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But I refused to forsake my blessings. I planned to hold on to this moment for as long as I could. I knew Mom would have her mask and armor on soon enough. At least for now, I had the mother I dreamed about as a child. The mom who wanted to know about me and understood me, even if it was just for a short breakfast.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Damon
I gripped the back of my neck, ready to throw the blueprints rolled out in front on the drafting table in front of me across the room. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t concentrate on the changes a client requested for a new project.
I wasted another day because I couldn’t keep my head in the game.
It only took one night with Sophia for her to consume every one of my thoughts again. Even before she’d shown up at the funeral, she constantly lingered in the back of my mind. I couldn’t stop wondering where she was and what she was doing.
Nothing had changed in our relationship. We’d given each other comfort, nothing more.
I had to keep reminding myself of this, or I’d never get my head on straight.
Then why the fuck did it feel as if everything had changed? At least for me, it had.
Outside of my siblings, she knew more about me and my fucked-up family history than anyone else.
After over a decade of friendship, Lucian only had bits and pieces I kept hidden away from the public.
I knew nothing I shared with Sophia would ever leave her lips.
I trusted her in a way I had never trusted anyone in my life.
From the beginning of our relationship, I told Sophia everything with us was her choice, and then my actions contradicted my words. No wonder she continued to keep that wall up between us.
The prime example was how I acted that night in her studio. I hadn’t even worked to get her back, and I expected her to move back in with me and make plans for our future.
The number of times Sophia told me I was arrogant was too many to count. I’d taken it as our form of banter and her being a brat, but she’d done nothing but speak the truth.
I was arrogant and focused on what I saw as the right way. This left her afraid.
I was supposed to be her safe place, her security.
I sure fucked that up.
Letting her in and baring my soul to her was the first step to fixing the mess.
Now what?
In the three days since I left the Morelli estate, Sophia and I hadn’t seen or spoken to each other.
I wanted to give her space and resisted going to her studio.
But what if I’d read the situation wrong? Was she waiting for me to make contact?
At this point, I had no damn idea what to do. I was a grown fucking man, wandering around like an idiot.
Pushing back from my chair, I approached the floor-to-ceiling windows in my office and gazed out at the Manhattan skyline.
After heating the streets throughout the day, the sun filled the sky with a perfect late-afternoon glow. It invited the people of the city to come out and enjoy the approaching evening.
In contrast, everything inside me felt cold, lonely, and isolated. It wasn’t something I experienced until I lost Sophia.
I craved Sophia’s fire. She represented warmth and vitality. That was why all her things remained as she left them in the penthouse a few floors above me.
I needed to see them and remember how she’d brought life into my world.
