one guy was really aggressive."

Mrs. Benevides' hand came to her mouth in shock! "I cannot believe my sister would do such a thing! I'm going to talk to her. Matchmaking is one thing but not like this. I don't know what she was thinking."

"Thank you, Mamá," Sofia said, giving her mother a hug. "I really don't want to go through something like that again."

"Of course not, mija! We want you to find a husband but someone who will treat you like la reina que eres." ("the queen you are.") She took Sofia's face in her hands. "Now, there was a man in the bank the other day…."

"Mamá, stop!" Sofia laughed. "I promise I can find my own husband when I am ready for one."

A smile crossed her mother's lips. "Sé que puedes, mija. Sé que puedes."("I know you can, darling. I know you can.")

Sofia left hoping that the matchmaking was over, but still exhausted from dealing with all of it. She loved her family so much, but they could be a lot. When she saw a faint light coming from Common Grounds' front windows, she slowly drove to the back of the building and, sure enough, there was JT’s Jeep. She was too wired over the evening at her sister's and knew she wouldn’t sleep anytime soon, so she decided to see what JT was working on tonight. Maybe she could help. She parked, used her keys to open the back door, and headed down the hall toward the kitchen.

“Hey, JT, it’s just me,” she called as she came to the swinging kitchen doors, not wanting to startle him. “No need to call the…” The words died in her throat as she pushed the silver doors open.

He was sitting on the floor, his back against the prep station, bottle in hand. When he slowly glanced up at her, the devastation in his chocolate brown eyes tore her heart completely in two. Her very being wanted to throw herself down next to him, cradle him in her arms and tell him everything was going to be okay; that she loved him, and they could get through this together, but she knew that would be the quickest way to shut him down entirely. Instead, she swallowed hard and calmly went to sit next to him.

She held out a hand. “I could use some of that after the night I’ve had. Care to share?”

He blinked at her dully, but then held out the bottle towards her. She took a pull of the Cuervo, sputtered, and held onto the bottle.

“So, what’s going on, boss? Anything I can do?” Sofia asked in the most casual tone she could muster.

“Maggie and Zane found a house, today,” he said slowly.

“That’s good news, though, right? Now you’ll have your own bachelor pad,” Sofia said, trying for a chipper tone. She knew him so well that she could easily guess what he was thinking. Maggie had found someone else to protect her. He'd proved he wasn’t up to the task, and she blamed him for her attack at the hands of Zane’s ex and was getting away from him. It was completely illogical, but he was still carrying so much guilt.

“Yeah, of course,” he said with forced bravado, putting a hand back out for the bottle. She pretended she didn’t see the hand. “Trying to live with those two has been a trial. They’re all over each other all the time. It’ll be great to be able to walk into my kitchen and not have to worry if everyone has their clothes on.”

Sofia giggled despite herself. Zane and Maggie were disgustingly happy and couldn’t keep their hands off each other, even with the babies coming. She could only imagine what it was like within the confines of their own home.

“See? It’s all good. At least you’ll get some peace. My family, on the other hand…” She discreetly moved the bottle of Cuervo to her other side, not giving it to JT. “Aunt Tia is truly making my life miserable with trying to marry me off.”

JT turned a bit to focus on her. “After what happened the other day, they’re still at it?”

“I hope it's over,” Sofia grumbled. “But I can't be sure. Mamá is going to talk to her and tell her to stop. Selena confessed she did call her and set her on the matchmaking despite me telling her not to."

This set the protective adrenaline spiking in JT’s bloodstream and started to penetrate the alcoholic haze. “You’re joking. Didn’t you tell her what those guys said to you?”

Sofia waved a hand in dismissal. “I did. They thought it was awful. Selena was very apologetic. She never thought Tia Magda would go so far.”

“That’s just wrong, Sofia. You shouldn’t have to put up with that. That guy was way out of line.” JT's face hardened. “He’d better not ever come in here again.”

Sofia patted his arm and gave him a wistful smile. “I’m sure he won’t. There’d be no reason. He lives and works in Irving. He was only out here to check out the merchandise.”

Sofia heard a noise she had never heard before emanating from JT’s chest.Did he just growl?She cleared her throat and continued.“Like I said, hopefully nothing like that will happen again after Mamá talks to her. I'm sure it will be fine."

That noise came again, low and feral, from JT’s chest. It gave her a fluttering feeling low in her belly.Dios mio.

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