Sophia

 

 

I turn to look at him once I finish playing the piano. Tonight it was another piece from Chopin. I'd mastered it years ago under the guidance of my piano teacher. She'd be disappointed in my performance just now. "Did you like that?"

"How can one person be so multi-talented?" He eyes me from where he's sitting in the chair next to the piano. "You're not only a world class fashion designer, but you could join the New York Philharmonic on stage and blend in seamlessly."

I couldn't. To an untrained ear, my ability to play may seem impressive. I heard the missteps my nervous fingers made tonight. He didn't notice because he was focused on the song as a whole, not on the intricate parts like I was.

"I'm a better designer than a pianist." I scan the small table next to the chair he's in. I instantly realize the picture of him and Briella is gone.

His gaze follows mine. "I packed it away. It was time."

"You put it away because of me." It's not a question. It's a statement. "She's important to you, Nicholas. I think you should put the picture back."

He taps his knee. "Come sit with me."

I do. We're both still fully clothed and as I snuggle into his lap, I feel a sense of instant peace when his arms circle my waist.

"For a long time, I had regrets about the night she was killed."

I turn to look at his face. "Regrets? What regrets?"

"If I wouldn't have stayed with my grandfather as long as I did, I might have made it to Briella's house before she was shot." He exhales sharply. "I regret that I didn't take her with me to see my grandfather. They'd met once before that and he adored her. I wondered for a long time how different my life would have been if she hadn't been home when her father got there."

"I read some articles online about what happened." I reach to cover his hand with mine. "He killed them late at night. It sounded as if they were all already in bed."

"It was late." He nods. "She had to get up early the next morning to open the café she worked at."

I don't want to call her death fate, but he couldn't have saved her. "There wasn't anything you could have done to change what happened."

"It took me years to realize that." He pulls me tighter to him. "It took longer than that to replace the memory of her body in her bed with an image of her face while she was alive."

"That's why you kept the picture there," I whisper against the skin of his cheek. "You wanted to remember her with that smile on her face."

"Exactly. It helped."

"Put it back." I point at the table. "I think you should have it where you can see it."

"It's time to leave Briella's memory behind me, Sophia. Life moves on. Dragging the past with me won't give me the future I want."

I absorb each and every one of those words. "Sometimes it's hard to leave the past behind."

He shifts me in his lap so he can look at my face. "I want a future with you. It's time to let the past go."

I stare at his lips. He's right. "Maybe one night next week you can come over to my place."

A smile ghosts his mouth. "I'd love that. You name the day, give me the address, and I'll be there."

"I'll text you all of that once I know my schedule."

His brow furrows slightly. "No rush, Sophia. We'll do it when you're ready."

"Next week we'll do it," I say as I lean in to kiss him. "Tonight I want to enjoy every second of being here with you."

 

***

 

I reach between us and tug on the zipper of his jeans. He's already undressed me down to my pink lace panties. He feathered kisses over my breasts before his lips and tongue worked my nipples into hard, aching points.

"I want to kiss more of you, Sophia."

"You need to be naked first."

"I might come on your leg just from the sight of your body." He smiles. "You make me feel like a teenager who can't control himself."

"Is that a bad thing?" I yank his zipper down and reach in to slide my hand against his boxer covered cock. "You're hard."

"You're surprised?" He chuckles. "I'm almost always hard when I'm around you."

"Almost always?" I stare up and into his face as I move his boxers aside. My fingertips glide over his thickness.

"My dick was limp on the ferry." He inches back a step toward the bed. "I admit I got a little seasick."

"I knew it." I follow his lead and move with him before I say jokingly, "I guess my fantasy of you fucking me in a boat will never come true now."

"If you would have been wearing a skirt, I would have fingered your pussy."

I don't doubt it. His hand brushed against my ass while we stood on the deck of the ferry looking at the lights of Manhattan in the distance. "There's always next time."

"Do you want that, Sophia? Do you want me to fuck you in public?"

I still. "Do you want that?"

"I'd have a driving urge to kill any man who saw your body, who watched you come."

"Keep me to yourself, Nicholas," I whisper against the curve of his jaw. "Protect me."

"With my life." He drops to his knees, his hands circling my waist. "I'd do anything to keep you safe. I'd do anything for you."

I weave my fingers through his hair as his mouth finds my inner thigh. "Make me forget everything but you."