Chapter 6 The Kiss #2
“She’ll be okay,” he whispered to Sophie, patting her shoulder. “Though now my suspicions that she liked Julia more than you are ringing true,” he teased Brad.
“I was never in any doubt there, Dad,” Brad joked in reply.
Seeing them relax helped Sophie do the same, and for the first time since she’d walked in on Brad’s arm, her breathing regulated like it did just before a big trial.
She’d always be nervous as heck, then as soon as the judge came in, her shoulders would push back, and she would dominate.
It was amazing to her that all her training could come back to her so quickly despite the fact that she hadn’t argued a case in over a month.
She missed it dearly, she realized. Maybe she’d actually get a jump start on her CV after Christmas.
Start her transition back into the world of trial law.
“Should we sit?”
“Sure, darlin’. Why don’t you come sit by me, and let Brad catch up with his mom?
” Alan suggested. Sophie could have hugged the man again.
She was relieved to be a few feet away from Marge, who had clearly decided that it was Sophie’s fault Brad wasn’t the one marrying Julia today.
She wondered how much his mom knew about Julia; if Marge knew as much as Sophie did, why wasn’t she a little kinder to her son, especially that evening?
Not that it was her place to wonder.
She overheard Marge ask Brad if he thought sitting with “some girl from college” was appropriate at Julia’s wedding.
Though he replied in a hushed whisper, Sophie was sitting right next to him and heard every word.
“Mom, she’s not ‘some girl,’ okay? She’s fun, she’s incredibly smart, and her friend ditched her to hang with Steve.
I don’t think the two of us sitting together tonight is going to make any more waves than me being here in the first place.
Besides, the last person I’m worried about offending is Julia.
She pretty much sunk that ship, Mom.” Sophie mentally gave Brad a standing ovation.
She found it harder and harder to excuse Marge’s atrocious behavior.
Sophie was only half listening to Alan talk about his farm as Marge seethed. When Marge’s hand clamped down on her son’s knee, Sophie came a step closer to intervening.
“Julia was kind enough to invite you here, Bradley,” Marge hissed. “You will not ruin her night because of your petty vendetta against her. So she broke up with you. Big deal. People break up all the time. Move on and for God’s sake, stop acting like a petulant child.”
Brad’s thigh tensed against Sophie’s. She inhaled deeply, the floral scent out of place in a room with this much tension.
Brad had his heart broken by a two-timing floozy, and he was to blame?
Sophie no longer cared what Marge thought of her.
Her place or not, she stood and put her hand on Brad’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Connors,” she started, interrupting his story about Brad stealing one of the farm’s tractors when he was a teen.
She desperately wished she could hear more about Brad growing up, about the farm that both of them spoke so fondly of, but knew the adult Brad next to her was going to explode if he sat there a minute longer.
“I just saw a dear friend of ours from the university, and she’s waving us over.
Brad, I understand if you want to stay with your folks…
” She trailed off, letting him make the final call.
“No,” he said through a set jaw and thousand-yard stare, “I’d love to see them. Dad, Mom, see you at the reception.”
Alan nodded and winked at Brad. Sophie wished she could take him with them.
He seemed so laid back and cool-tempered.
How in the world had he ended up with—let alone stayed all these years with—someone as judgmental as Marge?
Sophie didn’t want to judge in kind, but Marge was completely out of line.
Didn’t she realize her son was having a hard enough time being here, never mind handling the night with hopeful optimism for his ex and her new husband-to-be as he had?
Once they were back in the aisle, Brad’s hand relaxed in hers, allowing the blood to flow again.
She didn’t want to let go though and hoped he wouldn’t either.
Unless he found another use for his fingers.
Thoughts like those had been assaulting her since she’d laid eyes on Brad for the first time in a decade back at the bar.
She felt only moderately guilty about imagining her crush’s hands on her body at his ex’s wedding.
Just as she was pushing thoughts about what his hands might feel like on her hips out of her mind, he stopped a few rows back from his folks and pulled her close to him so that the usher could bring more people through.
She held her breath, afraid to move and break the spell his body had on her.
“So, who did you see?” he asked, his breath hot on her cheek.
“Um,” she started, but was inadvertently shoved into Brad for the second time that night, closing those last few inches between them.
She minded even less than she had the first time.
Brad held fast to her hips, his hands tightly cinched on her waist. She felt perfectly safe in his strong arms, if only she didn’t feel an insatiable desire to kiss him, touch him.
His shirt was hiding hard, lean muscle, and she scolded herself for wanting to slide her hands beneath it to see what that muscle felt like firsthand.
“Perfect timing. Leaving, I mean. I was getting ready to say some pretty unforgivable things to my mom.” Brad sighed, ran a hand through his blond hair that fell perfectly back in its place.
In another world, she’d have envied him such a great head of hair, but now she just felt jealous of the hand that ran through it, wishing it could be hers.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop but she was pushing some pretty heated buttons. I just thought you could use a change of scenery. This must be hard enough for you, being here without having to feel like it’s your fault.”
“So, there’s no ‘friend from college’?” Brad asked, the full glory of his luminous smile penetrating the dour mood in the room. It was so like his father’s smile, full of joy with just a hint of mischief.
“Nope. Just you and me moving to the back. The waaaay back. I don’t think you need the scrutiny of a front-row seat to your ex’s wedding.”
“You’re a sneaky one, Sophie. I love it.
” They found an open row just before the doors that led out of the hall.
Sophie only recognized the few faces she’d seen on the way in.
How many people were here because of Julia’s parents?
Jackie shared enough for Sophie to know they were prominent business owners in Banberry and the neighboring town of Butte.
Jackie called them rural royalty, and from the look of some of the suits and gowns on the guests on the right side of the aisle, she probably wasn’t too far off.
Brad clasped her hand tighter again. This time it was as if it meant something completely different to him, like he was choosing her and didn’t want to let her go.
He put his arm around her, drawing her flush up against him.
His leg brushed hers, and she bit her bottom lip in an attempt to dissuade her desire to use her mouth for other things related to Brad.
“I just want to make sure more people can fit if they need to,” he told her, his voice cracking and failing at his attempt to be serious. His gaze, a sultry blend of mischief and something more primal, held her captive.
“Of course,” she said, playing along. “Maybe your friend and Jackie can sit here, if they ever come up for air.”
Brad laughed.
“I’ve got five bucks that they miss this ceremony all together,” he proposed, mischief winning out in the end.
“You’re on.” Without letting go of her hand, he positioned his so that they could shake on the deal, but let his hand linger, cupping hers gently.
His fingers absently made circles on her palms, rubbed her fingers, and drifted over her skin, tough and tender at the same time.
Sophie knew he’d been a teacher and writer for a living, but the roughness etched on his skin plus the muscles she’d felt pressed up against her earlier spoke of a life on the farm he’d mentioned as well, something that only added depth to her growing feelings for this man.
“I’m sorry about my mom,” Brad said, looking into her eyes. “I hope you know that wasn’t about you back there.”
“I figured it wasn’t, but it still doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. Not at all, actually. I think as much as she wants to be on my side because I’m her son, she’s really hurt about what this did to her.”
“What do you mean? You’re the one who was cheated on.”
“Yeah, true. But she doesn’t really know that one small, vital detail.
She suspects it thanks to my kid sister, but I never confirmed it because of what that would do to Julia and her family’s reputation.
Believe me, I sorely wish I could go back and rewrite that story, but now it would just sound like I’m whining.
My mom and Julia’s mom, Betsy, were good friends the whole time we were dating.
Before Julia and me, it was just my mom and dad.
Living on a farm didn’t give Mom much time to meet friends, so she latched on to Betsy pretty quick.
I think my mom’s scared she’ll lose Betsy now that Julia and I are done. ”
“But you’re her son. Isn’t she worried she’ll lose you if she chooses Betsy?”
“I’m not sure. When we broke up, I knew it was more than the end of a relationship. It was the end of an era. Did I tell you Julia, Chris, and I grew up together?”
“No, but Jackie told me you’d all started as friends. She and Julia are the ones who have kept in touch. Wow, though. I didn’t know you three went back that far. Didn’t your mom and Betsy know each other from when you guys were young, then?”