Carlos laughed. “Just like a damn woman. All the shit I said and that’s the one thing you picked up on. Yeah, my woman. You wouldn’t be here laid up in my shit like this if you weren’t. That ain’t my style, shorty.”
“Don’t I have to agree?”
“Hell yeah, and you did when you climbed your ass in my bed last night. That was all the confirmation I needed.”
“It might have been nice for you to tell me that before it happened.”
“For what? Like your ass was gonna tell me no. Fuck outta here with that. Now get dressed. I’ll take you home in a few. I have some moves to make, but I’ll swing by and pick you up later for dinner. Sound good?”
I grinned and pulled away to stand. “Like I would tell you no,” I teased, mocking him before I turned to walk away. This was the start of something good.
Chapter 25
Sophie
“I’m downstairs. I didn’t want to just come up, but we need to talk.” Trooper had no emotion in his voice, so I wasn’t quite sure how he felt at the moment.
Me, on the other hand, my emotions were all over the place. From the time he dropped me off and walked me to the elevator after we left the hospital, my mind had been racing.
My father wasn’t my father and Trooper had been raised by the man who should have raised me. I hadn’t slept all night. I felt physically drained and my mind was exhausted.
“I wish you would have called before you came. It’s not a good time, Trooper, I?—”
“It’s never gonna be a good time, Sophie. But the longer we avoid it, the easier it will be for both of us to stay away. I don’t want that, even if you do. I didn’t call because I knew you would say the shit you just said.”
Inhaling and releasing an exaggerated sigh, I gave in. He was right, but it didn’t make things any easier. I wasn’t even mad at him about the situation with Orin anymore. With everything else going on, she wasn’t a factor but Trooper was. He played a role in my life not being what I thought it was. Whether he knew itor not, being with him was a constant reminder that complicated things I had no idea how to deal with yet.
“Fine, you can come up.”
I couldn’t stop him anyway. Short of calling down to have his key to my elevator deactivated, he had access. I appreciated that he’d asked instead of just coming up. Trooper was just that way.
As rough and unrefined as he was, he showed me more respect than any of the well poised and groomed assholes my father… William wanted me to be with. That part was hard to deal with. He was my father, but then he wasn’t. Forcing my mind to reroute was hard.
I looked up from the sofa when the elevator doors opened. Trooper stepped off looking amazing as always. He was dressed simply in jeans, and a Polo pocket tee with a matching black hat, but even that made him look like a magazine cover model.
If perfection existed, Trooper was that. He lifted his head slightly to look at me because his hat sat so low on his head his eyes were hidden. Standing only about a foot away from where I sat, he examined me, not trying to hide the displeased look on his face. Even if it didn’t totally surface, I felt his mood.
“You didn’t sleep.” His deep husky voice bounced off my chest as I looked up at him with a forced smile.
“I did, a little,” I lied.
He released a muffled laugh before he sat next to me. The weight of his body forced me toward him even before his arm secured me against his side.
I closed my eyes as I inhaled his cologne. I was addicted to everything about this man, even when I didn’t want to be, like right now.
“Tell me what’s on your mind.” A warm sensation flowed through my body as Trooper’s thumb glided across my skin as his hand rested on my arm.
“What’s on my mind?” I repeated before releasing a sarcastic laugh.
Trooper used his free hand to remove his hat, which he placed next to himself, then looked over at me. “I’m not the enemy, Sophie. I may not be everything you thought I was, but I’m not the enemy. I’m just a man and men make mistakes. I can’t change that, but I can promise you it won’t happen again.”
He was talking about Orin, but right now she was the least of my worries.
“I don’t even care about that. Maybe I should, but I don’t. I almost expected it, and to know for sure, I almost feel relieved. What I care about is that nothing about me is what I thought it was.”
I felt Trooper’s chest rise and fall next to me before he spoke again. “You’re still you, Sophie. The thing with your mother or your father won’t change that.”
“He’s not my father.”
