“No clue. But I’d sure like to get to know her better.” Loch smirked. He was the youngest of the three and an eternal flirt. Nox would have his fair share of laughs when the young man finally found his one.
Sophia, though? She wasn’t it.
Because she was going to be his.
Every Sunday for more weeks than she could count, Sophia had been meeting with Lorraine Hogan to discuss new romance books they’d been reading. She had originally met the older woman in a used bookstore when she was combing through the shelves for something different than what she normally read. Which was usually whatever her mother chose. Classic books like Shakespeare.
It’s not to say she didn’t love Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, but she wanted to read something that got her heart beating faster, made her palms sweat, and her heart ache for the passion read between the pages. Until Lorraine, she didn’t think it could be something she would actually indulge in.
“What would you like to drink, dear?” the woman inquired as they entered her reading room. More like a library. The walls were filled with books of every genre from romance to thriller to murder mystery. Memoirs and classics, true crime mixed with old journals. There was nothing left untouched.
“A sweet tea, please, ma’am.” Smiling unguardedly, Soph truly wished her own mother could be as loving.
“What have I told you about calling me ma’am, Miss Sophia?” There was laughter behind her words.
“I could do that when you started having grandbabies.” She always had a wistful look in her eye when she spoke of her sons giving her babies again.
“That’s right. Now, if only I could get them boys of mine to understand.” A longing entered her gaze.
Finding a chance to be nosy about the one man that had captured her attention, Sophia asked, “Don’t their wives or girlfriends want children?”
A snort of laughter left Lorraine before she could muffle it. “Those boys of mine,” she began, holding her attention, “they’re smart. They won’t settle for anything less than perfect, and not a single one has found that perfect woman for them yet. Single!” she calls out laughingly. “All of them single.”
Perfect?
Something Sophia wasn’t.
Lennox had drawn her eye as soon as she saw the three strong men digging their mother a garden weeks too early. He had a hardness to him that she was drawn to. His strength oozed from his pores like armor.
His dark blue eyes paired with his light blond hair and dark scruff on his face made her heart stutter in her chest. It was that feeling she’d read about. The one she longed to experience. Only now, her dreams were dashed. Gone. Flying high in the clouds with the wind. She wasn’t anywhere near perfect. She would never be what he wanted.
Especially if her mother knew him.
Lorraine watched more emotion flit across young Sophia’s face than she should even know how to feel. The first time she had seen the young woman, she felt a connection. She knew that they were meant to meet in the small bookstore that day but had no idea then how much poor Soph would need her now. Every week she came to Lorraine’s home looking sadder and sadder. Slightly more broken.
It wasn’t until she had been looking through old photos of her and her husband Lucas that she realized what Sophia needed. A wonderful, kind, caring, strong man. A man she could lean on. A man she could count on.
Luckily for Sophia, Lorraine happened to have three strong, strapping boys. All grown into the finest of men. Most definitely taking after their father.
Lennox, however, was the one she knew would be perfect for Sophia. He was such a rough man, all hard edges. He needed a soft woman to curve those edges a bit.
Sophia was that girl.
Who is she?
It was all Nox could think about as he watched her walk inside with his mother. She’d captivated him, and he couldn’t shake her loose. His brothers watched her, too, and he had this unexplainable urge to beat them both with the shovels they were holding. They’d fought over hundreds of things over the years, but never had a girl been one of them.
Never had he had such a strong compulsion to toss a woman over his shoulder and drag her away like a caveman. He wasn’t that guy. He was laid back, took the hits as they came. Not once had he been so…jealous.
He was fucking jealous!
“Christ almighty,” he cursed as he kept digging deeper than he was supposed to, so he had to go back and refill part of the hole.
“What’s up your ass, bro?” Levi elbowed him in the ribs.
Shaking his head, Nox tried to ignore the not so subtle jabs from his brothers. Didn’t matter they had no clue what his mind was so wrapped up in. They only enjoyed tormenting him.
“You banging her mom?” Loch’s question had his head popping up like a springboard.