Hanging On (23 page)

The only thing that made sense was that the payment information for their customer orders was stapled to an itemized invoice.

By noon, Sophia was on the floor with several piles growing around her.

Because she hadn’t known what to expect, she wore a summery dress with a long skirt. It wasn’t strictly business apparel, but Ginny didn’t seem to mind.

If she was going to be shut away in the dusty office and on the floor, it was a good choice. She had wanted to wear jeans, but her sense of professionalism nixed that idea.

The first order of business was to separate things into months and topics. Preliminary piles included supplies, employee-related and customer-related. Ginny had customers who bought from her regularly. It would be helpful to have computerized files with their past orders because they tended to order similar things each time.

Sophia got into a rhythm that only a light-headed feeling and the growling of her stomach interrupted. The smell of cake and bread combined with the spicy scent of whatever was on the catering menu for that evening.

It drifted upstairs to tempt her. She didn’t expect them to feed her, but she was hungry. It was time for a break.

Purse in hand, Sophia made her way down the stairs and into the bakery.

Things were in full swing. Ginny had a staff of at least ten, each of them chattering away as they worked. It was a happy environment, where people liked each other and they liked their jobs. Sophia wished she could smile at the sight, but all she felt was a vague jealousy mixed with anxiety.

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Ginny was bent over a table, pencil in hand, gesturing wildly. Next to her, Drew listened intently. After a moment, he took the pencil from her to sketch something. His movements were quick and decisive. Both of them had their backs to Sophia. She thought they were on the set, filming today.

“I like to stare, too.”

Sophia jumped. A small, pretty woman with dark eyes and a bouncy brown ponytail smiled up at her. She appeared to be around the same age, which put her in her mid-twenties. “Stare?”

“Drew has a gorgeous ass, the kind meant to be squeezed and teased. I could sculpt it in modeling chocolate all day long and never get tired of running my hands over it.” She winked. “It’s only one of the perks of working here.”

Sophia’s heart was in her throat. She wanted to run away, hide upstairs until he was gone. She hadn’t meant to invade his workplace. Visions of carting all that paperwork home temporarily made her feel better. Then she jettisoned the idea. She would need boxes and boxes to move everything she would need in that room. No, she was stuck there.

Squaring her shoulders, she delivered a weak smile to the admiring decorator and approached Ginny. She tried to knock Drew to the periphery of her vision and of her awareness, but it didn’t work entirely.

“Ginny?”

Drew whirled, a surprised smile lighting his face. “Sophia?” She couldn’t find a smile, even a small professional one, to return to him. Focusing her attention on Ginny, she took another deep, cleansing breath. “I’m taking a break. I’ll be back in an hour.” His smile faded. She felt the shift in his mood as palpably as a punch in the stomach. There was a good chance she wouldn’t be hungry for lunch, but it would take at least an hour to convince herself she could sneak back in without encountering Drew.

Ginny looked from Drew to Sophia, a frown pinching between her eyes.

“Okay.”

“A break? From what?” Drew’s mouth was a grim line. Her eyes were drawn to it immediately.

“I hired Sophia to straighten out that mess upstairs.” The grim line turned down at the corners. “You need an accountant for that.”

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Ginny stared at him. “Sophia is an accountant.” Stunned disbelief and a flittering of betrayal crossed his face. His eyes never left Sophia’s. “You’re an accountant?”

“I have a degree in finance,” she clarified. “Accounting was my minor.” She watched the play going on behind Drew’s eyes as he fit this new knowledge into his incomplete understanding of her.

“You never told me that.” It was an accusation.

She shrugged. “You didn’t stop to ask for a résumé when you were stripping off my clothes. I didn’t think you were interested in my brains.” Color drained from his perfect face. “Sophie, don’t do this.” Ginny looked worriedly between them. “I thought things were going well with you two.”

Ignoring both of them, Sophia repeated her intention to go to lunch, and then she walked away.

Royal Oak was an old town. Sophia didn’t need anything but her feet to find a small café where she could find something good to eat. She wanted to find someplace where she could get a stiff drink, but with the fleeting pass of her hand over her abdomen, she settled for decaffeinated tea. Damn that man. She wasn’t pregnant. She could pee on a stick today for confirmation.

Sophia returned at the time she said she would, stopping briefly at a pharmacy for an early pregnancy test. When she knocked at the door, the same woman answered it again. This time, she beamed and opened the door wide.

“Well, you certainly have stirred things up around here.” It was Sophia’s turn to be surprised. Ginny had asked whether she knew how to do payroll. “Why? Hasn’t Ginny been paying you regularly?” Her smile widened. “We’ve all been wondering about the woman who swept Drew off his feet. Now we know.”

Sophia patted her shoulder as she brushed past. “He’s still standing.” Just barely standing, thanks to the way she knocked him on his ass, both literally and figuratively. She did warn him. She hadn’t meant for him to hear it, but he did. He canceled their plans last night because of it. She didn’t blame him, but that didn’t make it hurt less.

She was on the floor, knee-deep in piles of papers and muttering to herself, when a shadow fell over her. Startled from bliss, she glanced up. His jeans stretched over his thighs in a careless caress as he shifted restlessly.

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“Are you pissed at me for canceling last night? The shoot ran long. We didn’t finish until this morning. Ginny said you understood.” She stared at him for a full minute, waiting until he squirmed just a bit more. Subconsciously, he had to know she was in control of the situation.

She had already learned her lesson about overt domination with him. “I’m not mad at you.”

He came closer and squatted next to her. “You could have fooled me.” Again, she stared at him, registering no emotion whatsoever in her face or demeanor. “I thought I was very honest with you.” A mirthless laugh barked from him. “You’re not even honest with yourself.”

Sophia shrugged, unwilling to discuss this with him. “Consistency has always been one of my strong points.”

“I’m not going to let you walk away from this, Sophie.” The slight narrowing of her eyes was her only response. She couldn’t stop herself. “I didn’t end this.” She couldn’t end this. She wanted desperately to end this, but she couldn’t. “You did.” His temper flared, chilling those ice-blue eyes until they burned with cold fire. “Canceling one date isn’t ending a relationship. Are you pissed that you didn’t get your threesome last night? Is that what this is about? You didn’t get laid, so now you’re pissed at me?” It wasn’t a date. “You wanted the threesome, Drew. I set that up for you.”

“You wanted it, too, Sophia. You want someone you can whip into submission because you can’t get me to fall in line the way you’d like.” His eyes narrowed even more. “Is that what’s wrong? Did you not get the domination fix you needed last night? Are you looking for a whipping boy?” She reveled in the heartlessness of her next comment before it left her mouth. Something had to break him. Something had to drive him away.

“Christopher didn’t cancel on me, Drew. You did.” She thought he was angry before. She meant to push him, and she did.

He grabbed her by the arms and hauled her to her feet. Papers scattered. Her neat stacks were ruined. Even as her heart pounded in fear, she held her ground. She needed this. She needed him to be angry, to mistreat her. She needed him to show her he was no different.

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He shook with the power of his fury. She watched him with expectant, wary eyes. His mouth worked as he struggled for the words. “Tell me you didn’t sleep with him, Sophie. Tell me you didn’t do something stupid.” Some people might define the way she pushed away a man who was so obviously in love with her as stupid. She wasn’t about to point that out to Drew. There was a reason for everything she did, and she wasn’t obligated to explain herself to him or anyone else.

When she didn’t answer, his hands tightened on her arms painfully. She thought he might shake her, or throw her, or hit her, but he just stared at the hands biting into her flesh and slowly released her. “I’m sorry, Sophie. I’m so sorry.”

He thought she had been with another man and
he
was apologizing?

What did she have to do to make him hate her? She rubbed at her arms and watched the little white fingerprints disappear. She wouldn’t even have a bruise to show for her efforts.

She closed her eyes, sickened yet again at her behavior. It wasn’t his fault he was a decent man. “I didn’t have sex with him. I whipped him, and that was all.”

He was silent for a long time, studying her misery even though she refused to look at him. Finally, a gentle hand tilted her chin upward, forcing her to meet his eyes. “You weren’t kidding, were you?” His thumb caressed her lower lip, and she felt the sharp prick of tears behind her eyes. “I’m not going to walk away from you, Sophia. I’m not going anywhere. I know it will take some time to prove that to you, but I will.”

“If you were a smart man, you’d cut your losses now.” Her voice was a whisper. She wanted him to leave as badly as she wanted him to stay. She wanted him to hit her as much as she wanted him to kiss her. Either action would unravel her.

He held her, folding his arms around her, wrapping her in the safety and security of his embrace. “I love you, Sophie. I’m not giving up on us.”
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They took on the tango that night. Sophia couldn’t fathom what Sabrina was thinking in having them all learn that dance. Even the simplified version they learned contained intricate footwork that had them tripping and stumbling all over the dance floor.

Every time they messed up, which was frequently, Amanda and Richard shot Jonas and Sabrina evil looks. Ty and Samantha didn’t do badly.

Samantha had formal training, and she kept Ty looking respectable. Ginny and Lara had obviously done this before. The instructor clapped her approval and pointed enthusiastically. Ellen and Ryan made the best of it, using the closeness of the dance to grope one another shamelessly.

Jonas led Sabrina around the floor with confidence and panache, leaving no doubt that he had chosen this number, not Sabrina. They laughed and stared into each other’s eyes, a big, gooey mass of sappiness.

Drew held Sophia close, swearing under his breath every time something went wrong. On the surface, he seemed to be taking it all with grace and dignity. From the expression on his face, no one could tell he was actually whispering an incredible stream of curses, ranging from colorful to raunchy.

“I didn’t realize you were so well versed in the art of swearing.” He stepped on her toes, issuing another curse instead of an apology.

“I’m well-versed in a lot of arts you don’t know about. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were an accountant.”

“Would you have hired me sooner?” she teased, not at all sorry about withholding facts about herself. “Tried to woo me with lists of numbers instead of all those roses? Oh, wait. You never sent roses.” He planted a loud smooch on her cheek. “You got pouty when I made you breakfast. I had to force you to let me buy you dinner. I bought you a

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robe, and you nearly killed me. I think I should take this slowly, let you acclimate to the concept of receiving gifts first. If you smashed them in my face, the thorns would hurt.”

A mischievous glint lit his eye.

“What?” she demanded. She was still in awe that he was with her after all she had put him through over the past two days. Deep down, she was starting to think he meant what he said.

“If I dip you and we fall over, can we stay on the floor and make out?”

“Save it for later. Livia called me today. She’ll be at my house at nine thirty unless I text her otherwise.”

He was quiet, avoiding eye contact.

“Drew? If you don’t want to do this, just tell me. I can cancel.” They both stumbled. She fell against Drew as he lost his footing. He broke her fall with his body, but they both hit the ground anyway. Sophia thought she knocked the air from him until the cursing began anew. He whispered the words in her ear with the same sexy tone he used to say things that were actually sexy. She giggled, inappropriate laughter causing Sophia to bury her head in his neck as her body was wracked with paroxysms.

“Get a room,” Ginny yelled from across the polished floor.

Drew stroked a hand over her hair and across her shoulder. The sweet nothings continued to pour from his mouth.

She laughed harder. Tears poured from her eyes. “I take it you’re not hurt?”

“The woman of my dreams is lying on top of me and shows no signs of moving. Even if I was hurt, I would deny it.” Feet stopped next to them. “You guys okay?” Sabrina’s concern floated down.

Sophia felt the smile stretching Drew’s lips. “We’re fine. We figure the longer we stay like this, the less time we have to spend tripping on our own feet and stepping on each other’s.”

Pushing herself to kneeling, she moved so Drew could get up. Jonas lifted Sophia from the floor and set her on her feet. She turned to thank him, but stopped when she saw the anger compressing his mouth into a thin line.

“What’s wrong?”

Reaching out, he used his thumb to wipe away a few stray teardrops.

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Behind Sophia, Drew got to his feet and threw an arm around her waist to pull her closer. “If I knew swearing was the best way to make you laugh, I would have tried it long before now. I’m fluent in five languages.” Jonas frowned. “You were laughing?”

“Yes,” Sophia admitted, a rare smile lingering on her face. “Drew says some pretty amusing things when he’s frustrated.” Jonas looked from her to Drew and back again. His face softened. “Then don’t let us interrupt.” He swept Sabrina away, but not before she saw the brilliant smile Sabrina bestowed on her and Drew. She refused to let herself think about what Sabrina saw.

Stepping back into Drew’s arms, Sophia took a deep breath. “I guess we have time to try this again.”

“Always, Sophie. With us, there’s always time to try again.” She didn’t respond except to ask again if he wanted Livia to join them later.

He shrugged.

“That’s not an answer.”

“I want to watch her lick your pussy.” He dipped her low and brought her up slow, running his fingers softly down the length of her body and back up. “Or am I not allowed to make requests like that?” As her eyes came level with his, Sophia smiled her craftiest smile. “You can make requests like that. Anything else?” He shook his head. “I’m sure you’ll surprise me.” As they danced, Sophia planned likely scenarios in her head. This was the first time she was going to have a threesome where she didn’t dominate the couple. Though he probably didn’t plan to play the role, Drew was going to help dominate Livia. He needed to do it. She couldn’t seem to plan a scenario in which he was just a neutral party.

Livia wanted to up the ante in their game. Expecting Drew to dominate Sophia was her cry for help. She didn’t want to become a dominatrix. She wanted the unexpected. Sophia suspected Livia needed to have her boundaries pushed further, to help her find the next thrill.

Being smaller than most of her submissives, Sophia relied on mental intimidation more than anything else. Perhaps having a man as part of the equation could change the game enough to make it more interesting for all concerned.

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“I hope that incredibly sexy smile has something to do with me.” Drew’s low-toned observation made her toes curl and her pussy throb.

“It does,” she assured him before whispering a request of her own in his ear. They spent the rest of the hour massacring the tango and planning their evening.

As they left the studio, Ellen eyeballed Sophia with a puzzled expression. “Given the way you two have been glued together, I’m guessing it’s pointless to ask if you’re going out to dinner with us.” Drew turned that charming smile on Ellen, melting her with ease. “We have other plans.”