Curiosity
In an instant, Brandon was on his feet. He held his hand out to help Sofia up. She felt his tight grip as she stood and he didn’t immediately let go once she was up, either. She pulled her hand away and dusted herself off. “This guy’s probably ready for lunch, anyway.” Brandon bent over messed with Troop’s ears.
“What are you gonna do with him when you leave?” Sofia asked as they started walking.
“He’s actually my mom’s. I got him for her. She’s always loved dogs, but I’m beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea. I thought she’d be a little more enthusiastic about walking him, but she really hasn’t shown much interest in it. I hope he’s not just gonna sit in the yard until I get back.”
Without even thinking about it, she offered, “I can walk him sometimes if you want.”
Brandon turned to her and smiled. “Really? That’d be great.”
Sofia smiled, glancing back down at Troop, who was prancing along happily beside Brandon. When they got to Brandon’s house, Sofia stood at the front door, not sure if she should go in or not.
“You can come in if you want,” Brandon called from inside.
She didn’t really want to, but she felt a little rude. She took a few steps inside and stood in the front room. The smell of cigarettes was so overpowering, her hand was immediately over her nose. No one appeared to be home. “Are your parents here?”
“No,” Brandon responded from one of the bedrooms. “My dad had an appointment.”
Great. She had to make this fast. She was really beginning to feel anxious about being there. Brandon finally walked out of the hallway holding a photo album. Feeling rude, she casually moved her hand away from her nose. “C’mere,” he said, walking toward the dining room table that was just off the side of the front room.
She walked over slowly. Even though she felt anxious, there was something oddly exciting about being there with him. He set the album down on the table and pulled a chair out. He motioned for her to sit next to him and she did. He opened the album. The first picture was an eight by ten head shot of him in his formal camouflage marine uniform, beret and everything. His expression was very hard. It was impressive, almost sexy.
“Wow. You look so grown up.”
“That’s how I feel now. It’s weird I felt so lost for so many years. You have no idea what the Marines have done for me. It’s the best thing I could’ve done. her dit sat’s ho
Sofia stared at the picture, glancing back at him, she smiled. “I’m glad for you. I always knew you had it in you, Brandon. ”
He held her gaze and she had to look away. She brought her attention back down at the album, and he turned the page. The next pages had certificates and awards. Then there were pictures of what appeared to be him and his troop in combat. They were holding weapons and crawling in mud. In others, they sat behind trees and rocks like they were hiding. “You weren’t in a war, were you?”
“No,” he laughed, making her feel dumb, “but it felt like it. That was just boot camp, but they did their best to make us feel like we were in hell.”
Fascinated, Sofia continued looking at the pictures. She’d been looking at the pictures for a while when she noticed Brandon staring at her. Startled, she brought her eyes back at the album. “Is this you?” She pointed at a picture of a soldier climbing a wall. His face was turned away.
Brandon put his hand on hers. “Yeah, that’s me.”
Sofia flinched, pulling her hand back, immediately feeling ridiculous.
Brandon was quick to apologize. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She felt so stupid. “I just… I don’t know why—”
Brandon smiled. “Forget about it, you wanna see something else?” He stood up.
She didn’t. All she wanted was to get out of there. It was getting a little weird. She should’ve never come inside his house. But she stood up, nodding, and followed him into the hallway.
When she realized it was his bedroom, she stopped at the door. He went into his closet and pulled out a long briefcase, setting it on the bed. He undid the clasps then turned back to her. “Come over here.”
Chewing on her pinky nail, Sofia looked around. She walked over to get a closer look. He worked fast, unzipping the bag. It was a rifle, a big one like the ones in the pictures.
Her eyes grew wide. “They let you bring that home?”
“No. My old man got it for me.” There was no hiding how proud he was of that. “He surprised me with it when I got home. It’s a replica, but the resemblance to the real thing is amazing. If I hadn’t handled one of these as much as I have, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
Sofia was intrigued. Her family owned a gun they kept in the restaurant for protection. But her brothers had barely let her see it, much less handle it. “Can I touch it?”
Brandon seemed pleased she wanted to. “Sure.” He took it out of the case.
“Is it loaded?”
Brandon laughed again, handing it to her. “No.”
She felt her cheeks warm as she chalked up the inane questions, but she appreciated his patience. “Wow. It’s so light.” She weighed it up and down in her arms. “I thought it’d be heavy.”
“They make them light for a reason. When in combat, you could be out there walking for days with one of these over your shoulder. Along with your backpack and other belongings, you wouldn’t get very far if it was too heavy.”
Sofia ran her finger over the barrel, then held it up to her face, pointing it at the window like she’d seen him holding it in the picture. “Who’d have thought I’d ever be holding one of these?”
Brandon came around her. “Actually, this is how you’re supposed to hold it.”
He put his arms around her and picked up her arms, his face inches from hers when he adjusted her head so that she could focus on aiming. Sofia heart rate spiked. His breath against her temple made her feel warm. It felt wrong. No one but Eric should be able to make her feel like this. With his body up against her back, big and hard, suddenly her eyes were on the bed in front of them. Thoughts of her and Brandon on it flooded her mind. She trembled, squeezing her eyes shut.
His hand came around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He whispered in her ear. “You okay?’
She nodded without saying a word, but gulped hard. Brandon leaned in closer to her temple. “I’m feeling it, too.”
He pushed up against her and she felt exactly what he meant. Sofia let go of the rifle. Brandon had a hold on it. He put it down on the bed, and spun her around to him. They stood for what seemed forever, lips inches away from each other.
Sofia brought her hand up and flattened against his chest. Though she didn’t push him away like she should, at least she had something in between them. Brandon’s hot breath was on her mouth and she could almost taste him.
“I think your brothers’ plan to make you so forbidden may’ve backfired on them.” His arm slipped around her waist. “I saw the way all those boys looked at you in high school. Saw it, because I was looking at you the same way. Every one of us had a hard on for you, Sof.”
He spoke right in her mouth, her heart pounding in her chest. “Tell me to stop and I will, Sofia. Otherwise,” he licked his lips. “I’m gonna have to kiss you.”
A part of her screamed say stop, but an even bigger part wanted him to. When her eyes went from his eyes to his lips, it was sealed. For the first time in her life another man’s tongue was in her mouth. The incredible excitement was of a different kind. One she’d never felt.
Even back when she and Eric were sneaking around, being with him never felt wrong. This was wrong on so many levels. Still, she kissed him back almost too eagerly. His hands were all over her body in an instant. Her hands cradled his face. The stubble on his face excited her even more. Eric had very little facial hair. She’d never thought something like that could excite her, but excite her it did. When his hand dropped down and caressed her behind, something in her brain finally snapped and she pulled away.
“No!” She breathed heavily and she pulled away from his arms. “I can’t.”
His dark carnal stare nearly brought her back into his arms. “Sofie, why fight it?”
She took a step back, feeling the blood drum in her ear. “Because it’s wrong.”
He pulled her back to him gently. “Do you have any idea how many times you’ve been the star of my wet dreams?”
Sofia’s mouth opened, but she had no words. Eric had always been so gentle even about the way he spoke to her. Brandon’s words were indecent, scandalous… but they made her feel things, things that made her breath even harder. “I can’t, Brandon.”
“But you want to.”
She stared at him, unwilling to answer. He leaned in breathing on her neck but not touching. Then his lips brushed against her neck, tormenting her. Her entire body shivered.
“Do you want to, Sofie?” he whispered, then kissed her neck.
Her legs almost gave out on her as she felt a bolt of excitement run through her. Somehow, she found the strength to pull away. If what she was feeling at that very moment was any indication to the answer to his question, she had to get out of there. Fast. She thought of avoiding his eyes. They’d give her away, but who was she kidding? He already knew.
“I can’t.” She walked away.
She heard him chuckle behind her. “That’s not what I asked.”
Suddenly infuriated with herself, she hurried out of his room and toward the front door. Brandon followed her, calling out for her but she ran out. The more she thought about it, the faster she ran. As soon as she was home, she called Eric. He answered on the second ring.
“Hey, babe.”
Hearing his voice did her in. Her voice broke with the first word. “I miss you so much.”
There was a pause, then he said, “Why don’t you come down this week? I’ll get a room for us out here. I can hardly stand being away from you either, Sof.”
Still tasting Brandon in her mouth, she almost fell apart. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
***
Eric thought of the week he’d just had. Being away from Sofia was tough, but this week had been especially draining. He had no idea how emotional this would get. Sofia’s call on Monday struck a nerve. She sounded so upset. Eric knew right away something was wrong. Of course, she assured him it was just getting to her that she couldn’t go over and see him when she was missing him.
Not sure what to expect when she arrived, he braced himself. When Sofia showed up on Tuesday, her emotions had been all over the place. She’d always been eager to make love, but she’d been almost crazed from the moment she arrived and they’d been together all weekend. Then she seemed down, but no amount of persuading would get her to talk. All she said was she couldn’t wait for him to come home for good. Then in a flash, she was back to being aroused.
Eric smiled. Well, he’d never complain about that. Sofia’s sensuality went hand in hand with everything else about her personality. She was intense when it came to everything. She’d been a little weird all week. Eric had a feeling he knew why.
Her brothers weren’t the only ones with thy o a e short fuse. He’d steered clear of the coffee shop where Asia worked all week; he wasn’t adding any more fuel to that fire. He hoped she wasn’t still worrying about it. He hated to bring it up, but if she was still acting weird over the weekend he’d have to.
His phone rang just as he hopped on the freeway.
“Hey, baby!” Her chipper mood made him smile.
“Hey.”
“You on your way?”
“Yep, just hopped on the freeway.”
Usually, Eric waited until Saturday mornings to leave. Friday night traffic was horrendous, but today he’d got off early. The guy he was assigned to work with had asked for half the day off, so they told Eric he could leave early. He was headed home and not a moment too soon.
“Angel and Alex miss you.” He heard Sarah laugh in the background.
Eric smiled. “They do?”
“Yeah, they’ve been whining about you not spending any time with them on your weekends home.”
He heard Sarah laugh again along with male grumbling in the background.
Eric couldn’t help laughing. “Is that right?”
“Yeah, so we’re ordering from Andolini’s and they want you to come over and play with them.” She laughed. “Seriously, they really wanna play some football out front. Me, Sarah and Valerie will cheer.”
“Andolini’s? I’m in.” He hadn’t had their pizza in ages. When they were younger, they used to eat there all the time. They had the best pizza in town.
After hanging up with Sofia, Eric felt much better. Maybe he wouldn’t have to have that dreaded conversation with her after all.
The guys did seem happy to see him when he got to Sofia’s house, but no one was happier than Sofia. He squeezed her tight and kissed her like he really wanted to when they were finally out of her brothers sight. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t comfortable getting too cozy with her in front of them. And he knew damn well, they weren’t comfortable watching.
Once back outside, he grabbed a beer from the ice chest. “Don’t you bums work?”
“Go long,” Alex said to Angel then glanced at Eric. “Parents are at the restaurant.”
Angel ran out in the street and Alex threw the football at him. A car turned into the cul-de-sac and slowed. Angel moved out of the way, smiling at the driver. When it was close enough, he saw it was Valerie, Sarah’s cousin. Eric wasn’t surprised she was still coming around. She and Alex had been on and off since high school. Alex put up an act that their relationship was just for fun, but as much as Mr. Tough Guy played it down, Eric saw the way he looked at her when they were together. He wasn’t fooling anyone.
Romero showed up a while later and they all hung out like old times. It felt damn good.eltool The girls sat on lawn chairs in the front yard chatting, while the guys stood by Alex’s truck parked out in the street throwing back a few beers.
They were in the middle of clowning Romero about his piece of crap car when they noticed he wasn’t paying attention to any of them. He was looking behind Eric. “Is that Bad News Billings?”
Eric turned around to see a very clean-cut, buffed-up Brandon Billings, walking toward them with a dog on a leash.