Page 18 of Final Temptation (Alpine Peak #2)

“So, it’s Saturday.” I joined Sophie on the couch, grabbing her attention from the reality show she was currently bingeing.

“Wow, I don’t think I even need a calendar now that I have you around. Watch out, Hallmark ! Myles Cooper knows what day it is!” Putting her show on pause, Sophie couldn’t help but laugh at herself.

“I’m pretty sure Hallmark is a card company.” I stared at her blankly.

“Semantics.” She waved her hand in the air. “So, it’s Saturday, what about it?”

“I just figured with it being my day off, maybe we could hang. Grab a coffee or something.” That’s putting it subtly.

In reality, I just wanted to be near her. The kiss we shared that night at the bonfire only had me itching for more. But with the ball being in her court, the last thing I wanted to do was come off too strong.

“Coffee on a Saturday, huh? Is that going to become our thing , Rebel?” Her tone came out flirty and fully to blame for the smirk growing across my face.

Feeling the need to touch her, I reached out, grabbing her foot that peeked from the plush throw blanket lying over her legs. Her perfectly painted toes rested in the palm of my hand as I began to dig into the arch of her foot.

“It can be.”

“Oh my God, right there,” she moaned as I dug into her foot, completely distracted from my answer to her question just moments ago.

Now more than ever, I was desperate to leave the house for coffee. If we stayed here with her moaning like she just did with my thumbs pressing into her skin, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to control myself.

“I’d love to respect your request to move slow, Soph, but when you whimper like that, it makes it awfully difficult to get my mind out of the gutter.”

“It’s not my fault you’re so good with your hands.” Her head tipped back, relaxing more and more with each stroke of my thumb over her arch.

“Just imagine how good they feel in other places.”

Her foot snapped out of my grip. Popping up from the couch, going from cozy and undisturbed to ‘Well, are you ready for coffee or what?’ in the matter of milliseconds. Causing me to chuckle, the obvious tint to her cheeks gave away just how flustered my dirty words made her.

“Gotta say, I’m not used to women running away from me when I have my hands on them.”

“I’m not running, just walking really fast to my bedroom so I can look respectable for the coffee shop.” Her voice trailed behind her as she moved further away from me.

Respectable? I scratched my head.

Standing up, I made my way down the hall. Leaning against her door frame, I watched her sift through piles of what I hoped were clean clothes .

“I’d rather you wear something sinful. But your choice.”

Her eyes narrowed as she closed the door on me, only a hollow piece of wood standing between me and her naked body, hopefully changing into something that would ease my hardening cock.

“I’ll have an Americano, to go, please,” Sophie ordered, fiddling around in her purse for some cash.

“Put that away,” I whispered in her ear before placing a new bundle of wildflowers on the counter to replace the dying ones on the coffee table at home. “We’ll take the flowers, and I’ll have what she’s having.”

Sophie zipped up her purse, I settled the tab, and we waited for our coffee.

“I could really get used to this whole coffee and flowers thing every Saturday.” Her eyes fluttered as she took a whiff of the blue and purple arrangement.

“Didn’t you know this is how I spend all my Saturdays? Mornings attending a meeting, afternoons with you, buying you flowers and coffee, and evenings at the gym.”

“Wow, someone’s trying to get in my pants.” She laughed at her attempted joke.

“Think what you want, but I’m just happy to be here spending time with you.”

We spent plenty of time together as roommates, but this was different. Being outside of the apartment, alone, almost felt like what most people would consider a date—even if I’ve never really been on a date before and we were just friends with benefits.

“Two Americanos!” the barista called out, breaking up our moment and any chance for Sophie to respond.

“So, where to?” she asked after taking a sip of her coffee.

“Depends. Would you rather walk or drive?”

“Let’s walk. It’s beautiful outside and I put on my best walking shoes.” She wiggled her feet back and forth, clacking her white sneakers together like she was fucking Dorthy in The Wizard of Oz .

She was so fucking cute.

Cute? What am I thinking?

Pretty sure I’d never considered a girl cute before. I’d never allowed myself to get to know a chick so well that her personality had time to see the light of day. With Sophie, anything that came out of her mouth was fucking adorable.

Just like her outfit.

My eyes traveled from her chunky white sneakers up her tan, toned legs to her frayed jean shorts.

A tank top so tight her tits were pulled to the top, making me want to close the loose white button-up she wore, so I could focus on her big brown doe eyes and the words coming out of her mouth instead.

Her short, wavy blonde locks hung to her shoulders with half of it pulled back in a yellow flower clip—always with a pop of color.

“Paging Myles! You there?” Sophie waved her hand in front of my face, interrupting my slow perusal of her outfit.

“I’m busy.” I held my finger up, attempting to close the gap of her button-up, covering her perky tits.

“Myles, what are you doing?” She giggled, pulling away from me playfully .

“You decided to go the sinful route, huh?” I referred to her outfit that was currently getting me worked up.

She reared back; her hand placed on her chest. “I’m sorry, did you want me to dress like a nun to get coffee on a warm summer day?”

“It would have been preferred. Now you’ll just have to deal with my wandering eyes.” Winking, I looked down at her chest and back up at her eyes.

“I can handle you, Myles. Don’t you worry. Now, where are we walking to?” I had no doubts she could handle me. From the first kiss we ever shared, I felt I met my perfect match when it came to our physicality and flirty banter.

“Not sure. Let’s just walk and talk. What do you say?”

“Only if you hold my hand.” She was giving me an inch. A reason to touch her.

“Let’s put these flowers in the car so I can free up a hand then.”

“Deal.”

Walking out of Mugs , coffee in hand, I placed the little mason jar of flowers in the cup holder of my Jeep and reached for her hand.

With no real sense of direction, we walked hand in hand down High Street, our palms slick with sweat and not a care in the world.

Breaking up our silent moment, Sophie pulled my hand, yanking me into a random shop just a few doors down. “Shit!” she screeched under her breath, her body pressed against mine and her head buried in my chest.

Not sure what had her so wound up, going from zero to one hundred, or why she needed to hide behind me, but I didn’t mind the position we were in whatsoever.

“By all means, keep your head there. But what the hell is going on?”

Disobeying my request, she backed away slightly, looking up at me with a dip between her brows. “My dad. I just saw him in the window of Peaks next door.”

“You still on the outs with him?”

“Yeah, it’s complicated. I’m just not ready to talk to him yet. I was just a little startled seeing him. Usually, he’s in the back in his office, so I wasn’t expecting it.”

“Can I help you two find anything today?” Sophie and I looked around, spotting an elderly woman.

I was so thrown off by her nuzzling her face into my chest, I was completely clueless that we had walked into a random shop. A shop I had never been into, as long as I’ve lived here.

How ironic. A flower shop.

Large tables sat in the middle of the shop, big tin containers separating each flower with their own kind. Each with an individual sign stating exactly what they were. Roses, carnations, lilies, lavender, willow, eucalyptus, and so many other bright-colored variations scattered around.

“Build your own bouquet” was written on an A-frame sign next to the table.

Clearly, Sophie caught on quicker than I did because she cleared her throat, speaking for both of us. “Yes! We would love to build our own bouquet.”

Uh, we what?

“Perfect! Just pick out any flowers you would like to bundle, and I can wrap them up for you when you’re all finished. If you have any questions, just let me know!”

“Thank you so much,” Sophie replied with a smile while confusion was written all over mine.

“What happened to a walk?” I leaned over and said with gritted teeth so the older woman wouldn’t hear me.

“We stumbled in here by accident. I’d hate to be rude and not buy something. Oh! We can each pick our favorite colors!” The way her face lit up made it hard to say no.

Sophie began browsing through the vases of flowers, immediately picking out one of each, her hands starting to overflow.

“Here, let me help.” I motioned for her to pass the flowers over to me.

“Do you like yellow?” she asked, smelling a sunflower.

My eyes wandered to her hair clip, and I thought about the first time we met at the coffee shop and that little yellow sundress.

“Fucking love it.”

She smiled and added the large sunflower to the overflowing collection in my arms. Moving on, she picked up some lavender, iris, and a few other colors to make a large bright bundle and greenery to fill it in.

She was a damn natural when it came to eyeballing what flowers looked good together.

“Okay, I think that does it!” She giddily walked up to the register as the woman started to take inventory of each flower we chose, ringing each one into the register.

“You made some beautiful choices. They all look so wonderful together.” Her fingers continued to click against each button as she totaled the amount. “That will be one hundred and fifteen dollars.” She smiled widely, tying a piece of twine around our bouquet wrapped in brown paper.

Uh, come again? One hundred and fucking fifteen dollars for some flowers from a shop we accidentally stumbled into in order to hide from Sophie’s dad? Jesus Christ.

Looking up at Sophie, the twinkle in her eye was hard to ignore as she looked at the cheerful color arrangement. So, instead of complaining about the price, I handed over my card to the woman, happily paying for the most expensive bundle of flowers known to man.

I’d never purchased flowers for a girl in my whole life until I met Sophie. What was a simple gesture when I first moved in was easily something I could make a part of my routine if she looked as happy as she did now—and all it took was buying her some flowers.