Nicholas

 

 

I've been sitting at the bar waiting for Sophia for almost fifteen minutes. I have no doubt that she'll come looking for me. I saw the heated look on her face when she first saw me upstairs. She can tell me that she doesn't want me until her throat is raw, but I see it in her eyes. I watch the way her body reacts when I'm in the room.

I was angry earlier. I admit it, but there was more to it than that. I was fucking jealous. It's not an emotion I've had a lot of experience with, but I definitely felt it tonight when I watched her grinding on the guy on the dance floor.

When I heard her say Trey Hale's name, I lost it. I found that picture of the two of them on a street corner when I did my initial search for her online. Her tweets about the exchange they shared were playful and light. She commented that she didn't know him and that he was simply kissing her hand to thank her for giving him directions.

I haven't even fucked Sophia yet. If I get this torn up over seeing her with another man before I've touched her, I know there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to keep this thing between us casual.

"Nick?" Penny, the bartender, calls out my name. "Refill?"

I've downed two drinks already and although I don't feel the impact of either yet, I know from experience that I'm just a few sips away from falling over the edge into a light buzz. I have to stay grounded while I wait for Sophia. I don't want to lose my focus. There's shit I need to say. I'm tired of the goddamn games.

"No." My hand floats over my empty glass as she holds the open bottle perched at the ready. "Thanks, but I reached my limit."

"I have a break in fifteen." She taps the face of my watch with her index finger. "I'd love to show you the executive office. We could hang out in there. It's more private."

I glance up at the concourse of the VIP level. I can't make out anyone through the dim lights of the club. "I'm waiting for someone."

"You are?" Penny shoots me a look. "A woman?"

I curse silently. The frustrated expression on her face says it all. She thinks I was leading her on when in reality, I was just sitting next to the bar nursing a glass of scotch while she tried to guess the plot for Action's Cause. "It's a woman."

"That's one lucky bitch." Her gaze runs over me. "I have to say that she must be something special if you're turning me down."

Here I thought I had the biggest ego in the room. "She is."

I turn to face the private elevator that leads up to the VIP level. The doors fly open and I see Sophia when the man who was standing in front of her exits the lift. She pauses before she steps out, looks toward the bar and finally locks eyes with me.

 

***

 

I take Sophia's coat from her after I lock the door of my apartment. We didn't say more than a few words to each other at the club. She approached me, introduced herself to Penny and then asked if we could come here. I didn't argue with her.

We stopped at the coat check, three minutes later we slid into the backseat of one of the available taxis that had been waiting by the curb in front of the club. She stared out the window as we made our way here. I didn't push her to talk because I knew that the wheels were spinning in her head.

Sophia Reese needs to feel cherished. She wants to know that the men she fucks value her beyond the act. I get that now. Some asshole must have treated her like shit at some point in the past. I'm not him. I can prove that to her starting tonight.

"Do you want a glass of wine, Sophia?" I ask as she stands next to the piano. "You can play if you want. I won't stop you."

"I'll pass on the wine." She looks down at the keys. "And the piano. I'm not in the mood to play tonight."

I can't say I'm surprised. She's quieter than I've ever seen her before. "I'll skip the wine too."

She exhales roughly, her chest heaving with the motion. "Were you jealous when you saw me dancing with Trey?"

"Very." I stalk toward her, stopping just short of the piano bench that she's standing behind. "I didn't like it."

She holds my gaze. "I had no intention of going home with him. I want you to know that."

That thought hadn't crossed my mind until right this fucking minute. "Did he ask you to go home with him?"

"Twice. Both times I told him I only wanted to dance."

"Did you turn him down because of me?" My voice lowers. It's a loaded question, swollen with presumption but I want her to open up. I need her to be straight with me. We're wasting time edging around what we both feel. "Did you, Sophia?"

She leans back slightly. "I've never had a one night stand. Emotionally, I don't think I can do it. I feel things when I sleep with a man."

"Things?" I ask without thinking.

"I don't get all crazy obsessive or anything." She huffs out a nervous laugh. "I have to feel a connection before sex, and I like knowing there's a chance for a connection after sex too."

That's not how I view sex. I can sleep with a woman if I don't know her name and then never think about her again. I've done it dozens of times.

Her hands focus on the belt of her dress. She tugs on the end, knotting it more firmly in place. "I know it's probably different for you. I get that. I'm not saying that I need a relationship if we sleep together, but I don't want you to ignore me. If you think that's what will happen, I'd rather we make an agreement now to just be friends."

There's no way in hell I can just be friends with this woman. I'll always want more. "I don't want to be friends, Sophia. I want more."

"Sex?" Her jaw tenses. "You want to have sex with me?"

"Yes," I answer evenly. "I want to fuck you. I also want to take you out and spend time with you here and at your place. I want us to date."

Her fingers nervously yank harder on her belt, but her eyes stay trained on my face.

"You want it too." I sigh. "You feel the same things I do. You know this will be different. I'm not like the other men you've been with."

"You don't know them." Her arms cross. "I don't know the other women you've been with and I don't want to know."

"That suits me fine." I step closer. "We start tonight with a clean slate. Our pasts are just that. They're in the past. We agree to leave them there."

She pauses for a breath. "Agreed."

I take that as a cue and reach forward to touch her shoulders. She doesn't pull back. "You set the pace although I want to be clear that I've wanted to fuck you since you sat down next to me on the subway."

Her hands leap to the front of my sweater. "I know."

"It was the same for you," I state. It's not a question because we both know it's the truth.

"You're right." Her head tilts back as she looks up and into my eyes. "The chase is over. You caught me."

I close my eyes and move my lips to hers before I take her mouth in a deep, lush kiss.