SOPHIA
Sophia stretched out on the sofa and she began to wake up. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she snuggled into the soft, smooth leather, completely content. She moved her left hand out of her face when, suddenly, she felt a weird sensation around her right wrist. Something soft, yet wet was running around it over and over again.
She blinked a few times before looking down at her hand. Right there, she saw it. Tan ears sticking up out of a mass of black furry head while a pink tongue jutted out, licking her wrist. She quickly pulled her wrist away and sat up on the couch.
"Ugh, Easton!" She sighed in disgust. "You slobbered all over my hand."
Sophia looked at the miniscule gold bracelet latched around her wrist before unlatching the clasp and placing down on the coffee table.
"You hungry or something?" Sophia looked to Easton, gauging his reaction, before standing up.
Making her way into the kitchen, Easton right at her heels, she washed her hands in the sink, ridding them of police dog slobber, and began to rummage through the cabinets.
Hearing a shuffling of paws on the tiled floor, she turned around to see Easton over by the largest cabinet, mimicking digging with his paws into the ground.
"Found something?" Sophia spoke cheerily as she crossed the room. She opened the cabinet and found the kibble for Easton. Reaching into the bag of dog food she scooped out some and brought it over to the silver bowls laying down at the edge of the island before stepping away and letting Easton eat. Picking up the other bowl, she walked it over to the sink and filled it with water before bringing it back to the ravenous canine.
"Damn, dog!" Sophia spoke suddenly, watching Easton. She looked around the immaculate kitchen as her stomach rumbled. "Say, you don't think your dad would mind if I raided his kitchen for something to eat, do you?"
Easton looked up briefly before going back to his food.
"I'll take that as a 'no'."
Searching though the pantry, Sophia immediately caught her eye on the pancake mix.
"It's perfect!"
Setting the mix down on the counter, she moved towards the refrigerator. She opened it and looked through it's contents, grabbing out the eggs and some bacon.
Spotting a coffee machine on the counter, Sophia quickly worked with brewing some coffee.
Cops like coffee. Sophia thought as she shot a glance over at Easton, "your dad likes stereotypes, right?"
Flipping through cabinets, Sophia found a decent sized frying pan for the pancakes. She set it on the stove while she missed together the pancake mix and put some bacon in the oven to cook.
She stood on her tiptoes to look through the cabinet overhead and pulled out a mixing bowl to mix together some pancake mix. Before closing the cabinet, something else caught her eye and she reached for it and pulled it down.
Turning it over in her hands, she admired the small cylindrical object: a CD player.
Old school, Officer.
A smirk tugged at the corners of Sophia's mouth as she set the music player down on the counter. Opening it she saw there was already a CD in it and closed it once again.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she pressed played.
Immediately an upbeat song started playing. It sounded fun and made her want to dance. She began ladling the pancake mix on the hot pan in small circles as she started to feel the music. Instinctively, she felt the need to move her hips. Back and forth, to the beat.
As the first round of pancakes were cooking, Sophia pantomimed singing into the ladle as she pretended it was a microphone.
And then the chorus hit and she couldn't help but sing along...
She sang wildly, "I like it, I love it, I want some more of it..." She turned on her heels, stopping short. The ladle fell to the floor as she took in the handsome man who was leaning over the kitchen island, his gaze set firmly on her.
"Don't stop on my account." Jack quipped, a wide grin plastered on his face, adding to his adorableness. Sophia noted the way his dimples appeared more pronounced when he smiled and it made her heart flutter.
She looked down to the floor, bent down, and picked up the ladle.
"Jack." Sophia spoke, suddenly out of breath from the impromptu breakfast dance party.
Jack maneuvered around the island. "I smelt coffee. Thought I come down." He walked over to the coffee machine, reached into the cabinet and pulled himself some coffee. "And is that bacon?" He added, sniffing the air.
"Yes, it is." Sophia answered before adding. "You like bacon."
Jack eyed her over the edge of his coffee mug as he took a sip. He shrugged, "yeah."
Sophia did her best to flip the pancakes while becoming aware of just how close Jack was standing next to her. Damn, he smelt good in the morning, and he didn't even have a shower yet.
When the pancakes were done, Sophia brought the platter over to the table next to a large window, overlooking the front yard. She got the bacon out of the oven and set that on the table too. As soon as she got some coffee for herself and a second cup for Jack, she sat down across from him.
They dived right it, enjoying a nice breakfast.
"This is good. Thank you." Jack spoke.
"Don't mention it." Sophia accepted gratefully.
"Although I don't want you to feel obligated to cook in exchange of living here."
"It's the least I do."
"How was the couch last night?" Jack inquired.
Sophia chuckled. "Surprisingly comfortable."
Jack nodded. "And Easton? I only ask because he usually sleeps on the couch."
"There was a moment where he was trying to eat me alive." Sophia joked.
Jack laughed. "Do I even want to know?"
"It's fine."
At the mention of his name, Easton came bounding over to the table and stopped a few feet from Jack. Seeing his K-9, he tossed him a piece of bacon watching him expertly catching it in his mouth.
Sophia couldn't help but smile at the two together.
Jack noticed. "What?"
"You two are adorable." Sophia quickly cleared her throat. "Um, so what are you going to do today? Working?"
Jack shook his head. "It's Wednesday. I'm off."
"Oh." Sophia processed the thought of being alone with Jack and spending the day with him and wasn't totally opposed to the idea.
"However, I do have to go back to Sugar n' Spice." Jack explained.
"Why?" Curiosity got the better of her and couldn't help but ask.
"Wednesdays are their delivery days and I always help out the owner. He's a good friend." Jack explained.
Sophia nodded her head in understanding. "Can I come too?"
"Um, yeah. I'm sure he's not going to mind the extra help."
"Great."
Jack suddenly stood up and pick up his plate. He gestured to Sophia's. "Are you done?"
"Yes." She answered.
Jack cleared off the table, cleaning up and putting the dirty dishes in tbe dishwasher.
Walking back over to the table, he stood and look at Sophia. "So if you want to shower before we go then you can. I have to shower too."
Suddenly, the image of a sexy police officer all wet and soaping himself up in the shower flitted through Sophia's mind.
Jack look at her and, for a second, she thought he could see inside of her mind. But then, he reached his arms behind him, grabbed the edge of his t-shirt, and pulled it up and over his head.
Sophia went still as she saw Jack, now standing before her shirtless. His bare chest exposed to her in all it's tanned chiseled glory. Her eyes roamed over the expanse of his chest and down to the edge of his sweatpants that her hanging dangerously low on his hips.
It felt like time stood still and her breath hitched as Jack leaned in. His face was dangerously close to hers as he fisted his t-shirt in his hand and brought it up to her mouth, wiping the soft fabric a few times against the corner of her mouth.
"What was that?" Sophia asked while her heart was racing a mile a minute.
Jack stood up straight. "You had some syrup on your face." He explained. "I got it for you." He shrugged. "You're welcome." He smiled, winked, and then walked away.