The look on Sophia’s face was priceless. She deserved more than an exclusive restaurant, but it was only my first full day with her. There was more to come, and I couldn’t wait to make some happy memories with her without my mother’s disapproving stare or the weight of Jaabir’s pressure on me.

In the past, Father and Mother traveled all the time on vacations; one week wasn’t going to make the country crumble. That was what I had the council for.

Our waitress poured two flutes of champagne and placed the glasses between Sophia and me. She walked away—as I’d already planned the menu—and I lifted my glass to the beautiful woman sitting across from me.

“To forgiveness,” I said, clinking my glass with hers.

“For what?” she asked.

“You forgiving me,” I said.

She shook her head. “We’ve both made mistakes. I say we toast to finding our way back to each other.”

Sophia still surprised me in many ways.

“To finding our way home,” I said. Sophia was my sun, stars, and moon. I would never be able to leave her again. I knew that now. I just had to convince her to feel the same way, and then we would be able to put the past behind us finally.

She sipped from the flute and placed it down on the table. Her lipstick created a ring on the rim of the glass. I had never been so jealous of an inanimate object before.

“This is great,” Sophia said. “I hope you don’t do this all the time.”

“What do you mean?”

“It must cost a lot.”

“Sophia, don’t worry about money.”

She rolled her eyes. “Luke, I live in the real world.”

“So do I.”

She took another sip of champagne. “Real world people don’t do things like this. Don’t get me wrong; it’s fantastic. But for me, it’s hard to imagine someone treating me to this. Every time I’m with you, it’s as if I’m living in a fairy tale.”

“That’s exactly how I want it to be,” I said. “Sophia, I love you. What I have is what you have.”

She sighed, and her eyelashes fluttered. Her eyes glossed over, and for a moment, I thought she was going to cry.

“Let’s talk about something else,” I said.

She polished off the rest of her champagne and said, “Let’s. How is Abir?”

Abir was the safe way of asking about Qatar without involving the stress of Mother and her disapproval of Sophia.

“Abir has a girlfriend now,” I said.

Sophia’s jaw dropped. “No way! That’s adorable. Who is the girl? She better treat him right.”

I loved how much Sophia adored my brother. It was one of the things about her that made me love her more.

Women that Mother insisted on setting me up with were interested in my wealth and title, while Sophia cared about way more than that. I didn’t need anything else to solidify my decision about Sophia, but if I did, then her asking about Abir did just that.

“Her name is Alda,” I said. “From what Abir tells me, she seems lovely.”

“Abir and Alda sound like a reality TV show,” she said. “Was this arranged?”

“Surprisingly, no,” I said. “Mother has been more obsessed with my future, leaving Abir to find a girl himself. She approves, though.”

“I guess that’s all that matters,” Sophia said.

The tension between Sophia and Mother tended to lean more toward Mother, but the things that she’d said to Sophia seemed as if they were still raw, even after a month. If there was to be any future between us, Mother needed to keep her thoughts to herself, or else she was going to be quite unhappy for the rest of her life.

I loved Mother, but I needed Sophia more. I hoped that one day, Mother would see what I did in Sophia and accept her into our family as she and Father accepted me all those years ago.

We talked of Abir for a little while longer before the conversation fizzled out. Our appetizers came, and Sophia and I ate in companionable silence.

I recalled dinner with Saanvi where she attempted to fill all the awkward silences. I preferred this so much more. Envisioning Sophia in Saanvi’s place had been the final straw in dealing with losing Sophia. I regretted nothing about my decision to come to Dallas.

While I didn’t want to bring up any past bad feelings, I wanted to know what Sophia had been up to in our time apart.

“Tell me more about your trip to Seattle,” I said. “I’ve never been there.”

She shrugged. “It was okay. It wasn’t my first time, but it was nice to get away. I needed a little time after quitting. That was a life change, going from a mile a minute to sleeping in until noon.” She laughed. “Matt was generous with me, as he always is.”

“Did you stay with him?” I asked.

She pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile. “No, but would it have been a big deal if I had?” She twirled her fork around a piece of fennel on her plate.

“Just trying to get the big picture here,” I said, popping a scallop into my mouth.

I felt something against my leg. Sophia’s eyes widened for a moment. “I was alone the entire time. In a hotel room. Thinking of you.”

I leaned forward, letting her get as close to my leg as possible. My pants were a little too tight around the middle because of it, but I couldn’t care less. Even if the restaurant was full of people, her arousing me was no secret. She was drop-dead gorgeous and all mine.

She continued talking about all the sights she’d seen while she visited Seattle. While I’d traveled to places all over the world, there were a lot of places in the United States that I hadn’t seen. In fact, I hadn’t seen much at all. Most of my deals were in foreign markets.

“I’m surprised you haven’t met anyone,” I said as the waitress took away our plates. While I wanted Sophia for myself, I never could understand why she remained single.

“I can’t meet many people from my couch,” she said.

“Sure you can,” I said, indicating my phone.

She laughed. “I suppose you’re right. I’ve never been the casual dater, though.” Her eyes widened, and she retreated into her mind for a moment. I wanted to ask what that was about, but I’d hesitated too long before she put me in the hot seat.

“Tell me about the dates that you’ve been on,” she said.

With another woman, that line would probably be the opening of a trap, but Sophia’s carefree attitude and wide grin meant she was teasing me. Hard.

“Only one date,” I said.

“So far,” she said, sipping her wine glass.

The waitress had disappeared and reappeared numerous times so quickly and silently that there wasn’t a break in our conversation. I had chosen the wine from a list and was surprised that for a California wine, it was delectable.

“Come on, spill,” she said.

“Honestly, it was terrible.”

She flung her head back and laughed. “That’s what you get for allowing your Mother to set you up.”

“First of all, there was no allowing,” I said. “Secondly, you’re mostly right. The conversation was awful. To be honest, I imagined you were sitting across from me the whole time.”

She leaned back in her chair. “You did?”

“Yes, it was the only way to keep me from falling asleep.”

“Where else have you imagined me?” Sophia asked, crossing her arms. Her breasts lifted, and I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

I was grateful to get away from the conversation about me dating other women. While it seemed like a joke to Sophia, I wanted her to know that she was the only one I wanted to go on dates with.

The waitress returned with our entrees, and Sophia’s question hung in the air between us.

“In bed,” I said after the waitress was out of earshot.

“What?” Sophia asked.

“I’ve imagined waking up with you most every morning,” I said.

She locked eyes with mine. “You got your wish this morning.”

“That I did.”

“I’m not sure if the kissing or sex made it any clearer, but I’m happy to see you again,” Sophia said.

I smirked. “You are? You know, I was wondering about that.”

She dug the toe of her shoe into my leg. “Don’t make fun. I just wanted to let you know.”

And there it was. Professing our love for each other was one thing. Something that we should have done in Qatar. But hearing her express appreciation for me seeking her out added another layer to our relationship.

While I wanted to tell her my plan, I had to keep that discussion for another day. Dredging up the reason I forced her to leave in the first place wasn’t a part of why I came to Dallas. Showing her that we were perfect for each other outside of England and Qatar was key.

Instead of talking about potentially depressing matters, I changed the subject to places that Sophia could take me around the city. She launched into listing her favorite restaurants that offered real Southern cooking.

“Not that this place isn’t amazing,” she said quickly, clearly enjoying her meal. She was already done with it before I was even halfway through. “But I want to get some amazing fried chicken into you. There’s a lot of Latin flavor in this area, too.”

“I look forward to all of it,” I said.

---

The best thing about French restaurants was the smaller portions. It left room for a delectable chocolate mousse, better than I’d ever eaten before. Sophia enjoyed it as well, dragging her spoon across her bowl to retrieve every last morsel.

I suspected I would have a different outcome after visiting some of the places that she wanted to show me.

With our belly’s full and a bottle of wine and champagne thoroughly drunk, the ride back to Sophia’s place offered a distinct change of mood for the both of us. Even though there was no divider between the driver and us, Sophia’s hand caressing my thigh gave me a hint of what she expected when we returned to her home.

If I had chosen another vehicle, perhaps a limo, she would stand no chance against me. I would hike her dress over her waist and take her right then and there.

Instead, I had to hold off on my urges, even though Sophia’s eyes twinkled when the headlights from the passing cars lit them up.

When we arrived at her place, I jumped out of the car. Turning to help Sophia out of the vehicle, her shoe snagged on the seat, and she tumbled out.

I caught her, and her body was vibrating with laughter. “Wow, I feel like a klutz.”

“Let me help you,” I said, using that as an excuse to draw her closer to me.

She giggled all the way to the elevator, going on about how embarrassed she was about falling.

But once we reached the elevator and the doors closed, she stopped laughing. We were finally alone, and the heat that I’d felt in the car returned with a vengeance. I shoved her against the elevator wall, kissing her. My cock strained against the fabric of my pants, and I pushed it closer to her body. I wanted her to know how much she turned me on.

She beckoned me closer, wrapping her leg around mine. I was so close to her pussy. I could easily rip her panties aside and plunge myself into her soft folds.

The ding indicated that we were on her floor, and we broke apart. Sophia’s lipstick was smeared, and I pressed my hand against my mouth, pulling away to find most of it was on my mouth.

I grinned as Sophia tugged me down the hallway. Thankfully, no one else was around to witness how mussed up we were. I didn’t care what anyone else thought, but I would be mortified if anyone else walked by and noticed how hard I was.

Sophia struggled with the key, but when she finally pushed the door open, I grabbed her face and crushed my lips against hers.

We stumbled forward, and she threw her purse onto the kitchen table.

I unzipped her dress and pulled it down over her breasts.

She fumbled with the falling fabric. “The door,” she said, her voice muffled against my lips.

I kicked the door shut and lifted her off the floor. Her legs wrapped around my body as I deepened the kiss between us.

I shuffled over to the bedroom without once breaking contact with her. The mix of the chocolate mousse and wine added to the already delicious flavor of the woman in my arms.

I gently laid her on the bed in front of me and pulled her dress down the rest of the way. I laid it beside her on the bed. She looked so fucking hot in that dress that I wasn’t sure how I made it through the evening without stripping it off her.

She stared up at me, her hair splayed around her like Medusa. Like the mythical creature, Sophia turned me rock hard with one glance.

“I love you so much.” I hoped my words were enough to convey that I wanted her more than life itself. And then, I kissed her.