***
Early that morning, Sofia got the call. Eric’s dad asked if she wanted to pick Eric up at the airport. She’d almost said no. She still hadn’t heard from Eric. But she needed closure. If Eric had really decided this was the end for them, she needed to hear it, the sooner the better. The torture had gone on long enough.
She arrived at the airport early. When they’d dropped him off the day after Christmas the airport had been a mess. Afraid to get stuck in that kind of traffic, she’d given herself plenty of time. The traffic today didn’t even compare.
Planes flew in and out of the airport, and Sofia stared out the window, wondering which one Eric would be in. Each one that flew in tied her stomach up even more. She wiped away a tear that slid down her cheek. Sofia hadn’t bothered with makeup. She knew her face would be a mess. Even if things were okay between them, seeing him again would be emotional.
She thought of Brandon and decided there was no way he was in love with her. Maybe he loved her as the only friend he thought had ever given him a chance. But in love? He didn’t have the first clue what that was. There was no way could he be feeling for her what she felt so deeply for Eric.
When she finally saw on the monitor that his plane had arrived, she took a deep breath and sat down. She sat and watched as one by one, the passengers came down the escalators. Her sucked in her breath when she saw him. He seemed lost in thought. Like the other passengers, he headed for the baggage claim. She stood and waited, her heart thumping wildly.
After grabbing his bag from the conveyer, he turned and headed back in her direction. He was still completely lost in thought, staring and the ground in front of him. Finally, just a few feet away from her, he looked up and their eyes met. He stopped in his tracks, and the person behind him nearly ran into him.
Sofia stood there, not sure what to expect or say. Within seconds, his eyes flooded and he looked away.
“I missed you.” She barely got the words out. “I missed you so much.”
Eric dropped his bags, took the few hurried steps to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. She felt him take a deep breath as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m so sorry, Eric.”
“Don’t be, Sof.” He kissed the side of her head. “I’m over it now, but I’ll never be over you. I was stupid to think I could ever be over you.” He pulled away to look at her face. It killed her to see him cry. “So stupid.” He kissed her softly. Then he hugged her again, holding her tight for a while.
“He’s gone, Eric.”
Eric tensed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Your dad probably told you but I wanted—”
Eric pulled away. “Don’t. I don’t wanna hear it.” He stared at her. “You love me?”
“Of course.”
“Then that’s all I need to know.” He kissed her again. “I wasn’t even sure until just now when I saw you. Now I know for sure. I could never be happy without you.”
Sofia smiled, feeling the warm tears stream down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his neck, an enormous relief washed over her. “Oh, Eric, I was so scared.”
“Me too.” He rubbed her back then pulled away, but took her by the hand. “Let’s go.”
He grabbed his luggage and started walking fast.
“Where are we going?” she asked, the excitement building with every step. Eric was home, he forgave her, and she’d never do anything to screw up again.
For the first time since he’d arrived, she saw him smile and a twinkle in those amazing brown eyes. “We got a lot of catching up to do.”
He squeezed her hand. After weeks of crying herself to sleep, she could finally smile, feeling the familiar flutter in her stomach that only Eric would ever make her feel.
***
It wasn’t quite the weather Eric had hoped for, but it didn’t matter. This was just the first of seven glorious days he’d be spending with Sofia on their cruise. They originally planned to take a shorter one because of the price, but his dad had surprised them with the seven-day one. As usual, he said it helped to know people, and he had plenty of friends in the travel business.
Eric walked back to where Sofia was sitting on the deck. They’d both brought their laptops with them. Sofia said she couldn’t wait to write while sitting on the deck of a cruise ship, drinking a fancy cocktail. Eric was glad since his dad had hooked him up with a few web-building jobs for some of his associates. As obsessive as he was when it came to that stuff, he’d need all the time he could get. What better time to get started on them then on a cruise ship next to Sofia—while she wrote.
Sofia looked up from her laptop as he reached her with their drinks. “Ooh, fancy!”
He’d looked forward to seeing Sofia in a bikini all week, but March was hardly the time of year for that. It didn’t matter. Even in jeans and a light sweatshirt she was beautiful as ever.
Eric handed her the drink with the big pineapple wedge, then leaned in and kissed her. She put down the laptop and took a sip of her drink, looking out into the out into cean. “This is heaven.”
Moving his own laptop from the chaise he’d been sitting on, to the table next to it, he sat down. “Yeah, it is.” He eyed her as he sipped his beer. “Did you get any writing done?”
“I did, actually.” She smiled. “I was inspired yesterday by Angel and Sarah’s engagement announcement. They were so happy, a story came to me.”
He stared at her for a moment. How was it that even after all these years, sweet Sofie could still cast such a spell on him?
She took another sip of her drink. When he hadn’t taken his eyes off her, she smiled and asked, “What?”
“You think we’ll end up married someday, too?”
“Absolutely,” she said, leaning over with a wicked smile. “You’re stuck with me forever, Eric Diego.”
God, he loved her smile. “Is that right?”
“Yep, or I’ll sic my brothers on you.”
Eric laughed. “Like anything could ever keep me away from you—remember even they couldn’t?”
“How can I forget?” She held out her glass. “To forever.”
He clinked it with his beer bottle, then kissed her. “To Forever.”
Acknowledgments:
I’d like to thank my critique partner and beta reader Tammara Webber author or Between The Lines, for her honest and very constructive feedback. I’ve been very fortunate to have found not only a critique partner in you but a good friend who TRULY understands the ups and downs of being a writer. Thank you for being there to listen to my rants and helping me through the hard days. I look forward to working with you from here on. I’d wish you luck on your own writing but you don’t need it, you’re already a SUPER STAR! =)
To my husband Mark, what can I say? Thanks for putting up with the endless hours of writing editing and taking over the cooking and laundry on days when I just can’t be pulled away from my computer. I love you and appreciate your patience. I know you’ve never been much of a reader especially of romance novels so the fact that you’ve taken the time to not only read each and every one of my stories and put so much thought into your input means so much to me. I love you. You are my rock.
To my other beta readers Ivannia Alay, and Beth Fred. Thank you for your detailed critiques and enthusiastic feedback. It always amazes me how the smallest details could make such a difference in character development and overall pacing of a story. Thank you for helping me see those things those t that I often overlook. Ivannia, you never like the cussing, I can’t wait until you read Romero. I can already see you cringing. Lol
A few words to my wonderful readers:
I hope you enjoyed my latest edition to The Moreno Brothers series. Please let me know what you thought by writing a review on the Amazon, B&N or Smashwords websites. The next in the series was supposed to have been Sal’s story Making you Mine which is currently a work in progress, but because of the interest and requests I’ve received from YOU the readers, I’ve decided to inc
lude Romero’s story in the series. I wasn’t going to, but then the story just came to me and kept coming. It will now be the next in the series and tentatively due out by the end of October of this year. The final in the series Making You Mine, will be out hopefully by the end of the year.
To read excerpts and updates I invite you to visit my website: www.ElizabethReyes.com Also, please visit and like my Facebook Fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/TheMorenoBrothers and follow me on twitter @AuthorElizabeth
Thank you all for your continued interest in The Moreno Brothers!
Inhoudsopgave
CHAPTER 1
Brandon
CHAPTER 2
The Wonder Years
CHAPTER 3
Sweet 16
CHAPTER 4
The promise
CHAPTER 5
Risking it all
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
Crisis
CHAPTER 8
Doubt
CHAPTER 9
Past acquaintances
CHAPTER 10
Curiosity
CHAPTER 11
It is what it is
CHAPTER 12
The truth shall set you free
CHAPTER 13
Why?
CHAPTER 14
Happy Holidays
CHAPTER 15
No second chances
CHAPTER 16
Below the belt.
CHAPTER 17
The Test
CHAPTER 18
Clarity
Elizabeth Reyes, Sweet Sofie
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