Beautiful Pain (13 page)

“
Probation officer?” she repeated the question, raising her eyebrow and looking at her son. Harry pursed his lips with irritation, hardening his eyes on Sophia’s posture.

“
Yes, do you mind if I ask you couple of questions?” she asked, pulling her hair back. Her heart was still beating fiercely in her chest, more alive than ever before. She had to get something on her report and tell Harry that he had to stay away from her, their relationship was purely professional. That kiss didn’t mean anything, it wasn’t supposed to happen.

“
Yes, I came here to find out a little bit about him. Do you mind if I move to the living room?” she asked shyly. Mrs. O’Donaghue looked out of place, her breaths were long and labored.

“
Why are you doing this, Sophia? I don’t want you to ask my mother any questions. I can tell you everything that you need to know,” interrupted Harry. There was challenge in the edge of his voice.

“
It’s fine, Harry. Let’s move to the living room, we don’t want to stand on the stairs, do we?”

Harry was staring at Sophia with anger, like he couldn’t believe that she wanted to question his obviously ill mother. Sophia ignored him and followed into the living room.

“
Miss O’Donaghue, I am sorry to bother you, but I need to start from the basics,” she began. “Have you noticed any changes in Harry’s behavior recently?”

“
No.”

“
Can you tell me a little about his routine?”

She could feel Harry’s intense eyes on the nape of her neck, and she tried to ignore him.

“
He looks after me most of the day. Cooks, cleans, and goes out for a drive maybe once a day,” replied his mother sounding tired. Sophia nodded and made a note.

“
Do you think that Harry is capable of committing another crime?” she asked after she was done with the easy questions. She wanted to see the point of view from a member of his family. Mrs. O’Donaghue shifted uncomfortably in her chair and looked at her son, who appeared annoyed, folding his arms together.

“
I don’t think so, Sophia. He made one mistake, and now he is staying out of trouble,” she said, breathing heavily.

“
Does Harry have a lot of friends?” asked Sophia.

“
He is a loner, he doesn’t really have many friends, and most of them are in prison right now. He’s always been that way,” replied Mrs. O’Donaghue and coughed. Sophia wrinkled her forehead with effort making notes. Harry vanished from the room and returned with a glass of water for mother.

“
I have to apologize, Sophia. I’ve got cancer you see,” Mrs. O’Donaghue tried to explain.

“
I am so sorry to hear that,” said Sophia, blushing. “Harry mentioned that you weren’t feeling well a few weeks ago, I didn’t realise …”

“
Don’t worry, Harry doesn’t want me to talk about it,” she replied and wiped the sweat from her forehead, smiling lightly.

“
I am just going to ask you one more question and then we are done. If I knew about your illness before I wouldn’t have troubled you,” added Sophia, feeling foolish that she insisted on seeing Harry’s mother. She drew a breath and continued, “Do you think that Harry is absolutely honest with me?”

“
Is anyone ever honest?” sighed his mother, rising from her seat. Harry helped her upstairs, leaving a bewildered Sophia in the living room.

Chapter Thirteen

“
That girl shouldn’t be a probation officer. She is hiding her true self,” Mrs. O’Donaghue said, lying on the bed once Harry had brought her back to her room.

“
I know, Ma,” replied Harry, tensing his jaw. His mother didn’t understand that Sophia was investigating him, hoping to discover all his deep secrets.

When he came back downstairs she was writing her report. Harry cleared his throat, letting her know that he was back in the room. She was still flushed and he could see her hard nipples through the thin fabric of her dress. He was turned on and determined to ask her out.

“
Are you happy with what you got?” he asked casually, standing opposite her. She flinched and looked at him with her large amber eyes. His heartbeat was steady, but he could feel his cock twitching in his crotch. A flash of heat went through his hand, tingling, spreading to the tips of his toes. He wanted her, right here, right now. He could no longer fight the lust that throbbed through him.

“
Why didn’t you tell me that your mother had cancer?” asked Sophia, brushing her hair from her face. “If I had known I wouldn’t have insisted on seeing her.”

“
It’s our business. Besides, we don’t need anyone’s pity,” he replied sharply.

“
It’s not about that, Harry, and you know it. I can’t imagine what you are going through. Is she going through chemotherapy?”

“
She has lung cancer and no she isn’t going through chemotherapy. It’s still at an early stage, but I really don’t want to talk about this, Sophia,” he said. Her pupils dilated when he was beside her again. Harry always got any girl that he wanted, but Sophia wasn’t just any girl and he was pretty certain that she wasn’t afraid of him.

“
Fine, I won’t push.”

“
I want you to go out with me this weekend,” he said, brushing his arm against hers. That intimate gesture sent an uncontrolled chill down his spine.

“
You know that we can’t go out. That kiss shouldn’t have happened, Harry. I mean it,” she said, but her voice was uneven.

“
Stop denying it, Sophia. You want me as much as I want you. Soon you are going to beg me to touch you,” he whispered, leaning towards her and caressing her bare arm. She shivered but turned abruptly around to face him.

“
You are full of yourself, Mr. O’Donaghue. I spent years working hard for this and I am not going to throw it all away because some bad boy can’t keep his hands off me,” she fumed, closing her notepad. “I was out of control. I shouldn’t even let you touch me.”

“
You need to chill out a little. No one is going to know that we went out. You can always transfer me to someone else, then we could date without breaking any rules.”

“
That isn’t going to happen, this conversation has already gone too far. We are both too different, so please spare me that talk about desire and find yourself a girl who wants to have some fun.”

Harry move towards the door, blocking her way out as she stood up. Sophia narrowed her eyes and placed her hand on her hips.

“
Just give me a chance to let me show you the real Belfast,” he said.

“
Get out of my way. How hard is for you to understand that we won’t be going out?” she whispered, pushing him away. He could barely control himself staring at those amber eyes. His mind was buzzing with excitement when he thought about those soft lips that he’d tasted. She responded and kissed him back, there was no doubt about that. Maybe she was just playing hard to get.

She turned once to look at him as she walked through the door and closed it behind her. Harry growled with disappointment, smashing his fists into the wall. He wasn’t ready to let go of her just yet. Maybe she said no right now, but he was going to work his magic until she was ready to say yes. It was difficult to forget the kiss they’d shared. It was intense and sensual and he knew that she was ready for more, but she didn’t want to admit that she enjoy it.

Then he heard his mother upstairs so went to check on her. She was still in bed, looking paler than only a few minutes ago.

“
Are you okay, Ma?” he asked, sitting by her bed.

“
As usual,” she replied and took his hand. “That girl is really young”

He pulled a face.

“
Yes,” he muttered. “She is tougher than she looks.”

“
She is really pretty, but she doesn’t seem happy. I don’t know if she is going to fall for your charms. She doesn’t seem to be one of those girls who follow her emotions,” she said, smiling. Harry knew that his mother already liked Sophia, she normally cursed off Kirsty whenever she saw her. She was good at judging character. Her bright grey eyes were looking further than anyone could see.

“
She is stubborn and dedicated to her job, but with a bit of patience I think she would be willing to go out with me.”

“
She looks like she is pretty serious about her job, so I doubt that she would even consider your proposition,” she added. “I think you are risking too much. You need to stay out of trouble.”

“
Sophia isn’t like that. She wouldn’t sell me out.”

“
You know nothing about her, she is from a different world, my son. People like her betray people like us on a regular basis.”

“
She is different, Ma.”

His mother didn’t make any more comment and Harry went back to take care of the supper. Was he really wrong about Sophia? She seemed different and focused. Maybe he was out of his mind asking her out. He didn’t treat her with respect on their first meeting, so he shouldn’t expect her to agree to this date. She probably needed time to think about his proposition. His mother was right, during this time he couldn’t trust anyone. He was on his own.

***

Sophia was walking to the bus stop, going through the scenario in Harry’s house over and over again. That kiss was greedy, deep, and the best in her life. His lips erupted fire inside her stomach, and she felt like she was burning. No one had ever kissed her like that, no one ever touched her the way Harry did. She should freak out, anxiety and panic should have crashed through her body, but instead she was aroused. Harry just leaned in and sealed his lips on her, she never expected it and yet she responded. Harry was bad for her. Obviously his mother was important to him. She felt that they had a connection.

On the bus she felt calmer and in control again. When she got to Vanessa’s apartment she had a few text messages from Mason.

“
Hey, Sophe,” called Vanessa from the kitchen. Sophia left her bag in her room and came back to the living room.

“
Hello,” replied Sophia. Vanessa was busy doing dishes. Sophia sat down at the table, biting her lip and wondering if she should say something to Vanessa. After all, she was her friend and she was much more experienced in relationships. “Vanessa, I need to talk to you.”

“
What’s up?” asked her friend, drying her hands. Vanessa looked like she just had a shower; she was in her track suit bottoms and her hair was damp.

“
Better sit down for this,” stated Sophia taking a long, deep breath. Vanessa wrinkled her forehead and sat next to her.

“
Oh my God, what happened? Has someone died?”

“
No, nothing like that,” quickly replied Sophia. “You know that offender that I was telling you about? The one that offered to show me Belfast?”

Vanessa nodded.

“
I went to his house, asked him standard evaluation questions, and then he kissed me,” mumbled Sophia. There, she’d said it. Finally she got it off her chest. However, Vanessa was just staring at her, not reacting at all.

“
Come on … say something,” she insisted.