never be the same again.
After he pulled on his shorts, he walked out to the kitchen and grabbed a sparkling water from the fridge. He never drank more than a glass or two of anything on a business trip. The last thing anyone needed was for him to get sloshed and torpedo a deal. So his rooms were always stocked with coffee, tea and sparkling water.
Frankly, he could use a drink right now. Something to help him get this wash of confusion under control. Because he wanted everything about Sofia—and he had no idea how to get it. Not without sending her running for the hills.
Sofia came back into the room. She’d dressed in a tank top and a pair of panties—he thought. He was sorely tempted to lift the hem on the shirt and double-check. She didn’t seem the least bit self-conscious about walking around like that and Eric didn’t feel the least bit self-conscious staring at her.
“Mom sent a picture—do you want to see?” she asked.
“Of course.” Those two adorable children were sitting in matching high chairs, looking like they’d rolled around in a plate of spaghetti. Sauce and noodles were everywhere and they were grinning the same huge smile. Strangely, it was everything he needed and salt in the wound at the same time because they weren’t his babies.
Somehow, he managed to chuckle. “I bet bath time is hilarious at your house.”
“You have no idea,” she said, sounding like a battle-scarred veteran instead of a young mother.
He handed her the water. He should be saying things, he realized. Telling her how beautiful she was, how great the sex was. He’d never had any trouble coming up with those sorts of things before.
All of these easy words abandoned him. All he could say as he handed the phone back to her was, “Come to bed.”
She looked up at him through her lashes and it took everything he had not to sweep her off her feet and make love to her all over again. “All right.”
Hand in hand, they walked back to the bed. She was wearing panties, but a different pair than earlier. These were hers, not the ones Clarice had picked out for her. He liked them all the better for that.
He pulled the covers up over them and turned off the light. He didn’t know if he would be able to sleep, but he hoped she would.
Long dark minutes passed before she said, “Eric?”
“Yeah, babe?”
She didn’t answer for second, just flattened her hand against his chest. “I just want you to know—this really means a lot to me. I...I’ve never been with anyone else but my husband. Never even shared a bed with anyone else.”
He swallowed hard. “I’m honored.”
With a sigh, she burrowed deeper into him. God, she felt good there, her weight against his side. “Thank you for holding me. For being here for me. You’ve no idea how much it means to me.”
Her trust was a gift. He honestly wasn’t sure he was worthy of it. “I will always be here for you, Sofia,” he said, because it was as close to the truth as he could get without changing the terms of their deal.
Sleep was a long time coming.
* * *
Even though he was forty feet away and there were probably thirty people standing in between them, Eric had not been able to stop looking at Sofia all night long. She was on the other side of the Starlight Room, a ballroom at the top of the Chase Park Plaza, listening to a conversation between the city planner’s assistant and the wife of the contractor Steve preferred to use for the demolition.
Tonight, Sofia was wearing a cocktail dress of red lace. She was gorgeous in it and the low lighting in the room—supposedly starlight—made her practically glow. She was simply gorgeous, he decided. And he loved her in red.
Maybe he should get her some red lingerie—something lacy and tantalizing. Maybe with matching stockings and a garter belt. And a pair of black high heels. The vision of Sofia made it difficult for Eric to stand upright. All day long, he’d struggled to focus on the deal at hand. The effort it took not to moon over her was harder than he’d expected it to be.
She needed a strand of black pearls looped around her neck, he decided. She hadn’t let Clarice add any jewelry to the outfits. Pearls nestled between her breasts, matching earrings dangling...
“The vision for the space...” someone was saying to him, but he wasn’t paying attention. How much longer until he could pull her away from here? Until he could strip her out of that dress and lay her on his bed? The hours since he’d made love to her this morning felt like a lifetime. He wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
But just then, Sofia stepped away from her conversation. Eric had to crane his neck, but he saw that she was staring down at her phone.
Instantly he went on alert. Something was wrong. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. That feeling only got stronger when she walked toward the hallway outside the ballroom, her phone already at her ear.
Eric followed her. His first thought went to the kids. Were they all right?
“Mr. Jenner,” the mayor said, pulling him aside. “Have you met...”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Eric said, smiling broadly. He didn’t have time to be the billionaire businessman right now. Sofia needed him. “If you would excuse me for a moment, there’s something I need to see to.”
He managed to get the rest of the way across the room without being intercepted by anyone else who wanted to shake his hand and welcome him to St. Louis. The details of the deal still had to be ironed out, but it looked like this development was going to happen and everyone was in a celebratory mood.
Everyone except for Sofia. He was all but running by the time he burst through the doors and into the hall. When Sofia jerked around to look at him, his heart dropped. He knew that look. She was on the verge of a full-on panic attack. Dammit, he hated being right sometimes. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, willing her to be strong. “What’s wrong?”
Her words cut him like a knife. “The twins are sick.”
For a moment, he couldn’t do anything but stare down into her worried eyes as a feeling of complete and total helplessness swamped him. “How sick?”
He was not going to panic until he knew whether this was a case of the sniffles run amok or something more serious.
“Mom said they started throwing up last night. She...” Sofia’s lips trembled and she clutched Eric’s arm. “Dad rushed Eddy to the hospital a few minutes ago. He wasn’t responding. Eric, what are we going to do?” That last part came out as a sob.
He tried to make sense of what she was saying—but he wasn’t coming up with anything. “They were fine last night. Your mom sent that picture, didn’t she? Spaghetti?”
Sofia was taking in huge gulps of air, but for all that, Eric wasn’t sure she was actually breathing. “She said Miss Rita was sick. And she didn’t want to worry me today because I was working and I was supposed to be having fun. She said she kept hoping that the kids would work it out of their systems today, but Eddy kept getting worse and worse and Addy isn’t
