Sophie's Playboy (43 page)

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Authors: Natalie J. Damschroder

BOOK: Sophie's Playboy
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  • Sophie set her bag on the floor against the loveseat and set
  • "I know." Fawn let a smug smile play about her mouth and Sop
  • Sophie's heart sank. She'd so hoped these two could work it
  • Fawn laughed, and gone was the sweet, gentle, fragile young
  • Sophie wished she had that power.
  • "Actually," Fawn told her, "I'm battle-ready because I'm not
  • "Did Parker tell you my revelation?" Fawn asked. Sophie shoo
  • Sophie helped herself to a croissant and tea, and sat patien
  • "Anyway, it's so clear. Biff fell for who I was. I thought h
  • Sophie burst into tears.
  • Fawn moved to sit next to her. "Oh, Sophie, I'm sorry."
  • "No, it's okay." She tried to take a deep breath and halt he
  • "What has he done?" Fawn sounded just as fierce on Sophie's
  • "Nothing. Nothing at all." She got herself under control and
  • "Parker is nothing like Biff," Fawn assured her. "He's nowhe
  • "Maybe not. But he's pulling away from me. More gently than
  • "I can't argue with that." Fawn studied her. "You're in love
  • Sophie choked out a laugh. "Can't you tell?"
  • "Well, yeah, it is pretty obvious."
  • "That's probably the problem. I'm so obvious it's pushing hi
  • "No." Fawn pointed a finger at her. "This isn't about you. I
  • Sophie stood and started to pace up and down the Aubusson ca
  • "None," he'd told her, circling her like a shark in his bedr
  • "Whatever makes me different to Parker is what binds us," sh
  • "First you've got to know what it is."
  • "Okay, help me. Why me, and not the other women he's dated?"
  • "Geez, you got all day?" Fawn ticked off on her fingers. "Yo
  • "Well, we can stop there." Sophie sank onto the couch where
  • "I go after what I want," she said, still trying to figure i
  • "Men love a challenge."
  • "If I pursue him now, he'll probably retreat even faster."
  • "Good observation."
  • "But why?" She grit her teeth. "He was fine until your ... u
  • "It's okay. My miscarriage. It was horrible, but it wasn't t
  • Sophie frowned. "How could you not have been?"
  • Fawn sighed. "Consider where I come from, Sophie. I've been
  • Sophie still couldn't figure out why Parker would react this
  • "So do I back off? Stop pushing? I pushed last night, and he
  • "And?"
  • Sophie sighed. "I don't know." She looked around for her pur
  • "Let him wait. He won't run away."
  • "I'm glad you're doing okay." Sophie smiled at her. "Good lu
  • "You, too." Fawn hugged her, then pulled back. "I want to be
  • * * * *
  • Sophie dressed slowly and carefully that night. She wore a l
  • She looked elegant and refined rather than sexy. She didn't
  • She'd decided to play the waiting game. Parker was pulling a
  • Parker arrived at seven and took her breath away in his cust
  • "My God, you're gorgeous." She couldn't keep the words in he
  • "So, what's the fundraiser?" she asked when they were settle
  • "Autism." He glanced at her sideways. "MMT's new philanthrop
  • "Really? Why?"
  • "Dave's son was diagnosed with it."
  • Sophie gasped. That darling little boy. He was only three. "
  • "I don't know. Recently. I guess you haven't been in touch w
  • "No." She felt terrible for Dave and his wife. Chuck had cal
  • "Do you ever feel too lucky?" she asked Parker.
  • "What do you mean?"
  • "Well, in the past few weeks there have been Trina's death,
  • "What is?" He sounded irritable.
  • "Bad luck, fate, tragedy, whatever. Tests, you could call th
  • Parker shrugged and they drove in silence for a while.
  • Sophie decided to apply the "not anticipating" ploy for a wh
  • When they got to the ballroom where the fundraiser was being
  • Sophie plastered a smile on her face for the people she knew
  • "I hadn't heard," she apologized. "How's he doing?"
  • "Good," Shirley said. "He's really a wonderful child. We jus
  • Dave seemed bent on raising as much money as possible and th
  • "I understand you did a study on me," he murmured in her ear
  • Sophie nodded to a passing acquaintance to avoid looking at
  • "Not a study, hmm?" He followed her, and Sophie realized he
  • "Okay, I did some research. At all events you attended, more
  • "I didn't realize I had so much influence."
  • Sophie whirled and returned to her path to the bar. "Well, y
  • "Interesting. I'll have a Scotch and water," he told Tony on
  • Sophie looked up to see her old employer bearing down on the
  • "I'm sorry I never called you back," she told him. "I don't
  • He laughed. "I won't. I learned my lesson." He nodded when P
  • "I think that covers it," she said, and stood. "I'd like to
  • Chuck held out his arms. "For old times' sake?"
  • Sophie couldn't spot Parker in the crowd and felt one dance
  • Dancing with Chuck was familiar. They'd done this so often i
  • Finally she spotted him, sipping his drink on the edge of th
  • She thanked Chuck when the song was over and took off a litt
  • She found Parker near the band and tugged him toward the dan
  • He smiled at her, but it still held a tinge of melancholy. "
  • "Reminiscing," she said airily, reveling in the feel of him
  • Parker didn't seem to notice what she'd said. He maneuvered
  • "Sophie?" Parker squeezed her hand. "You here?"
  • "Of course." She smiled at him, then frowned when his phone
  • "Shoot." He stopped dancing, right in front of Chuck, and pu
  • Sophie stared at Parker's retreating back, then at Chuck's e
  • "I can't believe you'd try to do this to me. Me! I'm not stu
  • "I'm not passing you off, Sophie."
  • "The hell you're not." She was so furious she could hardly s
  • Parker closed his eyes. "That's what I was afraid of."
  • Sophie's anger burned off, leaving her feeling empty and alo
  • "Remember at the picnic, you told me not to let a let a hole
  • Sophie blinked back tears and nodded.
  • "It's too late."
  • "You're throwing me away to avoid being hurt."
  • He shook his head and put his hands on her shoulders as if h
  • "Then stay with me." She was crying so hard she could barely
  • He shook his head. "It couldn't." That was when she realized
  • Sophie pulled herself together. Sniffed. Moved away and wipe
  • "You're more like your father than you think," she told him.
  • "I know." He gripped her wrists and kissed her palm, then st
  • CHAPTER 18
  • Parker resigned from Rant and Rave the next day. When Stevie
  • He listened to the show for the rest of the week. Sophie was
  • Melina's brother had turned out to be a good match. Parker m
  • "He was very resentful that I came to America," she'd told P
  • "Just get healthy," he told her. The surgery was scheduled f
  • Rant and Rave was suffering without her, however. She compla
  • One more reason Sophie was better off without him, he though
  • "How the hell do you figure that?" She motored around him pr
  • "I should never have pursued her," he said. "Her original sh
  • "She can get another show somewhere else." She shoved a stac
  • "But she loved this show. Why didn't I stay away?"
  • "Will you please shut up?"
  • He looked up and Mare was glaring at him. Her arms were fold
  • "Dad was here?"
  • "Three times this week. He's moaning and groaning about how
  • "So maybe he's finally understanding."
  • "Ha! He was trying to get me to tell him it's okay to go bac
  • "What did you tell him?"
  • "To quit his whining and get on with his life." She added sa
  • "And how do I do that?"
  • "You're a smart guy, Parker. Figure it out."
  • Yeah, figure it out. He'd deliberately hurt the woman he lov
  • "Biff." Parker's father didn't rise from his chair when the
  • "Dad, I'd really like you to call me Parker."
  • Biff looked up. "Why?"
  • Parker suppressed his annoyance. He didn't want to start thi
  • "My name is Parker. I don't like Biff. I'm finally getting p
  • Biff studied him as if he couldn't understand why he'd reque
  • Parker studied the old man. The term was apt today. The line
  • "What's happening with you and Fawn?" he asked.
  • Biff shrugged but seemed to sink into himself even further.
  • Parker barked a laugh. "You threw her away."
  • "I tried to." Biff picked up the pen Fawn had given him for
  • "So what's the problem? You want her, she wants you. Quit th
  • "Easy to say from your perspective."
  • Yeah. Easy for him to say about Biff. It wasn't so easy to s
  • "I never wanted Fawn to love me. I knew what would happen to
  • "It's only inevitable if you think it is. Haven't you heard
  • Biff sighed. "What's your point?"
  • "You expect to get hurt. So you do. And in trying to avoid i
  • "You have a problem with me, B—Parker?"
  • Might as well have it all out now. "Yeah, Dad, I do." He had
  • "I didn't avoid emotion," Biff protested.
  • "Oh, yes, you did. You never told us you loved us. Never sai
  • Biff opened his mouth, but didn't respond this time. "I gues
  • "And Phyllis and Joanne and all the rest tried so hard to ma
  • "And you, Parker? What did I destroy in you?"
  • Parker shook his head slowly. "Nothing, Dad. I thought you d
  • "Don't you?" Biff's gaze bored into Parker's. "I never stopp
  • "I wish I was." Parker thought of the tears on Sophie's face
  • "You're not." Biff stood and went to the wet bar to the righ
  • "Dad."
  • "Relax, it's just water." He poured Parker a glass and broug
  • "Yeah."
  • "Were you as cruel to her as I was to Fawn?"
  • "Different circumstances, but yeah, I probably was."
  • "Then you love her."
  • "More than I ever thought possible."
  • "And did breaking up with her accomplish what you wanted?"
  • Parker thought about the hole in his heart Sophie had filled
  • Biff's sigh ended in a groan this time. "You are like me."
  • "I don't feel any pride in that."
  • "So, what do we do?"
  • Parker stifled his surprise that his father was asking his a
  • "And you?"
  • "Me?" Not so hard a decision, now. "I'm going to eat crow."
  • * * * *
  • Sophie was struggling. Melina was getting ready for her surg
  • Rant and Rave, which had returned to its original incarnatio
  • Advertising was down according to Stevie, who acted like he
  • That part was hardest. The show she could handle. Gene she c
  • His absence left a gap in her life she didn't think she'd ev
  • "Sophie, can I see you a minute?"
  • Sophie looked up from her notes for the day's program and no
  • Stevie jerked his head toward the station manager's office.
  • Great. They're gonna pull the show. For the first half of th
  • Stevie was alone in George's office. He leaned against the d
  • "Sophie, we're concerned about your ratings. You need more s
  • "Stevie," she protested, "there have been no ratings release
  • "But they're coming up and we're afraid they won't be as goo
  • Sophie sighed. "And?"
  • "We've got another way to add spark to the show. But I don't
  • Sophie threw up her hands. "Another on-air surprise. Maybe w
  • Stevie smiled and grabbed a legal pad. "Yeah, maybe. I'll jo
  • "Just dandy." Sophie grabbed her stuff and stalked to the st
  • "What was that? Today's topic is hippos?"
  • Sophie frowned at Gene. Sometimes his distraction affected h
  • He handed her the public service announcements and sponsor m
  • Sophie missed Melina's signals. She missed Melina.
  • She missed Parker.
  • She settled into her seat and adjusted her headphones and mi
  • "Welcome to WNRK's Rant and Rave. The show that gives you a
  • The door opened. Sophie figured an engineer needed to adjust
  • "Actually, Sophie, I think we need to start with Rave today.
  • Sophie jerked her head up. "Parker?" He sat across from her,
  • "We need to today. I feel like being positive." He glanced a
  • "Desiree, from Boston." Sophie noticed the producer seemed u
  • "Desiree, go ahead."
  • "About time you returned, Parker. Sophie told us you were go

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