I frowned and followed her lead. By the time I had locked the doors and walked around the car, Sophie was already halfway across the parking lot, so I picked up the pace to catch up to her.
We were barely through the door when I saw Jenna wave from the table in the back. Placing my hand on Sophie's back, I leaned in to whisper in her ear when she suddenly called out to Jenna and went running into the restaurant, leaving me standing there.
* * *
Istared down at the half-eaten piece of apple pie that sat on my plate and ran my fork through the sweet, sticky filling. Sophie and Jenna were now out on the dance floor, while I sat with Matt in the booth. I sipped on my Crown and Coke, while Matt told me about one of the cases he was working on at the firm. I knew he was telling me something important, I could tell from the look on his face, but my mind was on one thing and only one thing—Sophie. I couldn't tear my eyes away as I watched how her hips swayed as she danced. She had me entranced, and I couldn't help but allow my eyes to wander her body.
"Did you hear what I said?" Matt snapped his fingers in front of my face as he waited for a response to whatever question he had apparently asked.
"Huh, what?"
"You feeling okay? You barely ate anything, and you're not paying attention to anything I have said."
"Yeah. I'm sorry. My mind is on other things right now."
"I can see that. Care to talk about it?"
I shook my head and looked over his shoulder at Sophie.
"What the hell are you looking at?" he asked as he turned around and looked in the direction of the girls.
"Nothing, it's nothing. So back to what you were saying," I said, trying to pull his attention back to me, but it did little good. In full view, Sophie and Jenna were both dancing and laughing. My eyes were trained on the curves of her hips as she danced on the dance floor with Jenna. I took another sip of my Crown and Coke, trying to calm the ache in my pants, when I noticed Matt staring at me.
"Sophie, huh?" Matt asked, smiling at me. He had seen me staring at her; there was no hiding it now. I fought internally for a few minutes about spilling everything to Matt.
"Sophie what?" I heard Jenna ask, and I looked up in time to see that both Jenna and Sophie stood beside the table out of breath and with smiles on their faces.
I swallowed hard, thinking fast. "Sophie and I should get going," I said, looking at my watch and downing my drink.
"Already?" Jenna and Sophie cried out at the same time.
"Yeah, I have an early morning tomorrow, and I need to drop Sophie off before I head home," I lied. Sophie met my eyes, and I hoped she could read the want in them. I didn’t want to fight with her. I just wanted to pin her up against the wall in her bedroom and have my way with her.
"We can take her," Matt announced.
"Yeah, stay," Jenna urged, wrapping her arm around Sophie. "Dance the night away with me."
Sophie looked at me and bit her bottom lip. "No, it’s okay. I'm tired anyways," Sophie said, hugging Jenna and whispering something in her ear at which Jenna nodded and smiled.
As we were on our way out of the restaurant, I stopped and took care of the bill for the four of us. I figured it was the least I could do for bailing early. Sophie had wanted to pay, but I insisted.
We drove back to Sophie's condo in uncomfortable silence again. She still would barely make eye contact with me. We had ridden the elevator in silence and were now standing outside the door to her condo. I leaned up against the wall, watching while she fumbled through her purse for the key. If she knew the thoughts that were running through my mind, she might start looking at me a little nicer. "You planning on talking to me tonight?" I asked quietly so we didn't disturb the other tenants.
She continued rooting through her bag and finally pulled her keys, quickly inserting it into the lock and opening the door. She dropped her purse to the floor, kicked off her shoes, and turned to look my way. "What would you like to talk about? My lack of sexual experience for one?"
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, I'm serious." She turned and marched down the hall toward her bedroom. I followed. There was no way I was going to spend the night fighting with her because she was hung up on the stupid idea that I had been making fun of her this morning.
I walked into the bedroom to see her digging through her top dresser drawer and shoving handfuls of what looked like lingerie into a bag. "I take it you told Matt all about how inexperienced I am. Bet the pair of you had a really good laugh over it too."
"What on earth are you talking about? No, I didn't tell Matt anything. What are you doing?"
"I'm getting rid of all this stuff. All the stuff I bought that I am too inexperienced to wear. Not only that, but I’d feel like an utter ass wearing them for you anyways," she barked, continuing to stuff things into the bag.
I walked over and grabbed her hands, stopping her from shoving yet another handful of lacy and silky things into the bag. "Just stop."
"No, I bought this so you'd like being with me. So, I compared to all the others you've been with. Figured you might as well have something that you like to look at if you had to do this." She held out a black lacy bra and panties, which I took from her and looked at. I couldn't help the smile that sat on my lips. They were hot as hell, and I’d probably kill to see some woman in them, but they sure as hell weren’t Sophie.