Page 48 of Try Hard
Soph looked at her darkly. “Yes, well, Dad’s no longer allowed to send me clients without knowingexactlywhat they’re after.”
I nudged Ophelia, mostly just desperate to be close to her again. “She couldn’t even tell him exactly what the problem was.”
“What do you want from me? I’m a professional.”
“I think he figured out enough of what the problem was from context clues. Said he couldn’t stop blushing when his boss found him in the office to talk about how great the experience was—and how much he and his wife love the results.”
Soph shuddered and took a step towards Ophelia. “You can’t tell anyone about that.”
Ophelia held her hands up in surrender. “You have my word.”
“Good.” Soph shook the conversation off and grinned. “If you want to stop by, though, you aremorethan welcome.”
Jealousy shot through me again. I didn’t want to be jealous. I wasn’t a jealous person. But Soph had a history with Ophelia that I didn’t. Not to mention the fact that she was so much more forthcoming with her flirting, her affections.
“Oh, that’s very sweet of you,” she said, glossing over the implied refusal.
Soph grinned, her eyes dancing over Ophelia’s face. “If you’re afraid of needles, you don’t need to worry. I’mverygood. You know, with my nervous clients.”
“It’s not a general fear of needles, no,” Ophelia replied, and there was something loaded in her tone and body language. Ineededto know what she was thinking about.
“Okay. Well, I’m great with the clients who aren’t nervous too.”
Ophelia laughed at the obvious undertone in Soph’s voice. “I’m sure you are.”
Was that flirting?
I was pretty sure I was dying, stuck between my sister and Ophelia, the woman I’d wanted since I was a teenager. The one I couldn’t stop adoring more and more the better I got to know her, the more time I got with her.
I coughed loudly. “Well, we should probably get inside and leave Fia to her day,” I told Soph, ignoring the chanting in my head telling me to call her Ophelia.
“I suppose you’re right. Keep my offer in mind, though,” she told Ophelia, winking at her.
Ophelia nodded and bid her farewell as if she was completely used to that energy from Soph, and I really wasn’t sure what to do with that.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around,” Soph continued. “You know, since you’ve been hanging out with my dad and my sister. If you want to hang out with the cool member of the family, hit me up.”
“Goodbye, Sophie,” Ophelia said, pointed but amused.
I turned with Soph towards the apartment building, not wanting to leave Ophelia, but giving her the quickest of goodbyes, trying for casualness, as she opened her car door again.
However, I hadn’t gone two steps before I felt something tugging at the cinch on the back of my waistcoat. I turned back,allowing Soph to walk ahead of me. The sight of Ophelia, leaning away from her car, looking darkly amused, eased some of the burn I was feeling.
“Later, Archer,” she murmured, just for me.
I grinned and nodded before I followed after Soph, my hand clenching around the buckle where Ophelia’s fingers had just been, uncaring that she’d see the movement.
Chapter Fifteen
Fia
My phone started ringing at almost the exact moment I pulled up outside my parents’ place. Fortuitous timing, really, but, somehow, I doubted it was going to be the only person I actuallywantedto talk to.
I picked up the phone, remembering how Eve had been holding it.
Fuad.Why?
“Hello,” I said, all business.
