by Melissa Blue
He passed her door. She grabbed his shirt to reel him back. “And when we get inside, don't touch anything.”
“I know you're fussy.”
“Fussy?” She pushed open her door.
His eyes widened. Cal and her had decided to make the common areas of the house neutral—nothing too masculine and feminine for the decor. Their rooms were a different story of course. She wore heels and a dress to a friends-only get together. Wade should have known her room would be the epitome of feminine.
Or maybe his expression had everything to do with her walk-in closet. The door was open and there were rows and rows of shoes still in the boxes. Her clothes were just as anally organized. Red curtains, black comforter and sheets—all satin—and a million things of makeup on her vanity wasn't over-the-top. Not to her but maybe for him.
He chuffed softly. “You sleep in a bordello.”
She closed the door behind him. “My room is classy.”
“A classy bordello. Do you have a corset somewhere?”
Sophie did but now she would never tell him. She dropped on her bed fully clothed. Wade chose to sit on her vanity's bench chair.
It would have turned into a staring contest, but Wade asked, “Are we going to talk about why you were angry earlier?”
He'd caught that, and he wanted to talk. When would he stop surprising her? Probably never. She gripped the edge of the bed and held on. “How long have you been in love with Ashley?”
“In love?” He shook his head. “I love her.”
She had to sit up, stare at every angle of his face. His expression was soft again. How easy those words fell out of his mouth.
How much it hurt to breathe. Air suddenly felt too jagged in her lungs.
“You love her,” she repeated.
He found the carpet a very important thing to stare at. “She was this annoying kid in pigtails who came along with Porter. His parents broke up and then we weren't even supposed to notice her, but you met her.”
How could she find air to speak? But she did and Sophie pushed the words out. “She seems fun and kind.”
“She is, and her brother is pigheaded. I would have never done anything to put my friendship in jeopardy so I let it go and loved her from afar.”
She didn't want to hear all this, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from his face. She had to see every flinch, every softened feature. “And Victor?”
“He couldn't let it go, but to be fair, he kept his hands to himself for close to a decade, if not more.” A smile ghosted along his lips and her heart twisted.
“More than a decade?”
“Grady was in the third or second grade when he came home with Porter and the rest of the gang.” Wade smiled. “We never got rid of them.”
I love her.
Of course he would after eons. Short of Ashley burying a knife in Grady's chest, Wade always would. It made sense, but breathing didn't get any easier.
Sophie said, “And you never brought anyone home. Not just women.”
“So for years I was Cal.”
Something hard and ugly gripped her heart. “What?” she snapped.
He met her gaze again. “Don't tell me you don't see it?” His voice remained level.
“What you feel for Ashley has nothing to do with me and Cal.”
Again he fell silent like he had to put the words together before letting them fall out of his mouth. “I believed the circumstances would change. She'd see me, need me. Porter would give on his stance of family and friends not dating. It never dawned on me if we were supposed to be together none of it would matter.” He rested his forearms on his thighs. “I did all that and I didn't even take her virginity.”
The sense of betrayal felt like a cold breath on the back of her neck. “He told you.” The words cut on their way out.
“You didn't.” He let that hang in the air before he added, “It matters, the facts always do. So you can lie to me about Cal and how it's not the same, but I'm telling you I've been him.”
Cal of all people had told Wade something intimate and private. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it. “You have no right to my past, to speak of it. I haven't told you. He had no business sharing that with you.”
His blue eyes seemed to darken. “And don't you think that's the problem? You lock up your flaws in fucking Fort Knox even though anyone can know them with a click of a button.” He shrugged as though that was neither here or there. “And he didn't tell me, not directly.”
She inhaled deeply to keep from screaming at him. Or telling him to get out, because he was right. She was laid bare for the world to bring up with a click.
But Cal, not the Internet, had told him.
She was shaking. “What does that even mean?” How could her voice sound so calm?
“A simple conversation. We got on the subject of cars and I joked, 'you always remember your first.' Mine was a piece of shit Nissan that needed to be put out back and shot. I'm thinking about that and Cal looks upstairs where you are getting ready to meet my family.” Wade's stare didn't waver as he locked eyes with her. “And I know the look he's wearing, Sophie.”
The anger and hurt inside her flattened. Cal hadn't told him, but what Wade was saying was worse. She pushed off the bed not wanting to hear this, but Wade kept talking.
“You needed him and he stayed,” Wade kept fucking going. “He stayed in hopes one day things would change, you'd see him too. He may date other women, but none of them are you and that's who he's waiting for.”
The truth of the words strummed through her. She passed him to go into the closet. Her dress came off first. She was fussy so it went on a hanger then into the dry cleaning bag for that week's trip to the cleaners. The truth of his words still resonated and...dammit.
She gripped the hangers. “I didn't ask him to keep loving me, not like that.”
Wade said nothing in response. She stripped out of her underwear. The buzz of the beer had long gone, but she wanted that kind of numbness. Wade couldn't be right. If he was then the last few year since Angelo didn't make her blind, it made her unintentionally cruel.
She yanked out a nightshirt and dragged it on. Dressed and no other reason to stay in the closet, she just stood there. Her mind went over every year, every moment with Cal. The lingered seconds of intimacy, the impatient hurt in his tone, in his expressions all took on a different light. He wasn't “friendzoned” but a true friend. A friend who had fallen in love. He wanted what was best for her even if that ripped out his heart. That simple fact had made it too easy to miss. That simple fact made the hurt deepen.
Eventually she stepped out of her closet because she couldn't hide. Wade hadn't moved but he'd been watching her quietly.
He said, “I don't think Ashley knows even now, which made what I felt for her even more ridiculous. So, yes, when I see her it's...I don't know. Whatever you saw that pissed you off.”
She'd seen...Wade unvarnished and vulnerable—a man she wouldn't question giving her heart to. But that wasn't her Wade. That man would never be hers.
Yet, her Wade would listen to what she had to say. He'd take in her words and throw back honesty.
“You were nice to her, the entire time, and you smiled at her in a way you've never even looked at me.”
He rose, and she met him half way. He tugged on her shirt and brought her the rest of the way. “Being mean to Ashley is like hating puppies.”
She could see that, which was why when Eva and Ashley descended on the kitchen she couldn't help but like the woman when the hatred simmered in the background. “And Cal? He's always been there for me. He's my friend. He's never asked or acted...” She could see the answer in his eyes. Her shoulders lowered.
“Cal isn't a creep,” he said, “and if he does tell you he's madly in love, what happens then? He loses his friend because she doesn't feel the same. Friendship is...There are some people you'd die for, and sometimes you convince yourself dying a little for that friendship is the best th
ing to do.”
Sophie wanted to push her face into his chest and let the tears burning at her eyes fall. “That's horrible for him.”
“Yeah.” Wade pressed a kiss to her forehead. “He needs to move out. Mostly because now that I know he's taken your virginity I can't promise I won't kill him.”
She laughed at the brutal honesty. But...dammit. “And because it needs to end.”
“Yes.” He cupped her face. “I may smile at her differently, but I have never and would have never agreed to go on a radio interview for her.”
Wade without a filter was sometimes a beautiful thing. “You're not just saying that because I'm naked under this shirt?”
“I would be lying if I said—”
“Wade,” she said and laughed. “Sometimes I don't want honesty.”
“If you hadn't run into the closet I would have said it earlier.”
“Okay. I like honesty again.”
“Knew you would.”
And then she really thought about what he said. She fixed her stare on his face. “You go on the interviews for me?”
He put his hands into his pockets. “Am I staying or kissing you good night?”
She backed up to her bed, surprise and warmth fought for space in her heart. “You do it all for me. Why?”
He followed her and pushed her onto the bed. “If I'm staying I'm going to need a blanket of my own. You hog.”
Her heartbeat raced as she kept her attention on his face. “Wade,” she whispered.
He kissed her quiet but he broke it well before she was ready. “Tell me you have condoms in your bordello.”
With a huff, she pushed him away and climbed up her mattress.
He grinned. “I'll see you tomorrow then.”
She got under her the covers. “There's a throw in the closet, and keep your underwear on.”
He muttered as he headed for the closet, “Don't need to take them off to do what I'm thinking.”
Soon they were cuddled together, her head resting on his outstretched arm. He looked good in her bed, surrounded by the black sheets.
“Wade?”
“Yeah?”
“I just realized you have more pillows than I do.”
He snorted. “I drink better coffee than you do. It's okay to fail at some things.”
Her mind wanted to stick on Cal, on Ashley, but her heart was fixed on Wade. This impossible man.
She said, “Two things.”
He raised a brow. “And they are?”
“Thank you for telling me about Ashley, and you can't kill Cal.”
He shook his head before he said, “Won't promise the latter.”
She'd guessed as much but it had to be said. “Second—”
His gaze lit. “So it was three things?”
“Keep talking and I won't say it.”
He bit his bottom lip.
She waited a full two seconds to see how he'd react then added, “There's a box of condoms in my nightstand.”
He moved like lightning and had her beneath him within the next breath. Then his mouth, his hands were tilting her world. She never wanted their affair to end, but...they still were not each other's safe place. Not yet.
Tomorrow's worry, and the list of worries were long. All the interviews and speaking engagements that led up to Tonight with Trevor Smith...
And Cal.
Tomorrow. She'd pick at those frayed edges tomorrow, because she knew he was falling in love with her. He did publicity for her.
And she was falling for him too.
CHAPTER
{(qx5+y)+(q√2)+ z}÷91.8
For the next few weeks Wade's life became sex with Sophie at his place. He wasn't fucking her regularly with Cal still under the same roof. He didn't push on that front but a bitter taste had started to linger in his mouth.
And between all that was his work. The publicity run. His friends. No dark spirals or wide mood swings.
Things should have been good. Except...
“Are you sure you're ready?” Sophie's voice was tight, and low. “We can do another mock interview, if you want.”
That.
He glanced up from his calculations. Her face was as tight as her voice. Over the past two weeks he'd seen that expression, as the TV interview loomed closer. He'd asked her what exactly she had on the line and she'd told him nothing. He didn't believe her, and with Sophie the possible reasons for her anxiety were easy to guess.
He breathed and tamped down the need to be blunt. “For fu—”
Another deep inhale. Wade tried again to coax the truth from her. “What is it with this guy that has you nervous?”
Only the beep of his computers behind him filled the pregnant pause. Sophie shrugged out of her fitted blazer, but took care to drop the garment on the bare space on his desk. That left a navy blue shirt and skirt. And heels he wanted to decorate his shoulders.
Her sultry tone drew his focus away from that last thought. “It's national news, a night-time slot. I want things to go smoothly.”
Maybe, but the TV slot held importance for her personally. He didn't entirely understand how or why. Once again, he dipped into his well of patience. “So you decided to come to my work and crawl up my ass about something I'm doing in eight hours? That'll relax me.”
Her face flushed. “Sorry. I'm...tense about this.”
He crooked his finger around the bridge of his glasses and dragged them off. “Come here.”
She didn't hesitate. A week before she might have argued first or asked why. A month before she would have found some other to-do-list task they needed to concentrate on.
Wade preferred now, even with the quiet tension between them. He moved at least three stacks of papers and patted the desk. “Run me through it again.”
Her skirt fluttered up along her thighs when she propped on his desk. Since he'd watched her put on clothes that morning, he knew she'd picked a deep crimson thong. It matched her bra and her shirt. So fussy.
“Welcome to the Sophie Lake show.”
He fought back the snort because this was supposed to relax her. “Good evening, Ms. Lake.”
“Call me Sophie.”
He rested his hand on her leg. “Sophie.”
Her breath hitched. “What are you doing?”
He hadn't said he'd behave, he'd only implied he'd play along. “Helping you relax, because I'm not the one worried about tonight. How many of these interviews have I done by now?”
“More than I thought I could talk you into.”
He laughed at that. “I can do this interview in my sleep.”
Sophie glanced away from him. “Wade...”
His hand disappeared beneath the soft material. She moaned and her knees fell open a little.
He asked, “Are we done prepping?”
“Someone can walk in?” But she didn't push his hand away.
Wade planned to take full advantage of her quiet acquiesce. “I have a direct view of the door. I'll see anyone who walks in.”
Sophie caught his gaze. “I didn't come here for this.”
Her legs shifted open a bit more. He doubted Sophie even noticed the thoughtless action. He did. There wasn't anything about her he couldn't see or ignore. She was restless, edgy. He refused to read more into her emotions. They were fine. They were a couple. Time is all they—she needed to let go of her doubts.
“No, you didn't come here for this,” he said. “You came to pace in my office and I'm redirecting your focus.”
She laughed. “I wasn't—Oh.”
He grazed his finger over her slit. “I'm an astrophysicist, but I also have a PhD in cosmology.”
Her voice held a husky note. “When did you—I can't concentrate when you touch me like this.”
His intent. “My brother bought me my first telescope. He mowed lawns all summer. Pretty damn good at it. Or maybe...” He slipped his finger beneath the band. So fucking wet. “He's always had an earnest kind of face you could trust.”
She moved and his finger brushed against her clit. “Don't care,” the words rushed out low, sexy.
He dipped inside her to catch her cream. He met her eyes and put his finger to his mouth. “I stayed up all night and watched the stars.”
She spread her legs more for him wrinkling a handful of a few folders he hadn't moved. Wade did not fucking care. He slouched in the seat to ease his erection. His cock painfully pressed against his board shorts.
She moaned and licked her top lip. “Your brother spent an entire summer working to buy you a telescope?”
“I was twelve. I was going to be a great mathematician, and a telescope was considered a toy.”
The pity darkened her gaze so he put his hand back where it should have been. Her pussy knew his touch and had soaked her panties. Wade smiled, liking that more than anything.
“I mapped out the constellations. Made a star wheel and everything else one would consider the epitome of nerd.”
She was sitting, the perfect way to find her...
“Oh, God.” Sophie moaned as she closed her fingers over the edge of the desk.
“Shh,” he murmured, intent on her face.
She licked her lips whenever close to an orgasm, and her tongue was leaving a wet path across the plump flesh now. He used his middle finger to penetrate her and his index to tease her clit.
“Shh, Sophie. Come quietly, for me.”
Each breath became a moan. They hit him straight in his groin. His cock begged to be coated with her cream, and she was so wet. He pushed out of his chair to stand and brushed his mouth along her ear, working his fingers faster.
“I fell in love with the stars. I am ready. I have been all my life. Come so you can relax.”
Sophie grabbed his lab coat and buried her face into his chest, her soft cries washed over him. His pulse pounded in his cock. Her teeth sank into his pec and he had to shut his eyes and breathe to keep from pulling out his cock and fucking her on his desk. His boss forgave a lot of things, sex may not be one of them.
Her pussy closed tight around his digit. In the next few strokes, her arousal thickened, turned warm as melted honey. Her legs clasped together, imprisoning his hand before a shudder ran through her.
