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Chapter 6: Old Friends Part 1

"My father ask you to come by?" Alexandre snuck up behind Sophia and she jumped, clutching the satin material in her hand to her chest.

"You scared me." Sophia smacked him in the chest, and he rubbed the spot with his palm. "You know how he gets. I closed my boutique down for my lunch break and made time to stop by."

"Right." Alexandre nodded and licked his lips. "Well, it was nice of you to use up your lunch helping my father."

Alexandre had been building up feelings for her, but he never thought she'd accept him for his sexual needs. Never thought that she would be okay with dominating him in the way that he needed. That he wanted. He always saw her as someone that would want to be dominated and not the other way around. But she was sweet, nice, caring, selfless, creative, and his closest friend. She often stood up for him to his father or distracted his father when he was getting too coarse. Alexandre felt like he owed her everything. And if she knew about his sexual needs... he thought she would never talk to him again. So, he pushed back his feelings for her. Pushed back his thoughts of marrying her and buying her a nice house on the Seine.

"Do anything exciting with your day off?" Sophia smiled at him and began to fold the fabric over her arm. She was busy packing everything back up. He shook himself from his thoughts at the sound of her voice.

"Um..." He rubbed the back of his neck and didn't look her in the eye. "No, not really. I read. Yeah... I- I read. A classic novel."

"Oh?" Sophia looked at him from the corner of her eye with a smug expression. "What classic novel was it?"

"It was... Wuthering Heights." Alexandre gave her a fake smile, and she put her bag over her shoulder.

"That's a good story. I've read it once or twice." Sophia smiled at him, seeing past his lies.

He cleared his throat, put his hands in his pockets, and rocked on his feet. "So, anyway. I have to go meet with my father. I'll talk to you later? Are you up for a fighting video game tournament later?"

Sophia smiled at him. "Sure, Alex. I'd love to. Online tonight?"

"Sounds perfect. See you in the lobby." Alexandre smiled and walked past her to his father's office.

Sophia shook her head. She couldn't stop seeing him in leather, tied up to the bed, pumping into her, moaning her name, gasping, flexing for her, devouring her, and letting her take him to the edge of oblivion. A tremble ran through her body and she blushed. She turned to look at him from her peripheral and caught him walking with his head held high. Something about him seemed different like he was more relaxed and happier. Something in her broke and her heart threw itself against her chest. She felt flushed and the room got hotter.

Sophia had never felt that way about Alexandre, but something about him now made her want him. But it wasn't like it was when she was Mistress Widow. She found herself wanting him to take the reins. She wanted him to take control and something about that scared her.

Her thoughts soon spiraled to candle lit dates and cuddling by a fire. She began to panic more and more as she began to feel herself fall. Sophia quickly ran from the château and got into her car. Her eyes flew wide, and she began to punch the steering wheel.

"No, no, no, no!" Tears fell from her eyes, and she grabbed her bangs in frustration.

Her heart felt like it was in her throat and her stomach turned. She didn't want to feel. She didn't want to date. She didn't want to deal with this. She didn't want to fall! Not again! Not after what happened to her in the past. Not after Colin had hurt her. How he had controlled her in and out of the bedroom.

She sniffed and started her car. She had to get back to her clothing shop. She had to hit the gas. She had to move. She had to do anything. Anything to make it stop. To make the pain stop. She needed control. Wanted it. Craved it. It was the one thing she had that was good. The one thing that she could do right. She had to gain it back for herself.

Her store was slowly losing business and it was becoming hard to pay the bills. Her design degree had gotten her nowhere and the only people that really cared for her designs were Paul Bordeaux and a famous musician, but even they didn't pay her often. She quickly peeled out of the château's gates and headed back to her boutique.

She parked in the underground garage and made her way to the surface. She walked up to her boutique and unlocked the door. She sighed and stepped inside. Sophia knew that she would only get in a few customers for the rest of the day, but at least she had something to look forward to afterwards. She needed to destress and while video games didn't really help, as well as, if she had Cat under her fingertips... it was still something to take her mind off of her life.

Sophia leaned on the counter and waited for someone to come into her shop. She had tried everything to draw people in, but nothing seemed to be working anymore. After a few hours, she chose to just close her shop for the day. She couldn't handle the stress of not selling anything and she was tired of watching people walk past her windows. Always looking and never actually stepping foot inside.

She grabbed her purse and locked up the shop. She made her way to her car and drove to her apartment. She needed to be free and all she wanted to do was sit on the couch and play games with her close friend/client.

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