Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
WILL
“ S top that.” Sophie’s words are loud and infused with seriousness, but she can’t help smiling regardless.
We’re both sitting at her kitchen table with our laptops open in front of us. Her house is imbued with the scent of freshly brewed coffee and the sweetness of maple and butternut squash emanating from the soup Sophie made earlier. Outside, the sun shines intermittently as clouds roll across the sky, but every time it comes out, a sliver of it makes its way from the patio glass and onto Sophie’s face. Her face is lit from within in addition to the sun’s highlights.
It’s been a few weeks since the first night Sophie let me stay. When I heard the long-awaited “yes” cross her lips, unadulterated joy cascaded through me. True to my word, I didn’t push her. After she successfully placed a sleeping Julian back in his crib, we simply held each other on her couch, right up until she fell asleep on my shoulder, leaving me to bask in the warmth of her head and her sweet vanilla-lavender scent.
After soaking it in for a long moment, I carried her to her bed and tucked her in. She was so exhausted she barely stirred. Everything in my body screamed at me to nestle next to her, to be close to her warmth, but I didn’t dare. Not without her consent.
Instead, I slept on the living room couch, revelling in my luck simply for being allowed to sleep there.
Since then, we’ve seen each other almost every day. Whether it’s working together on her business, interviewing potential candidates for her to hire, spending time with the girls when they’re with her, or revering her lips when the kids are asleep, I can’t get enough of her.
Every night, I become the luckiest man in the world again and get to kiss her. To touch her. But we haven’t taken things any farther than that first night. Julian always wakes up at his usual time, which Sophie warned me about, but on top of that, he’s in a particularly bad phase right now. Something about a sleep regression, Sophie explained.
That’s all okay with me. Sophie is a mother first. A wonderful one at that. And I will never forget it.
“Stop what?” I raise my eyebrows and feign innocence, returning to the present moment.
Sophie squints her eyes and pouts her lips. Lips I want nothing more than to kiss right now. “Oh my God. I’m not going to get any work done. You’re doing it on purpose.”
“What? You mean, this?” I repeat the motion that brought offense earlier; a quick swipe of my hand through my hair with my exposed forearm flexing way more than necessary.
Sophie’s cheeks flush. “I’m going to kick you out.” The corner of her lips rise, even though it looks like she’s fighting it, hard.
Okay, maybe I know exactly what I’m doing.
But I can’t help it. When Sophie blushes for me, or whimpers whenever I walk by her and squeeze her ass, it sends a delicious cocktail of sensations through my entire body. I spent so long wanting her that seeing her openly express that returned sentiment is gratifying in ways I never expected.
Julian’s cries pierce through our playful flirting, halting the exchange. As Sophie begins to rise, I motion for her to stay put, and I stand instead. “I’ve got him. You stay focused,” I say, pointing to her laptop with a teasing smile.
“I’d be focused if it weren’t for you!” she calls out as I head down the hallway to Julian’s room.
Julian stops crying the moment he sees me. He’s quickly grown accustomed to my presence. Since I’ve been here to help, Sophie hasn’t needed to send him to the halte-garderie at all, allowing us to spend more time together.
I pick him up, and my heart skips a beat as he greets me with a big, gummy smile. “Hey, Julian. Looks like that nap did you some good.” He was particularly cranky when I finally got him down an hour ago. “Come on, let’s go see your mama.” I carry him to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of coffee, and bring the carafe to the table to top off Sophie’s cup. As I do, she cranes her neck to look up at me, giving me a gentle stroke on my side.
Little touches. Little moments. It’s everything I’ve dreamed of and more.
While Sophie wraps up her work—comparing notes between candidates to decide who advances to the next stage of the hiring process—I set Julian down next to his pile of toys near the table. I know he’ll need to drink soon, but for now, I want to give Sophie as much uninterrupted focus time as possible. I keep Julian entertained for a few minutes, playing with him before returning to my own laptop.
But when I stand, Sophie’s eyes are on me. She’s not focused at all. This time, I’m not to blame. “What?”
“You’re just so …” A dreamy look crosses her face. “How did I get so lucky?”
I close the space between us in one large stride and wrap my hands around her shoulders; her body responds to mine immediately as she cranes her neck up to receive me. Our lips meet, and hers are so soft, so ridiculously soft, that even though I’ve been kissing her all week, I can’t help the groan that escapes my throat.
She hums in response, and I pull her closer, parting her lips with my tongue. I know we can’t get carried away too much, since Julian is right behind us, but this woman drives me batshit crazy. Her hands explore my chest, pulling on the fabric as if her life depended on it, and?—
A loud ring interrupts us. My stupid phone.
Sophie pulls away with a smile; dazed, I take a small step back and give her a good look before I even think of taking my phone out. Her lips are swollen, her skin flushed. And those eyes … God, those eyes. They’re looking at me with such tenderness, yet with a hunger that may rival mine.
I sigh and pull my phone out of my jeans pocket, then peer down to see who’s calling.
My lungs turn to lead when I see Océane’s name.
I’ve been meaning to talk to her for the last few weeks. But every time I grabbed my phone with the intent of calling her, my courage left me. With so much of my energy focused on this new thing blossoming between Sophie and me, I now realize I haven’t thought about how to talk to my little sister.
Rachel keeps telling me I need to go to therapy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she and Ryan are in cahoots. But they don’t know each other.
I’m in trouble if they ever meet. One of them—or both, together—is sure to drag me against my will into an appointment with whoever they’ll claim is ‘the best in the city.’
I swallow the dread in an attempt to conceal the shame that has snaked its way through my skeleton. My thumb swipes to decline the call.
How much did my reaction show? It’s hard to tell. But there’s not much I can do now except pray I can sweep this under the rug, because I am not ready to talk about this with Sophie.
She already thinks I’m not trustworthy. When she learns how I’ve been behaving around my sister, that will only reinforce her belief.
“No one important,” I reply in response to Sophie’s inquisitive look.
Her forehead creases. Right as she’s about to say something, Julian starts fussing behind me.
Sophie raises her eyebrows. “Well, that’s my cue!” As she heads to the living room to breastfeed him, I sit back in front of my laptop and drop my chin in my hands.
I need to get my shit together before this fragile thing completely unravels.