AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The two walked out into the darkness together as Memphis started laughing.
“That’s why you never get serious with them,” Memphis snickered to Austin.
His date slapped his shoulder.
"What does that mean?” she demanded.
The rest of the table fell into smaller conversations as Memphis tried to dig himself out of his hole.
Austin and Land began discussing a mare they were training as Grace turned to her friend, giggling about the cute guy sitting at table six.
Brooks and Land seemed unfazed that their dates were checking out this new guy so Sofi didn’t worry about it either. As much as Sofi liked Grace, her allegiance would always be to the Ashford boys. She’d grown up with them and they felt almost like her own brothers. She actually might like Land and Brooks more than her flesh and blood brothers, though she did love the Castillos more. That was the funny thing about family. You could love them fiercely without liking them all that much.
Sofi passed her empty salad plate to a waitress and then dug into her steak and mashed potatoes entrée as she moved her people watching to the room at large. She noticed her parents laughing with the couple beside them and Beckett trying to climb under the table. Just as Leia grabbed him by the back of his suspenders, the emcee got up to announce a slideshow of photos of Logan and Lake’s lives as Jackson, the best man, and Grace, the maid of honor, made speeches.
The entire room went quiet as photos of little Logan were displayed on a giant white screen. Jackson told stories about the rambunctious brothers, paying tribute to Mitchell Ashford, the Ashford’s patriarch who had passed. Sofi’s face was streaked with tears and she noticed each Ashford boy swiping under his own eyes by the time Grace got up to speak about how much she admired her resilient big sister. In the face of all adversity, Lake had won.
Without a word Austin pulled Sofi’s chair closer to his during Grace’s speech, just a little but enough to slide an arm around her shoulders. She was sure he’d noticed her tears and this was his way of comforting her, maybe even receiving some comfort for himself as well.
Being this close to Austin was doing all kinds of messy things in Sofi’s brain and she tried to focus on the waiters as they brought around the desserts and then on Logan and Lake as they cut their cake. She laughed along as Logan carefully fed Lake perfectly just before she shoved her piece into Logan’s face.
And as much as she enjoyed watching the arrival of her dessert and the sweet moment between the couple, Sofi’s entire being thrummed at being so near to Austin.
Sofi applauded and smiled with everyone else when Lake started to clean Logan up after the cake debacle and then watched as he led his mom onto the dance floor while Lake joined them with her dad. It was only when Austin finally moved his arm to dig into his dessert that Sofi was able to do so as well. She tried to ignore the sudden chill that swept over her now that Austin was no longer so close and smiled a bit too widely when Logan handed his mom off to Jackson, who led her back to her seat as Logan cut in and danced with Lake for their first dance.
Before she knew it, Sofi had wiped her dessert plate clean—if she couldn’t have the man of her dreams, at least she’d enjoyed the dessert of her dreams. That chocolate soufflé was everything. She licked her fork as Austin turned his attention to her, Sofi’s cheeks going warm as she realized he’d witnessed the way she devoured her soufflé. Sofi dropped her fork.
“And this is why I keep breaking up with women. No one can clean a plate like my Sof,” Austin said to Land as if he compared all of the women he dated to Sofi.
Her embarrassment fled in the face of confusion. Because why in the heck would he do that when he could have her? None of it made sense, so Sofi refused to let her heart jump at the idea that Austin thought her the woman all others should be measured against. Okay, her heart jumped a little.
“There was this time in high school when we were both on dates and Sofi’s date ordered her a salad,” Austin said to Land, pulling Sofi’s attention back to him when he looked at her. She shook her head at the memory. She could appreciate a good salad, but as her whole meal? Nuh-uh.
Land laughed, knowing Sofi well enough to judge the guy’s mistake. “Sofi waited until the entrees came and switched their plates, telling the guy that she thought he’d ordered the burger and fries for her.”
“He was pissed,” Sofi interjected, memories of that night coming to life in her mind as Austin told the story.
“No, he got pissed when you wouldn’t share any of the burger with him. You told him he should have ordered a burger for himself if he really wanted one.” Land began laughing. “Sofi then not only polished off her whole plate, but she proceeded to steal half of my fries as my date didn’t even finish the salad she’d ordered for herself. I’m pretty sure my date ended up in a relationship with your date for a few years,” Austin finished and now all three of them were laughing.
Sofi had forgotten all about that. She really did love her food, but she’d never realized that Austin appreciated that about her. His eyes twinkled as he took her in and her breath caught painfully.
“And now we’d like to open the dance floor to all of our guests,” the emcee announced, startling Sofi enough to look away from Austin. Her eyes turned toward Land. Had Austin’s brother seen what had happened?
Sofi was going to guess he hadn’t because Land wasn’t even looking at them. With the announcement he’d turned expectantly to his date.
Out of the corner of her eye Sofi watched as Austin stood, offering Sofi his hand. “Dance with me?”
She had to look up at him as he spoke and once again her breathing didn’t feel quite right as his blue eyes focused solely on her.
She should say no. She would have said no. If she could have.
But her heart apparently had other ideas and Sofi found herself taking his hand and following his lead onto the dance floor. She shut her eyes as he pulled her in flush with his body, his hand pressing against her back.
And in that moment Sofi was his. Completely. He didn’t know it but he held her heart and soul as much as he did her body.
Why didn’t he know it?
Sofi swore she felt his lips brush against her hair as she pressed her cheek to his chest.
