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“Have a good night at work. I wish you lots of tips and polite customers,” I said.

She snorted. “I’m not going to hold my breath, but I hope you’re right.”

With one last deep kiss, she left and went to Sapph.

I sighed and grabbed my ereader. If I couldn’t spend time with her, I could at least spend time with her writing.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Reid

“You are so out of it,” Maddie said the second time I’d dropped a glass. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d dropped something twice in one night. My head was all scrambled from endorphins. From Sophie.

“Just having an off night,” I told her. When it came to my personal life, my coworkers knew very little. I kept my work life and my home life as separate as I could. They didn’t need to know anything about me other than that I had their backs and would do my job.

“Hmm,” Maddie said, studying me. “Seems like something’s up with you.”

I rolled my eyes at her and cleaned up before heading to make a row of shots for a group of friends.

The hours trickled by and even though I knew she wasn’t coming in, I kept looking for Sophie. I was a disaster.

During my breaks, I checked in on her and she gave me updates on how she was doing with reading my fanfic. I still couldn’t believe how much she loved that story. She’d just gotten to the first sex scene and I was sweating about her reading it. Not that I thought I was some great erotic writer, but I hoped she didn’t think it was bad. And hopefully she’d think it was hot.

By the time I got home, it was so late, but there was another bag on my door, and I smiled when I opened it and found a cupcake and a sticky note.

Something sweet for someone sweet. Missed you. See you tomorrow/today.

-Sophie

Could she be any cuter? I didn’t think so. How had I gotten so lucky?

I slept well and woke up before my alarm. I smiled to myself and sent a message to Sophie.

Thank you for the cupcake. It was great. Pick you up in an hour and a half?

She responded right away. You’re welcome. I’ll be ready.

I’d told her that she didn’t need to bring anything with her to the party, but intuition told me that she might show up with something anyway. Sophie was just that kind of person. She’d always show up with a gift, never forget a birthday, always offer to help.

I got ready and checked in with Cade, Hunter, and Jo, who was apologetic, but couldn’t come. She just had too much work to do.

That was disappointing but expected. I’d have to get her to meet Sophie another time. Having her meet Cade, Eloise, Hunter, and Stace was already a lot. Plus, Stace’s family was going to want to know all about her and Sophie was going to be all sweet and polite even if she was uncomfortable. I didn’t want that for her.

“Hey, you ready to go?” I asked when she answered the door. She wore the white skirt and pink top she’d tried on for me to go to Sapph and she had an off-white sweater over her arm along with her bag over her shoulder. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she looked good enough to eat.

“Wow,” I said, forgetting whatever the hell I’d just asked her.

“Wow yourself,” she said. “Can you do a turn for me?”

For a second, I hesitated and stepped back, executing a perfect double turn, spotting automatically. I might not have been near a barre in years, but my body still knew the steps.

Sophie gazed at me and smiled. “You’re such a beautiful dancer, Reid.”

I shrugged. “I’m so rusty now. If I tried to do a leap or anything I’d bust my ass, but I can still turn.” If I really wanted to go wild, I could whip out a fouetté turn right here wearing my sneakers. It would be ugly, but I knew I could still do it. Turns had always been my specialty and one of my favorite parts of dance. Spinning around and letting the world flash by. It was almost like flying.

“Maybe someday you can get back to it. On your own terms. Or not. It’s completely up to you.” For years after I quit dance, I’d said that there was absolutely no way in hell that I’d ever go back. That I was done.

“Maybe,” I said, but my reaction wasn’t as hostile as it usually was. Whenever people would mention dance to me in the past, I’d freak out a little and get angry, but that anger had fizzled a little. Huh.