Page 55 of Trying Sophie

The joke was in poor taste, but it got my point across.

“No, you’re right,” he nodded, choosing to ignore my barb. “No one expected him to settle down … precisely. Maybe just go out with a respectable girl. Or girls. It didn’t really matter. He just needed to stop with those other ones.”

“Why?”

I was genuinely curious why he cared about Declan’s sex life.

“It’s disgraceful,” he answered indignantly.

“But it was his life,” I argued, surprising myself. “If he wanted to screw every woman he met, that was his business, not yours. And certainly not his mothers’.”

“Right, except I don’t think that’s what he wanted to be doing.”

I snorted. No-strings-attached-sex, and lots of it, was what every young, hot athlete wanted. Maybe even more than the money they got for playing.

“You keep telling yourself that.”

“Give your grandfather a break Sophie,” my grandma warned. “This is not a conversation he wants to be having with his granddaughter. You think it’s easy for either of us to talk about this stuff?”

If they hadn’t wanted to ever have this conversation, maybe they shouldn’t have butted their noses into Declan’s life, using me as their dangling carrot. They’d created an awkward situation for everyone involved and now they had to own up to it.

“I still don’t understand why you thought this was a good idea.”

If I was willing to buy my gramps’s story about trying to steer Declan right by using me as an example of the type of woman he should be going after, then why had he also tried to play matchmaker between us. From the sound of it, Declan hadn’t changed his ways, despite all the nice stories my grandpa had told him. Why would they want me to be with a man who’d shown little to no regard for women?

“Because I care about the lad, Sophie, and want what’s best for him. I want him to be happy.”

“And I love that about you gramps, but that has nothing to do with me.”

“You could make him happy,” he answered meaningfully.

“I thank you for thinking I have the power to magically transform a man who’s spent the entirety of his adult life sleeping his way through a country’s capital, but no.” My voice broke. “Just no.”

If all I’d wanted was something quick and meaningless, I could fuck Declan—scratch the itch we both had and be done with it—but I’d started to think there could be something more between us. Which was idiotic, I knew, since I had no plans to stick around, but somehow, he’d managed to worm his way into my heart and made me want more. My gut churned, knowing I’d fallen for someone who would never be able to give me what I needed from a relationship.

As if sensing my inner debate, my grandpa stood and placed his hand on my shoulder. Squeezing, he said, “Give the lad a chance, Sophie. I think you’ll be surprised.”

“Surprised when a self-centered athlete tries to get in my pants? Nothing surprising there, gramps.”

“That’s not what he wants from you.” Choking on his words, he added, “At least not all he wants from you.”

“Colm!”

“Well?” he said, facing my grandma. “You don’t think he’s gonna give that up entirely, do you?”

“But this is your granddaughter you’re talking about!”

Thank god my grandma was indignant on my behalf because I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Some things just never needed to be talked about—like your grandpa offering you up on a platter to a known sex fiend. Good lord.

“Gramps, you know I love you, but are you sure you don’t need a scan of your brain? You told me yourself Declan’s only interested in women for one thing. So what makes you think it’d be different with me?”

Sharing a glance, my grandma nodded.

“Because he told me so,” he stated, so matter-of-fact.

He’d told him so?

What the what?

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