by J. S. Scott
‘Show me.’
Bobby was a man of few words, but the words he did use were always the right ones. Seeing his commanding message instantly morphed the thrill and thrum running through her into a pulsing and throbbing low in her belly.
Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Sophie lifted her phone and pressed the Snapchat icon in the right corner. Then, after shifting in her high-back, ergonomic chair, she scooted her skirt up her thighs. Pointing her phone down to her exposed lap, she snapped a picture of the top of her mound, which was covered by the sheer, pink fabric of her panties, framed perfectly by the pale skin of her thighs, which were pressed together, and the fabric of her bunched-up, black pencil skirt.
When she saw the result of her impromptu naughty photo shoot displayed on the screen, even she had to admit that the image looked pretty damn hot.
Now was the fun part. Sophie’s heart raced as she chose the amount of time her husband would be allowed to view the picture. Hmmm. She scrolled through the numbers, and her thrill increased as she chose two, which meant Bobby would be able to view the pic for a total of two seconds before it would disappear forever. Knowing exactly the reaction that his limited viewing ability would inspire in her hubby caused the pulsing that had started in her lower belly to spread even farther south to her center and increase in intensity. Sophie’s smile widened as she clicked on her contacts in the app, which held a grand total of one, selected Bobby, and then sent him the snap.
Before the brilliant invention of Snapchat, Bobby had never been comfortable with Sophie sending him provocative pictures. To say that her husband was protective of her was not just the understatement of the century. It was the understatement of the millennium. He’d always been concerned that someone would see the compromising pictures once they were stored on their devices. Although Sophie thought Bobby went overboard with his worry and paranoia a lot of the time, she had to admit that, with all of the leaked celebrity photos that kept making Internet news, Bobby could have actually saved her a heap of embarrassment. But, now that the technology existed so that the images and videos were never downloadable, Bobby had become a huge fan of recording naughty things for their personal viewing pleasure—and Sophie could not be happier about it.
Teeter-tottering in her chair, alternating her weight on one thigh and then the other, Sophie swiftly pulled her form-fitting skirt down into place. When her clothing was back intact, a mental countdown started ticking down in Sophie’s mind as she waited with bated breath and tingling lady parts for Bobby’s response.
3…2…1…
Her phone buzzed and her heart skipped a beat as she looked at her phone. The text simply read, ‘Tease.’
Goose bumps rose on the skin of her arms as shockwaves of shivers spread from the epicenter of her core throughout her entire body. Sophie knew exactly how Bobby felt about being ‘teased’ and the promise that single word held for his intended sensual retribution.
Adding an extra level to Sophie’s already heightened excitement was the fact that she and Bobby were going to be leaving for their annual Christmas weekend getaway to the city tonight. Two nights and three days of alone time in Chicago before coming back to Harper’s Crossing for the huge Sloan family Christmas dinner. Normally, she and Bobby made their yearly trip in the beginning of December, but this year, since Sophie’s travel schedule had been so insane, they had to wait until the end of the month.
Flashes of last year’s trip, when they never made it out of the hotel room the entire seventy-two hours, started playing like an X-rated slideshow in Sophie’s mind. She and Bobby had made love against the wall, on the desk, on the bed, on the floor, in the shower, in the Jacuzzi bath, in all three chairs that sat around the room, and once on the heated balcony.
The balcony had been the hottest of the hot. Even though Sophie had known that there was no way anyone could have seen their sexcapades—Bobby would have never allowed that—just the fact that they’d been getting busy outdoors, where they could see people, had sent her arousal meter into the red. It had been around three a.m. They had been on the top floor, so no one could have looked down on them. Bobby had pulled her onto his lap and taken her from behind. She’d been covered in a large blanket, but totally naked beneath it. She felt the cold air on her face as she looked up at the stars, sprinkling the dark winter sky like diamonds.
Even though their sex life was always hot, there was just something about hotel sex that took things from spicy hot to steaming, boiling, four-alarm-fire hot.
Work. I need to get back to work, she quickly reprimanded herself.
After setting her phone back down, Sophie, once again, turned her attention back to her emails. She tried to keep her mind on her tasks at hand, but it kept drifting to thoughts of her dark-haired, blue-eyed husband. They’d been married for three years now, so, technically, they weren’t newlyweds anymore. But, even though they may not have the title, they were definitely still living the newlywed lifestyle.
People had been so shocked when she and Bobby had initially gotten together after having known each other their entire lives but never dated. Not in grade school, middle school, or high school. Bobby had been two years ahead of Sophie in school, and she’d always harbored an epic crush on the youngest Sloan brother. Sophie’s older brother, Nick, who had been tragically killed in an automobile accident the summer after he’d graduated from high school, had been best friends with one of Bobby’s older brothers, Jason.
Sophie remembered asking Nick if she could tag along to Jason’s house, when she was a little girl, just for the chance that she might catch a glimpse of Bobby Sloan. Bobby hadn’t talked to her much when they were kids, but he’d always let her talk and talk and talk. He never told her to be quiet or made any jokes about her not having an off switch. He just listened and, sometimes, if she was lucky, smiled.
To this day, Bobby’s smile did something to her insides. When he smiled, she felt like she was on one of those crazy rides at the amusement park that lifted you up hundreds of feet in the air before dropping you. Yep, when he smiled, it still felt like she was free-falling.
While scrolling through her emails, she saw that one was from her childhood friend, Beth. It was an evite to a baby shower. Sophie felt a slight stab of disappointment, the same one she always felt when her friends or family announced that they were expecting. Not that she wanted to have a baby. She absolutely did not. It wasn’t possible. Still, the small sting was just a reminder that she wished things were different.
She and Bobby had both decided, totally separately, long before they’d gotten married, that neither of them ever wanted to have children. For Sophie, the reason was simple. After losing her brother Nick and seeing the pain and anguish her mom, Grace, had gone through, Sophie knew she wouldn’t survive that kind of tragedy. Bobby’s reason was different but no less valid. His mother, Cheryl, had been severely bipolar. Although Bobby had never really known his mom because she’d passed away due to an overdose when he was in elementary school, the memories he did have were vivid and traumatic. Once he was old enough to know what disease his mother had and that it could be genetic, he decided that he didn’t want to risk passing on the gene that he might or might not possess.
Reading the email, Sophie saw that the shower was co-ed. Beth’s message said that, even though she knew baby shower games were probably not Bobby’s “cup o’ tea,” Sophie should drag him along anyway and he could hang with the guys. A small smile played on her lips. From an outsider’s perspective, Sophie was sure that one would probably think that she was the one who ran things in their relationship. She was talkative, opinionated, and outgoing compared to her quiet, reserved, easygoing husband. And she guessed that it was true enough in most cases—that Bobby had no problem stepping back and letting Sophie take the lead. He didn’t care what their house was decorated like, what plans they made and when, what movies they watched, what they had for dinner, or if she dragged him to a baby shower.
Sophie was in ch
arge…outside of the bedroom.
But behind closed doors was an entirely different story.
Sophie had only had sex with four men in her life. Her first had been her high school boyfriend, the second had been a guy she dated in college, the third had been a one-night stand after a particularly wild frat party, and the fourth had been Bobby. Sophie had always enjoyed sex. Even her first time had been a satisfying encounter.
Still, all the pleasure she’d experienced in her life combined didn’t come close to the levels of ecstasy Bobby brought her to. From the second Bobby’s lips had touched hers during their very first kiss on their very first date, Sophie had known that what they had was different. She was his. His mouth demanded ownership of her heart, her soul, and her body, and she’d given it freely.
In the bedroom, Bobby was in control. It might sound strange to some people that a woman as independent and strong-willed as Sophie would enjoy his dominant energy, but strangely, it was liberating. From that first kiss, Bobby had somehow instinctively known Sophie. He knew what she liked, what turned her on, what made her so hot that it felt like she was going to spontaneously combust.
A shiver raced down Sophie’s spine, but she ignored it. She tried to put all thoughts of the erotic payback she knew she was in store for because of her ‘teasing’ text, at the masterful hands of her too-sexy-for-his-own-good husband, out of her mind. All she needed to do was concentrate on the hundreds of emails that had stockpiled over the past couple of months. If she could just stay focused on the heaping mountain of correspondences in front of her, then she could enjoy an entire guilt-free week of uninterrupted time with Bobby.
* * * *
Wait. What?
Bobby put his phone down after he heard his brother, Seth’s, announcement. He’d barely been paying attention to anything his brothers had been saying for the last half hour. All he’d been able to think about was his wife. He’d strategically made sure that he’d garnered the center seat in the back corner of the round booth he and his brothers Seth, Riley, Jason, and Alex were seated at so he could text—or as the kids called it these days, ‘sext’—with Sophie in total privacy while he sat through the monthly Sloan brothers’ breakfast at The Diner.
Sophie had just gotten back from a business trip, her third in the last two months, and Bobby missed her. Not just in a surface, shallow, ‘I miss my wife because she’s not home’ kind of way. No, his heart ached, his soul yearned, and every fiber and cell in his body craved Sophie. It was hard enough for him to get through a normal workday when he knew that she was just across town; but lately, she’d been traveling a lot for her new position. He saw how happy she was, how fulfilled she seemed, but it was killing him to spend so much time away from her.
“Billy Marshall? Seriously? Holy shit!” Alex stared at Seth in disbelief.
Bobby was just as shocked as Alex over their eldest bro’s announcement that, as of the first of the year, heavyweight boxing champ Billy Marshall would be moving to Harper’s Crossing and joining Seth’s Elite Protection Security team, but his shock was for an entirely different reason than Alex’s was.
“I didn’t know you were looking for people,” Bobby said, trying to sound as casual as possible as he motioned for their waitress to refill his coffee. He didn’t want to show his hand until he had facts about what was going on with Seth’s business.
“We weren’t, but in the last month, I’ve lost four guys,” Seth stated.
“Damn.” Alex shook his head. “I thought you only had eight guys on the team. That’s a pretty bad turnover. What happened?”
“Two of the guys decided to move to Miami and open a night club. One is getting married and moving to Australia. Another just got the opportunity to work for the Secret Service,” Seth explained.
The waitress poured Bobby’s refill, and as the piping-hot steam drifted through the air, Bobby inhaled the strong java aroma while his mind was firing on all cylinders. This might be his chance to make the move he’d been waiting for. Since Seth had moved back home and started Elite Protection, he’d only ever hired former military guys he’d served with; but, as far as Bobby knew, Billy Marshall had no military experience. He’d been a boxer since he was a teenager.
Bobby had never loved construction. Hell, he’d never even liked it. He stepped up and had been there for his older brother when Jason had to quit school to come back and run Sloan Construction after their dad, Bob Sr., had a heart attack. In just a few years, Bobby had rapidly moved up the ranks until he was serving as Vice President. But, a couple of years ago, he had stepped down from being V.P. because he’d known that, if he hadn’t, he would have ended up following in his dad’s and Jason’s footsteps—staying in construction his whole life. That’s not what Bobby wanted.
“How in the hell did Billy Marshall get into the mix? Did Zach have something to do with it?” Alex asked.
Zach Courtland currently held the light heavyweight world champion belt. He had also married Bobby’s cousin, Jessie Sloan, last New Year’s Eve and was best friends with Billy Marshall. Billy had announced his retirement back in August after winning his seventeenth consecutive bout. As far as the press knew, the retirement had been planned and Billy just wanted to go out on top. Since the Sloans had the inside track—not only because of the familial relations but also because Jessie was Billy’s publicist—Bobby knew that he’d been advised to by several physicians who had warned him that his dome couldn’t take too many more cracks without the very distinct possibility of permanent brain damage.
“Other than the fact that we started talking at Zach’s fight last month, no, Zach didn’t have anything to do with it,” Seth said, as the waitress set down everyone’s food.
Bobby was not surprised that his oldest brother didn’t elaborate. Seth pretty much kept things close to the vest. He’d always been the brother Bobby had most identified with. Seth was known as the ‘quiet, brooding type.’ Bobby had even heard some people describe him as mysterious. Riley was the ‘bad boy.’ He’d gotten into quite a bit of trouble in his teen years. Jason had earned the nickname ‘Romeo’ because practically the entire female population of Harper’s Crossing had been in love with Jason at one point or another. And Alex was the ‘player’ before settling down with his wife, Jamie. He’d run through more women in a month than most people did in their entire lives.
Then there was Bobby. People mostly compared him to Seth. Bobby understood why. He and Seth looked alike—they both had jet-black hair and blue eyes. They were both quiet and reserved.
“But I thought that I saw something on ESPN that said Billy was going to go into commentary. I thought he was going to start covering fights,” Alex recalled, as he reached across Jason’s plate to grab the syrup, which earned him a sock in the arm.
Seth shrugged. “He was, but he did a few test shoots and said that he really didn’t think it was for him. He said he was interested, so he came down and trained with Travis and Locke. It went well.”
Bobby felt nerves begin to kick up as he listened to his brother. Sure, he was no boxing champ, but he’d been training in MMA for almost six years now. He was in top physical condition and had done well in school. He’d graduated with a 4.2 GPA and scored 1800 on his SATs. He knew that he’d have to travel, but now that Sophie’s job entailed so much travel, it wasn’t like he’d be leaving her home by herself. She was happily pursuing her dream. They could work out the logistics. He knew that all Sophie ever wanted for him was to be happy, which was exactly what he wanted for her.
“How many more guys are you looking for?” Bobby asked, hoping that he wasn’t tipping his hand just yet.
Seth leaned back and his jaw tensed. Bobby wasn’t used to seeing his brother look stressed. Usually, Seth was unreadable. Had he pissed him off by asking him that? It wasn’t like he wanted state secrets or anything.
“At least six,” Seth finally answered.
“I thought you only lost four?” Riley, who, up until this point, hadn’t said much,
leaned forward and engaged in the conversation.
“I did, but I just got three new contracts in that I accepted before I lost half my guys,” Seth said in a flat, unemotional tone.
“Are the contracts local?” Riley asked.
“Two are,” Seth replied.
“I can help out,” Riley offered, and Bobby almost spit his coffee all over the table.
“You?” all four brothers said in unison.
Riley didn’t seem offended in the least at his brothers’ reaction. “Yeah. I mean, Dax and Landon have everything under control down at Freedom. Mya’s in preschool now. I have time. I can help you out, bro. At least until you’re able to assemble a full crew.”
Shit.
Riley owned Freedom, a bar down in New Orleans, with two guys that he served with, but he spent next to no time there. Since he’d married Chelle and became a family man, he’d lived in Harper’s Crossing full time.
As the baby of the family, Bobby was more than used to getting overlooked, more than used to his brothers talking over him and ignoring him. But this was too important. No way was he going to get passed over or let his brother beat him to the punch—even if Riley had been in the Marines for ten years and had the experience Bobby was sure Seth was looking for.
“I can help you out, too,” Bobby spoke up. “Not temporarily either.”
“What?” Jason asked.
Bobby could feel the heat of all eight of his brothers’ eyes boring into him. This was it. Time to ante up. Put it all on the line.
“Don’t you have a job?” Alex asked, looking more than a little amused at this turn of events.
“The Randall Drive complex is wrapped. I don’t have another project lined up until March.” Bobby looked directly at Seth. “We can see how it goes.”
