“Holy cow,” she breathes, opening her eyes.

I lean forward to kiss her, my fingers still between her legs moving in slow stokes. I gently pull my fingers out before bringing them to my mouth, licking them clean and kissing her once again.

“You’re f**king beautiful, baby, but watching you get off is mind-blowing.”

Her head comes forward, her face going into my neck. I hold her for a few minutes, just enjoying her smell and the way she feels tucked next to me.

“I need to eat.” I watch her eyes heat. “Food, baby,” I tell her, smiling before fixing her shirt and pulling her out of bed.

“But…I want to touch you,” she says, tugging against my hand that’s pulling her towards the kitchen.

“You will, just not tonight,” I tell her, fighting my body for control.

“Why not?”

“I need to eat, and then tomorrow, we’re gonna have a busy day when I introduce you to my family, so we’ll need a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m not ready,” she whimpers, and I just shake my head, guiding her down the hall.

“I’m done talking about this. You’re going to meet my family,” I state.

“But—”

“No buts, baby. It’s past time.” I lead her into the kitchen, where I heat the food she left out for me for the second time. She watches quietly; I can see the wheels in her head spinning. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“I can’t meet your family,” she says quietly.

“Yes, you can, and you are going to.”

“What if I have a breakdown or something?”

“I’ll be there with you,” I say, looking her straight in the eyes.

“Your family will think I’m nuts.” She shakes her head.

“They’re nuts, so they won’t even notice that you’re nuts.”

“I’m not nuts. Don’t say that.” She smacks my arm.

I grab her hand, bringing it to my mouth and kissing it. “Sophie, relax. They will love you,” I say soothingly.

“How do you know that?”

“I just do.”

We sit in the kitchen while I eat and she watches me closely. When I finish, we go back to my room. She gets into bed, while I make quick work in the shower before pulling on a pair of sweats and climbing into bed with her.

“It will be okay,” I reassure her, kissing the top of her head and pulling her closer to me.

“Okay,” she says quietly.

I listen to her breathing even out before I follow her to sleep.

When I wake up, the sun is just starting to shine through the window. I look around, seeing that Sophie isn’t in bed; I listen, trying to see if I can hear her somewhere in the house.

“Soph?” I call, and nothing. I feel my eyebrows draw together, and I sit up in bed. “Soph?” I call again, and this time, Daisy comes into the room. That’s when I know she took off.

Getting out of bed, I walk into the kitchen. The house is quiet; her bag, which was on the bar last night, is now gone, along with her keys.

“Fuck,” I whisper, running my hands down my face. I can’t believe I slept through her leaving. I have always been a light sleeper, and the one time that shit would have come in handy, I f**king slept like the dead.

I walk back to the room, pick up my phone, and hit dial on her number. When it goes right to voicemail, my blood pressure starts to rise. “Call me back,” I demand then toss my phone on the bed before pulling a pair of jeans, a shirt, and boots on. Once dressed, I head to the kitchen, feed Daisy and grab the keys for my bike, go to my garage and pull the tarp off my Harley, and hop on before using my feet to back it out of the driveway.

I stop at her house first, knowing full-well she won’t be here. I get off my bike and let myself inside using the key she gave me a few weeks ago. She’s had a key to my place almost from the start. After our first run-in with my neighbor, Sophie decided she should be the one watching Daisy when I go out of town. I’m cool with that; Deb is harmless, but still. If it makes Sophie feel more secure, I am down with it.

I walk into her house, seeing that everything’s the same as it always is. She keeps her place in order, except for her bedroom, which, as usual, has clothes and shoes scattered all over the place. I look around, trying to gauge if she’s been back here since leaving my house. Her overnight bag is on the bed, and I take a few steps and open it up. The first thing I see is my shirt. I shake my head, digging around for a few more seconds. Not finding anything helpful, I shove everything back inside before heading out to search around town.

The longer I look, the more pissed I become. I have called her on and off all day, and she hasn’t answered or returned my calls. The more hours that pass without hearing from her, the more tightly wound and worried I become. When I left her place this morning, I placed a piece of tape on the edge of the door to let me know if she returned home, and so far, she hasn’t. I decide to go home and feed Daisy before going back to Sophie’s to camp out until she gets there.

I look at the clock on the wall when the front door opens. It’s after three in the morning. I sit forward on the couch, watching as she puts her bag down near the door then kicks off her shoes so they go flying towards her room. When she finally sees me, she screams out and backs up into her closed door, holding her chest. I notice that her eyes are red and puffy. Knowing that she has been crying all day about some dumb shit she talked herself into only pisses me off more.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, pushing a hand through her hair.

“What am I doing here? Is that really the question you want to f**king ask me right now?” My eyebrows come together.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” she says as I stand.

“You don’t think we should see each other anymore,” I repeat, walking towards her in measured steps.

“That’s what I just said. I just… I just don’t think this is working out,” she stutters, looking past me, probably wondering if she could make it if she bolts.

My eyes narrow on her before I reply. “You’re mine, Sophie. I don’t give a f**k what you think or what the excuse is you try to give me, but you are mine.” I let out a growl as I press her into the wall. I’m so pissed I can’t even see straight. “You snuck out of my bed then out of the house. Do you know how worried I’ve been?”