Free Hard Charger: Jake & Sophia: A Hot Contemporary Romance by Tracy Fobes Page A

dark curls teased his face as he nuzzled her, his cock growing larger and harder as her firm, warm palm curved around its head before tightening on the shaft and jerking him off.
    “Ahem.”
    The gravelly sound felt like a bucket of cold water being dumped on him. 
    He pulled away from Sophia, then spun around and found himself staring into the face of an elderly man.  The man had an older woman by his side—presumably his wife.
    He cut a glance at Sophia and saw that she was quickly re-arranging her clothes.  Her face had turned a shade of bright red.  He quickly zipped up his jeans and faced the elderly couple again.  They were alternately gazing at him, then Sophia.  The man was smiling, but his wife appeared disgusted.
    “Get a room,” the wife said baldly to Jake.
    Jake grimaced.  “Sorry, ma’am.”
    Her husband laughed.  “Remember when we were like that, Doris?”
    His wife poked his side.  “Yes I do, old man.”
    Arm in arm, the pair walked to the car Jake had parked his bike next to.
    Jake moved to get between Sophia and the couple, so they couldn’t stare at her any more.  He let out a quick, exasperated breath. “I’m sorry, Sophia.  I know you have a boyfriend.  I don’t know why I di—”
    She pressed a finger against his lips, silencing him.  “Don’t apologize.  You couldn’t help it any more than I could.   We can’t control what’s between us, Jake.”
    He frowned.  “I promised Alex I’d stay away from you.”
    “Then stay away.”  As if to emphasize her words, she began to back away from him.
    “What about that guy Alex said is steady, smart, and good for you?” Jake probed, afire with jealousy over this other man in her life.  “Steve, right?”
    She looked confused for a moment, but then raised an eyebrow.  “So you’re wondering why I’m kissing you, and not my boyfriend?  Because when you’re close, I can’t help myself.  And neither can you.”  After about five steps, she turned and headed back toward the restaurant.  “Goodnight,” she called out, seconds before she disappeared into its brightly lit interior.
    “Goodnight,” he replied; and with her disappearance, loneliness closed in on him.  His stomach was in knots over how the night had unfolded.  He mounted his bike, started it, and then drove toward Jersey Avenue.  He needed a real ride tonight, one on the county routes, and he had no intention of taking Alex or Lucas with him.  He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t even want to think.
    He just needed to ride .

Chapter Six
     
     
    “What’s wrong?” Jake asked.  
    He’d just finished a punishing ride across the county, and during the ride he’d managed to contain the worst of his loneliness and uneasiness. As soon as he’d come home, however, he found his mom sitting at the kitchen table crying.   All of his disquiet immediately came back at him full bore. 
    He quickly pulled a chair out at the table and sat down, too.  “Look at me,” he demanded. 
    Laurie’s shoulders shook with sobs.  She had her hands wrapped around a beer.  Slowly, she tilted her head upward to face him.  He saw it then: puffiness around her right eye. 
    “Goddamn, you have a shiner!” His heart suddenly pounding, he jumped out of his chair and moved her side.  He grasped her shoulders.  “What happened?”
    “I slipped and fell o—”
    “Don’t give me that bullshit,” he said, cutting her off.  “I want to know who did this to you.  Was it someone from Beach Waves?  A customer?”
    Her tears slowed down.  She regarded him with narrowed eyes.  “I’m not that bad of a stylist.”
    “Then what happened?”  He pulled a chair around the table and sat down directly next to her.
    She stared at him, but said nothing.
    “I’m not going to let this go,” he warned her.
    Her lips parted, as if she planned to say something, and then she just crumbled.  “I can’t tell you, Jake.  I just can’t.”  Her elbows on the