Chapter Two
ETHAN
Hello, darling.
Those soft words slid under my skin like a spell. Every lie I’d told myself about seeing Sebastian Langley again unraveled in seconds. The resentment. The hurt. The years of pretending I didn’t care—gone. Fucking poof.
He was right there in front of me, and I knew instantly I’d been wrong about everything. About time dulling him. About distance making him smaller. About how quickly my body remembered him.
The truth was cruel in its simplicity: Sebastian Langley looked even better than I remembered.
He was older, sure, but it only made him more magnetic.
His wavy hair was styled the same way, though streaked with a little more silver at the temples.
The stubble I remembered had grown into a beard—longer now, but still impossibly neat.
And, of course, he was impeccably dressed.
Clean lines. Tailored fit. Everything about him radiated control.
He should’ve been intimidating. He would’ve been—if I hadn’t known him. If that infuriatingly familiar smile weren’t tugging at his lips, overflowing with fondness.
“I’ll make myself scarce.” Henry’s voice snapped me back to reality.
I turned just in time to catch his smug grin and just knew he’d planned this. Even though he knew I’d wanted to do it on my own terms. Rip off the bandage, he’d said. And what a fucking rip it was.
As Henry left, a treacherous flush crawled up my neck. Sebastian took a step closer, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe I was real. That made two of us.
“Hi…” It sounded awkward, even to me.
His grin deepened, and his gaze moved over me slowly, like he was memorizing me all over again. “You look so different.” His voice filled every inch of the space, commanding attention the way it always had.
“Yeah, well… I’m far past my teens now.”
Sebastian’s eyes crinkled as his laughter rang through the room. It was such a rich sound—so achingly familiar it clawed at something buried inside me. Before I knew it, I was smiling back.
“Can I…” He stepped closer. “Can I hug you?”
The hesitation in his voice undid me, and I nodded without thinking. He closed the distance between us, his hands sliding around my waist as I rose onto my toes and looped my arms around his neck.
I shut my eyes and breathed him in.
He still smelled like himself, just not quite the same—a note missing I couldn’t place.
I let it crash over me; the indescribable, overwhelming feeling of being back in his arms. They tightened around me, the firm expanse of his chest pressed to mine, warming me in ways I’d thought were no longer possible.
I had missed him. So fucking much.
When Sebastian had left, it’d felt like he’d taken my heart with him, like something inside me had hardened just to survive his absence. I’d let him become the center of my universe, and when he was gone, I’d been left drifting through the emptiness he created.
We’d stayed in touch for a while, neither of us ready to let go, clinging to calls and messages that had only highlighted what we no longer had.
I’d told myself it was enough, that hearing his voice was better than silence, but then the whispers in my head had turned into screams. Every look from strangers had begun to feel like pity or judgment, and the distance between us had become more than miles; it had been a wall, impossible to cross.
I’d felt him slipping away, and the slow inevitability of it had destroyed me.
So I’d asked him to let me go. To let me erase him.
And, being Sebastian, he’d taken me at my word.
Then he was really gone.
But his influence had lingered in everything.
Sebastian had given me my drive—my ambition, my hunger for power. I admired how certain he’d been, how easily people followed him, and how commanding he was without even trying. I’d wanted that for myself. I’d gone from drifting to chasing, from aimless to determined.
He’d given me my confidence too. My humor. My edge. Sebastian had bulldozed through every wall I’d built and forced me to stop hiding behind what he called my Bennett politeness. I stopped worrying about keeping others comfortable, because he’d taught me how to take up space.
He had given me my preference for rough sex and older partners.
I’d stopped fearing my sexuality, stopped overanalyzing every shift in my attraction, and just let it flow.
I learned to embrace what I liked—what I craved—even when I knew I was searching for him in every touch.
Trying, and failing, to recreate the spark he’d ignited in me with someone else.
Choosing to come to Madrid had been hard. I didn’t want anyone to think I’d done it to chase him—especially not him. I’d done it for myself. For my future. But standing there, wrapped in his arms, I knew he’d influenced this too. Just like everything else.
His lips brushed my temple. “Your hair is longer.” The words were soft, almost a caress against the raw edges of my soul.
A small laugh slipped past my lips. “I’ve had about a million haircuts since I last saw you.”
His hands—warm and sure—moved to my neck, tilting my face back so he could really look at me. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
I let my eyes trace his features too. “I can’t believe you’re almost forty. You look exactly the same.”
He grinned, a quiet laugh rumbling low in his chest. “You don’t.” His smile softened as his thumbs brushed along my jaw, his eyes following the motion. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to be even more beautiful than I remembered.”
The words landed hard—tight in my chest, then lower. His eyes met mine again, and time just… stopped. Everything I’d ever felt for him hit me like a wave, dragging it all back to the surface. None of it had dulled. None of it had faded.
“It’s so fucking good to see you,” Sebastian whispered.
The breath that filled my lungs felt shared, like we were breathing for each other.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d let myself feel like this. My heart was making choices my mind couldn’t keep up with, willing to throw everything away if it meant having him again. It felt like I’d gone back in time—to when he was mine—and I was just as reckless. Just as lost in him.
My fingers trembled as I covered his wrists, holding him there. “I missed you too.”
The corners of his mouth curved. He leaned in until his forehead rested against mine, eyes closing.
I was free-falling.
He was so close. Finally, so close again.
He nuzzled his nose against mine in the sweetest, most disarming gesture, and I melted into putty in his grasp. This couldn’t be one-sided—it didn’t feel one-sided. He had to be just as caught up as I was in this impossible rush of being near each other again.
Because this could be it, couldn’t it? We could finally give us a real shot. Far from our families. Far from the cameras. Far from everything that had torn us apart. This could be our chance.
My tongue darted over my lips, and his gaze dropped to my mouth. I tilted my chin up in invitation, and he reacted instantly, his grip on my jaw tightening as he leaned closer, his breath ghosting over my lips. My stomach swooped, tingles skimming down my spine.
But then nothing happened.
Sebastian froze, the warmth between us flickering out.
A flash of confusion hit me first, then doubt. Maybe he wanted me to ask for it?
“Ash…”
The sound of his name barely left my mouth before his hands fell. He stepped back, eyes wide, blinking like he’d just woken up from a dream. I stood there, hands still open, grasping at the empty air between us.
The spell started to break.
Sebastian cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Ethan.” A strained, self-deprecating laugh slipped from him. “I got carried away. Sorry about that.”
Ethan.
My lips twisted into a frown. “What just happened?”
His gaze went to the floor as he shrugged. “Got carried away.”
Okay, so what? Who the fuck cared if he got carried away? I was about to say as much when his whole demeanor shifted. His hands went to his hips, and he tried to smile. It looked anything but genuine.
“But it’s great to see you,” he said. “Are you visiting?”
I stared back. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him nervous. Sebastian was always cool confidence or calculated indifference—never this. This wasn’t him.
“No. They didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head, eyes still a little too wide.
“I’m doing my MBA at IE. I’m moving here.”
From the way he flinched, you’d think I’d tried to punch him.
“What?”
“I thought for sure Oli or Henny told you. You really didn’t know?”
He shook his head again. “I had no idea. But that’s great—congratulations.” His gaze darted around the room, lingering on the scattered boxes. “Are you and Henry living together?”
“No. I got an apartment nearby. Just haven’t finished the paperwork.”
He nodded stiffly.
My lips parted to ask why the hell he was acting so strange when Henry stepped out of his room.
His eyes bounced between us, eyebrows arched in surprise. “What are you doing out here? I thought for sure you’d be locked in the guest bedroom by now.”
Sometimes I fucking hated him.
“Not at all,” Sebastian said, his voice flat.
Not at all.
Three words, and they sliced clean through me. So what the hell had that been—the hug? Calling me beautiful? Where had all of that gone?
“Color me surprised,” Henry said, and I shrugged under his questioning look.
“We’re friends. Just that. Right?” Sebastian’s smile was still plastered on his face, looking like it took real effort to keep it there.
“Right…” I echoed.
“We should have lunch,” Sebastian added, too brightly. “Celebrate you being here.”
Henry frowned. “Sure, Ash.”
“On the weekend. I’ll bring Luca along,” Sebastian said, his eyes still fixed on Henry.
A little stretch of silence—the tense kind.
“Who’s Luca?” Henry asked.
Sebastian slipped his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. “My boyfriend.”
Oh.
Oh…