“No!” She breathed heavily and she pulled away from his arms. “I can’t.”

His dark carnal stare nearly brought her back into his arms. “Sofie, why fight it?”

She took a step back, feeling the blood drum in her ear. “Because it’s wrong.”

He pulled her back to him gently. “Do you have any idea how many times you’ve been the star of my wet dreams?”

Sofia’s mouth opened, but she had no words. Eric had always been so gentle even about the way he spoke to her. Brandon’s words were indecent, scandalous… but they made her feel things, things that made her breath even harder. “I can’t, Brandon.”

“But you want to.”

She stared at him, unwilling to answer. He leaned in breathing on her neck but not touching. Then his lips brushed against her neck, tormenting her. Her entire body shivered.

“Do you want to, Sofie?” he whispered, then kissed her neck.

Her legs almost gave out on her as she felt a bolt of excitement run through her. Somehow, she found the strength to pull away. If what she was feeling at that very moment was any indication to the answer to his question, she had to get out of there. Fast. She thought of avoiding his eyes. They’d give her away, but who was she kidding? He already knew.

“I can’t.” She walked away.

She heard him chuckle behind her. “That’s not what I asked.”

Suddenly infuriated with herself, she hurried out of his room and toward the front door. Brandon followed her, calling out for her but she ran out. The more she thought about it, the faster she ran. As soon as she was home, she called Eric. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey, babe.”

Hearing his voice did her in. Her voice broke with the first word. “I miss you so much.”

There was a pause, then he said, “Why don’t you come down this week? I’ll get a room for us out here. I can hardly stand being away from you either, Sof.”

Still tasting Brandon in her mouth, she almost fell apart. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

***

Eric thought of the week he’d just had. Being away from Sofia was tough, but this week had been especially draining. He had no idea how emotional this would get. Sofia’s call on Monday struck a nerve. She sounded so upset. Eric knew right away something was wrong. Of course, she assured him it was just getting to her that she couldn’t go over and see him when she was missing him.

Not sure what to expect when she arrived, he braced himself. When Sofia showed up on Tuesday, her emotions had been all over the place. She’d always been eager to make love, but she’d been almost crazed from the moment she arrived and they’d been together all weekend. Then she seemed down, but no amount of persuading would get her to talk. All she said was she couldn’t wait for him to come home for good. Then in a flash, she was back to being aroused.

Eric smiled. Well, he’d never complain about that. Sofia’s sensuality went hand in hand with everything else about her personality. She was intense when it came to everything. She’d been a little weird all week. Eric had a feeling he knew why.

Her brothers weren’t the only ones with thy o a e short fuse. He’d steered clear of the coffee shop where Asia worked all week; he wasn’t adding any more fuel to that fire. He hoped she wasn’t still worrying about it. He hated to bring it up, but if she was still acting weird over the weekend he’d have to.

His phone rang just as he hopped on the freeway.

“Hey, baby!” Her chipper mood made him smile.

“Hey.”

“You on your way?”

“Yep, just hopped on the freeway.”

Usually, Eric waited until Saturday mornings to leave. Friday night traffic was horrendous, but today he’d got off early. The guy he was assigned to work with had asked for half the day off, so they told Eric he could leave early. He was headed home and not a moment too soon.

“Angel and Alex miss you.” He heard Sarah laugh in the background.

Eric smiled. “They do?”

“Yeah, they’ve been whining about you not spending any time with them on your weekends home.”

He heard Sarah laugh again along with male grumbling in the background.

Eric couldn’t help laughing. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, so we’re ordering from Andolini’s and they want you to come over and play with them.” She laughed. “Seriously, they really wanna play some football out front. Me, Sarah and Valerie will cheer.”

“Andolini’s? I’m in.” He hadn’t had their pizza in ages. When they were younger, they used to eat there all the time. They had the best pizza in town.

After hanging up with Sofia, Eric felt much better. Maybe he wouldn’t have to have that dreaded conversation with her after all.

The guys did seem happy to see him when he got to Sofia’s house, but no one was happier than Sofia. He squeezed her tight and kissed her like he really wanted to when they were finally out of her brothers sight. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t comfortable getting too cozy with her in front of them. And he knew damn well, they weren’t comfortable watching.

Once back outside, he grabbed a beer from the ice chest. “Don’t you bums work?”

“Go long,” Alex said to Angel then glanced at Eric. “Parents are at the restaurant.”

Angel ran out in the street and Alex threw the football at him. A car turned into the cul-de-sac and slowed. Angel moved out of the way, smiling at the driver. When it was close enough, he saw it was Valerie, Sarah’s cousin. Eric wasn’t surprised she was still coming around. She and Alex had been on and off since high school. Alex put up an act that their relationship was just for fun, but as much as Mr. Tough Guy played it down, Eric saw the way he looked at her when they were together. He wasn’t fooling anyone.