“I will,” he quickly said.
Poppy smiled at him. “Take care of her. She’s in a vulnerable place,” his sister said before heading back through the Employees Only door.
Dash swallowed down a little lump of apprehension as he looked back to Sophie. He wanted more than anything to be the person who could take care of Sophie. But how could someone as flawed as he was be trusted with someone as important as her?
21
SOPHIE
Sophie had turned a corner. She’d glanced down the road of the blank page, started typing, and turned right onto a street filled with words. Two thousand of them, to be exact. Sure, she’d started a totally new project instead of focusing on the one she was under contract for, but she’d filled up pages—plural. She felt so exhilarated by the feel of the keys under her fingers that she hardly noticed when Dash set a snack dish down on the side table next to her.
But, of course, she did notice because there was Dash’s earthy scent.
“Thanks.” She grabbed a dried apricot from the plate and met his gaze.
“How’s the new project?” He sat back into the lounge chair; swaddled in the robe, with his legs crossed at the ankles, and a book in his hands, Dash looked positively cozy. Adorable. Sophie had to stop herself from shutting her laptop and climbing into his lap for a cuddle.
“Probably garbage.” She chewed the piece of fruit. “All of my first drafts are. But it feels good to see words on a page again.” She gave him a pure and genuinely pleased smile because that’s exactly what she was.
“It’s nice to see you excited like this.” His eyes danced across her face, and she felt herself flush.
She looked down at her screen and the battery power was now in the red. Which was probably for the best anyway. Her hands were starting to cramp from trying to remember how to work, and she wasn’t sure she could take the heat of Dash’s gaze on her for much longer.
The man was like a damn human sauna. She’d need a bucket of ice water to stop thinking about how underneath that robe he was only wearing a pair of boxers…
“I didn’t bring my charger,” she quickly said. Sophie closed the laptop and ran her hands over the top of it. She had written. She was still a writer. There was hope.
“Should we head out?” Dash had already swung his legs around and stood.
Sophie sat up and tucked her laptop under her arm. She was ready to leave, but Dash stopped her. “Don’t forget to take your organic gluten-free collagen bar for the road.”
He tried to hide his cocky smile, but she clocked it as she snatched the bar off the plate and shoved it into the pocket of her robe. As she stood, they were eye-level, and she tried not to think of pulling his robe off with her teeth.
Not an easy thing to not think about, really.
As they left the spa, the summer swelter had cooled and the sun set behind them, turning the sky to the color of orange clay.
“You have no idea how amazing it feels to have written pages after going so long without having produced anything.” Sophie buckled herself in beside him, and he revved the engine as they backed out of the parking lot. “I have to thank you for getting me out of my own way. I wouldn’t have written anything today if you hadn’t helped. You’re a good man, Dash Montrose.”
Dash, who was maybe not that great with compliments, deflected. “What did you write about?”
“I did what you suggested and started something new. I’m still stuck on my book, but I started a few pages from the point of view of a spa owner. I think she’ll fall in love with one of the employees. Maybe it could be my book three.” She playfully raised her brows.
Wind whipped softly through the open windows of the car and blew Dash’s hair over the top of his sunglasses. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment too long, and when he looked over she had to quickly turn away, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
“If you’re writing about a spa, is there a happy-ending massage scene in there somewhere?” Dash sounded cheeky, but Sophie also sensed some heat behind his words. Or was she still so worked up from seeing him in a robe that she was adding that heat in?
“Only if I want to have a lot of fun while I’m writing, yeah.” She chuckled back.
Then they both went quiet. So quiet that all she could hear was the road. But there was unspoken tension between them, something almost chemical.
And that chemical attraction could no longer be ignored. “I guess I might need to do some research,” she finally said. She placed her hand on his knee, and as he looked over, his eyes burned back at her.
Sophie had just said that, hadn’t she? She’d implied that she could practice a happy-ending massage on someone…and that someone could be Dash.
Maybe she’d turned feral at the sight of him reading a romance novel, or that yuzu tonic had more than just vitamins in it. Either way, she’d developed a borderline-unhealthy curiosity about the noises he’d make and the pleasure that would flash through him as he came.
The problem was she had no idea if her feelings were one-sided. But he’d floated the idea of them being friends with benefits, so she wanted to redeem some of those VIP Member perks.
As her hand rested on his knee, she waited for a sign, any sign, that he might be interested in more. Like, say, him acknowledging that her hand was there. But instead, he pulled into the driveway, parked the car, and killed the engine. Which likely meant that all signs pointed to a big unfortunate no.
He gently lifted her hand away from his knee, and her stomach sank at the realization that she was being rejected by him. Again. Would she ever learn? Was this another part of her deep issues with intimacy?
Eventually he said, “I haven’t done this in a long time.”
She wanted to tread lightly, as she was （sadly） unable to read his mind. “By this do you mean…？”
He sighed. “I haven’t been with someone in a long time.”
Her brows furrowed, because he hadn’t told her no, exactly, and his words seemed to imply that he would be open to her being the next someone.
“I see. Well.” Sophie took off her sunglasses and her eyelashes fluttered as she chose her words carefully. “The thing about a sensual massage is that all you have to do is lie there, so the stakes are low for you.”
His eyebrows rose, and she laughed.
“We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. And you’d be helping me, too. Book research, and all.” She held up her backpack and patted the laptop inside, as if for evidence.
Dash took his sunglasses off and folded them in his lap before he looked back up. “Well, I’d hate to hinder any progress you’re making on what is sure to be a very juicy new novel.”
The flutters she’d become so used to when she was around him returned in full force. He watched her through hooded steely-blue eyes, and she froze at the intensity of his stare.
Eventually he broke the silence. “My place or yours?”
“What a line,” she replied with a laugh.
He laughed, too. “I told you it’s been a long time.”
She looked toward her door. “I don’t know that I’m ready to introduce you to my son, Rain Boots, yet. Let’s do yours.”