Hating to Love You (Houston's Finest #1)

by Erin Rylie

  Naked and aroused in front of her, Rafe ran his hands down her body, slowly peeling off her yoga pants and tank top. Unable to resist any longer, Sophie placed a hand on Rafe’s chest, leaning up to kiss him. She’d meant for it to be a soft exploration, but the kiss quickly turned ravenous as he lifted her by her ass and wrapped her legs around his waist. They continued to kiss while he carried her into the bathroom, setting her on the counter and breaking their kiss to turn on the shower.

  With the water warming up for their shower, Rafe pulled Sophie off of the counter and turned her to face the mirror, bending down to kiss and bite her neck while his hands found her breasts. Her head fell back as he tweaked her nipples, and a low moan slipped out of her. His lips moved to her back and he began slowly trailing kisses down her spine. Rafe’s hands left her breasts and he used them to gently push her shoulders forward, bending her over the bathroom counter.

  As his kisses trailed lower and his hands found her ass, Sophie realized where this was heading. At the first swipe of his tongue through her slit, she felt her knees buckle, the cool granite of the counter holding her up.

  “You taste so fucking good, Sophie. Better than pancakes.”

  Rafe’s hands were now exploring her body as he licked and sucked on her clit, and before long, she felt her orgasm building. He moved one hand to grasp her ass and slid two fingers from the other inside her. One gentle nip and soothing suck on her clit had her shattering, practically screaming his name as she came on his tongue. He continued to lick and stroke her through her orgasm, stopping only when she’d stopped shuddering. Rafe straightened behind her and pulled her into his body, his blue eyes meeting hers in the mirror as he licked his lips.

  “Look at you, all flushed for me.” He hummed in approval and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the shower with him. The water was warm and soothing, washing over her. Rafe stepped up behind her and began to lather shampoo into her hair. She could feel his hardness pressing against her, but he made no move to take care of himself.

  Though she’d come moments ago, Sophie wanted more; she wanted to feel him fill her again. While Rafe massaged her scalp, she arched her back, pushing her ass against him and grinding. He sucked in a sharp breath, but continued washing her hair.

  She stepped forward, pulling away from his body and tipped her head back to wash the shampoo out of her hair. Then, Sophie got down on her knees and in one swift move, engulfed his hard cock. Rafe groaned and fisted her hair, slowly pumping into her mouth as she sucked. She reached a hand up to cup his balls and had just begun to lave her tongue over the head of his dick, when he pulled her to her feet, kissing her fiercely, and once again wrapping her legs around his waist.

  She was so wrapped up in the kiss that she barely registered the hard wall of the shower against her back before Rafe filled her in one thrust. He moaned her name and pulled out, filling her again in moments. He leaned his forehead against hers, their warm breath mingling as he set a furious pace.

  “Fuck. Fuck, Sophie, you’re so wet and warm and tight.” His breaths were coming more and more quickly as he pounded into her. She moved her hand between them and began rubbing her clit in slow circles, feeling her second orgasm building in her core. He looked down between them, watching himself fill her.

  The sight of their joining shattered what remained of Rafe’s control; his thrusts hurried. “Please tell me you’re close. I’m not going to last much longer,” he breathed, those bright blue eyes meeting hers.

  The look in his eyes combined with the knowledge that she could make him lose control pushed her over the edge. Sophie’s orgasm hit her hard and fast, her core clenching around his cock. Rafe’s orgasm followed hers, and he bellowed her name as he filled her.

  When Sophie came down, she and Rafe were both still breathing heavily. She smiled at him. “Conserve water, huh? I’m not even under the showerhead, Rafe. If anything, we’re wasting water here.”

  He laughed in response and lowered her to her feet, her legs still a bit wobbly. “Hey, I just wanted to shower with you. You came on to me. I’m innocent in all of this.”

  Sophie slapped his chest lightly. “You are far from innocent, Officer Pierce.”

  “Keep calling me Officer Pierce and I may just have to pull out my handcuffs.”

  She felt herself flush at the words and imagined herself handcuffed to her bed, his body covering hers as he had his way with her. Rafe made her insatiable and she didn’t know if she could ever get enough of him, of this. The thought terrified her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rafe came to a horrifying realization during their drive to Austin. Sophie had terrible taste in music. Fucking terrible. She made him listen to annoying ass pop songs the whole drive up, refusing to let him enjoy the classic rock he favored. By the time the Austin skyline came into view, he was close to ripping his own ears off and throwing them out of the window. Really, who the fuck didn’t like AC/DC? The mother of his child, that’s who.

  Glancing across the car at his road-trip companion, he did have to admit that she looked pretty damn cute singing along to the abhorrent music she loved. She was staring out the window, her head bopping along to the song as she mouthed the words to some annoyingly up-tempo number. She’d rolled down the window, filling the car with the warm scent of summer in Texas. The wind blew through her hair, tossing the straight, blonde strands around.

  After their shower adventure this morning, they’d gotten dressed, stopped by his apartment, and hit the road. The drive to Austin was easy and surprisingly beautiful, filled with lush trees and hills. When they weren’t arguing over their music choices, they’d ridden in companionable silence. Rafe had been tempted to reach over the center console of the car to twine their fingers, but hesitated.

  He’d known Sophie had almost blown him off this morning, claiming she was busy when he was sure she had no plans for the day. While Sophie had dressed, Kelsey pulled Rafe aside, thanking him again for breakfast and offering him some advice.

  “Sophie is a little bit skittish. She’s been cheated on by every serious boyfriend she’s had. I guarantee she’ll try to pull away, but if you stick it out, she’ll cave. I see how you look at her, how she looks at you. It’s rare and you should hold onto it.”

  Rafe’s fists had clenched at the thought of anyone hurting Sophie. He’d almost asked Kelsey for the names of her exes, wanting to look them up and beat the piss out of them for daring to step out on her. Instead, he decided to thank his stars; those idiots must not have realized what they’d had in Sophie. He was reaping the benefits of their mistakes, and he would do everything in his power to earn her trust.

  “Thanks, Kelsey. When you aren’t shoving The Greatest Showman down my throat, you aren’t so bad.”

  Sophie’s best friend had grinned before her expression turned serious. “If you hurt her, all of the cops in your precinct won’t save you. I will rip off your balls and fucking feed them to you.”

  Though tall, Kelsey was willowy and didn’t look particularly fierce. However, the look in her eyes had him shuddering and cupping his manhood. He’d mumbled a bullshit excuse about needing to check his tire pressure before leaving the house. Waiting for Sophie outside had seemed like the safest option.

  Sophie indicated that it was time for him to exit the freeway, directing him to a subdivision in the northern part of the city. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her father; she’d been surprisingly tight-lipped about her family. She’d mentioned a father, but had never given any indication that she had a mother. Maybe, like his, her mom had died when she was young? He could ask her about it later. For now, he needed to focus on charming the shit out of Sophie’s father.

  Sophie’s directions led Rafe to a modest brick house in a cul-de-sac. It was obvious that her father took good care of the home; the grass was lush and freshly trimmed, the driveway clean. He tamped down his nerves and grabbed his and Sophie’s overnight bags from the trunk of his car before following her to the front door.
Instead of knocking, as he’d expected her to do, Sophie pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the front door. She called out for her father, and Rafe tailed her through the comfortable house to the back patio where a man in his fifties sat with an iPad and a cigar. He put out the cigar as soon as he’d spotted his daughter and stood to pull her into a big hug.

  “Pumpkin! What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting you this weekend.”

  Sophie shot Rafe a guilty look before responding. “I did tell you I would visit you this month. I just didn’t specify when.”

  He grunted and turned his gaze to Rafe. His expression was steely as he took in the man who’d gotten his daughter pregnant. Rafe found himself straightening his spine and reaching out a hand. “Rafe Pierce, sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Sophie’s father huffed and took Rafe’s proffered hand. “So you’re the charmer who knocked my daughter up, huh? You gonna marry her?”

  “Dad! You can’t ask people that.”

  “This is my house, pumpkin. I do as I damn well please.”

  Rafe released Mr. Klein’s hand and replied honestly. “I think the practice of getting married because of pregnancy is a bit antiquated, sir. For now, I’m happy to just date Sophie and raise our child.”

  Surprisingly, Mr. Klein cracked a huge smile. “Good man. You want some whiskey? And none of that ‘sir’ bullshit either. Makes me feel like I’ve got one foot in the damn grave. You can call me Jim.”

  Rafe nodded. “Well in that case, Jim, I think I’d love some whiskey.”

  Shit, Jim could hold his liquor. Two hours, countless tumblers of whiskey, and a cigar later, Rafe was hammered. He and Jim had bonded over their shared hatred of the Dallas Cowboys and their love of classic rock. It turned out Sophie’s dad had recently retired after working as a VP of Marketing for most of his life. He also happened to be a former military man and loved that Rafe was a police officer. The sun had set about an hour ago, and Sophie had gone inside at the mention of cigars. Rafe, who’d been planning to turn down Jim’s offer to smoke with Sophie around, had happily accepted the offered Cuban once Sophie had left.

  When Rafe looked up from lighting his cigar, he was met with Jim’s steely green gaze. He wasn’t sure why, but it was obvious that the tone of their conversation was about to change.

  “I hate to sound like the clichéd father here, but I have to ask. What are your plans with Sophie?”

  Rafe sputtered, a little bit more intoxicated than he’d planned to be for this conversation with Sophie’s father. He set down the tumbler of whiskey and tried to sharpen his thoughts. This conversation was important; the last thing he wanted to do was mess it up.

  “Well, we didn’t have the easiest start, honestly, and after that night in the bar—”

  Shit, he hadn’t meant for that to slip out. He now understood why Jim had been refilling his damn glass all night. He’d wanted to loosen Rafe’s lips. No father wanted to hear about his daughter’s one-night stand with a near stranger, but Rafe wasn’t sure how to recover from his slip up. He shifted awkwardly in his seat, and Jim laughed.

  “I know how babies are conceived, son. Just move past the awkward.”

  Rafe sucked in a breath and started again. “To be honest with you, I was kind of a prick to her. She was prying into my life for that damn story, and I wanted nothing to do with it. So I shut her out as best I could. Now though,” he paused to collect his thoughts.

  “I’m realizing that you have an incredible daughter, one I could easily see myself falling for. Hell, there’s a damn good chance I’m already falling. She keeps trying to push me away, but I want to fight for us to have a shot at this, at being a family.”

  Jim hummed, taking a long sip of his drink before responding. “Being co-parents doesn’t make you any less of a family. If you’re only with Sophie because she’s pregnant, I can tell you right fucking now that it isn’t going to work out.”

  “You speaking from experience, Jim?”

  At that, Jim barked out a laugh. “Hell yes, I am. I married Sophie’s mother because she was pregnant. We both had pretty strict, by-the-book parents, and marriage was just expected. To say it was a mistake would be putting it mildly. Sure, we liked each other well enough, but if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, we would have fizzled out and gone our separate ways. Ten years of built-up frustration blew up in the worst possible way. Sophie’s mom left us and never looked back. I’ve spent years wondering what would’ve happened if we had just decided to be friends. Sure, Sophie’s life would have been different, but she’d have a mom around, you know?”

  “I don’t think it’s fair of you to put that all on yourself, Jim. She didn’t just leave you; she left Sophie too. A good mother wouldn’t have done that, regardless of the state of her marriage.”

  Jim waved a hand, pushing aside Rafe’s words. “What I’m trying to say here is that if pregnancy is what you’re basing your relationship on, it’s going to fail. Spectacularly.”

  Rafe considered, taking a long drag from the cigar in his hand. The conversation had sobered him up, and his thoughts came clearer. “Sophie isn’t just the mother of my child. She’s smart as hell and sharp-witted. That girl keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh like nobody else can. When she walks into a room, it’s like all of the air has been sucked out of my lungs. Not because she’s beautiful, though she is, but because that’s what her presence does to me. I know she and I will make great parents, even if we aren’t together. But I want to try with her because I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

  Jim whistled low. “I feel like this is the part where I’m supposed to say ‘If you break my daughter’s heart, I’ll break your neck,’ but I’m sure Kelsey’s already taken care of that threat for me.”

  Rafe laughed, remembering how fierce Sophie’s best friend had been. “Her threat was a bit more graphic than yours actually.”

  “Good. I’ll say this instead: my girl won’t make it easy for you. She’s dated some real pieces of shit. I swear, that fiancé of hers couldn’t take his eyes off of his own damn reflection long enough to notice Sophie. If you want an actual relationship with her, she’ll make you work for it. Be prepared.”

  Rafe nodded. “It wouldn’t be worth it if it was easy.”

  “Good man. Now stop being a pussy and pick that drink up. We have half a bottle to kill, and I wanna talk about the Texans playoff chances this year.”

  Rafe lifted the tumbler, offering Jim a small salute before taking a large sip of his drink. “Well JJ Watt looks pretty fucking good, but defense isn’t really our issue. What we need is a take-charge QB and an offensive line that knows how to form a damn pocket.”

  Rafe woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, some serious morning wood, and a hot, half-naked Sophie in his arms. Her ass was tucked into his groin and she was using his arm as a pillow. After he and Jim killed the bottle of whiskey, he’d stumbled to the guest room, only to discover Sophie had put them in separate rooms. He’d debated for all of ten seconds before entering the room she’d chosen for herself and crawling into bed beside her. He didn’t want to sleep alone when she was so close.

  Headache forgotten, he ran his hand up and down the side of her body, caressing her waist and hips. He circled his hand around her body and found the small baby bump she tried so hard to hide. It was quickly becoming his favorite part of her body to touch. Aside from her boobs maybe, and her ass. If he was honest with himself, he was a walking erection and would prefer to keep his hands on her body at all times.

  Rafe left his hand on Sophie’s abdomen and began to lightly kiss her cheek before working his way down to nuzzle her neck. She was so warm and soft in the morning. He nipped her shoulder and couldn’t resist the urge to grind his erection into her ass. Sophie stirred and groaned sleepily.

  “You know you’re supposed to have your own room, right?”

  Rafe hummed against her neck, slipping his hand down to cup her over her panties. “Sleepovers a
re no fun without a late-night panty raid.”

  She protested even as she arched into his touch, her eyes still closed. “We are at my dad’s house, Rafe.”

  “Well then I guess you’ll have to be really quiet when you come on my tongue in a few minutes.”

  “You’re awfully sure of yourself, Officer.”

  Rafe bit her earlobe gently. “Are you saying you don’t think I can make you come, Sophie?”

  She shrugged, and Rafe grinned wickedly into the curve of her neck. “Challenge accepted.” Not giving her a chance to respond, he rolled her onto her back and settled between her legs to get to work. When Sophie’s moans began to fill the room, he was at least gentlemanly enough to give her a pillow to stifle the sound with.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Standing in front of the mirror in her old bedroom, Sophie dropped the towel she’d dried off with after showering and took in the changes this pregnancy had put her body through. Her breasts were definitely swollen, something she knew Rafe was enjoying. She placed her hands on the ever-growing bump she’d come to love so much. She couldn’t believe she was almost eleven weeks pregnant. Her little baby was now the size of a fig, and in five short weeks, she would know if she and Rafe were having a boy or girl. She felt a smile form on her lips as she thought of Rafe’s reaction. He would be thrilled either way—she knew that—but he definitely seemed to want a boy. If their little peanut ended up being a girl, Sophie had no doubt Rafe would want to try for a boy next time.

  Next time? What the fuck, Sophie?

  She wasn’t even sure they were dating. They were doing something, but she needed to keep her distance. Co-parents. That was all they could ever be. She had only brought him with her to Austin because she figured her dad would want to meet the father of his grandchild. This was not the next step in a relationship; she needed to remember that.