HANDLE WITH CARE (The Ludzecky Sisters Book 5) (9 page)

Both men stood and shook her hand. “Good to have you,” his dad said.

Lil gave her a grateful look when Sofia handed her the bouquet. “Thank you, Sofia.” She nodded to a chair. “We’ve saved a seat next to Max for you.”

Up until right now, Max had believed things would go well today. His brothers might be a little rough, but he believed they’d pull through for him. Now, at their absence, he was sweating it.

“Where are the guys?”

“We don’t exactly know.”
His mother still seemed calm. “As soon as the bell rang, they disappeared.”

He and Sofia exchanged a look, and she touched his arm lightly.

“I…” He halted, though, when the three of them came back in. Goddamn it, what the hell were they doing? His mother gasped and his father made a negative sound in his throat.

The boys all wore lightweight suits, white shirts, spit-polished shoes.
Hair was neatly combed. Two of them kept a hand behind their backs. Max shot up from his chair. “I don’t know what you think—”

Stopping him with another touch on his arm, Sofia stood, too. God, he hoped she didn’t leave. He couldn’t tell from the expression on her face what she was thinking. She simply raised her chin like a queen before her subjects and waited.

Jess pulled red roses from
behind his back. “These are for you.”

Sofia didn’t take them.

Ronny produced Godiva chocolate. Max was surprised he knew of the brand. Again, Sofia was still.

Deeks got a devilish look in his eyes. From the sideboard, he picked up a large box and opened it. “I was in charge of desserts. This is flourless chocolate cake, gluten-free. Just for you, Sof.”

All the anger deflated from
Max. Instead of doing something wrong, they were trying in their own way to please her. And if Sofia was offended by all this, then she wasn’t who he thought she was.

For a few more moments, she studied the guys. Finally, she bestowed a blinding smile on the three of them, accepted the gifts and kissed each brother on the cheek. “Thank you, guys. For all this.” She angled her head at Max.
“But I think you nearly gave your brother a heart attack.”

“Well,” Deeks said a little too loudly, “somebody had to break this ice.” Then more reasonably, “We know you were…put off by us last week. And we wanted to impress you today.”

“Consider me impressed,” she said.

Whew!” Deeks’s eyes danced. “Now, did you hear the joke about the Polish blonde woman who walked into a bar…?”

Sofia practically danced up the stairs to her place over the studio. Behind her, Max’s steps sounded light, too. He’d said, rather implacably, at the end of the night,
I’m gonna follow you home.

I’d like that.

They crossed the threshold and she closed the door. “So, I guess it went good?”

“It did.” She leaned against the wood. “They were darling.”

“They’re not the only ones.” He advanced toward her, his dark eyes gleaming like hot coals. “You were a real trouper. I can’t tell you how much your reaction meant to me.”

Staring up at him, she bit her lip. “I wanted it to go well.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you a lot, Max. When I was put off by their mannerisms, I was disappointed in myself. Though I still worry you and I are so
diff—”

He cut her off with a kiss. A hard one that set her head spinning. Lifting her off the floor, he braced her against the wood and moved in. Their bodies met, and her hips pressed into his. She hadn’t meant to do that. Her action was spontaneous, like this kiss.

He growled, and responded in kind.

Pure hot pleasure rose in her as he continued to kiss her. Then one hand went to
her breast. She jerked.

“Is this okay?” he asked against her cheek.

“Yes, more than okay. It feels so good.” The sensation of a man’s intimate touch was wonderful. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt it. And never so strongly.

He massaged her. Let his lips travel to her neck and kissed her there. Heat rose from him, from her, and Sofia stopped thinking.

She didn’t know
how much later he drew back. She reached for him again, but he took her hand and let her slide to the floor. “No, not this way. Not mindless.”

“Mindless feels pretty good to me right now.”

“It won’t tomorrow. We got a plan, baby, and we should stick to it.”

Sofia tossed her head back. And straightened her shoulders. She remembered lying in bed right after the surgery, at sixteen, vowing
to live her life without hesitation. And every single year after that when she went to have a checkup, as she waited on the examining table in one of those skimpy robes, she promised herself she’d embrace each day. So far, she had. Or at least she thought she had, until right this moment, when Max resurrected all the feelings of sexual arousal and attraction that had been buried deep inside
her. There hadn’t been a man in her life in a long time. How awful.

“Sofia? Where did you go?”

“Backwards in time.”

“I don’t understand. Don’t you think we should stick with the plan? Get to know each other better, take this slow?”

She pushed herself off the wall and into him, looping her arms around his neck. “No. I say, screw the plan.”

Even though he knew
they’d rushed what was about to happen, that they’d just begun their relationship, Max wanted Sofia with a passion he didn’t know he was capable of. Now, standing by her bed, with both of them naked physically—and emotionally, he realized—he brushed his hand across her shoulder and took pleasure in the goose bumps that rose on her skin. “You’re so little. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”

She stood
on tiptoes and whispered against his chest, “I’m sturdier than I look.”

He put his chin on her head. How to do this?

Drawing away, Sofia decided for them. She climbed onto the bed and patted the mattress. He lay down beside her, sunk into the foam and turned on his side. “I’ll be careful,” he whispered, not recognizing the emotion in his voice. He wanted this badly, but it had to be good
for her. So he started at her neck and trailed light kisses along her collarbone, the upper swell of her breast. He took her fully into his palm. His whole body reacted to the intimate touch. His hand went lower to her taut abdomen and curve of her hip. She was little, but she was absolutely perfect. He told her so.

Her hands went to his shoulders. “You, too. I never knew mile-wide shoulders
could be so sexy.” She kissed his pecs. “Or this light dusting of hair.” Leaning in, she inhaled his scent. He let her explore him, her hands going everywhere above the waist.

After a very long while, he could barely stand it. “You’re gonna go lower, aren’t you, sweetheart? I think I have to have you tonight.”

“I feel the same. We will, Max. But not yet.”

Sofia lost
herself in the sensation of him but heeded his request and let her hand trail downward. She brushed her knuckles against his groin, and he hardened even more. She explored him there, too, and finally closed her fist over his penis. He ricocheted forward. “Oh, God, Sofia. Oh, man.” His breath came out in heavy puffs. She gave him a playful swat on his butt. “Feel good?”

“Witch. You know it
does.”

She kept up the motion until he grabbed her wrist. Not gently. “No more.”

“Geez, you keep saying that tonight.”

Angling himself over her, he eased her onto her back. And peered down at her. “You’re something else.” He leaned in to suckle a breast. She arched into his mouth. His lips became more insistent, and the sensation went from gentle to acute in seconds. She began to squirm.
He caressed her stomach, her thighs, then settled at their juncture. Rubbed. Made circular movements with his palm. “More, Max,” she said.

He gave her more. Gently, he slipped his finger inside her, and it was her turn to rise up.

“Shh,” he said. “You were the one who wanted to wait.”

“Maybe next time. Come inside me, please.”

She didn’t have to ask again. He reached to the night
table where he’d left condoms. After donning one, he turned back and, eased her over to face him. He scissored their legs and entered her. With only a few strong thrusts from him, Sofia felt the sweet flow of sensation swell to a climax, and she went over the edge.

As Max fell back into the pillows, breathing like bellows, he closed his eyes and let the pleasure wash through
him. He never expected the almost violent reaction he’d had when she spasmed around him. Who would have thought this sedate, calm woman could spark something in him no woman ever had before? Something deeper and on a different plane. Though the thought scared him, he couldn’t deny it. But they still were newcomers to each other.

She curled into him and he tugged her close, scared himself more
because he wanted to keep her there. She said, “That was nice.”

“Nice? Sofia, ice cream is nice. Sunny days are nice. That was…”

“Fabulous? Perfect? Cataclysmic?”

“That’s a start.”

“Why is there a
but
in your voice?”

“Honey, this happened fast. You know it did.”

“I know. But when I was plastered up against you in front of the door tonight, I realized it was meant to be.
And I think you did, too. You were just trying to be protective. But I don’t need protection. To be treated with kid gloves.”

He remembered her saying that about the cancer.

“I know. The animal instinct just came out in me.”

Her laugh was sexy and she reached for his cock again. “Yeah?”

It gave a paltry attempt at raising its ugly head but flopped back down. She’d satisfied him
completely.

“So,” he said, sounding like some insecure teenager. “Where do we go from here?”

She leaned over and kissed his mouth. “We let nature take its course. And for the cosmos’s sake, not worry about this happening so soon.”

“So you’ll be my squeeze?”

She thumped him on the chest.

Then they cuddled into each other and slept.

Elizabeita awoke with
a start. She’d had a dream about Sofia. A bad dream, that her sister had a car accident and the guy driving was a football player. It didn’t take Einstein to figure out what that was about. Reaching over, she picked up her cell and punched in Sofia’s number. “
Namaste
. This is Sofia. Leave a message.”

They all tried to keep their phones on day and night because tragedy had struck the Ludzecky
household more than once. She glanced at the clock. It was only six. But Elizabeita knew Sofia was up by this time every day, even in wintertime.

Unable to shake the bad feeling, she bounded out of bed, showered and dressed in twenty minutes and was on the street headed to the subway by 6:20. She arrived at Serenity Yoga in Queens just before seven. She had a key to the private entrance, so
she let herself in and climbed the stairs.

To be polite, she knocked on the door to the apartment. No answer. She knocked again. And again. Called Sofia’s name. She was just about to use the key when the door opened. “Lizzie, what are you…? Oh, my dear Buddha, what’s wrong?”

“No, no, Sof, nothing’s wrong. I…” Elizabeita’s comment trailed off. Sofia was safe. When Elizabeita settled some,
she examined her sister. She looked great this morning, her hair messy from sleep and her face relaxed and satisfied.

Sofia frowned. “Come on in.”

Inside the apartment, the first thing Elizabeita noticed was the sound of running water. In the shower. “Who’s here?”

“Here?”

“Did one of the girls stay over?”

“Um, no. I…listen, can I get you some coffee? I just made it.”

“You
don’t drink coffee.”

“I don’t. But would you like a cup.”

“Sofia, who is here?”

A man appeared in the hallway with a towel around his waist, bare chested, skin glistening with drops of water. He was big, with dark hair slicked back off his face. “Is that coffee I—” He halted and glanced at Sofia.

“Max, this is my sister Elizabeita.”

He put his hand on the knot of the towel.
“Hi, Elizabeita.”

She couldn’t help herself. She pivoted around. “Hell, Sofia, I told you to stay away from jocks. And he isn’t even that cute.”

Max behaved like a gentleman. He went into the bedroom, came out with the pants and shirt on that he had worn yesterday and looked absolutely, devastatingly handsome. Now that they’d made love, she let the pull of him run free
inside her. He kissed her good-bye on the cheek, nodded to Elizabeita, who’d insulted him, and left the apartment.

“See?” Elizabeita said unapologetically. “He can’t even stay around and face the music.”

“He’s a teacher. He has to be at work by seven thirty.” Maybe reminding her of his profession, how important it was, would help. Sofia was very much trying to control her annoyance at
her sister. “I’ll ask again, do you want coffee?”

“What, did you buy it for him?”

“Elizabeita, stop!” She’d actually raised her voice at someone.

Elizabeita’s eyes rounded like saucers.

“Honey, you can’t come into my house and insult my guests. But I’m sorry I yelled.”

“You never yell.”

She’d never behaved quite like last night or as she had during the 4:00 a.m. tryst that
had happened when she’d awakened and got him up. She giggled at the pun. “Come on into the kitchen.”

They sat over tea and coffee. “What happened to make you come out here?”

“I had a dream about you.”

“A bad dream?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have them often?”

Elizabeita had a
tell.
When she was hiding something, she rubbed the wrist she’d broken when she was five. Her fingers went
there now.

“Lizzie, what’s going on?”

“All right, I should tell someone, I guess. I have feelings, like
Matka’s
dreams. And sometimes I have those, too.”

“Seriously?”

“Not as often, or intense, but I knew before
Matka
was sick when I was little, that time she had to go to the hospital. When Luke was in that gym with the kid and the bomb, I woke up that day sick to my stomach. The
time Caterina got shot, I sensed she was hurt. And I was awake when the guys got killed, and I knew something was wrong.”