Married life and parenthood suited his friend. There was a contentment about him that had never been there before. Ben smiled easily, laughed often, and adoration and pride were evident in his eyes whenever he gazed at Lea and their month-old daughter.
“No.” Smiling, Ben scratched the bridge of his nose. “Not that we don’t want more kids, we do, but we agreed to wait until Melody is a year old before we start trying again.”
Time to change the subject. Now that Ben was sleeping with his sister, talking sex was just wrong. And nauseating as hell.
“So.” He sat back in his seat and eyed his buddy. “What news do you have that’s supposed to cheer me up? You get your hands on Mets tickets?”
Ben was full-time National Guard and in supply. He had a ton of contacts.
“This is better than Mets tickets.” His buddy grinned, and the knowing look in his eyes made Ryder suddenly nervous. “Remember the friend from design school my sister brought home for New Year’s Eve five years ago? Sophia? Well, she’s back in town.”
His pulse flickered at the mention of her name. “I know.” He shrugged. “I ran into her this morning.”
Ben’s brows shot straight up. “No shit? Well, what happened? Are the sparks still there? Because, damn, man, the way the two of you hit off that week was almost as crazy as the blue streaks in her hair. I mean, hell, you two disappeared for nearly two days. Poor Brandi hardly got to spend any time with her.”
Guilt rippled through his gut. “There was too much wine and champagne flowing. We sort of lost track of time.”
Ben snorted. “That’s not all you lost, pal. As I recall, you mentioned something about the two of you’d spending most of that time naked in bed. Hell, you had a smile on your face for weeks.”
Jesus…he’d told his buddy that? Then he’d definitely had too much to drink, because he never talked about being balls deep.
But Ben was right. He and Sophia had been naked most of the time, although the bed wasn’t the only place they’d had sex. Incredible sex.
The memory had haunted him, because it had happened six months after he’d returned from Iraq without Jinan. It’d been so soon, and yet, Sophia had managed to make him forget the woman he’d loved. A blessing and a curse. One full of guilt.
“Here you go.” The waitress arrived with their food and his iced tea.
“Hi, Elle,” he said, reaching for two packets of sugar to sweeten his drink. “How’s your first week of work going?”
“And the book?” Ben asked.
She was in town doing research on a police procedural romance, and when she wasn’t going out on calls with their cop friend, Jeremy, she was here, helping his dad.
Smiling, she leaned against the booth and tipped her head. “As for the first question, things are going great here. Your dad is a sweetheart to work for, and I’m enjoying getting to meet so many locals. It’s a big help with my research. As for the book…that’s not going so great.” She sighed. “Let’s just say, Officer Mercer is not at all like your father to work with.”
His chuckle echoed Ben’s. “Yeah, Jeremy is a great cop, but outside of his job, he does tend to lack people skills.”
She snickered. “Tell me about it. I sent him a link to an article on people etiquette, but he deleted it in front of me without even opening it.”
Ben choked on his drink. “Did you really send him that link?”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “Why?”
“Damn, I would’ve loved to have seen Jeremy’s face.” Ben grinned. “I hope you’re going to bug him for a while.”
Her chuckle mixed with his. “Yes, I’m not through with him…I mean, my research.” She winked. “I still have a few weeks left, then I’m going to stick around your wonderful town while I write the book.” She turned her gaze on him. “Thanks for letting me rent your cabin. It’s perfect.”
He thought so, too. “No problem.”
Even though he now lived in a bigger one near the lake, he couldn’t part with the single bedroom cabin. It’d been his first purchase and solo renovation when he was twenty. That was the reason he held onto it, not because of memories of an amazing New Year’s Eve in the hot tub with a certain visiting city girl.
No, those memories, and the guilt of his enjoyment, were the reasons he’d moved out.
“Well, I’d better get back to work.” She straightened. “More orders are up. Let me know if you two need anything else.”
He nodded. “Will do.”
Grinning, Ben cut into his open-faced meatloaf sandwich. “Man, I can’t wait for drill this weekend.”
