Hard Charger: Jake & Sophia: A Hot Contemporary Romance (6 page)

“Who’s paying for the renovations to the rectory?” Jake asked suddenly, remembering how both Ray and his mom had been talking about poor insurance payouts.

“The parishioners have been very generous in their donations.  The entire amount was raised over the course of a year.”

“That’s good to hear.”  He finished his sandwich and shoved the crumpled aluminum wrapping back in his lunchbox.  Both he and Father Al stood.  “So...given all of this evil, what do you advise me to do?”

“The same as always,” the priest replied steadily. “Don’t give in to temptation.  Refuse it.  And watch out for those you love.”

“Okay.”  Thoroughly unsettled, Jake turned to head back to the construction site.  “Thanks, Father, for the warning, though
who
you’re warning me against and
why
you’re warning me are both still up for grabs.”

“And thank
you
for working to repair my home.”

“My pleasure,” Jake replied.

Father Al gave him a fatherly pat on the shoulder, and then Jake was climbing back to the second floor, the priest’s advice ringing in his head.

Jake finished at the
construction site well after five PM, and then drove the half-mile down Queen Street to the Mermaid Inn. With aqua green shingles, deeper green trim and a coral red roof, the old Victorian mansion looked as though it could double as part of a tropical reef.  Wondering if he had enough in his bank account to cover dinner, he parked his bike and walked up the beautifully landscaped brick sidewalk, past a number of impressive flower gardens to the restaurant door.

He stepped inside and immediately felt welcome.  Sophia’s mother, Kat Melkin, was known for her generous heart and warmth, and that feeling pervaded her restaurant: plain, homey curtains on the windows, simple wooden tables, chairs and benches; used wine bottles and farm implements decorating the walls.  A candle flickered at each table.

A girl he didn’t recognize was waiting at the hostess stand.  “Hi, one for dinner?” she asked him.

He smiled.  “Yes, but...I have a favor to ask.  Would you mind seating me at one of Sophia Melkin’s tables?  I’m an old friend and I want to surprise her.”

Smiling and shooting little glances at him, the girl quickly seated him near the window, and then he had a menu in his hand. 

He cast a glance around the restaurant.  Sophia interested him more than food, despite the way his stomach was rumbling.   Within a few moments, he saw her.  She wore a white shirt and black trousers, with a red rose threaded through her hair and had bright red lipstick on.  She was heading his way, and his throat tightened at how creamy white her skin looked, at the way her greenish-gray eyes gleamed, at the silky reddish-brown curls that hung down her back.  Just the sight of her was enough to give him a hard-on.  He lowered his menu to conceal it.

She wasn’t really looking at him, and when she finally did pay attention to his table, she’d come within about five feet of it.  She stopped short and her lips twisted.  She glanced over at the hostess. 

“Sophia, please,” he said urgently.  “I need to talk to you.”

She narrowed her eyes and walked over to his table.  He could smell her scent: something clean, with an undertone of roses.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Just you tonight?” she asked.  “Or will your blonde hooker be joining you?”

He grimaced.  “Sophia...”

“Save your explanations, Jake,” she said coolly.  “What you do with your time--and your dick--is your business.  But we run a respectable business here.  No blow jobs in the back hallways.”

He frowned.  “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“My brother expects me to believe that you two didn’t even know they were hookers.  Like I’m going to believe
that.
”

“We really didn’t know,” he admitted, feeling like a fool.

“I understand,” she said with false sweetness.  “You just didn’t want to have to
pay
for it.”

“Alex and I were hustled.  I mean...things got out of hand way too quickly.  We were dumb.”

Shrugging, she plunked a glass of water down on his table.  “As I said, I don’t care.”

But he suspected she
did
care.  He saw the way color had come up in her cheeks, leaving them pink, and he noticed how her breasts were heaving, as if she were having trouble breathing.  “We have a lot to talk about.”

“No, we don’t.”  She pulled a pen and notepad out of her pocket.  “What can I get you?”

He threw her a pleading look, and then glanced down at the menu.  He saw a section labeled “Pub Fare” and order a burger and a Guinness.

“I’ll have that right out for you,” she told him, and started to walk away.

But he wasn’t ready to let her go.  “Do you have a break coming up?”

She paused. “If I did, why do you think I’d want to spend it with you?”

“Please, Sophia.  I just need a few minutes.”

“A few minutes for what?”

“I want to clear the air between us.”  He swallowed.  “I know I didn’t do right by you.  It’s bothered me ever since I left.”

She arched an eyebrow.  “Does my brother know you’re here, trying to make amends?”

He swallowed.  “No.”

The first genuine smile crossed her lips.  “That’s good,” she said.  “Because if he knew, he’d kick your ass.”

He smiled, too.  “We don’t have to tell him.”

“You’re very naughty, Jake Gallent.”  She tapped her pen against her notebook in a thoughtful manner.  “My break isn’t for another two hours.”

“No problem,” he told her, with a little sigh.  “I’ll wait.”

“Fine,” she replied.  “I’ll put your order in now.”

Two hours and four
beers later, Jake had moved from his table to the pub to wait for Sophia to go on break.  He loved the original stained glass and leaded windows.  The long, dark wood, marble topped bar with hand carved mermaids at either end was over 150 years old.  Rather than sit at the bar, he relaxed in one of the over-stuffed leather chairs that surrounded the fireplace.  During the colder months, Kat always had a roaring fire to welcome her guests, and on Thursday through Sunday nights, music played from the grand piano in the parlor. 

From his cushy leather seat, he’d been observing all sorts of people coming and going: some he knew, and others were clearly out-of-towners. There were a number of French Canadians who, for unknown reasons, drove down from Quebec to vacation in sleepy Rockport Grove.  He’d also had plenty of opportunity to watch Sophia wait on tables and admire her grace as she juggled plates of food, her friendliness as she took orders, and the way other men in the room seemed to follow her with their gazes. 

All in all, it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours.  When Sophia finally stopped by to say she was on break, he stretched, finished his beer and stood.

“Sorry about making you wait so long,” she murmured, though her sly little grin told him she wasn’t a bit sorry.

“No problem.  Do you mind going outside?”

“Sure.”

Sophia led the way as they walked through the dining room and outside.  Several chairs and a small gazebo sat on the perfectly cut grass outside the inn, and a few of the inn’s guests were enjoying a glass of wine in the gazebo.  Above, a stunning combination of pink, orange, gray and purple clouds hung near the western horizon, courtesy of the setting sun.

She walked toward a bench situated beneath an arching lilac tree, and they both sat down.  Then she crossed those long, lithe legs of hers and eyed him expectantly.  “So?”

He sighed and looked down at his hands.  “As I said...I know I didn’t do right by you.”

“Please,” she muttered.  “Stop saying that.  That night on the beach was all me, and I wasn’t expecting a marriage proposal afterward.”

He shook his head.  “I betrayed Alex’s trust.  I shouldn’t have let things go so far between us.  You’re his little sister.  I’m his best friend.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Actually, no,” he replied, remembering how she’d clasped her thighs around his hips and rode him lustily, there in the sand. The fact that she’d been off-limits had only seemed to entice him more.  “Not one damned bit.”

She smiled.  “Me neither.  I still don’t understand why you never called, though.  You never emailed or texted.  You didn’t even send a postcard.”

“I know.”  He fought the urge to grab her hand, and settled instead for looking deeply into her eyes.  “The night before I’d left for boot camp, I hadn’t been sure if I’d ever be coming back home.  Once I was gone, I felt certain I’d die overseas.  I didn’t contact you because I wanted you to move on.  It would have been selfish for me to ask you to wait.”

Her smile faded.  “You made a lot of decisions for both of us.  But who am I to complain?  I was just another one of your one night stands.”

“You were more than that,” he insisted.

“Really?  What was I, then?”

“I don’t know.”  Frustrated, he shook his head.  “I just don’t know!  You were different back then, from all the other girls I’d known.  You’re different now.”

“How?”

“You affect me in a way no one else ever has.”

“How?” she asked again.  “Do I make your dick harder than anyone else?”  Before he could reply, she nodded knowingly.  “I see it in your eyes.  It’s all about getting laid, isn’t it?”

“No—”

“Spare me,” she said bitterly.  “I’m just forbidden fruit to you.  That’s all it is.”

He opened his mouth to insist that she was special to him, but then he shut it again.  What reason did she have to trust him?  Instead, he sat back heavily against the bench.  “I know you’re not going to believe anything I say.  I haven’t given you a reason to.  But I still care about you, Sophia.  A lot. I want, I need to know that you’re doing well.”  He paused and thought of her ‘new man,’ the one Alex had mentioned, and his gut twisted.  “Your brother told me you’re with someone new.  I want you to know you have my best wishes.”

Her eyebrows drew together.  “With someone?” 

“Yeah, someone who’s steady, smart, and good for you.”

All at once, her expression cleared.  “Oh, right.  You mean Steve.”

His mood sunk.  For a moment, he’d thought she was going to deny that she had a boyfriend, but apparently he wasn’t going to get that lucky.  “Alex didn’t mention his name.”

“Steve,” she said, and her lips curled in a little smile.  He thought he noticed a teasing glint in her eyes, and it puzzled him.

“How did you meet Steve?”

She shrugged.  “He’s my Twelve Step sponsor.”

“Your Twelve Step sponsor...” he repeated slowly.

“Yeah, that’s right.” 

He put his hand on hers, then.  “Alex told me you’ve had some hard times over the years.  I’m sorry, Sophia.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”  She pulled her hand gently from his.  “They were my choices.  I’m in a different place now.”

He wanted to hold her hand again, but held himself back.  “What happened?”

“It took me a little longer to finish high school than most,” she revealed slowly, her eyes dark.

“You were ill?” he guessed.

She frowned.  “In a way.”

He considered asking for more detail, but something in her face suggested that she’d told him all she planned to.  Rather, he simply waited for her to go on.

“Once I graduated, I went to Rowan,” she continued.

“I remember you saying you wanted to go there.  Criminal justice, right?”

She nodded.  “I worked as a law clerk too, to help pay the bills.”

“Sounds like a heavy schedule.”

“It was.”  She looked away then, and her voice became more hesitant. “Eventually I became addicted, Jake, to prescription pain medication.  I’m not sure how it even happened.  At first I was able to manage everything, but eventually, it all caught up with me.  I crashed and burned.  Spent three months at a rehab facility.”

Jake kept his expression neutral, but inside he tightened up.  He felt nearly sick with regret for her.    “Oh, Sophia.  I am so very sorry.”

She turned to look at him again, her lips tight, her face all planes and angles in the fading light.  “I almost died, Jake.  Somehow, though, I managed to get clean.  Steve helped.”

He nodded in sudden understanding.  So that’s who Steve was—her knight in shining armor, come to save her from the dark pit of addiction.  All at once he felt jealous of Steve, and abruptly realized that even if he wanted to, he’d never win her back. The sense of loss was like a knife to his heart.

“I just want to put my life back together,” she continued.  “For now, I’m waiting tables at the Mermaid.  At some point, though, I want to go back to school.”

He stared at her, at the way the evening light gave her skin a soft, golden glow; at the determination in her gaze and the upright way in which she held herself, and at that moment he knew she’d make it.  “I’m impressed, Sophia,” he said gently.  “I’m impressed with your strength in beating your addiction, and your courage in admitting to me what happened to you.  I especially appreciate your willingness to share this with me.  It makes me feel optimistic.”

The smile that she gave him trembled, and he saw the warmth in it.  And yet, he still saw a shadow in her eyes, in the way she quickly looked away from him, and he knew she had more secrets she wasn’t telling him.  “Let me walk you to your bike,” she said.

They stood, and faced each other awkwardly for a moment, and he felt himself drawn to her, like iron to a magnet.  His focus dropped to her pink lips, to the silky curl of her hair that rested on the soft swell of her breast.  He wanted take her in his arms then, and kiss her as a man, where once he’d kissed her as a boy.  But he knew he couldn’t—she was forbidden.  Off-limits now more than ever.  So he settled for walking next to her, and breathing her sweet scent in.

They stopped by his bike.  She looked at its clean, spare lines and ran one finger over the handlebars.  “Forward seating position.  Bump seat.  Ace bars, swept-back pipes, rear-set foot rest.  A small fairing.  You’ve got a café racer.”  She twitched her eyebrows with appreciation.  “A nice one.”