Recaptured Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page B

satisfied. Well, not satisfied in the way she wanted to be, but satisfied he had wanted her—though she still couldn’t fathom why.
    “Well then—” Anne Marie took Sophia’s hand “—what in the devil stopped you?”
    “What?”
    “What stopped you? Why didn’t you let the feelings take you?”
    Sophia sighed.
    Take me.
    Oh, Sophia had wanted Xavier to take her, all right. On the balcony, in the dark, on a gleaming summer night. A bed would have been fine, too.
    What had stopped her? Anne Marie had always told Sophia that she didn’t reach out or risk enough to find some of the things she was missing. Maybe she’d missed her chance with Xavier because she’d been too afraid. Afraid of her response to him and afraid he might have actually known her.
    “Quite frankly,” Sophia said, “I’m concerned where my feelings would have led. Actually, I know exactly where they would have, and I honestly think I would have liked it. Maybe even loved it.” Sophia shook her head in dismay. “Plus,” she said as her voice dropped to a whisper, “I think he knows me.”
    “What do you mean, ‘knows’ you?”
    “He knew my name.”
    Anne Marie rocked back. “And?”
    Sophia huffed. “And what? I’d spent all of five minutes in his presence and he knows my name? Is he bloody psychic?”
    Anne Marie waved off Sophia’s comment. “Dear, did you forget that you and I were talking outside at the show before he came out?”
    Her face crinkled. “So?”
    “Who’s to say he didn’t overhear me say your name?”
    Sophia’s body tensed. Had Anne Marie called her by her name that night? At that moment outside? Possibly. Her lip curled downward, and her eyes slid back to Anne Marie’s. “I’ll go with you on that one. But he said other things to make me think the contrary.”
    “Like what?”
    “Well, he said something about the dress I was wearing being made with me in mind. And then he said something about waiting too long to have me in his arms.”
    Anne Marie’s eyebrow shot up. “So?”
    “What do you mean, ‘so’?”
    “Those are called pick-up lines, Sophia. He was hitting on you, darling.”
    Sophia frowned. She hadn’t considered that. Instead, she’d had a ridiculous thought for just a brief moment that maybe Xavier was a part of the past she’d been searching for.
    “You’re probably right,” Sophia said. “I’ve never been to America.”
    Anna Marie flashed a smile. “That doesn’t mean he’s never been here, Sophia.”
    She hadn’t thought of that either. She hadn’t seemed to think about many things since last night; her mind got so muddy when she thought of Xavier.
    “True,” Sophia said. “But I think I’d remember him.” His face. His smell. His presence.
    “What if it was before the accident?”
    Sophia’s insides churned. She should’ve thought of that, too. Part of her held out hope that was true. The same part that warmed at the mere thought him. She shook her head. “I wish it was the case. But I’m certain he would have said something, right?”
    “Yes, you’re probably right. So then, it’s just as I said; he was simply hitting on you.”
    Sophia sighed in relief—or was it regret? “It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s probably halfway around the world right now.”
    “So that’s it, then? You won’t see him again?”
    “See who again?” Katherine asked as she walked into Sophia’s room without so much as a knock.
    “Oh, no one, Mother,” Sophia said. “You could knock, you know.”
    Katherine’s lips formed a thin line. “If you want privacy, close the door all the way. Now, who are you seeing again?”
    Sophia crossed her arms. “I’m not seeing anyone.”
    “Then who is this gentleman you’re discussing?”
    Arguing would do no good, so Sophia just said his name, hoping that alone would quell her mother’s curiosity.
    The color slowly drained from Katherine’s face. “Xavier Cain, you said?”
    “Mother?” Sophia asked as she grabbed