Chapter Nine
Sophie’s phone rang on her bedside table at nine o’clock, startling her from a dream. The second her eyes flew open her head started a low throb. She whispered a groggy “Hello?”
“Did I wake you?” Maddie’s far-too-cheerful voice rang over the line. The girl never did get hangovers.
“Why are you calling at the crack of dawn? And why are you so happy?” Her temples had miniature jackhammers beating away, and there was a dull ache behind her eyes. It wasn’t just the alcohol; it was the lack of sleep. She’d stayed up far too late thinking about her neighbor, vacillating between mourning a sexual experience she’d never get to have and cheering her smart decision-making skills.
Maddie laughed. “Um, this is the latest I’ve slept in forever. I feel like I caught up on a year’s worth of sleep. I feel like a brand-new woman.”
Oh no. Maddie was perky and optimistic about the world. Sophie could not handle perky. And she absolutely couldn’t deal with optimism. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Why are you calling me again?”
“Breakfast. Ce-ce and Gracie already headed back to Chicago, so this is the perfect chance for Penelope, you, and me to talk before she hits the road in a few hours. Evan says he’ll pick her up from the restaurant and they’ll leave from there.”
As much as Sophie would love to, there was no way she could say no. While Sophie loved their now-large group, Penelope and Maddie were her oldest and bestest friends. Getting time with just the three of them was at a minimum. She sighed. “How much time until you get me?”
“Can you be ready in thirty?”
Ugh. “I’ll be ready.”
At least she’d get coffee and grease. That would take care of her hangover.
The rest of her life, though, was still up for grabs. God only knew what tomorrow would bring.
Might as well enjoy her last day of being unemployed.
She climbed out of bed, determined to make the best of her situation, and her new life in Revival.
* * *
The three of them tumbled into Earl’s Diner. Sophie’s eyes still hurt, so she kept her oversized Chanel sunglasses in place. The second she walked through the door she spotted Ryder sitting with Charlie Radcliffe, the local sheriff.
She gritted her teeth.
Wasn’t that just great.
Why in the hell would anyone want to live in a small town? This was why she loved Chicago; it was hard to run into people in a city with two and a half million people. Unlike Revival. She’d lived here three days and she couldn’t escape Ryder.
The bell jingled and he looked toward the door.
Their gazes immediately locked.
Shoving her sunglasses to the top of her head, she rolled her eyes at him before smoothing down her coral tank top and white shorts.
He grinned and gave her a wink.
Her heart did a fast little double tap.
He was so obnoxious. And so, so gorgeous.
She stuck her tongue out at him before flouncing into the booth, realizing too late she’d picked the wrong side. Now she could stare at him from across the room. Those broad shoulders, his wide chest. That chiseled jaw. She shuddered. She needed to get her mind out of the gutter. Gutter thoughts would not help her resolve.
Maddie waved at Ryder and Charlie before turning to Penelope and her. “I’ll say hi and be right back.”
The waitress called out, “You girls want coffee?”
Sophie would sell her soul for coffee.
Maddie yelled back, “Yes, please. Thanks, Mabel.”
Sophie rubbed her temples. “Everyone knows each other. And, you know, talks to each other.”
“I know, isn’t it fun?” Penelope picked up her laminated menu.
“No! It’s not fun. I like walking down the street and being ignored.” Sophie sounded as sulky as she felt. She already missed home.
“You’ll get used to it,” Penelope said, her voice unconcerned.
Sophie sniffed. “Easy for you to say, your career has always been perfect.” To her horror, her eyes welled with tears just as Maddie sat back down.
“Oh no.” Maddie’s forehead furrowed. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” She picked up a napkin and wiped under her lashes.
“Talk to us,” Penelope said.
“Yes.” Maddie put her hand over Sophie’s. “We’re here for you.”
“I’m fine.” Sophie blinked the wetness away. “It sounds weird, but I think it’s finally hitting me. You’d think being dragged off by the Feds would have made the disaster real. You think carrying all my stuff from the building, or my silent phone and empty email, would have made it all sink in. But it didn’t. It’s all seemed like one big dream I’d wake up from. But today, I’m staying instead of going with Penelope, I have a hangover, and everyone’s so cheerful, and it’s finally hitting me.”
Penelope clucked like the mother hen she was while Maddie patted Sophie’s hand.
Maddie squeezed her fingers. “I promise we’ll have fun. I’ll make it fun. You won’t even miss Chicago. And when you go back home, this mess will be over and everyone will have forgotten and you can start again. It’s going to be okay, because you’re Sophie, and you’re always okay.”
Sophie nodded and tried to take in the pep talk. “Okay. You’re right.”
“And you’re going to be great for Revival,” Penelope said. “You’ll blow them away, and it will restore your confidence and remind you how awesome you are at your job. Who knows, maybe it will even be good for you.”
“Chicago is good for me,” she said. Penelope and Maddie exchanged a look and she frowned. “What?”
Maddie’s brow furrowed. “Nothing.”
“What? Tell me.” Sophie experienced a strange thump in her heart.
Another glance passed between her friends. Penelope shrugged one delicate shoulder. Despite the night of drinking, she appeared completely together in a gauzy white blouse, her chestnut hair perfect. “It’s just that you keep making it sound like everything in Chicago was perfect.”
“It was perfect.” Sure, since her best friends had gotten married and Maddie had moved away, she got a little lonely. But she’d taken care of that by filling her life in other ways.
“But—” Maddie began, but thankfully, the waitress came with coffee, saving Sophie from a conversation she was sure she didn’t want to have.
She wiped under her lashes once more and looked up, straight into Ryder’s gaze. From across the room, he watched her, a frown on his lips.
She put on a bright, sassy smile. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her upset.
His eyes narrowed, his frown deepening.
She turned her attention to the menu. He was so arrogant he probably thought she cried over him.
It felt good to latch onto righteous indignation instead of sadness. She didn’t like sadness and avoided it at all costs.
Penelope peeked over her shoulder at Ryder and then back at her. “Anything interesting happen last night?”
Sophie scowled. “No.”
“You sure?” Penelope gave her a wide-eyed innocent look.
Maddie looked back and forth between them. “What’s going on?”
Sophie shook her head. “Nothing. Not one thing.”
Penelope smiled. “Evan and I caught Sophie and Ryder making out in the kitchen.”
“You bitch!” Sophie hissed. “You’re not supposed to say anything.”
“You never said that.”
“I did too!”
Maddie gasped, darting a surprised glance over her shoulder, and Sophie smacked her. “Stop looking at him.”
Maddie jerked her attention back to the table. “Really now?”
“They were going at it too,” Penelope said helpfully.
“We were not. It was just a kiss.” Sophie tucked her hair behind one ear. “To . . . um . . . cut the tension.”
Penelope laughed. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“Shhhh!” Sophie gave her friends the evil death glare. “Be quiet. He’ll know we’re talking about him.”
Sophie glanced over. Now he watched her, but now there was amusement etched into the lines of his cheeks instead of concern.
Sophie growled. “Let’s change the subject. There’s nothing to discuss. We fought. We kissed. We talked, cleared the air, and agreed to be good neighbors. End of story.”
Maddie giggled. “Why did you let me set you up?”
“You gave me no choice,” Sophie exclaimed. She waved a hand. “Besides, it’s fine because there’s nothing between Ryder and me. I’m excited to go out with Bill. He seems like such a great guy.” Well, right now he seemed a boring guy, but that was because she compared him to Ryder.
But boring was good. Boring was very good.
Just what she needed to get back on the right track.
* * *
“So, Sophie, huh?” Charlie asked in his sly voice, the hint of a Southern drawl still present even after all these years.
Ryder jerked his attention off the woman driving him to distraction. “What?”
“You have the hots for Sophie.” It was a statement.
Charlie might be his boss, but they’d become good friends since he recruited Ryder from the next county over. Griffin and Charlie were his closest friends in town. But that didn’t mean he wanted to confess his fixation on Sophie.
He shrugged. “She’s my new neighbor.”
Charlie gave him a sly grin. “She’s a hot little thing.”
Ryder shook his head. “Not falling for that one.”
Charlie laughed. “You don’t think she’s hot?”
“I think she’s very hot, but if you were going to do anything about it, you would have done it a long time ago.” He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and glanced at her. God, she was bitable in that little tank top and shorts. This morning she appeared exactly what she was: sexy, wild, and fun.
“True,” Charlie said, his voice amused. “I never moved on her because she had too many ties and lived in Chicago. My dick’s not that big.”
Ryder rolled his eyes, still not falling for the bait Charlie laid before him.
Charlie continued, “But she’s here now, and with her leaving to go back home at some point, she might work quite nicely.”
Ryder knew when he was being played, but it didn’t stop the rush of adrenaline. Still, he played it cool. He raised a brow. “What would Felicia say about that?”
As far as Ryder could tell, Charlie did not get emotionally involved with women and only did friends with benefits. Felicia Hayes being the current friend of choice. It was before his time, but from what he understood, Charlie had been with Gracie Donovan for years, and when she’d broken it off, he’d moved on to Felicia and stayed.
Charlie shrugged. “She’s getting restless.”
That caught Ryder’s attention. “Oh?”
Another shrug from across the table. “She’s starting to hint she wants more.”
The only person this surprised was Charlie. Everyone in town knew Felicia was in love with him, and Ryder couldn’t help feeling a little bad for her. He wasn’t sure what made Charlie so leery of emotional entanglements, but he knew enough to know that wanting a commitment from the guy was the kiss of death for their non-relationship.
Ryder glanced back at the table of women, his eyes on Sophie. Earlier, she’d been upset. And that made him stop thinking about her naked and start wondering why. Had something happened? He shouldn’t care. She’d made herself clear last night that she was off-limits. That they were going to be strictly neighbors.
Still, he wanted to know why she’d had tears in her eyes, because Sophie didn’t strike him as a crier. He liked her sassy, not weeping.
“You’re staring again.” Charlie’s voice was wry.
Ryder yanked his focus back to the table and took a sip of coffee. Time to stop thinking about her. Time to get back to work. He and Charlie often met at Earl’s Diner before the start of the week to discuss priorities before the craziness of the office distracted them.
“How do you think Harold is doing?” Ryder named their newest deputy, who’d interrupted him that day with Sophie and was just barely out of the academy.
Charlie grimaced. “Green, overeager, and a pleaser.”
Ryder laughed. “In other words, he bugs the shit out of you.”
“Pretty much.”
Once upon a time Charlie had been a field agent for the FBI before he left city life for small-town law enforcement. He didn’t have a lot of tolerance or patience for wide-eyed innocence.
That’s where Ryder came in. He was the oldest child, with two younger sisters. Growing up, he’d helped them with their schoolwork, taught them how to throw a baseball and ride their bikes. He had patience to spare and an easy nature that complemented Charlie’s more hard-assed demeanor.
Charlie was who the deputies cowered before.
Ryder was who they talked to about their problems and if they wanted their birthday off.
They made a good team, and Ryder didn’t regret making the move to Revival one bit. Not only had he needed a change in his life, he’d been stuck in his old department. The establishment guard hadn’t been inclined to move on or make changes to modernize the department.
The opportunity for Chief Deputy Sheriff had come along, Charlie and he had met over beers and hit it off, and the rest was history.
In his mind he had the best of both worlds: His family was close enough to see for dinner whenever he wanted, but now he didn’t have to worry about arresting any of them. Not that his sisters were troublemakers.
They were good girls. Or so he liked to believe.
There was a chorus of female laughter, and Ryder looked over at the table where Sophie sat. She appeared happier. And that made him happy.
He grinned at her.
She wrinkled her nose.
It was bad enough he was attracted to her, but why did she have to go and be so much fun?
“Did you tell her yet?” Charlie asked, once again pulling Ryder’s gaze from Sophie.
Ryder didn’t have to ask what Charlie referred to, because he already knew. “Nope. I thought it would be more fun to surprise her.”
“That’s a stupid idea.”
“Probably, but it hasn’t exactly come up in conversation.” He’d been too busy thinking other, more ... interesting things.
“I’ve never seen it, but it’s rumored Sophie has quite the temper.”
He laughed. “That’s what makes her fun.”
Charlie shook his head. “You’re twisted.”
“Yeah, pretty much.” And that’s when it hit him, part of her appeal, beyond the obvious. Since he’d decided to clean up his ways, he’d gone out of his way to date women that aligned with his relationship goals. Someone nice and stable, to balance out the crazy he’d experienced when the woman he’d been just having some fun with decided to fixate on him and refuse to let go. When he went out with a woman now, he made no move to seduce her. He did what he was supposed to do—get to know her, learn about her—but he hadn’t realized until that moment how exhausting he found all that good, polite behavior. Careful and safe was work for him. An effort.
He didn’t have to do that with Sophie. He didn’t have to tone it down.
It was like that kiss. He’d never had a first kiss like that. They’d held nothing back. There’d been no caution. No getting to know you. It had just been instant, filthy making out, full of tongue and teeth and unfiltered lust.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d experienced that with a woman. Probably never.
Despite all his internal warnings, the second he was with her he flew on instinct, bantering and goading her. He hadn’t even known that was missing for him. It didn’t change his goals or where he wanted his life to go, but it did refine his perception of what he needed in a woman.
It didn’t change anything between Sophie and him because that same instinct told him she was a bad idea. Both of them wanted to stay away from each other. Neither thought an affair would work. But since he had a better handle on the balance he desired, he could try the whole neighborly friend thing.
He glanced over at her. She was laughing, her eyes bright. She was fun. He liked her temper. Liked her sharp tongue. She’d been in town only a few days, and she already livened up the place.
Friends was worth a shot.