He gladly shoved one into her hands and thirty seconds later, she was in the middle of a steep learning curve on how to be a good waitress in an Irish pub as customers all but growled their orders at her and demanded endless refills.
Sophie had never been a part of something so noisy, so full of constant motion. No, she realized as she loaded a tray with frothy beers, that wasn’t true. Growing up the youngest of eight had been just as noisy, just as full of motion.
No wonder she found herself loving every single second of it.
* * *
By the time Jake got a chance to pull Sophie from the pub floor, it was nearly 2:00 a.m. and they were on the verge of shutting down for the night. His bartender had popped his head in a at one point to say, “You should hire that girl full time,” but Jake had still been focused on trying to get his young employee to agree to see a counselor. A full-on treatment program would be better, but he had enough experience with alcoholics to know that pushing them in the right direction usually made them do the exact opposite.
He’d always been careful to monitor his employees for substance abuse and to make sure all of his managers did the same, but Samantha had hid it well. Well enough that it had taken her parents coming in and begging him to fire her for him to see what had been right beneath his nose.
He blamed himself, knew if he hadn’t been so obsessed with Sophie these past months he might have seen the changes in Samantha’s behavior.
The subject of his obsession was wiping down tables with a rag. She’d pulled her long hair back into a ponytail and wisps of hair curled around her flushed face. Her beauty took his breath away just as it always had, making it impossible for him to do anything but stare at her...until she went to lift one of the chairs onto the table.
“You shouldn’t be lifting things.” He took the chair from her and put it up. “I’ll get the rest. Go lie down in my office.”
He knew he should be thanking her for getting him out of a rough spot, that he should have already apologized for acting like a jerk that morning when he dropped her off at the library. Instead, he was barking orders at her.
But instead of railing back him, she simply said, “Is everything all right?”
God, she really was sweet. And far more forgiving than he deserved. No one had ever worried about him before. She was going to be the perfect mother...and wife.
Lord knew, she didn’t deserve a life stuck with an idiot like him.
But there was no way he would ever give her up. Because he was exactly the selfish bastard she’d accused him of being.
He continued putting chairs onto the tables. “Not right now. But hopefully, it will be.”
“Your employees all speak really highly of you.”
“Owning a pub,” he said, running a hand through his hair, “you’ve got to be really careful about things.”
“You mean all the easy access to alcohol?”
“People can get hooked on it. Far too easily.”
“I realized the other day that I’ve never seen you drunk before.” Her eyes looked too deep as she said, “That’s on purpose, isn’t it?”
He nodded and she put her hand on his arm. “I’m sure you’ve done everything you can to help the young woman in your office. The rest is up to her.”
He hadn’t thought anything would help him feel better about tonight...but he hadn’t counted on Sophie. The question was, he thought as she yawned, whether or not he could ever figure out how to become the kind of man she could count on, too.
“It’s way past your bedtime.” He reached out a hand to her and finally said what he should have long before now. “Thank you, Sophie.”
She put her hand in his. “You’re welcome.” She smiled as she threaded her fingers through his. “I had fun.”
He couldn’t get a handle on what he was feeling as they walked out to his car in silence. And as she fell asleep almost the instant he pressed on the gas pedal, shifting in the seat so that her hand was on his lap, Jake was thankful for so much more than Sophie filling in for the night at his pub.
What, he wondered silently, had he ever done right to deserve even this one week with her?
* * *
Jake carried Sophie inside his house, loving the way she nestled in closer to him. He swore all he was going to do was tuck her in and make himself walk away, even though she was so soft, so warm.
But after he stripped her clothes and shoes off and laid her on his bed, before he could pull the covers up over her beautiful naked curves, she reached up and put her arms around his neck.
“Stay.” She’d barely made her request when her tongue flicked out to lick his earlobe, just as he’d teased her when they were in the doctor’s waiting room. Their morning together felt like it had been a thousand years ago.
God, he’d never wanted anything more than to stay with her, but he couldn’t forget what the doctor had said about getting enough food and rest. He’d already kept her up way too late, made her spend too much time on her feet, probably without nearly enough food for the energy she’d expended waiting tables at his pub.
“You need rest.”
She finally opened her eyes and there was just enough light coming into the room from the moonlight to see the desire, the longing in them.
“I need you more.”
Jake did the only thing he could. He gave in to the urge to kiss her.
She moaned into his mouth as their tongues found each other. He wanted to be gentle, wanted to go slow, but with her curves already naked beneath him, Jake didn’t have a prayer of doing anything other than filling his hands with her sensitive br**sts, and then his mouth with them, one after the other as she arched into him.