Page 10 of The Longest Wait

He grinned. “If that happened, who would you spend all yourenergy on?”

“You’re replaceable.”

That damn grin went nowhere when his brown eyes met hers,only adding to his appeal. “Doubtful. You haven’t found anyoneyet, and it’s been how long?”

“How long since what?” Lucy joined their conversation.

Ugh, how could Sofia forget Alex and her weren’t alone intheir latest argument. This was the danger of Alex. He had a wayof making her so annoyed, so angry, that everyone else disappeared.

“How long it has been since Sofia managed to find herself aboyfriend,” Alex answered. “I figured with her affixation on technology, she would find someone on a dating app.”

This was exasperating.

“I’ve been single probably as long as you have. When was yourlast serious relationship?”

“I want one brunch where we don’t bring up commitment,”Dominic chimed in. “That type of conversation is the only way toruin my omelet. Unless, Magda shows up.”

“Was that who you were with last night?” Connor tried todecipher who Magda was.

Conversation moved to Dominic and his penchant for women.Even he was surprised when his woman of the night had sex toysin her purse, like it was normal to carry around.

His story should’ve made her laugh, but all she kept wonderingwas about Alex.

When was his last relationship?

SOFIA WAS ONE of the first people to leave. She was running onminimal sleep and had to crash. She wasn’t sure how she managedto keep her eyes open after her second mimosa. That was the excuseshe used when she left, anyway. In reality, she couldn’t fake nicewith Alex anymore and wanted to be in her own space.

Not many people would consider their most recent experienceas either of them playing nice. However, since they had minimaloutbursts and neither of them declared war, it was an improvementfrom New Year’s Eve. In reality, it was significantly better than whatshe wanted to do. Which was smack the burger out of his handand tell him he was awful.

That, or kiss him.

For the briefest moment, the idea of kissing Alex was delightful. It made her shiver with excitement.

The desire to kiss that fool on the mouth was coming from thelittle piece of Judas inside of her. It was a traitorous suggestion.Kissing was off the table. The only reason his lips would ever touchhers would be if she needed CPR, and he was the last, the verylast person, who would be able to resuscitate her. Even then, shewould thank him for being the only person left to save her life andimmediately disinfect her mouth.

She shuddered at the idea as she unlocked her apartment doorand walked inside. Exhaustion took over and once she curled upon the couch, she wasn’t getting up until after she got a muchneeded nap.

Relaxing, she closed her eyes.

Her eyes popped open. She couldn’t get Alex out of her head.

There was an unfortunate time in her life when all she wantedwas Alex to kiss her. But who could blame her? When she wasn’taiming to stick her leg out and trip him, she could admit howhandsome he was. It was annoying. All he had to do was look ather and she had to fight the smile off. It has been like that eversince she met him.

She remembered it like it was yesterday.

Chapter 3

Fourteen Years ago

COLLEGE LIFE WAS going to be the best. From keg parties to latenights studying, from finding friends to chasing boys, it was destinedto be life changing in the best way possible. Sofia just knew it. Notlike her high school experience was horrible or anything, but she wasso over it. She learned early on the cattiness that ensued in high schoolafter she had a few run-ins with unpleasant seniors her freshman year,so she mostly kept to herself outside of being friendly to her classmates.She didn’t want to burn a road or whatever the silly saying was, buthigh school wasn’t for her.

She liked to think it was because she was sophisticated. While otherkids were drinking and talking about each other, she wanted no partin it. Her eye was always on the prize, which was college.

She lugged the last box of all of her clothes from her parents’ car.Her parents were also waiting for her to go to college, but for an entirelydifferent reason. They were ready for the life of retirement.

Sofia was excited to find a group of people she actually clickedwith. Maybe she would get her first boyfriend this year. She smiled atthe thought as she climbed to the second floor of the dorms. She wasdefinitely going to parties. And, as nerdy as it sounded, she was readyto be challenged with school. High school was just boring.

Her parents, though, they loved her and all, but they were readyto retire and travel. They had Sofia when they were a bit older andalthough they never admitted it, she had a feeling she was a surprise.They always showered her with love, but it seemed like both herself andher parents were ready to spread their wings.