Chapter Eight
Connor
I knew that Sophie wanted to talk last night after we’d slept together, but I had been too content and unwilling to delve into the rights and wrongs of what we’d done. I didn’t want to think about it then, and I still didn’t want to overly analyze the fact that I hadn’t gotten nearly enough of my sexy assistant.
It was Christmas Eve, after all. I figured that we might as well enjoy ourselves considering there wasn’t much else to do.
“Listen,” I said as we finished our improvised breakfast. It wasn’t much, but I was glad that I insisted on the emergency bag. We’d be in real trouble without it. “I know that you want to talk about last night, but hear me out first...let’s not.”
“What?” Sophie asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
“The way I see it, we’re in a bubble right now, just the two of us and we can do whatever we want here without worrying about what it means or what will happen later.”
“I don’t know if it’s that easy.” A small frown furrowed her brow.
“I do. Come on, Soph,” I coaxed her, gesturing to the cozy cabin around us, before placing my hand on top of hers on the table. “This isn’t what I had in mind when we started our drive up here yesterday, but you have to admit that we’ve clearly had some sexual tension building up between us for a while now. And last night was, well, pretty amazing, and I wouldn’t mind the two of us enjoying our attraction further while we’re here. And when we get back home, we can chalk it all up to fun, sexy diversion.”
It all sounded so . . . practical. I wasn’t sure if she was going to agree with my logic—and I honestly couldn’t believe I was suggesting a temporary tryst, but we’d already slept together, so why not get everything out of our system because one thing was crystal clear to me. Once with Sophie just wasn’t enough to sate my craving for her.
She considered my proposal for a few moments before meeting my gaze, a matching desire flickering in their depths. “So . . .what happens here, stays here?”
“Exactly.” She turned her hand palm up beneath mine, and I wove our fingers together as if it were the most natural thing to do. “It’s Christmas and who knows how long we’ll be stuck here. Why shouldn’t we just enjoy ourselves?”
She exhaled a deep breath, and to my relief she gave me a dazzling smile. “How can I say no to that?”
“You don’t,” I said, and leaned across the space separating us so that my lips caressed hers—a soft, warm touch that promised so much more.
* * *
As arousing as that kiss had been, we both showed some restraint and built a new fire to keep the cabin warm, then settled onto the small couch and fell into easy, effortless conversation. As morning turned to afternoon, I found myself learning more and more about Sophie, and I realized that while she knew pretty much everything about me, I didn’t know much about her life at all. It made me feel like a selfish ass, but the truth was that I had purposefully kept distance between us in every way possible so we didn’t cross that line between co-workers. It seemed like the best way to handle my desire for her.
Although, I liked what we did last night a lot more.
I learned that her guilty pleasure was reality TV, specifically the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and true-crime documentaries. What really surprised me was her involvement with a community theater in St. Louis. Apparently, she was an actress in the last show they did, and I found myself wishing that I’d known about that. I would have liked to see her on the stage.
“So, I don’t mean to pry,” I said when the subject turned to the holidays. “But you said on the plane that you were planning to spend Christmas with your grandma. Why is that?”
“You mean, where is my family?” she countered softly.
“Yes.” Now that I was truly getting to know Sophie outside of work, I was curious about, well, everything. Her family included.
She didn’t continue speaking right away, and I waited patiently as she stared into the fire and picked at the frayed edges of the plaid material on the couch cushion. I could tell by the solemn look on her face that her family wasn’t an easy topic for her, but I found myself too interested to take the question back.
There was a heaviness in the air as she sighed before speaking. “Honestly, I don’t know if I have any living family out there, since I never met my dad. I don’t even know who he is. My mom only ever said that he was a one-night stand, a mistake, and I never even got the chance to ask her for more information because she died in a car accident when I was still a baby. My grandma raised me.”
I stretched my arm across the back of the sofa, letting my fingers sift through her soft hair. “That was good of her.”
Sophie turned her head toward me and smiled. “You know, it’s funny. She never accepted that kind of statement. Anytime someone suggested that she was going above and beyond for me, or doing something special by raising her granddaughter, she always argued that it wasn’t optional and you don’t turn your back on family. She always treated me like I was her daughter.”
I could see the love she had for her grandmother in her expression as she spoke. “I’m sorry you’re probably not going to be with her for Christmas tomorrow.”
A flicker of sadness passed across her features. “It’s okay, really. She won’t remember that it’s Christmas. I’ll just go visit when we get back, and she’ll have no idea that I was ever missing. She has dementia, and half the time she doesn’t even know who I am, much less what day it is.”
He couldn’t imagine how difficult that must be for her. “I’m so sorry.”
I didn’t know what else to say. The two of us were connecting on a deeper level, much more than physical. It felt strange, after spending all this time lusting after Sophie. Maybe it made me an asshole, that I had never given much thought to her as a person other than to notice that she was good at her job. It turned out that I liked her.A lot.
“Thanks,” she said, reaching out and putting her hand on my thigh.