11. SOPHIE
SOPHIE
The restaurant is finally quiet, the staff gone, every surface wiped clean. My opening night could not have gotten better, and everyone I loved was there to celebrate with me.
Everyone I love.
I blush, remembering the look on Vin’s face when he begged me to stay with him, to be with him. While I don’t love that he chose tonight of all nights to confront me in front of everyone—including his fiancée—I allow myself a private moment of vindication sitting at my desk in my office.
Then move on.
Grabbing the order sheets, I head back into the kitchen to double check what fresh produce remains and forget what I’m doing instantly.
Vin is standing in the middle of the kitchen, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants, no tie, no jacket.
His muscles bulge against the fabric of his unbuttoned shirt, as he glances down then looks up at me through his eyelashes.
Frig. Those eyes. Dark and penetrating, like he knows everything I’m thinking.
He probably does, even though at the moment, my mind is completely blank.
“Vin, I told you I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this.”
He nods. “I heard you. I just wanted to check in with you and hear about your night.”
“You want to… talk?” I’m confused. This is confusing.
Vin moves toward me, keeping the kitchen counter between us. “I want to do anything you’ll agree to do with me. I just need to be near you.”
I don’t know how to process this. “Vin, I’m tired. I don’t want to talk.”
He grabs my wrists across the island, and the order sheets fly out of my hands and onto the floor. “So don’t talk. Let me take you upstairs. Put you in a bath. Rub your feet. Then tuck you in.”
Frig, that sounds amazing. My eyes almost droop just listening to him. But never has he taken care of me. In every situation, I have served him. So I’m not sure how to interpret this.
“Vin, that’s… nice of you, but I need to do these orders, and then I just want to go to bed.” I pull my wrists out of his grasp and bend to pick up the fallen sheets.
“You’re going to put in orders tonight? They’ll get filled when?” He comes around to my side of the counter and helps me pick them up.
“Monday.”
Vin raises an eyebrow. “It’s Friday, Soph.” He takes the order sheets out of my hand as we both stand and puts them on the kitchen counter. “Let’s go.”
“Vin, seriously, I just want to—”
Before I can get the words out, he scoops me up and throws me over his shoulder in one motion. I’m too tired to fight him as he carries me up the stairs. He rubs the back of my thighs as he carries me, and I groan, my eyes closing.
Vin sets me on the bathroom counter, pausing, his hands on my waist. His gaze drops to my mouth, and my heart stutters through a few beats.
He doesn’t kiss me. He turns and starts the bath water then comes back, pulling my heels off my feet, rubbing each one for a moment, pushing his thumbs into my arches.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I barely feel him unfasten my dress until his warm hands slide over my skin as he pushes the fabric down my arms. He helps me get down off the counter, then kneels in front of me, hooking his fingers in the waistband of my panties and sliding them down my legs.
His mouth is even with my pussy, and his warm breath tickles my skin.
He looks up at me through those long eyelashes, and I stop breathing for a moment.
But he rises, scoops me up in his arms, and sets me gently in the tub.
He settles on the edge of the bathtub and pulls one of my feet into his lap, getting his suit pants wet.
I groan and settle back into the hot water, every ounce of my stress draining away.
After he adjusts the water temperature, he says nothing and leaves the room, gone for at least 20 minutes. When he comes back, I’m out of the water, wrapping a towel around myself, and he picks me up, towel and all.
I laugh. “Vin, I have to dry off. I’m not going to bed wet.”
“I know, princess. Trust me.”
The bed is turned down, the lights are low, and he sets me down by the bed, taking the towel off me. Rubbing me gently, he dries me from my shoulders down to my ass, then guides me to sit on the edge of the bed, while he finishes my legs and feet.
When he’s done, I fully expect him to stand and strip in front of me, to push his cock in my mouth, to spread my legs and push inside me.
But he doesn’t. He helps me to lay back on the blankets and pulls them around me. I don’t usually sleep naked, but wow, it feels amazing, my muscles still warm from the bath, the blankets so fuzzy and soft.
I close my eyes, but open them when I feel the bed dip. Vin climbs in behind me, his clothes in a heap on the floor, but he stays on top of the blankets and pulls an extra comforter over himself as he wraps around me.
No touching. No kissing. His cock is hard. I saw its outline in his pants when he was drying me off and I can feel it now even through the layers of blankets. But he does nothing but hold me.
“This doesn’t mean anything, Vin.”
“It means everything, princess.” His breath is warm and ragged next to my ear.
I sigh. “We’re not together. I mean it.”
“Whatever you say, Sophie.”
I’m too tired to argue. I fall asleep and sleep harder than I have in months. When I wake up, he’s gone.