Hard Charger: Jake & Sophia: A Hot Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

against the booth seat, glanced pointedly at his watch, and raised an eyebrow as he focused on Sophia.  “It’s nearly one AM.  Shouldn’t you be home now, sis?”
    “Uh, we’re not little kids,” Cyn replied.  “You don’t have to tell us to go to bed.”
    Sophia put a hand on her friend’s arm.  She knew her brother was just looking out for her.  “It’s okay.  He’s right.  We should be heading out.”
    Cyn groaned and rolled her gaze heavenward.  “You gotta stop letting him run your life.”
    Her handbag banging against her hip, Sophia laughed.  “What else are brothers for?”  She gave Alex a quick nod, avoided Jake’s intent look, and then yanked her friend away from the men.  “Let’s go.”
    With Cyn grumbling the entire time, Sophia led the way across the dance floor.  Her stomach was still fluttering and her knees felt weak.  She hadn’t realized how much seeing Jake would affect her, and she hoped that his hold over her would weaken as time went on.
    They reached the bar’s exit.  Cyn yanked the door open, and Sophia opened her handbag to get her car keys out.  They’d fallen beneath her Glock .40, a handy semi-automatic gun her sponsor had given her.  She shifted the gun aside, retrieved the keys, and then stepped out into the night with Cyn.
     
     
       Jake watched them go , his focus almost entirely on Sophia.   She was different now.  Beautiful.  Poised.  But vulnerable somehow, too.  “How’s she doing, really?” he asked Alex, as the two girls walked out the exit.
    Alex shrugged.  “She’s okay.”
    Jake noticed that she’d dropped the scarf she’d been wearing on the floor.  He picked it up.  It felt silky against his fingers...just like Sophia’s skin had felt.  “She dropped her scarf.”
    “I’ll give it back to her.”
    Jake left the scarf on the table, so Alex wouldn’t forget it.  “You said a while back that she’s waitressing for your mom at the Mermaid Inn.”
    “She has the evening shift.”
    “Before I left for the war, she said she was applying to Rowan U,” Jake murmured.  “Did she go?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did she graduate?”
    “Not really,” Alex admitted.  “She had a few problems.”
    Jake frowned.  “What kind of problems?”
    Alex shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Girl problems.”
    “Girl problems?”  He recalled a conversation he’d just had with his own mother, and added, “You mean, like, where can I get a pedicure for twenty bucks?”
    “You gotta ask her , bro.”
    Jake lifted his eyebrows.  “I can’t ask her because you’re insisting I stay away.  What the hell’s going on with her?”
    “Nothing,” Alex replied, with more force than necessary.  “She’s had a few problems, but she’s over them, and I’m proud of her.  She’s done well for herself.”
    Jake drained his glass of whiskey before replying.  “So that’s all you’re gonna tell me.”
    “There’s nothing else to tell.”
    “You know,” Jake said casually, despite the irritation bubbling inside of him, “I realize I didn’t do right by her.”
    “No, you didn’t,” Alex agreed.
    Jake hesitated as he tried to think of the right words.  “The night before I’d left for boot camp, I hadn’t been sure if I’d ever be coming home.  The recruiter had said I’d be sent to the Middle East, and that’s exactly where I ended up.”  He shifted uncomfortably on the booth bench.  “I thought I was gonna die .  So I didn’t want to keep Sophia hanging on.  I wanted her to move on.  Find someone else.  Someone who could make a life worth living for her.”  He signaled for the waitress to bring them another round of drinks.  “You might not believe this, but I didn’t want to hurt her.”
    “Just by leaving without a word, you hurt her,” Alex pointed out.
    “Yeah, but I would have hurt her worse, if I had led her on to believe I was going to come home and marry her, and then stepped on a landmine.”