Rescuing the Bad Boy (Second Chance #2)(52)

Painful words from their shared past whispered in her mind. She ignored them. Numbly, she heard herself ask, “Fifteen minutes?”

He lifted his head, his silver-blue eyes making her feel, making her want, making her forget the past and cling to the present instead. His lips landed on hers, his longish hair tickling her cheeks.

“Ten, Scampi. Ten, tops.”

He blew out a breath that tickled her stomach. She fed her fingers into his hair.

“Ten,” she agreed.

Gone. She was gone for him already.

That was fast.





Sofie couldn’t read the look on Faith’s face at all. One of her eyes was scrunched closed, the open one dark blue and filled with judgment. Or admiration.

Or… jealousy?

Sofie lifted her arms and dropped them to her sides. “Okay I give up. Let me have it. Did I officially screw the pooch, here?” She slapped her hands to her mouth, then held them in front of her. “You know what I mean.”

Faith folded slender arms over her breasts, and for a moment didn’t give Sofie a single damn clue as to what she was thinking. A second and a half later, she let her have it.

“Fly free, my little bird.” Faith rounded the desk, bent over Sofie’s chair, and hugged her neck. When she stood, she gave an overexaggerated shrug. “I don’t know why you insist on beating yourself up. You should have what you want. Everyone else in the world seems to get what they want. And no one seems to care about the consequences.”

Uh-oh. This did not sound good.

Faith walked around the empty shop, her voice escalating in frustration. “Michael. Didn’t Michael have what he wanted? He had Cookie. He still has Cookie. He’s probably taking her on the cruise he bought for my birthday. And what about my mother? Doesn’t Linda Shelby always get what she wants? Does she not have a way-too-young male hand model prancing around her house, lounging at her pool, drinking her beer—which makes no sense by the way because he has abs of steel. How can he drink beer?”

Oh yeah, Faith’s meltdown was bad. The pressure of living with her mother had finally gotten to her. When Faith left Michael, she’d tried to find an apartment in Evergreen Cove, but the only place not too close to rental properties teeming with kids and noise and vacationers had a hellacious waiting list. Faith put her name in, but until then, she was stuck under her mother’s roof.

“And what about Skylar?” Faith said, tossing her hands into the air. “My baby sister gets what she wants. Guess where I moved her when I helped her out of her boyfriend’s house?”

Cautiously, Sofie asked, “Where?”

“Into her own house! Her own house!”

“Let me guess.” Sofie crossed the room. “Your mom furnished the house. As in paid for the house?”

“Furnished as in bought furniture, and furnished as in paid for the damn house.” Faith’s voice went quiet, losing steam. “Here’s the clincher. I can’t decide why I’m so upset. If my mom offered to buy and furnish my house, I would never let her.”

She wouldn’t. Sofie had known Faith for a long time, and the woman was independent. Faith’s mother gifted both her girls thousands of dollars each year, but Faith insisted on working. Refusing the money caused a huge rift, so Faith kept it, investing it instead. Up until recently, that nest egg was supposed to fund a wedding for her and Michael.

Faith blew out a breath. “We were talking about you. Not me. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’ve been through a lot.”

A resilient smile found her friend’s face. “You and Donovan did the hanky-panky. Now you’re not sure if you want to do it again…” She motioned with one hand for Sofie to tell the rest.

Well, that was some conversation starter. Sofie walked to the window and watched the quiet street. May as well admit the truth.

“I want to do it again,” she announced to Endless Avenue just beyond her reflection on the pane. “I want to do it again and again and again. He’s crazy sexy, and he…” He knew how to move his body the right way to give her an orgasm propped against a washing machine. But she had some pride, and she wasn’t about to tell Faith that part.

Gosh. The washing machine. Sofie had never done it anywhere other than a bed. Or the couch.

And that’d been with Donny, too.

Anyway.

Moving on.

“So what’s the problem?” Faith asked when Sofie turned around to face her. “Do him. Do him while he’s in town and when he leaves town you can stop doing him.”

Sofie crossed her arms over her stomach. Holding on to… she didn’t even know what. “But isn’t that stupid? If you look at our history, it’s not like he was great to me seven years ago. Would I be dumb to get involved with him again?”

Faith grasped Sofie’s shoulders. “Your eyes are wide open. They weren’t back then. Now, you’re in control. You know who Donny is, and who he isn’t.”

Sofie locked her arms around her stomach tighter. She knew way more about him than she used to. Part of her did feel like she knew him.

“You have the power to walk away. That’s all the power you need.” Faith’s voice went soft, her eyes sad. “You can trust me on that.”