Lost Chances (5 page)

It wasn't unusual for her to get easily distracted.

"That's my baby." His voice became distant as he talked to someone at the fire department. "Shut-up, asshole. I've heard what you call your wife, so don't start."

Okay, that was so much better. She still cared for Seth. The feelings may not be as strong as what she felt for Cooper, but they were there and hadn’t disappeared as she’d feared after seeing Cooper again.

"Can I come and see you?" If she kissed him, maybe everything would be back to normal. Would it be wrong to kiss him after being kissed by another man? At least she’d never opened her mouth, as much as she'd wanted to.

"Sure!"

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." A short fifteen minute ride brought her to the station. The fear of him finding out made the trip quicker than she would've liked.

Seth always did look handsome with his navy blue pants and matching shirt with the station’s initials on it. NSFD—New Springs Fire Department. His dirty blonde hair was messy and she could tell he'd been in the sun lately. If only she turned that shade of bronze. Seeing him soothed her, except the butterflies that normally filled her stomach when he was around didn't seem to be there anymore.

Sophia Aliyah Johnson, you better forget about Cooper or you'll ruin it all.
She'd been with Seth for four months and everything was going smoothly. In those four months she still hadn't slept with him, yet today, she was sure Cooper could've had her stripped naked if she hadn't pushed him away.

She took the keys out of the ignition and jumped out of the jeep. "Hey!"

The smile on his face didn't cause the same reactions as the smile she swooned over earlier. Seth wrapped his arms around her and slipped his hands down to her butt.

"Seth!" She wiggled until he released her and then kissed her. In that brief time, he tried to slip his tongue between her lips, but she pulled away. She forced a smile to keep him from noticing that she didn't want to kiss. "Have y'all been busy?"

"No. One call and wasn't anything major." He sounded almost disappointed.

"Well, no offense, but in your line of work, I think I'd rather not be as busy. It means people are safe."

He laughed. "You know what I mean. We've just been playing some games and watched a movie. The guys are in the middle of one now. We could sneak up to the beds and spend some time alone." His brows bounced up and down enthusiastically.

After they'd been together so long, she thought they'd be ready for the next step. She wasn't. Thinking about sleeping with him just didn't seem right. Ryan hated Seth, but wouldn't ever give her a reason, so anytime she brought up that it was time, he just talked her out of it.

She wasn't a virgin. A year after Cooper had left, she slept with a guy in college. She regretted it right away, which was why taking that step with Seth proved hard to do.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she just laughed when she read it.

"Who's that?"

"Ryan. I ditched him at my home. He's having di
nner with my brothers and—" She wasn't sure if she should say anything more. Not that he knew anything about how she felt for Cooper.

"And?"

He gave her his drop your panties smile. At least that was how she'd heard other women describe it. Every one of those same women hated Sophia. Something she’d grown used to long ago. She still wasn't good with other women.

"Umm, well, Cooper is back in town." Even if he di
dn't know anything, she found herself focusing her gaze anywhere else, but at him.

"That right? I haven't really spoken to him since he was injured playing football senior year. We only talked before games and sometimes at parties. I didn't hang out with your brothers and him too often. He didn't do much after the torn ACL." Seth grabbed her hand and headed into the station. "I heard he took off after his grandpa died. No one knew where he went. There were rumors about him losing it and ditching everything. The house and all."

She jerked her hand away from him. "He didn't go crazy. He just lost his last family and left town. You have a big family here. Cooper lost his parents when he was young and then lost both grandparents not long after high school."

It pissed her off to hear about the ridiculous r
umors. All because someone had seen him break down at the hospital and then the funeral where he ignored everyone. Except her. Funny how she was taking up for him and she’d just finished yelling at him. Was she too hard on him?

"Well, I just figured he didn't do so well, since his scholarship fell through. He got offers from more than one college to play, didn't he?"

"Yes. He planned to keep playing after high school. My brothers didn't want to, but he still wanted to go for it." Seeing him recovering after the surgery had been hard. She never missed their games and the way Cooper's eyes would light up after their wins. He also kept a good attitude when they lost, unlike some of the other guys.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to upset you. Let's get in here and see what the guys have cooked up."

Another hour later, she sat there with Seth's arms around her as she blocked out the bickering and joking between him and the other two men on shift.

"Sophia, when are you going to leave this goof and be with a real man?" Big Red rubbed his large belly and winked at her.

He nudged her and laughed. "Yeah, baby, when you gonna do that?"

"You both better watch it before I sic my brothers on y'all." They all groaned and rolled their eyes. Her brothers made it known that if anyone hurt her then they wouldn't survive long. Not that any of the men around her were worried about it, since it was all fun and games.

Seth's hand moved lower down her back when the other men's attention turned back to the movie playing. He traced small circles right above the waistline of her jeans.

Having his hands on her like that wasn't anything new and she always stopped him before anything ha
ppened, but how long would he let her get away with it? Maybe it was time.

Well, not right then. There was no way she'd allow her first time to be in the fire house beds, where her brother worked. Gross. And really just not that romantic.

Sophia looked up at his face. It would be his birthday in only three days. Perfect. She had time to prepare and he would be surprised. Oh God, she was about to do it. Ryan was going to die!

"What's running around in that beautiful head of yours?" He didn't move his fingers any lower, but didn't bring them back up either.

If only he knew what was running through her head. He'd be jumping with joy. The poor guy had waited a long time for someone who was used to women throwing themselves at him. It worked for her too, because now she could move on with Seth and forget about the blue-eyed neighbor who made her blood boil and her heart race with just a smile.

Chapter Five

"I can't believe she's pissed enough to just ditch us. I knew it upset her when you left, but I didn't realize it was that bad." Nick didn't remove his attention from his bowl of ice cream.

Cooper could put down some food, but he had to turn down the dessert after eating the huge steak, two helpings of garlic mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls. He was a sucker for potatoes. Cardio was definitely needed in the morning.

"She'll cool off later." Jacob took a swig of his beer. "Did you go inside the house?"

"No. I think I'll wait until tomorrow. I planned on ge
tting a hotel for tonight." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw it was almost ten. "I should probably head out now so I can get checked in."

Jacob shook his head. "You can just stay here. You'll have to sleep on the couch, but it's better than wasting money for a night at a hotel."

"Ha! I would love to see Sophia's face when she comes home to find you asleep on the couch." Ryan held his glass of sweet tea in his hand. He turned down the beer when they offered since he had to drive home.

The guy wasn't so bad. He even found out he used to play in a band and would play on his own some weekends at the local bar. Turned out they both had som
ething in common. Not that any of them knew Cooper was a musician and played nearly every weekend in Texas. He was waiting for a call from his agent about getting the record deal. A long shot, but he still tried. This was his grandmother's last wish and he'd do whatever he could to fulfill it.

"Ryan's right. I think a hotel will be fine. I apprec
iate the offer." He could use the gym they had too. Probably wouldn’t be the best he'd worked out in.

"I didn't say you had to go to a hotel. I've got a free room at my place. You can use it for however long. I'm sure your house is going to take some work to get it straightened out. No one has used the bed, except for Sophia."

Cooper shook his head when Ryan lifted one brow. Obviously, the man knew more than her brothers did. He checked to see if they paid any attention to Ryan. Mike and Nick seemed to be oblivious, but Jacob narrowed his gaze on Sophia’s friend.

"That would be fine. A bed would be a little more comfortable than the couch." He just hoped Ryan kept his mouth shut and didn't piss him off.

"Hey, I got to work late until Friday. You want to hang out again? Maybe you'll have the house ready and we can drop in and see what you got to work with." Jacob stood, along with Ryan and Cooper.

"I'll let you know." If he could make himself go i
nto the old house and survive the memories that filled it. He followed Jacob out onto the front porch much like the one surrounding his home. It was hard just being at their house, because of the striking similarities. And then remembering his time spent there with Sophia and even the brothers.

"No worries. If not, you can just stop back here, but you'll supply the beer and join us this time."

"Thanks, man."

Jacob watched Ryan head toward his truck and shook his head. "You have to ignore him sometimes. Sophia loves him though, so we tolerate him. Are you sure you don't want to stay here?"

He shook his head. "I can handle him for a good night’s sleep and without waking up with Sophia standing above me with a knife."

"True. She's a feisty thing sometimes." Jacob's smile faded and he eyed him. "The others didn't really notice, but I knew Sophia took it hard. She broke down when I woke her up after you were gone. I'm not really surprised to see how upset she is now, and you're my friend, but if you hurt her again, then things will be a hell of a lot different. I don't know if there was more than a frien
dship in your head for my sister. What I do know is that she felt more than just a friendship."

It proved so damn hard not to look away. "I didn't mean to hurt her. Please just tell her how sorry I am again."

He didn't say anything else. How could he share what he really felt with Jacob? He still had no clue in the first place.

"Just follow me." Ryan started up his own truck and waited.

Tomorrow, he needed to get over his fear of entering his old house. Another night with Sophia's friend might not be the smartest thing. He jumped into his truck and followed behind Ryan. During the nearly thirty minute drive, he sang along to the music on the radio, trying to get his mind off everything else.

It didn't work when an old song came on. One of the songs he sang to Sophia on that last day. She probably didn't realize he had been singing to her that day in the truck, but every time he heard it on the radio, her beautiful green, sometimes blue, eyes appeared in his head, and then her smile. A smile that could knock a man to his knees just to see over and over.

Cooper would stay on his knees for the rest of his life just begging her to be with him if it would work.

A knock on his window brought him back to reality and to the fact that he was parked in a strange driveway. Crazy how you could be in such a daze that you don't even remember how you ended up some place or how you didn't wreck the car along the way.

He got out and ignored Ryan who was watching him with a big smile on his face.

"You seemed to be somewhere else just now."

"It happens." Cooper grabbed his bag and the black guitar case that held the only possession that meant more to him than anything. Except for Sophia.

"You play?" He walked up to the door and u
nlocked it. "I don't remember Sophia ever mentioning it."

Cooper walked into the smaller home and sat his bag down beside the couch, but held tight to his guitar. "No one knew. It's not much of a secret as it was when I lived here. Only my grandparents knew."

"Awesome! Maybe we can play at the bar in town then." Ryan yawned and then laughed. "Man, I'm exhausted. This has been an interesting day."

Wasn't that true? "If you'll just show me where to go, I'll head to bed, too."

He followed Ryan to the back room and carried his stuff into the room.

"Sorry, the bed isn't very big. Sophia stayed a co
uple nights ago and she's the only one I ever planned on staying over, so I didn't worry about a bigger bed. She's a tiny thing and doesn't need much room." Ryan pointed down the hall. "There's the bathroom and you don't have to worry about waking me up or anything, I'm a heavy sleeper."