by Jody Holford
Lisa’s lips took a hard turn, and her eyes focused on the wall of booze behind Declan’s shoulder. “Ahh. Right. Why promote a girl who barely graduated from high school when you could have one who took off and went to some fancy school. Remember though, Dec, when she did that? She left her family in the lurch.”
“Lisa. That’s unfair and completely uncalled for.” He didn’t even know what else he wanted to say, but he couldn’t let a comment like that slide. His staff mostly got along, and there was no real pecking order. At least, until now.
Lisa tilted her head. “Hope this isn’t just about a pretty girl catching your eye.”
Surprise stole the words from his mouth as irritation and disappointment settled in his gut and rolled quickly into anger. He was fine with her being miffed over not getting asked about the position, but he owned the place, and the decisions were his. He was about to tell her how very out of line she was when two customers came through the doors, laughing loudly. Lisa grabbed her tray and turned to greet them with a cheerful hello. Put it aside until later. He’d speak to her when she cooled down.
He waited until he’d poured the drinks for her customers and given Chuck his breakfast to go back and chat with Sophia. He hated the urge to explain himself, tell his floor staff he was going to speak with his damn manager. How else was he supposed to get her up to speed? Did the other employees feel jilted?
Sophia was setting the phone down when he opened the door. He shut it behind him. Shit. She still looked like she could use some sleep. He wouldn’t say it out loud this time, though.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey.” She got up and came around the desk, leaning against it.
“The meeting was good.”
“It was. I was just chatting with Match More. You’re sure you’re okay with the speed dating plan?”
“I know I trust you, and worst-case scenario, it doesn’t fly and we try something else.” He leaned against the door.
“I think it will. But we’ll need the staff promoting it.” She pushed off the desk and closed the space between them. “Speaking of staff, does Lisa have a thing for you?”
Declan was lucky he didn’t knock his head on the door when he reared back. He was still wrapping his head around Lisa’s attitude over the job. She dated almost as much as he did, and there was no chemistry between them. “What? No. That’s crazy.”
“Not really. At the very least, she feels like I’m stepping on her toes professionally. I just wondered if she was interested in you personally as well.”
He couldn’t deny the professional piece, but he racked his brain trying to think of Lisa giving him any indication she was into him. She’s not. And even if she was, what the hell? He didn’t date employees. Remember that. Running a hand through his hair, he scoffed, hoping she was just messing with him. When she said nothing else, he skirted around her, walking closer to the couch. “You aren’t stepping on anyone’s anything. In any way. Lisa and I go way back. She’s a bit put out over the manager position, but she was never up for it. As to the other…she doesn’t have a thing for me. She was married.”
“Is she now?”
“No.” The room felt too small.
“No personal relationship at all?”
“Jesus, Sophia.” He didn’t want to talk about his past, particularly about Lisa, with Sophia.
She arched her brows and folded her arms across her chest. Declan kept his eyes glued to her face. He knew from looking at her earlier that she was wearing a crisp white blouse that covered everything but still looked sexy enough to derail his train of thought. Not sexy. Think of something not sexy. Impossible when he was looking at Sophia.
“That’d be a yes.”
His eyes shot up to hers. “In high school. Never when she was an employee. I don’t fu—mess around with my staff.” He’d actually never wanted to. Until.
Sophia’s gaze went dark. “That’s a good policy.”
His stomach twisted with the knowledge of why she felt that way. He did, too. Usually. But right now, the office felt like a vacuum, all the air being sucked out of it, leaving nothing but charged energy and a lot of freaking want.
“It’s never been an issue.” It felt important she know that.
Sophia tilted her head, her hair falling loose over her shoulder. “It seems you might be clueless about your effect on women.”
Half of her mouth tipped up, and something snagged in his heart. Like a desperate desire to bring out her whole smile. “You’re a little nuts.”
She laughed. It was throaty and deep and sexy as fuck. “But not wrong.”
“I don’t affect women.”
The smile she gave him was almost pitying and not the one he wanted to see. “Yeah. You do. But it’s not your fault, so I’ll cut you some slack.”
“I don’t seem to affect you,” he muttered. He’d meant to think it, not say it, but the words left his mouth without warning. And dammit if they didn’t bring out the smile he craved. The one that lit her eyes up like a sky full of stars.
“See? Clueless,” she whispered. Her eyes darted to his lips, back up to his gaze, back to his lips.
Declan’s stomach tightened with need, and his body slid closer to hers without permission. He told himself to stop, but there was this pull, tugging right on his heart. He’d never felt it before. “You don’t seem all that affected to me.”
More hair trailed over her shoulders, thick and wavy with that strawberry-scented soap that was driving him mad, messing with his brain and obliterating rational thought.
“I’m not allowed to be.” Her words went breathy. Declan clenched his hands into fists. Do not touch her. “After all, you don’t fu—mess around with employees. Plus, I have the added hands-off bonus of you being friends with my brother. I’m sure you don’t see me that way.”
Jesus. She couldn’t be more wrong. He stared at her lips. “I shouldn’t. But trust me, I see you, Sophe.”
“Oh yeah?”
She said it like a dare, and it fired his blood in a way he’d never experienced. And he’d experienced a hell of a lot in his life. Without thinking, because it was pretty much beyond him at this point, he tangled his hand in her hair, loving the feel of it stroking over his fingers.
“You aren’t the kind of girl a guy should mess around with anyway. Employee or not,” he said. He knew his tone was rough, and his hold probably was, too, but she only pushed closer until their bodies were pressed together.
“What kind of girl am I, then?”
The kind who was going to teach him what it was like to have a broken heart.
He wasn’t sure where the thought came from, but it felt true. And yet, it didn’t stop him from lowering his head until their lips almost touched. He could taste her breath and wanted to inhale deeply. He wanted to pull her close and drown himself in her, and the scary part was, he knew, even before he took the next step, that once wouldn’t be enough.
Chapter Nine
Rational thought disappeared, and Sophia pressed both hands to his chest. His very sturdy, sculpted, and warm chest. Heat emanated through the cotton T-shirt, and the steady thump of Declan’s heart underneath her palm kept her tethered to the moment. Everything else fell away. She sucked in a breath, like she was prepping to dive into the ocean.
When his mouth touched hers, she decided she was fine with never surfacing. His hand in her hair tightened, and she gripped his shirt in her fist, angling her head and going up on tiptoes. His lips were soft and insistent, teasing and tormenting at the same time. His large hand cupped the back of her head, holding her steady as he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue dance with hers, seducing her and pulling her in. Pulling her under. At almost thirty, a kiss shouldn’t feel like mini-explosives being detonated along every inch of her skin.
But this one did, and she wanted more.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, her knees almost buckled when he made a noise somewhere between a moan and a growl, and his other hand sl
id down to her ass and pressed her closer. If someone hadn’t knocked at that exact moment, Sophia likely would have climbed him like a love-starved kitten.
Declan pulled back in slow degrees. It gave her time to wonder what she was thinking. You weren’t. You were feeling, and you know where that road leads.
She felt like her legs had melted into the floor, and she was scared to move in case they didn’t work properly. He watched her, his eyebrows scrunching and a frown tilting his delicious lips. She shivered, still able to feel them against her own.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
She tried to act nonchalant, but her bones were liquid, so it wasn’t like she could hold her head high. “Someone’s at the door,” she said.
“Sophia,” he said, a husky whisper that rippled over her skin like his hands.
The knock came again. She moved back with more force, and he dropped his hands, staring at her. When his gaze traveled her body, her stomach leaped and her pulse tripped in uneven beats.
“Come in,” Declan said gruffly.
Lisa poked her head in, looking back and forth between them. Sophia’s brain still felt foggy from the feel of Declan’s mouth and hands on her. Lisa’s irritated expression cut through some of it. But not all.
“I signed for the liquor order. They’re unloading now. Hope I didn’t overstep,” Lisa said.
Sophia stopped herself from rolling her eyes. If Lisa had wanted the position Sophia had just filled, it was understandable that she’d feel resentment. Schooling her own features, Sophia pasted on a professional smile. Not everyone was going to like her.
She gave Lisa a quick once-over, trying to be objective. While she dressed nicely and seemed younger than her age with blond hair pulled up in a flirty ponytail, her features bordered on severe. Like her sharp cheekbones and glare could cause bodily harm. Sophia wondered if Declan thought she was pretty. He obviously did at one time. But it shouldn’t matter. She was here for a job. To restart your life. She’d walked away from Keith, her job, and her pretty little apartment in Arizona, claiming she’d kept her pride. But maybe it had been dented more than she thought.
“Of course you didn’t overstep. I’m sorry you’re feeling upset, Lisa. That was never my intention,” Declan said, meeting the waitress’s gaze.
Sophia admired the way he didn’t hedge around the issue. He was straight up and to the point.
“I appreciate that,” Lisa said, not looking at Sophia. “Anyway, it’s getting busy out there.”
Declan sighed. “I’ll be right out,” he said, his voice soft.
She nodded, glanced at Sophia, then looked up at Dec. “No problem, honey. Just thought you’d want to know.”
When she shut the door behind her, Sophia had to put effort into unlocking her jaw. Her stomach was tipping toward nauseous again.
Declan turned back to Sophia immediately. “Sophe.”
She couldn’t do this. What was she thinking? Attraction and a mind-bending kiss weren’t excuses to put reason and reality aside. Irritation warred with the desire to curl up into him, but she was scared to lean on anyone. Especially Declan.
She’d just pulled over on the shoulder of this very road—hot, charming guy, coworker, smooth talker. She’d narrowly escaped a long-term crash. Being with Declan would destroy her like a semi slamming into a Mini Cooper. There’d be no coming back from him.
“I need to go. Do you mind? I won’t do it often, but my parents are both home today, and I need to go see them. I’d rather not do it at Pop’s.”
She kept her eyes on the ground and stared at his feet when he came closer. Just hold it together a little longer. She could fall apart later. In private.
“Look at me, dammit,” he said. He didn’t touch her, which was the only reason she was able to breathe.
She glanced up through lowered lashes. “Yes or no?”
“Yes, of course you can go. No, you can’t pretend this didn’t happen.”
“We need to. I’m not looking for a good time, Declan. Not with anyone and least of all with you. No offense.”
He put his hands on his hips. “How the fuck can I not take offense to that?”
Sophia glanced at the door and moved away from him, grabbing her purse. “It was just a kiss. I’ll see you tonight.” It surprised her how badly she wanted to stay right there with him.
All the more reason to go. She tried to scoot past him, but he grabbed her wrist, pulling her around. “If you don’t show up at my place tonight, I’ll come looking for you. We’re not letting this go, Sophia. And regardless of what you think you know about me, tonight, I’m going to set you straight.”
She nodded because she did not want to cry in front of him. Even as a kid, she’d preferred feeling mad to sad, so standing on the ledge of tears so often lately was more than a little annoying. Her throat was impossibly tight. The desire to burrow into him was far too strong.
Declan touched her cheek, and she closed her eyes. “And babe? If that was just a kiss? I’ve been doing it wrong all these years.”
He stalked away from her, leaving Sophia staring after him. She took a few deep breaths and easily reminded herself that she had far bigger things to worry about than Declan James and his magical mouth. A wave of heat washed over her body at the memory as she pushed open the back entrance of the bar and walked into the frigid air. It only cooled her down on the outside.
…
Sitting in front of her parents’ house, the home she’d grown up in, Sophia took another long drink of her water. No matter how much she drank, nothing eased the dryness in her throat or the heaviness in her chest.
Stop stalling.
She got out of the car and walked up the paved drive toward the modest two-story Cape Cod-style home. Though her parents could have upgraded their residence, moved somewhere larger and more luxurious, they’d never been tempted.
Sophia’s father, Mario, was a big fan of being happy with what he had. Sophia didn’t fault him for that, but she thought he’d missed a lot of opportunities. More than once, they’d been given the option to expand the shop or open additional locations, but Mario Strombi wanted his family working under the same roof. Except for Sophia, he’d gotten that wish. She couldn’t help wondering how her dad would respond to Marcus’s announcement.
Sophia used to think that her parents would have gladly bought a larger home if they thought all their children and their families would move in. Her siblings found it odd that Sophia needed her own space. Was it really so crazy to have a little breathing room?
Even as she thought that, ringing the doorbell, she was surprised when Viola, instead of their mom or dad, opened the door. Viola’s jaw dropped, her dark eyes going wide.
“Dio mio,” Viola whispered.
Sophia gave a short laugh. Her sister couldn’t just say oh my God in English. There wasn’t enough drama in it. Standing in the doorway, her nerves clattered around like banging pots and pans. Viola just kept staring, shaking her head, until Sophia couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled her into a tight hug.
Her sister was older, taller, and more generously rounded than Sophia, though they shared the same long, thick black hair and dark eyes.
Rocking side to side, she breathed a sigh of relief when Viola squeezed her hard in return.
“I’ve missed you,” Sophia whispered, inhaling the scent of lavender her sister favored.
“I’ve missed you. Shame they’re going to kill you now that you’re finally home,” Viola murmured.
Sophia hugged her tighter, a slight grin tugging at her lips. “It’s your job to protect me.”
“That ship has sailed, sweetie. You made your bed,” she said, leaning back. Her expression hinted at amusement, but Sophia sensed the serious undertone. Her parents would be happy she was home, but they’d make their displeasures well known. She hated the thought that they might have all been sitting around talking about her, discussing how she’d let them down again this year by not coming hom
e for the holidays.
Sophia took a moment to look at Viola. Regardless of where this day went, it was nice to see the people she loved in person rather than through a phone screen. Viola’s honey-colored skin was flawless, but she noted little laugh lines around her mouth and eyes. Now a mother of two, she took care of the books at the restaurant and was able to work from home now and again.
“I like my bed just fine,” Sophia said, realizing she hadn’t answered.
The word “bed” made her think of Declan, and a shiver rippled through her body again. Her hormones were haywire. Yeah. That’s it.
Viola yanked her by the hand. “Get in here, it’s freezing.”
“Viola, who is here?” Her mother came down the hallway into the front entrance of the house and stopped, staring at Sophia.
They all looked like their mother. Even Marcus, which they’d teased him for mercilessly.
“Sophia,” her mother said. It was her name, but it sounded more like an endearment, and her heart squeezed painfully. She saw the tears well in her mother’s eyes, and it lanced through all of her bravado.
“Mama,” she said, walking all the way in and giving her mother a hug.
Her mom stroked a hand down Sophia’s hair, and Sophia fought back tears. Her throat felt too thick to swallow properly. Viola shut the door behind them, and she heard her father’s heavy footsteps coming down the hall. Her mother dropped her arms and stepped back.
“Let’s eat,” her father said, his booming voice reaching her before he came into view. His eyes, like Viola’s, widened. His jaw didn’t drop open, though. Instead, his mouth tensed and tightened.
“Ragazza testarda,” her father whispered. Stubborn girl. There was no fighting back the tears for that.