Chapter 3 Benny #2
Eli adjusts his watch as Matt pops up from behind the couch, waving his shoe in the air like it’s a damn spoil of war.
“Got it!” he calls out.
I growl in frustration. “Then put your damn shoes on and let’s fucking go or we’re going to be late to the damn ball.”
Matt says something under his breath and I let it go. For now. I don’t want to, but I have better and bigger things to worry about, namely this damn dinner.
I’ve had all day to stew over what happened last night. When I woke up to take a piss and somehow ran into Little Miss Perfect Princess. At three am, no less. It was like, all of a sudden, I was transported back to that night.
I got up and did my business, and of course in my stupor I forgot to put the seat down and the damn brat gave me an earful. Which was weird enough on its own.
Even if stumbling into Sophie at all hours of the morning after I’d just taken a piss doesn’t sound the most sexy thing in the world, I can’t deny that she was a sight to behold.
Her brownish blonde hair was all messy and sticking out at the sides, shirt half hanging off of her. Her jeans were hugging those hips in all the right places…
My body and my mind felt like we were trapped in some version of Groundhog Day, except suddenly we’re adults and not teenagers, and everything has changed but in the same breath…
It hasn’t.
My cock’s appreciation for Sophie clearly hasn’t changed, and I don’t think my feelings have either, though I tried to bury them and ignore them.
Nothing good ever happens at three am.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I don’t want to make another one. Especially with Sophie…
But then on my way back to the living room, I passed the guest bedroom and heard her moaning my name. My cock immediately responded, knowing the sound of a woman in pleasure. Knowing the sound of her moan.
Maybe now that I’ve seen her, dealt with the memory or whatever head-on, I’ll be able to compartmentalize and push away those thoughts. Lock up them like I know I should.
Those familiar dark fantasies I try not to think about when I pleasure myself.
After all, it was the middle of the night. I’m not entirely sure I wasn’t half-asleep, so I could have imagined the whole thing.
At least, that’s what I tell myself, even though I know it’s not true.
This dinner isn’t some come-to-Jesus moment for anyone. It’s just a dinner, a pre-wedding slash pre-paradise get-together. Totally neutral, totally not sexy.
I’ve had dinner with the Martins a handful of times over my life, including Sophie.
I go out to dinner with Sam and Raegan and the guys all the time.
The only difference is Sophie is here. But I knew she’d be here from the day I knew Sam was planning on proposing to Raegan, so that shouldn’t matter.
And I definitely shouldn’t feel so fucking anxious to be in the same room with her, like I’m nineteen again…
“I’m starving,” Matt says as I pull the truck up to the restaurant.
Elijah doesn’t say anything, but I don’t expect him to. He’s quieter than Matt or me, internalizes a lot. That used to be something I liked, but sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking. Like now.
Because I’m pretty sure it involves Sophie.
Though I could probably wager that he’s mulling over whatever upset her and trying to find a way to fix it. Because that’s what Elijah does. He fixes things.
He and Sophie used to be close. Best friends even, kind of like me and Sam.
And every time something happened, some asshole broke Sophie’s heart or some bitch put a toy snake in her locker, Elijah was there. With the damn cookies and ice cream and his relentless adoration and love.
How the fuck could I ever compete with that? What was the point?
It was clear Eli and Soph were two peas in a pod, and I’m honestly surprised neither of them ever pulled the trigger on confessing their feelings. But that’s not my problem.
What is my problem, is making sure Eli and Matt don’t do something stupid tonight and compromise this dinner or this wedding. I won’t let anyone fuck up my best friend’s day.
Matt would do something stupid just because he lacks the brain cells, but Elijah…
Well, his heart and his sense of heroics can be a bit of an issue if he ain’t careful.
And me… Well, as long as neither of them push my buttons to piss me off, I think we’ll all be good. But it’s still a tall order, all things considered.
“Same,” I say. “I could eat a damn horse.”
I park the car and we get out one after the other, Matt leading the way into the restaurant. I can hear the chatter as it’s a busy night, but I’d recognize the voices of Sam and Raegan just about anywhere.
Though it’s not their voices that I hear first. It’s the unmistakable laugh of my princess.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you remember that,” she says, and just as I turn the corner, I see her. That bright smile stretched across her perfect, luscious lips. The way her jade eyes light up as she looks at Sam.
“Kind of hard to forget how you and Raegan used to make witch soup and curse us all,” he says with a laugh as Raegan shakes her head.
“I swear, we weren’t cursing you,” Raegan defends.
Time stops as Sophie meets my gaze and I feel like the ground beneath me moves.
“Benny! Matt, Eli!” Sam says as he gets up and heads for us, his family turning their heads to great us. Carol and Jack, Sam and Sophie’s parents, look at the three of us and smile with excitement.
“You boys are just on time,” Jack says with his wide grin. As Sam hugs me, I see that his mother looks a bit on edge, but I don’t think she’s going to cause a scene or anything.
She’s a stickler for things going a certain way, but I doubt she’ll do anything to put a damper on her son’s special event. Especially so close to our departure for Paradise. After all, we leave tomorrow.
“Come on, have a seat,” Sam says, clapping me on the back. Matt heads for an open spot near Jack, while Elijah beats me to the spot right beside Sophie.
Asshole. I swear if there was a sliver in her flesh, that worm would find a way to bury himself inside her.
I shove the heels of my hands in my eye sockets at that thought. I do not need to be thinking about Elijah burying any part of himself inside of my princess…
I open my eyes, removing my hands as Raegan asks if I’m okay.
“Fine,” I say. “Just had a fucking piece of dust or something in my eye.”
“Language!” Matt says, as if I haven’t heard him say worse.
I roll my eyes, glancing at the only open seat left. The one directly across from Sophie. And Elijah.
Fuck me.
Fuck me all to hell.
I take the seat reluctantly, forcing a smile onto my face as I do my best to stow my jealousy, my animosity. “Sorry,” I say, shooting Sophie a glance. “Can’t help it, I’m fucking starving.”
Sophie’s lips turn up the slightest in the corners, and dare I say, that blush in her cheeks is because of me? It’s too tempting to believe the lie. Too tempting to fall back into old habits…
“What can I get you to drink, sir?” the waiter asks, and it’s only then I realize everyone is looking at me. Including Sophie and Eli.
“Oh, uh…I’ll just have a rum and coke, thanks,” I say, feeling out of sorts. How long was the waiter standing there? How long was I staring at Sophie like a fucking weirdo?
Panic rises in me, but I refuse to show it.
Instead, I clear my throat and move to take a sip of my water as Carol hits her glass with a fork and calls all of our attention.
The water does nothing to quell my thirst, or the heat rushing through me, because I can feel Sophie’s gaze on me, hot like a fire.
“To love and all its possibilities!” Carol says as the room echoes the sentiment, raising their glasses. I feel the faintest, softest touch as my glass clinks against someone else’s, and I don’t have to look to know who.
I glance at Sophie, at her hand that brushes mine, at her wide-open green eyes and pouty lips.
“Cheers to that,” I say as the water sloshes over the rim, chilling my skin with its cool touch. But not even ice water could kill my fucking erection, or the way my heart is thudding in my chest like a freight train, because she’s here.
Paradise can’t come soon enough.