CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sophie was used to sleeping alone in her king-size bed.
But sleeping with Ryan—the heat from his big body, his hands always reaching for her, pulling her closer—was awesome. His insatiable need to wrap himself around her made her feel wanted. Loved. Something she’d never felt before.
And she’d figured something out last night. She needed to pay attention to his actions. Not his words. His actions proved he needed her, wanted her. They did have a chance.
Like he said, he’d proven that to her again and again by coming after her. He couldn’t keep away.
She opened her eyes, the room still completely dark, and realized there was no wall of heat. Jolting up, she patted the space beside her and found it empty.
She didn’t hear him in the bathroom. The dampness and fresh tang of the hotel’s soap permeated the room, so she knew he’d recently showered. She got up and whisked open the curtains. He was gone.
She spotted something on his pillow. A note. On hotel stationery.
Back soon.
The clock on the nightstand read eight-forty-two. Seemed too early to meet up with his hard-partying friends. Whatever. She was just surprised. He hadn’t mentioned his plans last night.
Ah. The gym. That made sense, actually. He’d want to get it out of the way so they could spend the day together.
Still, with all the secrecy, she couldn’t fight the uneasy sense that something else might be going on. It pinged her because of King. But Ryan wasn’t King, and he’d told her he’d been talking to his dad about losing his captaincy and his shot at being a first-round pick.
But Back soon? If he’d gone to the gym he would’ve said so. Whatever. She wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. She had loads of things to do on her own. She’d check her list to see what she had on tap for the day. They’d meet up when they were both free.
But when she looked at her list, she found she hadn’t made any plans. Her last day, after all. She’d planned on spending it with her friends. It was nice to have a whole day of freedom.
First up, a shower. Then, she’d head down to the restaurant and have breakfast on the terrace.
Ryan should be back by then.
As expected, the dining room didn’t have many patrons at this early hour. Sophie waited for the hostess to seat her, her gaze scanning the pretty room, decorated in pale blues and creamy whites. A woman breezed past her, her long hair streaming behind her, her white shorts highlighting long, tan legs. She joined her companion at a table, leaning down to kiss him right on the mouth.
Seeing that easy connection, that intimacy, made her miss Ryan. And her heart clutched because this was it, her last day. She’d never in a million years expected to meet someone here, but she had. And, oh, what a someone.
“Just one?” The hostess appeared at the podium and reached for the stack of menus.
“Yep. I’d like to eat outside, if that’s all right.”
“Of course. Give me one second to set a table for you.”
“Sure. Thank you.”
She thought about Ryan at the gym, sweating away. Maybe Jake and Dixon were there, too, swapping drinking and hookup stories—which he hated. No doubt he was thinking about her, too, wondering what she was doing and coming up with excuses to end the work-out early so he could get back to her.
In a corner booth, a man ate alone, scarfing down scrambled eggs. A group of women clustered together around a table, laughing, looking a little drunk. She doubted they’d gone to bed last night.
And then her gaze swept over—and jerked back to—Ryan.
No.
But, of course, it was. How could she mistake that build, that movie star face?
The jolt to her heart made her limbs go weak.
She looked across the table to his companion.
Female companion.
Ryan was having breakfast with a woman.
Long buttery hair tumbled down a slender back. They leaned toward each other across the table.
Heat rushed up Sophie’s neck, her heart pounding so hard it hurt.
What had she missed? How could he have conned her? It made no sense, for all the time they’d spent together, how could he possibly have been with other women? When would he have been with them? She thought of the dark-haired woman that hung around him, always so comfortable with him. Such an easy rapport. Had he slept with her?
But, no, no, no. How did that make sense? Even last night, Sophie had encouraged him to go off with Jake, but when she’d gotten off the elevator, he’d already been waiting outside her door.
When could Ryan have been with other women?
Had he had unprotected sex with them like he’d had with her?
She could barely breathe, let alone form a clear thought. Her feet started moving, fear whirling, taking form, whipping into an anger so vicious it shook her whole body.
He looked up before she reached the table, his eyes going wide. He shot up, knees banging into the table. “Sophie.”
But she didn’t care about him in that moment. She wanted to know which woman he’d left her alone in bed for. And—no surprise—she was gorgeous, big eyes, plump lips. She looked like a…oh, God. A model.
This was Ryan’s girlfriend.
She could scarcely breathe, let alone activate her vocal chords.
“Sophie, this is Emma. Emma, Sophie Valentine.”
Eyes glassy, the woman gave her the softest, sweetest smile. “Hello.”
“I don’t understand.” She had no words. She literally had so many thoughts jamming into her brain she couldn’t read them fast enough to figure out which one to say first.
“She flew in yesterday.” She heard exasperation in his tone—or was it desperation? Too much noise in her head for her to evaluate clearly.
This is his secret. “Yesterday?” How could that be? All those hours yesterday she hadn’t heard from him. Oh, God, had Emma been part of that orgy…Wait. The woman who’d spilled the beer on his chest? Had that been Emma? It had all happened so quickly, the way he’d ushered Sophie into the bedroom. Her stomach balled so tightly she thought she might throw up. “Was she in your suite yesterday?”
“No. She got in last night.”
“So you knew she was coming?”
Color roared up his cheeks. “Yes.”
“Why would you do this?” He’d played her. No matter what, he’d played her.
“Hold on.” His hand closed around her elbow. “It’s not what you think. Let me talk to you.”
She pulled away. “No.” God. “You can’t talk to me now. You’ve had every opportunity. But now?” She shook her head. “It’s too late.” She fled. Literally raced out of the dining room.
He caught her, of course. Just outside the restaurant, in the carpeted hallway, he grabbed her arm and spun her around. “You’re jumping to the wrong conclusion.”
“Fuck you.” Her cheeks burned. Her scalp itched from the rush of blood.
And then the gorgeous model came out, looking concerned. “Is everything all right?”
“No, Emma, it’s not.” He was clearly irritated with her.
Those big eyes rounded, that plump mouth formed a pucker, and she looked wounded. “I’m sorry.”
Sophie glanced at Ryan, who looked like he might jump out of his skin. But she didn’t care what he was going through. “You are disgusting.”
“No. First of all, I didn’t find out she was coming until yesterday. Secondly, I told her not to come. And, come on, Christ, I didn’t think she’d actually do it. Fly all the way out here for one day, after I told her I didn’t want to see her? I mean, what the fuck?”
“Ryan, stop.” The woman’s voice sounded so sweet, so gentle. “Don’t drag her into this.”
“Into what, Emma?” He sounded exasperated.
Emma turned to Sophie with an apologetic—no, pitying expression. Then she turned the full force of her attention on Ryan. “You have to stop trying to hurt me back. I’m sorry, Ryan. I regret what I did every minute of my life. But at some point you have to let it go. And you can’t hurt other people just to get back at me.”
She gave Sophie a compassionate smile. “I’m so sorry.”
“What’s she talking about?” Sophie fired the words at Ryan, but it was Emma who answered.
“I cheated on him, and he can’t get over it.”
Oh, my God. This gorgeous creature had cheated on him. She was the reason he was blowing up his life. She was the reason he’d become so obsessed with Sophie.
“It was a mistake.” Emma’s voice was filled with regret. “I got swept away in the moment.” And then she approached Ryan. “I’m so lonely over there. And I met him, and it was crazy, and it all happened so fast, but I knew right away that I’d made the worst mistake of my life. Ryan, you have to forgive me. You can’t keep…” She gestured to Sophie without even looking at her, as though Sophie was just residual damage from her error in judgment.
Sophie couldn’t listen to another word. She jerked out of his hold and took off.
“Goddammit. Sophie!” He chased her, but she spun around.
“Don’t come near me. I’m serious. You…you…” Tears blurred her vision. Inexorable pain bore down on her with such force she thought she might collapse right there in the hallway. “Leave me the hell alone.”
“She’s got it all wrong.”
“I saw you in there. I saw your expression. She’s not wrong. Stop torturing your ex and get your damn life back on track. Or don’t. Continue to screw it up. I don’t care. Just don’t come near me ever again.”
“I’ve told you everything. You know I don’t love her anymore.”
“You’ve told me what you wanted me to hear. Go back to her, Ryan. You make the perfect couple.”
“I’m never going back to her. It’s not my fault if she’s not getting it.”
“No, Ryan. I think the only one not getting it is you.” She turned and raced off to the elevator.
“Fuck.” He chased her down the hall. “Stop it, Sophie. I told you everything about Emma from the beginning.”
“Except the part that she was coming here.” She stabbed the call button.
He loomed over her, as if he wanted to touch her but couldn’t. “I found out yesterday.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I should’ve told you. But I didn’t want her invading our time together. I shouldn’t have to deal with her. I’ve told her repeatedly that it’s over.”
“But you didn’t really do that, did you? You tried to make nice with her. Instead of telling her the truth, you wanted to keep everything on an even keel. God forbid you upset anybody by owning how you feel. So you played her with your charming smile and your evasive answers.”
He looked uncomfortable, hands digging into his pockets. “Yes, I probably did that.”
“So let’s see if you’ve learned your lesson. What about me, Ryan? Do you want to continue to be with me after we leave here? Or do you want to move on with your life and leave me as your one and only spring break fling?”
“We’ve been over this. You’re not a fling. But I do have to get back to school. I have to play my ass off the rest of the season to make up for this week. And I have to earn back the trust the scouts had in me.”
“And…you’ve learned nothing. Still evasive. Let’s try one more time. Do you want to be with me?”
“I’ve shown you how much I want to be with you, but I—”
“It’s a yes or no answer. That’s all a woman really wants to hear. Yes or no. We don’t want to be strung along. We don’t want to waste time trying to figure out what you’re thinking or what you really want. Yes or no, Ryan?”
His eyes shuttered, the man she’d fallen for gone. He drew in a deep breath, gazing down the long hallway. And then he looked back at her. “No.”
The elevator dinged, the doors parted. The only sound in her head was her heart shattering. “Goodbye, Ryan.”
“He’s not a sociopath.” Stretched out on her bed with a pillow on her lap, Laura reached for another strawberry off the platter delivered by room service.
Sophie had awakened her friends for an emergency meeting. They gathered in Laura’s room because she didn’t want to risk Ryan coming to hers. Of course, he was with Emma. But, honestly, she didn’t know which would be worse. Him showing up at her door to win her back or knowing he hadn’t come at all.
Laura offered her a berry, but the very thought of food made Sophie sick. “Sure seems like one to me.”
“Soph, he’s crazy about you. Anyone can see that.” Laura bit into the strawberry and chewed. “But that’s not the issue.”
“Give him time,” Kat said from the chair she’d dragged close to the bed so she could prop her feet on the mattress. “If anyone’s crazy it’s the ex. Can you imagine showing up at Blake’s resort over spring break?”
“God, no.” Laura shuddered.
“He doesn’t need time. He’s already decided.”
Kat nodded slowly. “I don’t think he knows what he wants. Look, we’re all in a really weird place right now. I don’t have a clue what I want to do with my life because I was so sure everything would magically fall into place.” She gestured to Laura, who grabbed a handful of grapes. “She thought she’d be on the adventure of a lifetime with Blake, playing the sport she loves and seeing the world with her boyfriend. You don’t know what job your family’s going to come up with. And I don’t know Ryan’s story, but I know he’s got one. He wants you, but he doesn’t want to make commitments he might not be able to keep.”
But it wasn’t about that at all. Only she wouldn’t betray the jerk’s trust. “God, I’m so stupid.” She could still see the pleading look on Emma’s angelic face. Don’t drag her into this. You can’t hurt other people just to get back at me.
Pain sliced through her. Emma had cheated on him. That explained everything.
“You’re not stupid.” Laura patted her leg. “You fell for a really hot guy. So what?”
Kat reached for her coffee. “I came here looking for a boyfriend. How stupid is that? But you know what? I figured something out this week. Like you said at lunch the other day, I work so hard to get a guy’s attention. Of course he’s going to give me a chance to rock his world in bed. I dazzle him. I thought it gave me power, you know? You look into his eyes, and you see you’ve got him. You think you can win him with that power. But what I didn’t get is that I only have that power while I’m on my knees with his dick in my mouth.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Sophie started to get up to give her friend a hug, but Kat waved her away.
“No, it’s good. I get it now. I mean, four years and a lot of frat parties later…I feel like an idiot. All those times I thought I was sweeping the guy away with lust or whatever, but really he’s just thinking how he has this hot girl blowing him and how, as soon as he’s done, he’s got to study for that test, but maybe he has time for one more beer before he heads back to his room. That’s…that’s…God.” She nodded with a determined expression. “But, like I said, I’m glad I figured it out.”
Laura wiped her fingers on a linen napkin. “Well, look at me. The only reason I came here was to hurt my boyfriend of two years. At least I thought that’s what it was, but you know what? I don’t think that’s it at all. I was trying to make it look like I found someone else first. I was competing with him. And you know what hit me? Being competitive is awesome. It got me a full-ride to UCLA. And in business, whatever I do for a career, I’m going to kick ass. But in relationships? It’s terrible. I mean, seriously, spending my spring break finding hot guys to pose with me so I can outdo Blake? I wouldn’t even want to know someone who did that.”
“All righty then.” Sophie forced a smile. “Looks like this trip turned out awesome for all of us. ‘Cause, you know, in spite of how it ended with Ryan, I got epic sex.”
Laura smiled. “Exactly. The most gorgeous guy on the island gave you the best sex of your life. You are the winner of spring break. And we all go home with a whole new outlook. It’s not about guys. It’s about us. It’s about figuring out what we want. And making kickass lives for ourselves.”
Kat shrugged. “I don’t know, Soph. I don’t think it’s over yet. Give him time. If I were you, I’d keep in touch with him. You never know.”
“Here’s what I do know,” Sophie said. “He’s going to play professional baseball. He’ll be traveling, training, doing interviews, all that same stuff King did only on a way higher level. I’d be on the periphery of his world. And I’m not going to be waiting around for him. I’m just not.”
“You’re in the center of ours,” Kat said. “You’re the reason we all stay in touch and get together as often as we do. We may go off with boyfriends and sports and whatever, but you’ll always bring us back home.”
Home. Where the hell was home? The house she’d grown up in hadn’t felt like home in years. Her sister said she’d feel differently when Sophie had kids of her own, but the age difference would never change. They’d always be in different phases of their lives.
She finally got it. She sat up, shoving the cart aside to get out of bed. “I’m moving.”
“What?” Laura held a grape in front of her mouth.
“I haven’t told you guys the truth. And I have to trust you to keep this completely confidential.”
“Of course,” Laura said.
“You know you can trust us, honey,” Kat said.
“My sister and brothers are negotiating to sell Crazy Hearts.”
When her friends started to protest, she continued. “I’m working out the details of whether or not I can buy it and manage it on my own. Jake gave me a ton of information, and I think it’s really do-able. That’s why I was talking about Montana. I love it out there. I’m going to get a place right on the mountain. I can ski, hike, fish, boat…I mean, it’s perfect for me.” Her friends looked a little sad. “It’s the biggest ski resort in the country.” She leaned over and shook Kat’s foot. “I’ll get a big house so you guys can visit whenever you want.”
“I want to say you’re being a selfish bitch leaving me all alone in LA, but I’m a little turned on by this whole idea.” Kat smiled. “I don’t know about the fishing thing, but a cool ski town? That sounds fabulous.”
“Oh, shut up. You can’t make a decision like this when you’re upset.” Laura tossed a grape at her. “Go home. Finish school. See how you feel this summer. You’ve got all the time in the world.”
“Time?” Ha. Good one. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to start living my life? I’ve been waiting for everyone—for King to move to LA to be with me, for my family to include me in their little circle of exclusivity. I’ve stayed in that damn mausoleum because they don’t want to lose their childhood memories. Well, guess what? I want to make happy memories of my own.” She slid her feet into her sandals and leaned down to buckle the straps.
“Where you going?”
She hadn’t been this sure of anything in ages. “Don’t be mad at me, but I’m done here. I want to go to Montana before I head back to school. And, come on, you know there’s no way I’m going to risk running into Emma and Ryan hanging out together.”
“How many times does he have to tell you he’s over her?” Laura shoved the cart aside and got up.
“It doesn’t matter what he says. The only thing that matters is what he does. He knew Emma was coming, and he didn’t tell me. Me, the woman he’s sleeping with. How awful is that? And if he really doesn’t want to get back with her, why would she fly out to Santa Grenada? He’s playing both of us because he doesn’t have the balls to own what he wants.” And she understood why. She really did. With all the chaos of his childhood, she could understand why he’d need to placate everyone. Look what had happened the last time he’d upset someone. His mother had gone to the ER, and his family had blown up.
“It’s weird that he didn’t tell you.”
“Yeah, it’s weird. And you know what? No matter how great we are together, he’s not ready to jump back into another committed relationship. Of course he isn’t. You guys are right. We had great sex.” She drew in a sharp breath because it hurt. It hurt so badly, but she was finally moving forward. “I had a great time with him, but it’s over. And I want to move on. I want to start my life.”
Her friends walked her to the door. “I’m going to talk to Jake. He’s frustrated working for his family. His dad and older brother won’t listen to any of his ideas. I’m going to see if he wants to help me with Crazy Hearts.”
“I don’t know whether you’re truly happy or just racing off on another adventure to cover up Ryan’s assholery,” Kat said. “But I don’t want your sister steamrolling you, so go. Figure out your shit. Just let us know how it’s going.”
“Take lots of pictures and put them up on Facebook so we can all be jealous of your exciting plans for after you graduate,” Laura said.
“Did you just hear yourself?” Sophie asked, and all three burst out laughing.