Page 33 of Playing With Danger

Savannah was an hour’s drive without traffic. It wasn’t unheard of for the residents of Hollow Point to work in the city, especially the citizens who lived in the wealthier neighborhoods. But if you could find a job without the headache of a commute and traffic most people worked local.

I glanced from mother to daughter, took in Sophie’s reddening cheeks, and shoved down my initial response that would go over like a ton of bricks, and opted to turn the tables instead.

“That’s great, baby. I didn’t know you were already branching out to pull in more clients from the city.”

“Clients?” Lorelai spat like the word tasted foul. “We were discussing future employment.”

Sophie went stiff beside me.

Dislike shifted to disdain.

“That was not what we were discussing, Mother. You were demanding I close my business right this second and apply to the jobs you found in Savannah that you feel were properly suited for me. I was explaining to you that wasn’t going to happen and you were in the middle of telling me why it was when Valentine knocked on the door.”

“Sophie Lynn Huxley, that was incredibly rude,” Lorelai huffed.

Oh, yeah, I didn’t like this woman at all.

“Rude or not, it’s the plain truth.”

Without another word out of Lorelai she swiped an expensive looking clutch off the table and swanned—yes, the woman swanned like she was making a grand entrance into a gala in her honor—only stopping when she circled the table to make her exit.

Then, unfortunately she spoke.

“It’s time you grow up, Sophie, and come to realize your financial stability is on the line. One day you will thank me for not giving up on you.”

Giving up on her?

Was this woman for real?

I didn’t get a chance to ask.

We stood in silence as Lorelai let herself out of Sophie’s apartment. As soon as the door clicked shut Sophie’s body relaxed.

“Thank you for the rescue,” she mumbled. “I couldn’t get her to leave.”

I twisted my hand out of hers and brought it up to her face to cup her cheek and to tilt her head back. Once I had her full attention, which meant her warm brown eyes gazing into mine, my mind went blank and my blood heated.

Fuck, she was pretty.

Sophie’s eyes dropped to my lips so I watched those lips form the question, “What’s happening?”

“No clue.”

Her gaze flicked back to mine. The disappointment was easy to read.

But in what I was learning was true Sophie fashion, she laid it out.

“So you’re not going to kiss me?”

Her invitation was sweet, made sweeter by her honesty.

“I didn’t say that.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

That was a really great fucking question.

Though Sophie was already rolling up, meeting me halfway, so when our lips crashed together, they crashed. There was no slow build-up, no tentative touch of tongues. Sophie kissed like she lived—bold, out there, nothing held back. And fuck but I liked that. Too much. But it wasn’t until her hands were under my shirt exploring my back, I had a hand on her ass, her tits pressed against my chest, and my dick painfully hard that I broke the kiss.

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