She clears her throat, shifting slightly. “I’ve talked a lot about myself tonight.”
“I hear that’s normal,” I say.
She hesitates, then lowers her voice. “Liam… mentioned his mom.” A pause. “An accident?”
My back stiffens and I draw a slow breath. I rinse the last plate, hand it to her, then turn back to the sink as if the motion will keep me steady.
No wonder this routine has started to feel easy.
It’s familiar. Intimate. The kind of quiet domestic closeness I swore I wouldn’t let back into my life.
Lisa and I used to move like this around each other. Side by side. Sharing space without thinking. Until it all fell apart.
In our last real fight—the one that finally stripped everything down to the truth—we said things neither of us could take back. That we loved each other, but we were making each other miserable. That it would be better to let go and find peace, even if it wasn’t together.
I know she wouldn’t want me living alone in a house full of silence.
Still… this feels wrong.
Like I’m stepping into something that should have stayed buried with her.
Like wanting ease again is the same as betraying what we had.
“A car accident,” I finally whisper. “She asked me to go with her to visit her parents and I didn’t. I should have, but Liam had the flu and I didn’t want him to travel and spread it or be uncomfortable. She agreed. I missed three of her phone calls. I didn’t think…and then ...”
I exhale slowly and cross my arms over my chest. Sofia turns to face me. She doesn’t ask for more, doesn’t demand details, she just watches me.
“If I would have gone with her, maybe she wouldn’t have been so tired. If I would have answered the phone, I could have gotten police to her sooner and she wouldn’t have died alone. I couldn’t save the one person who needed me most. I couldn’t save the woman I was meant to protect above all others. I wasn’t there. I didn’t listen,” I say softly.
Sofia touches her chest gently, then brushes her hand over mine when I grip the counter, pushing down my own anger, my self-hatred, my failing. The worst thing I ever did was ignoring a phone call. It wouldn’t have been that hard to answer even while I was in the shower. It would have been so easy.
“How long?” She asks gently.
“Five years,” I answer, gripping the counter tighter. I exhale. “I’ve gotten through it, but I worry about Liam. He asks about her sometimes. Asks why he doesn’t have a mom. Seeing his pain is the hardest part.”
It’s the most I’ve said on the matter, even though the therapy appointments I was ordered to go to. I look at Sofia for a long time. She’s nothing like Lisa, but there’s a softness and openness in her. She doesn’t really pity me. She understands,warm and gentle, genuine. She takes my hand fully, rubbing me with her thumb in slow circles until my whole body relaxes into something that’s hot and demanding.
Her plush lips, her beautiful face, those damn gold flecks in her eyes, how she feels as she moves closer to me, warm and soft. So fucking gentle. She sucks her bottom lip gently, drawing my gaze down. I don’t know what she wants to say, what she will actually say, or any combination of the two.
It doesn’t matter. Four days of being together like this, another four of seeing her and wanting her, of wishing every touch went further. I’m a man of control, but right now I feel vulnerable, desperate, so aware of the tension tightening between us that I can’t help myself.
I pull her closer and lean down, brushing my nose along hers, hovering just close enough to her mouth to give her time to pull away—to say no. I’m not an animal.
But she presses flush against me instead, and I feel every delicate curve of her body, her free hand sliding up my arm like she’s already made her choice.
The timing is wrong, the place is wrong, but when I hear her little whimper, none of that matters. She’s right. I kiss her hard, hungry, sucking her bottom lip, then slipping my tongue into her mouth. I won’t fuck her, can’t do that to either of us right now, but I can show her how much I want to do just that. I devour her moans, lick them off her tongue, and kiss her deeper. I shift her back until she’s nearly arching over the kitchen counter, my hand sliding to the small of her back to press her flush against me.
Sofia moans and sucks my tongue when I lick along hers again. My dick hardens, then I grind against her lower belly. Shelets out a gasp that gives me more access and I happily feast on her, welcome her, savor her, and enjoy her just like I’m meant to.
Chapter 5 - Sofia
Everything about him is perfect. Hot, intense, hard. So, so hard against my low belly. He feels so fucking good, tastes even better, and the low, throaty groans that leave his throat make me crave more. Then he pulls back. It’s so sudden that I lurch forward, trying to get more of him, but I fall short.
He’s breathing hard, staring at me like we’ve crossed a line that can’t be uncrossed. LikeIhave crossed a line. His hand slips from mine, abrupt, almost rough, and he takes a step back as if distance might fix what just happened.
He clears his throat. Once. Twice.
“This can’t happen.”
