Sophia has spent her entire life doing exactly what her father wanted her to do in hopes that one day he would find it in his heart to love her. When Sophia comes to the conclusion that nothing she ever does will be good enough for a man who has no heart and only wanted a son to carry on the family name and business, she decides to do something for herself. Which is how she finds herself in New York City and in Jesse's arms. 

Jesse is a successful photographer who just happens to be in New York for a showing when he runs into Sophia. Having a past of superficial girlfriends, Jesse finds himself captivated by Sophia's intelligence and beauty. She was broken on the inside, and all he wanted to do is fix it for her. However, how could he do that when they lived on opposite coasts? 

When Sophia leaves New York, she returns to San Francisco completely changed. No longer will she allow her father to dictate her life; a fact that her father does not tolerate well. As Jesse and Sophia try to find a way to make their long distance relationship work, Sophia's life becomes a target. 

Because You Listened

Chapter 1

It was raining again. 

Pretty soon Sophia Giovanni was going to go crazy from the constant downpour. It was almost as if it was taunting her.  She was never going to see the sun again metaphorically and literally.

You would think that after twenty-four years of this abuse that she would be used to it. She should be completely immune to it.  No matter how many times she told herself that she was strong, independent and smart, one word from him and she felt like she was more worthless than scum in a pool.

For years Sophia’s father has always made it a point to tell her that she could be better and bigger.  Nothing she had ever done in her life was enough for him, nor would it ever be. If someone else had done it, in his mind they did it better than she could ever do it.

She was just named the editor-in-chief for William Saints Publishing House – the largest publishing house in the world, mind you – at the age of twenty-four. She was the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of the company. However, since she had been working for the company for four years, Sophia’s father considered the promotion petty. She should have been hired as the editor-in-chief.

When Sophia had told him at dinner tonight, she had mistakenly believed that he would be proud of her. For once he would congratulate her on a good job. Instead he asked her what took her so long. Was she going to wait another four years to get another promotion?  And didn’t she know that she was supposed to dress a little more conservatively?  How did she expect to be respected dressing like a common whore?  Showing off her long, lean and tan legs was obviously the only reason she got her promotion.

Resting her forehead against the cool glass of the windows that overlooked the San Francisco skyline, Sophia tried to stop the tears that threatened to spill. She was tired of crying over something that she could never fix. Her father would never find anything good in her accomplishments, which is what led to one of the most spontaneous moves of her life.   

She was going to New York. She was going to attend a writing seminar. She knew what was considered “sellable” literature. She knew how to pitch novels, and she definitely knew how to edit her own novel, however she wanted opinions on her work. Objective opinions. She refused to pitch her novels without knowing that someone else thought that they were just as ready for the world as she did.

For Sophia, this seminar was her first rebellion. It was the first time that she was truly willing to disobey her father’s wishes. It was the first thing that she did strictly for her. She was terrified. However, if something didn’t change, Sophia was going to break. She could already feel the cracks in her psyche. Trying to please someone every waking moment of your life only to fail in their mind every single time was simply the most disheartening torture to live through.

“You only live once,” Sophia reminded herself as she turned towards the television that was playing in the background. 

Millions of people were currently celebrating the New Year. The day for resolutions and new starts.

While millions were with friends or loved ones, Sophia was alone in her condo celebrating her new found dedication to her and her own dreams.  She was going to do this.  She was going to be great, and in the end she would be happy.  If her father had a problem with it, then oh well.  She wasn’t going to be treated like someone on his payroll any longer.

“To the New Year,” Sophia toasted as the crowd in New York Time Square announced the last second of the year.

~_~_~_~

“I can’t believe that you are really doing this,” Danielle Christenson announced in shock as Sophia told her of her plans.  “I knew that you wanted to do this, but I never thought that you would actually, truly go through with it.”

“Am I really that much of a wimp?” Sophia winced as she took a sip of the drink that she ordered.

“Not so much a wimp as extremely timid,” Danielle said in her normal bluntness.

Most people who saw the two females together thought that they were more likely to be enemies than best friends, and once upon a time, they would have been correct. 

Danielle had this ingrained street savvy I-won’t-take-your-shit attitude, while Sophia was more of an ice queen meets shy girl.  Danielle was a classic blue-eyed-blonde-haired beauty, while Sophia was more of an Italian beauty who had an amazing face that she always underestimated. Yet despite the attitude and physical differences, they were as close as sisters. To Sophia, Danielle was her true family.

“I still can’t believe that I leave next week,” Sophia laughed as she leaned back in her bar stool and looked around the crowded club.  She was a little overdressed for this bar considering that she ran from her office to the bar just to be on time for her weekly meeting with Danielle.  She had taken off the black suit jacket and laid it over her lap when she had sat down, yet she still stuck out like a sore thumb.

“How I wish I could go with you. I miss the city,” Danielle sighed, a far-away look in her eyes.

“You should come with me! Show me the sights and all that,” Sophia urged, as she had been for the past two weeks.

“I can’t,” came the sad reply. “I have court a couple of the days that you’re scheduled to be gone.”

“I know,” Sophia sighed. “But it was worth the chance that you would change your mind!”

“Next time you go, I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll hold you to that!” Sophia laughed as she reached up and began to pull all of the bobby pins out of her long black hair.  Shaking it out and sighing at the freedom, Sophia didn’t noticed the glances from the men around her.

“I swear you have to be one of the most gorgeous women I know and you won’t even accept it for what it is,” Danielle laughed as she witnessed a guy standing at the bar staring at her friend totally miss his mouth and pour his beer down his front.

“Oh, whatever,” Sophia laughed. “Tell me about your week.”

“God. Where should I start?” Danielle laughed. “I’m going to need another drink to get through this.”

“I’ll be here.” Sophia smiled as Danielle got up to get a refill.

There wasn’t a day that went by that Sophia didn’t count her lucky stars that she ended up stuck rooming with Danielle when she headed off to college.  From the first day they absolutely hated each other.  It wasn’t until the end of their freshman year when Danielle found out that her high school boyfriend that she had left in New York was cheating on her that they became friends. Being so far from all of her friends, Sophia was the only one that Danielle had been able to talk to, and the rest as they say it, is history.

“Okay,” Danielle started as she sat back down. “The week started with this crazy case that involved a goldfish and a dog…”

“You are so definitely lying,” Sophia laughed as she clasped her hands on the table and prepared herself for the true story.

She absolutely loved this girl.

Because You Listened

Chapter 2

“Do you think that you're taking enough clothes?” was the question that Sophia heard from the other side of her closet.

Sticking her head out of the door, she looked at Danielle and raised an eyebrow in question. “You've been to New York in the winter. Do you think that I have enough clothes in there?”

“You already have three pieces of luggage full. You can’t possibly put on that many layers at once,” Danielle laughed as, sprawled across Sophia’s bed, she continued to flip through whatever magazine she had picked up from the coffee table.

Sighing, and knowing that her friend was right, Sophia finally came out of her closet. She sat down on the floor next to the first packed luggage and opened it so she could inspect the contents.

“What?” Sophia asked, absently as she held up a flowing knee length skirt for inspection.

“Don't take that, it’s too conservative. You’ll look like a prude,” Danielle insisted and after considering for a couple of more seconds, Sophia agreed and threw it towards her closet.

“Make sure you bring something sexy, just in case!”

“I’m going for two weeks. I’m not going to meet someone or have sex with someone in that amount of time,” Sophia laughed.

“You’re beautiful. Maybe it just takes a different environment for you to realize that guys fall at your feet, and they’ll be more than happy to let you use them,” Danielle said with a smirk.

“That is not true,” Sophia argued as she immediately rejected a silk slip.

“Yes, it is,” Danielle insisted. “How many times has Brian asked you out in the past two days knowing that you’re a relationship-phobe? What about Max? Or Matt; or Sam; or Nick; or-

“Okay, okay, I get it! Jeez,” Sophia huffed. “I'm not interested in dating, or even sex. All that could happen is pain, right? I mean, look at you. Every other month you're breaking up with someone and over at my house eating all of my ice cream.”

“I'm a fickle creature. And it's the joy of the experience that makes the odds worth it in the end. Because eventually I'll find the right man and all of the heartache will be worth it. Haven't you ever heard that it can take a few frogs before he turns into a prince?”

“No.”

“Oh....well, it's true!”

Snorting, Sophia refolded one of her heavy sweaters and placed it in the going pile.

“Oh, shush,” Danielle laughed. “Just pick out a dress and I’ll shut up.”

“I'm going there to learn, not to party!” Sophia protested from the floor.

“Who knows, you might just find prince charming while you're over there!” she called out from the depths of Sophia's closet.

Groaning, Sophia fell backwards onto a pile of rejected clothes and closed her eyes.

0.0.0.

“Holy crap, it's cold!” Sophia nearly cried as a gust of icy cold air hit her face as she walked out of the airport terminal.

“It's actually warmed up a little from this morning,” the hired driver smiled at her.

Eyes widening, Sophia looked at him in complete shock. “What in the hell have I gotten myself into?” she nearly whimpered as the gust of wind came back. She was from San Francisco, she was used to cold – but not this kind of cold! She'd been to the snow maybe three times in her whole life, and now she had an abundance of it!

“Don't worry, but the time you leave, your body will have gotten used to it,” he promised as he held her door open with a grin.

“That,” she muttered as she slipped into the car. “I don't believe.”

Laughing, the driver shut the door slid into the driver’s seat.

Leaning her head back against the headrest, Sophia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was here. The hardest part was over.

Rubbing her hands together in an attempt to warm them faster than the car heater was, she opened her eyes and looked out the car window. Cars were parked on the freeway as if it was a parking lot.

“It’s going to take a while to get to the hotel, isn't it?” she asked.

“Welcome to New York City, Miss Giovanni,” he grinned and touched his forefinger to his driving hat.

“I take it that this is a part of the experience too?” she asked with a perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised in question.

“Just as much as Time Square and the Subway,” he agreed.

Nodding her head, Sophia looked at him and smiled. “So have you lived in the city your whole life?”

.0.0.0.

Sophia was amazed by how much she had learned of New York simply by being stuck in a traffic jam. The most vital lesson of all was that no one had road rage like a New Yorker. Californian's had nothing on them.

“Thank you. Will you be picking me up to go back to the airport?” Sophia asked as Ben, as she had finally learned the drivers name, took the two pieces of luggage that she had brought with her out of the trunk of the car.

“I don't know yet,” he answered her truthfully. “We're assigned on a day-to-day basis.”

“Okay, well if I don't have the luck of seeing you again, you take care, and good luck with those classes,” she said smiling at him as she slipped him a twenty.

“Thank you, Sophia. Good luck with yours as well. If I ever see your book, know that I'll buy it,” he winked at her before the hotel bellman walked up to take her luggage.

“Thanks,” she grinned as she followed the bellman towards the entrance.

“Welcome to the Hilton New York, madam,” the weathered, graying old man greeted with a smile that instantly made her feel welcome.

“Thank you.”

“I'll be waiting right over here with to help you with your luggage to your room,” he told her with a nod towards where the elevators were.

Just as Sophia was walking up to the front desk, she noticed a huge commotion going on the other end of the lobby. Frowning momentarily, Sophia shook her head and smiled at the desk agent.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Welcome to the Hilton.”

“The last name is G-I-O-V-A-N-N-I.”

“Great. Thank you Miss Giovanni,” the young lady smiled, her eyes trained on the screen in front of her. “We have you here for eight days, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Great. We have you on the fifty-second floor,” she smiled, finally looking up from her screen as she slid a folded blue paper across the marble counter. “Your room number is right here,” she said, circling the room number that was placed under the keycard. “And if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the front desk at any time.”

“Thank you, Margret,” Sophia nodded as she took her key and headed over towards the bellman, wanting nothing more than a soft bed that she could lay down and sleep on.

Stepping onto the elevator, Sophia tried her best to ignore the couple in the corner that were having hushed argument. It sounded as if the guy had caught the girl flirting with his brother. Ouch.

It wasn't as if the guy in the elevator was bad looking.

He was actually as far from bad looking as one could possibly be. He was dressed simply in a pair of dark jeans, a gray wool sweater and a black pea coat. He looked like he just walked off the pages of GQ.

Just as she was thinking this, he turned his head towards her and she found herself looking right into his silver eyes. Shocked by the sudden frantic beating of her heart, Sophia barely noticed when the bellman started to get off of the elevator.

“Miss Giovanni?” he asked hesitantly.

“Sorry,” she blushed as she looked away from the man and followed the bellman out, a little surprised when the man and his girlfriend followed her out of the car.

“You're right down this hallway. You have access to the lounge, which is open twenty-four hours, and is on the top floor; the gym, gift shop, business center and all of the meeting rooms are on the second and third floors. If you need any directions, just dial three on your phone and one of the concierges will be more than happy to help you,” he told her as he opened up the door to room five-two-four-six.

“Thank you so much,” Sophia smiled as she gave him his tip and started into her room.

“You're very welcome, Miss. And welcome to the Hilton. I hope that your stay here is one worth remembering.”

With that the bellman was gone, and Sophia found herself watching as the elevator man walked to the door next to hers, a black look on his face.

Backing up into her room, Sophia shook her head and shut the door. He obviously had problems, and she didn't need anyone else's problems on top of hers.

.0.0.0.

Jesse Matthews glared at the red numbers that were on the alarm clock next to his bed. The bed that he was currently sharing with a cheating slut.

If he wasn't so nice he'd kick her out of his room and make her go find somewhere else to sleep. But he knew that she didn't have the money to pay for a good enough hotel in the city, and his brother sure as hell wasn't going to fund for it.

“You need to start moving in different circles,” he told himself as he got out of bed and made his way over to the wide windows that looked over the skyline.

He was twenty-seven, and had no true relationship to speak of. Throughout his teenage years he had never had a need to settle for one woman, and instead decided to settle for one a night. The same was said for his years through college. It wasn't until he reached, what was in his mind, the ripe age of twenty-five, that he found that he was tired of one night stands, and wanted a true relationship, with someone who mattered. Yet all he had found so far was the Carla’s of the world.

He wanted someone that he could bring to his parent’s house in Maine for the holidays, someone who he could take to his gallery openings and not feel as if he had to keep an eye on her so that she wouldn't sneak off to the store room with someone else.

Jesse snorted and walked over to his bag that he still hadn't unpacked yet. He needed a run to blow off some of his steam.

He couldn't resist glaring at the sleeping form in his bed as he passed it on his way to the bathroom. He was finding her a room in a different hotel first thing in the morning. She could find her own way home after that, he didn't care.

He couldn't resist slamming the bathroom door angrily however. He was rewarded with the curse that slipped past his ex-girlfriends lips.

“What the hell was that for you asshole? I was sleeping!” Carla screamed from the bed as she burrowed back down into the covers.

“My room.” he yelled back through the door as he changed.

Jesse heard her mumbling to herself as he slipped out of the bathroom.

“If you think about locking me out of this room, so help me Carla, I will have security up here in seconds to drag your ass downstairs. And just remember, you don't have a place to go after this,” he warned as he grabbed his wallet and made sure that everything was in it. He wouldn't put it past her.

Good thing he didn't bring anything that was worth anything with him on the trip.

“What do you think that I am, stupid?” she spat as she glared at his back on the way to the door.

“You said it doll, not me.”

No one was in the gym when Jesse got there, to which he was thankful. He didn't feel much like being pleasant to anyone. Right now, all he wanted to do was beat the hell out of something.

Spying the punching bag in the corner of the room, Jesse grinned and walked over towards it. This was just what the doctor ordered.

.0.0.0.

Hearing the screeching noise in the room next to hers, Sophia groaned and buried her head in her pillow. Why couldn't they wait until morning to start fighting? Or making up. Or whatever they were doing.

Finding herself disgusted with the idea of the elevator man having sex with the plastic Barbie, Sophia rolled over and sighed. She wasn't going to go back to sleep for a while. She never could when she woke up in the middle of the night. It also didn't help that she was also still on West Coast time.

Turning on the bedside lamp, Sophia looked for her laptop. She might as well do something productive like writing more on her story while she was up.

Unzipping the padded case that it was in, Sophia pulled the computer out and dug out a pair of track pants and a UCLA hooded sweatshirt that she brought with her. She was going to go write in the little reception area by the elevators since her room just didn't feel comfortable enough to write in.

“I should really ask to change rooms,” she sighed as she slipped into a pair of slippers and grabbed her laptop and key before leaving the room.

Walking back towards the elevators, Sophia took the time to look around her. The hotel had elegance enough to spare, that was for sure. Shaking her head slightly, Sophia picked a chair that was next to the window by the elevator and sat down with her legs crossed and settled her laptop on top of her legs.

As soon as her fingers hit the keys, she became lost once in the tale that she was weaving. She couldn't help but sympathize for the main character of the story who had lost both of his parents a month after he was born and was left to jump from foster house to foster house until he finally ran away and took any job that he could to keep the food in his mouth.

Just as she ended a tear jerking scene where the main character finally found his parents grave, she felt someone watching her.

Looking up from her screen, Sophia absently wiped away at her tears and looked up.

Mr. Elevator guy had his amazing silver eyes trained on her, and he was dripping with sweat. His thin gray shirt hung damply to his body, showing off the body that he obviously took very good care of. His black shaggy hair was dampened with his sweat and pushed off of his forehead, leaving some of the strands sticking up wildly, while the others were plastered to his head.

He was tall. Over six feet tall, if she calculated right. Tall enough that Sophia felt some tingles of excitement. The few guys that she had dated – the very few guys that she dated were all about as tall as she was, which she found was something that wasn't too appealing to her.

But then again, dating wasn't all that appealing to her either.

“Are you okay?” he asked her softly, more so than one would think that he was capable of. He looked like the type who had a loud and smooth voice.

“I'm fine, thank you,” she smiled just a little. “I just got caught up in a scene.”

“Writer?” he asked with raised eyebrows and a knowing smile.

“Editor and wanna-be-writer,” she corrected, her green eyes frosting over, waiting for the comment that she knew was to come. After all, writing was just a dreamer’s way into reality as her father would say.

“What genre?” he asked as he walked over towards her and sat down on the corner of the side table next to her, making sure that he didn't get too close. He had to smell pretty bad.

“Whatever catches my mind,” she shrugged as she leaned her head back to look up at him. “Right now it's more of a dark fiction sort of story. The last one was romance.”

“Romance, huh?” he asked with a smirk as he started to read the lines that were on the screen.

“Hey, it's the leading entertainment for stay at home mom's across the world. It keeps my company in business,” she shrugged again, a little surprised that she wasn't getting anything else from him. He must want something else from her, or he'd be sure to be sneering at her as all of the rest had.

“What's with the inscription on the tombstone?” he asked as he finally got to the last line that she had written.

“A secret until the end of the story,” she smirked, causing one of her dimples to just barely show.

“Come on, what harm is it to tell me? I promise not to tell anyone else,” he said, smiling at her.

Sophia didn't like the feeling that came over her as she looked at him, sitting there smiling at her. Her whole body was screaming that he was danger.

.0.0.0.