Page 54 of Bad Boys After Dark - Brett
“It doesn’t take me long to move on,” Lindsay said as she lifted her camera and took another picture. “Okay, go make out for hours, but remember to lock your door or you’re liable to have visitors.”
Visitors?
As Lindsay went after Sable, Sophie leaned against Brett and said, “Feeling boxed in yet?”
“Baby, I’m not sure about pinching and visitors, but how can I feel boxed in when the box has a hundred different entrances? I have a feeling I’ll need to take notes to keep up with you guys.”
“That’s good, right?” she asked as they stepped inside.
He answered her with a kiss.
Sophie’s parents’ house had the same country-chic, homespun feel as Sophie’s apartment, decorated in creams and white, accented with several hues of pink, peach, and brown. The sofas looked well loved, with indentations proving they weren’t just for show. Vases of fresh flowers decorated the mantel and end tables, and happy memories emanated from pictures on every wall. He felt like he’d walked into a warm hug, and it hit him like a bullet to the heart. His mother’s house would probably feel the same if she’d moved after his father left. But she’d stayed in his childhood home, and it was riddled with too many painful memories to alleviate the discomfort.
He followed Sophie up the steps, taking in the photographs hanging on the wall. Two little girls, one blond, one brunette, with big blue eyes and pigtails, smiled at the camera in their pink frilly dresses and shiny white shoes. He’d know Sophie’s smile anywhere, and the glimmer of mischief in Lindsay’s eyes was hard to miss. In the picture beside it, the girls stood in a pumpkin patch making faces at the camera. Above that picture was one of Sophie and a boy. They couldn’t have been more than ten or twelve years old, standing barefoot in a creek, eyes closed, lips touching. It was the type of picture that caused women to swoon, like the images he’d seen on black-and-white greeting cards. He wondered who the lucky boy was and how special he was to Sophie now for that picture to be hanging on their wall. But there were so many pictures of Sophie with her arms around girls and boys who could have been friends or family, it didn’t seem out of place. He stopped to admire a picture of Sophie and her father standing beneath a sparkly sign that read 7TH GRADE FATHER-DAUGHTER DANCE. She wore a navy dress, and he looked handsome in a dark suit with a navy tie. In another frozen memory, Sophie wore a short pink dress and a pretty corsage on her wrist and stood between a handsome boy and her parents. Brett was torn between the jealousy of wanting to be the boy who had been there with her and happiness that she’d had a night worthy of her dazzling smile.
“That’s Shane Jericho,” Sophie said casually. “He might be here later, and his brother Justus—we call him JJ—is bartending for the party. You can’t miss them. They wear cowboy hats day and night. Even their sister, Trixie, wears one most of the time.”
“You keep up with your old boyfriends?”
“Our town is about as big as my fist. I don’t have much choice. But Shane wasn’t a boyfriend. He was just a friend.”
They made their way to her bedroom, and he set their bags down by the door. He wasn’t surprised to see white furniture, a pink bedspread, and a beautiful picture window overlooking the backyard. There were several pictures stuck in the frame of the mirror above her dresser of her and Grace, Lindsay, and groups of friends. His heart warmed with the realization that Sophie must have had a charmed childhood.
She dropped her purse on the bed and wound her arms around his neck. “You’ll be the first guy to share this bed with me.”
“Your bed’s pretty small. I might have to sleep really close to you.”
“That’s the plan,” she whispered.
He gathered her in his arms and gazed into her happy eyes. “Thank you for letting me come with you. I should have offered right away.”
“Nope. That’s not how my guy works. My guy needs time to process things, to figure out what he really wants. I get that, and you’re here now, which is all that matters.”
“I really want you, Soph. I hope you know that above all else.” He kissed her then, pouring his whole heart into it and hoping she knew he meant every word he said. He wasn’t running, and he wasn’t restless. He was exactly where he was supposed to be.
