Ignitable

Ignitable - Chapter Three

"Do you have any wine?" Sophia cheerfully asks, watching me head towards my urban looking steel kitchenette.

"I don't, but I have a bottle of champagne in the fridge?"

Nodding, Sophia walks towards where I am. "Champagne sounds great." She eagerly agrees, leaning over the steel worktop in a much more relaxed way. "Your home is very manly." Her hands glide across the coolness of the steel, staring up at me as I am carefully opening the bottle of Cristal that a client bought me ages ago.

"I suppose it is." I agree, just as the cork comes out with a loud little pop! Pouring out the ridiculously expensive champagne, I briefly look around my open plan apartment. It's everything that Sophia says it is. It's masculine and simple; devoid of all feminine touch. I only have what I need and need what I have—a large tv, a sumptuously large coffee brown Chesterfield sofa, minimalist walnut shelving and matching sideboard and table—it's tidy and sleek throughout, bathroom and bedroom included. For me, it's just a place. It's not a home. I'm not a homely person. I don't get attached to people, let alone bricks and mortar. I only bought this place because I could no longer stand living with my mother. Here, I don't have her breathing down my neck all the time. Here, she doesn't get to know my personal business. It's hard enough having to share my working space with her, let alone my living space. She might get to throw her weight around at the office, just because her and my father's name is set in brass beside the company's prestige door, but here, she gets to have no say whatsoever in my life. "So tell me a little about yourself, Sophia?" As I hand her the freshly poured glass of champagne, I know I am going against so much of myself this evening. I don't usually give two shits about who my one night stands are, but I find myself wanting to know more about Sophia. I figure it might just help me to understand what exactly makes her different from all the rest.

Clutching the glass with her slender fingers, she awkwardly smiles. "There's not much to tell, really. I'm a twenty nine year old florist. My mum actually owns the flower shop, but these days, I pretty much run it as mum is wanting to retire early."

Just finishing taking a sip of my drink, I ask with surprising interest. "Is it a local florist?"

Sophia nods, sweetly smiling. "Yes, it's Heaven Scent, right in the centre of town."

Knowing exactly where she means, I nod with recognition. "Ah yes, I pass it all the time. It's been there a long time, hasn't it?"

"Over thirty years. It used to belong to my wonderful nan, then when she sadly died, my lovely mum inherited it."

I smile at the simplicity of her family life. I smile at how she talks of her family with such genuine love and fondness. "So flowers are in your blood, then?"

Sophia softly laughs. "You could say that." Taking a sip of her champagne, she silently then studies me. "Are you from a long line of barristers, then?" she asks, her inquisitiveness now prettily settling upon her face.

"You could say that." I say with a smirk, repeating her previous comment with a playful lilt. I don't want to let her know where I work just yet. She would surely know the Lapley name, particularly as she works in Cirencester. It's a name that carries so much shit along with it, much of it true, but for some strange reason, I want Sophia to discover a part of me that no one else has ever been privy to. I have many ruthless facets to my Lapley name, but just once, I want someone to not know about those sides of me. For only tonight, I just want to be Cade. A man who wants to be with this woman, because I honestly just do want to be with her. For only tonight, it's not going to be just a meaningless screw. Tonight, it's going to be different.