Making His Move (8 page)

She’d always thought that having her heart shattered would leave her burning with rage. Like writhing in the center of a flame. Seething in it. But the opposite was true. Feeling foolish and cold and broken had encased her in ice. Her teeth chattered, pain prickling in her fingers and her toes as she suddenly lurched around, and stumbled back to the bedroom. She had to get out of there. Now.

Hell, she needed to be out of there ten minutes ago, before she ever had to witness what had just happened.

No. I need to have never come here in the first place!

Moving in a fog, she found her clothes, which she’d folded last night and left on his dresser, and quickly put them on. Then she looked around a little crazily for her purse, until she remembered that she’d left it in her desk back at work. She had her keys though, which she found in the slacks Chris had been wearing. And her phone, which was sure to have some messages from Nat, was in the pocket of her lab coat.

Without even stopping to think about what she was doing, Sophie made her way to the front door, while Chris and his pissed-off girlfriend were still arguing in the kitchen, and quietly let herself out.

Then, without once looking back, she ran all the way to her car.

Fifteen minutes after he’d left Sophie in his bed, Chris set the phone back down in its cradle and walked into his bedroom, expecting to find her waiting for him...and planning on doing whatever it took to make her understand.

But she wasn’t in the bedroom.

Or the bathroom, he realized a moment later, after rushing to check.

After he’d searched the entire condo, ignoring Erin’s endless screeching as she followed behind him, he went back into his bedroom, making sure he had Max with him, and slammed the door in Erin’s scowling face.

Then he bit out a raw, furious curse, turned, and slammed his fist into the wall beside the door, destroying the dry wall. And damn near breaking his hand. Not that he felt the pain. No, at that moment, he didn’t feel anything but... Nothing but...

Shit!
He didn’t even want to think about the way he was feeling.

Despite agreeing to have a little faith in him, Sophie hadn’t stuck around to hear his explanation.

Instead, she’d run out on him, and left him alone. With his cold condo. And his worried dog.

And the biggest fucking mistake of his life.

I
f Chris had ever been this on edge before, he must have found a way to permanently block it from his memory. He couldn’t believe that Sophie had just walked out on him without even giving him a chance to explain. How the hell could she have done that, after the intense, hot-as-fuck, mind-blowing night they’d spent together?

“Shit,” he groaned, before he’d even drawn his next breath, knowing he had no right to be pissed at her. This was on him and no one else. Christ, he’d had fucking
hours
to explain the situation before Erin came crashing in and destroyed everything. If he’d manned up and just told Sophie what was happening, when he’d had the chance, he knew he could have made her understand. That she would have stood by him. That she wouldn’t have walked away.

But he’d been too busy thinking with his dick, and now he was screwed. And not in the fun way.

It was just after six in the evening, which meant that Sophie had had the entire damn day to stew about what had happened. Too many hours to convince herself that he wasn’t worth the trouble and she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Now that he’d found her, he wasn’t about to let another minute go by without letting her know that he wasn’t going to let it stand. That he was here to fight for her. To get down on his goddamn knees and beg for another chance, if that’s what it took.

His eyes widened with surprise when her front door opened just as he lifted his hand to knock, and she literally plowed right into him.

“Chris!” she gasped, blinking up at him after she’d stumbled back a step. “What are you doing here?”

“I hacked into the employment files at work and got your address. Not that it helped,” he muttered, brushing past her as he moved into her apartment, not wanting to give her the chance to slam the door in his face. Turning around, he took in her short-as-fuck denim shorts and tight white T-shirt, and somehow managed to speak around the knot of lust in his throat. “You haven’t updated your file since you changed apartments three months ago.”

She closed the door, then turned to face him with her arms crossed over her chest, her big eyes sharp with irritation...and an unmistakable edge of hurt that was killing him. “Looking at my file was illegal!” she snapped.

“Like I give a damn!” he growled, shoving his hands deep in the front pockets of his jeans, when all he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her.

Her eyes closed as she pulled in a deep breath, blinking open when she slowly let it out. Softly, she asked, “Shouldn’t you be back at your condo with your girlfriend? I imagine she’s still pretty pissed at you. What happened? Was she meant to be out of town? It must have been a hell of a shock when she showed up this morning.”

“Listen to me, damn it. Erin is
not
my girlfriend. We are
not
a couple. She’s my psycho ex and nothing more. I am not with her, Soph. I haven’t been for a long time.”

“Wait. She’s your ex?”

“
Yes
. Which I would have been happy to explain if you hadn’t run out on me.”

“Oh...
Oh, God
.” She pressed her hands to her cheeks, her beautiful eyes shocked wide with what looked like a strong surge of embarrassment and regret. But he didn’t want her feeling either. “I freaked, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, shoving a hand back through his hair in frustration. “Not that I blame you. This is my fuck-up, Soph, for not warning you about her. I hate it, but you had every right to react the way you did.”

Lowering her hands, she slowly took a step toward him. “You’re not with her anymore?”

Chris shook his head. “We didn’t officially break up until four months ago, but I haven’t slept with her since before I came to work at Blackwood. I wanted to ask you out the day I met you, but I needed to clear things up with Erin, and then, when things went weird, I didn’t want you getting caught up in it. I thought she would get tired and move on, and then I’d be free to go after you. But she didn’t, and you just kept treating me like your fucking buddy, and I started thinking you weren’t even interested. At least not enough to deal with this kind of crap.”

“So you really weren’t ever going to ask me out?”

“I
was
,” he bit out, shooting her a hard, irritated look. “Even though I expected you to say no, I was going to do everything I could to wear you down, once this shit had been dealt with. But her parents are nice people, and when she started stalking me after our breakup, they asked me to give it some time while they tried to get her help, instead of going straight to the police. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Biding my goddamn time, and going crazy in the process.”

“She’s been stalking you?”

He grunted as he gave her a sharp nod. “Why do you think I’ve never asked you to do anything outside of work? I was too worried she would follow us and cause a scene. But this morning was too much. I won’t have her putting you in a shitty situation and breaking into my home.”

“Breaking in? She didn’t have a key?”

“Hell no. I changed the locks the day we broke up and she went psycho on me. I’ve had to leave Max with Karin during the day, because Erin started threatening to take him. I even made sure we took your car yesterday, so that if she checked the parking lot at the condo, she wouldn’t think I was home. But I’m done putting up with her tantrums. I’m not letting her get between us.” Taking a step toward her, he exhaled a rough, audible breath, and said, “That’s why I called the cops this morning and had her arrested for breaking and entering.”

“Ohmygod.”

Wanting like hell to take her into his arms, he said, “I’ve meant every word that I said to you, Sophie. I want you.
Just
you.”

Her soft words were thick with regret. “I should have let you explain, but it was...”

“Fucking nuts, I know.”

Eyes glistening, she gave him a tremulous smile. “Yeah.”

“Sophie, I would have had her arrested months ago, if I’d thought there was a chance you were ready to be with me. I was just trying to be a good guy for once.”

Her lips curled with a small smile. “You’re always a good guy, Chris.”

“Not really.” He shoved his bruised hand back through his hair again. “To be honest, I was a dick when I broke it off with her. Things weren’t going great between us, and then I met you and I just...I knew it was time to end things with Erin. I didn’t love her, but we’d been talking about maybe taking a vacation together and trying to make things work. You changed that and it blindsided her.”

“That doesn’t make you a bad person. You were honest with her, and it might have hurt, but you didn’t screw her over. She didn’t have any right to go fatal attraction on you.”

“But I shouldn’t have ever let it get as far as it did with her. I just, I’d started thinking I wasn’t going to find anyone who really made me take notice, and I was tired of hooking up when I needed sex. It was getting old. So I let Erin get her way. Then I met you, and it was like a kick in the face.”

“Gee, thanks,” she murmured dryly, the look in her beautiful eyes making it clear she was teasing him.

“You know what I mean, Soph. I met you, talked to you, felt like I’d been knocked on my ass the first time you ever smiled at me, and I just...I knew.” He stepped closer, wanting to take her into his arms so badly he could taste it. Praying like hell that she would believe him, since it was the God’s honest truth, he said, “I knew I’d finally found the woman I was meant to be with. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to get you to feel the same way. You’re so damn different from anyone I’ve ever known, and I didn’t want to fuck up and scare you off.”

Softly, she said, “And in the meantime, she was making your life hell. You had to be worried I might do the same.”

He laughed. “Seriously? That never even crossed my mind, Sophie. You’re sweet and honest and loyal. Playing games isn’t your style.”

Her slender brows knitted with a frown. “I wasn’t honest about how I feel about you.”

Shaking his head, he said, “That wasn’t out of malice, baby. That was just because you’re shy.”

She took a quick breath, cheeks turning that adorable shade of pink that he fucking loved. “If I’d thought there was a chance that you wanted me, Chris, I’d have gotten over my shyness a long time ago.”

“I should have told you that I wanted you. And I should have told you about Erin.”

Shrugging her feminine shoulders, she said, “I had a feeling there was something going on that you were keeping from me. When you told me about the text, I convinced myself that was it.”

He winced, hating that he’d caused her any pain. “I wanted to tell you. I swear to God. But I couldn’t. I was too worried about how you would take it. I mean, she’s a pain in the ass, and that’s some heavy shit to ask someone in a new relationship to deal with.”

“It is, but you’re worth it, Chris.” She pulled in a deep breath, then slowly let it out as she finally took another step toward him. “That’s why I was heading back over to your place.”

His heart gave a hard, satisfied thump. “You were coming to see me?”

Nodding, she said, “I spent most of the day feeling crushed, but then” — she flicked her tongue across her sweet lower lip — “then I realized that you’re too important to me to let things end like that. With me running away. So I was going to face you down and demand an explanation.”

Holy shit
. Chris wanted to growl with hunger and shout with victory all at the same time. Feeling like the luckiest jackass alive, he said, “I’m important to you?”

“Very,” Sophie whispered, and the next thing she knew she was in his arms, crushed against his solid chest, and he was kissing her like he needed the taste of her mouth to survive. Which was dramatic as hell, but exactly how it felt. He shuddered, holding her tighter, one big hand under her bottom, pressing her against his growing erection, while the other slid up her back, tangling in her hair as he held her in place for the raw, aggressive demands of his mouth.

When he finally let her come up for air, she touched her fingertips to the golden stubble on his jaw, and said, “So is that what this is? The start of a relationship?”

Satisfaction burned hot and thick in his heavy-lidded gaze. “Damn straight it is.”

“Good.” That single word held a wealth of emotion.

“I meant what I said yesterday, Soph. Whether that text came through or not, I was done waiting. I’ve wanted you too much, for too long, to stay away from you any longer. I had to know if you felt the same. Then I got that text, and I wanted to fucking shout, I was so relieved. I got the opening I’d been waiting for and I took it.” His voice dropped, the husky rasp of it making her shiver. “I took
you
.”

“You can take whatever you want from me.”

“Jesus,” he groaned, lowering his forehead to hers. “Don’t say that. You have no idea how greedy I am when it comes to you.”

Wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, she squeezed him tight as she said, “I’m greedy about you, too. Why do you think I was so jealous of Lila?”

He instantly pulled his head back, looking her right in the eye. “I’ve never been, or will ever be, interested in Lila. The only woman who interests me is
you
. And I know we’ll disagree sometimes and have our moments where I’ll probably drive you crazy, because I’m damn possessive when it comes to you, Soph. But it won’t ever be anything more serious than that. Other women aren’t something you ever need to worry about, baby. You have my word on that.”

She gave him a wobbly smile, and had to sniffle back a rush of happy tears. “You really are a righteous kind of guy, aren’t you?”

A deep, sexy-as-hell laugh rumbled up from his chest, his dark eyes smoldering. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I wanted to do to you right now.”

Sophie lifted her brows and smirked. “Make that a nice guy at heart who’s dirty as hell in the sack.”

He grinned like a devil, holding her tighter against his blatant hard-on.

“Which means I’m a lucky girl,” she whispered, lifting up and nipping his chin with her teeth.