Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Capri
I woke with a start as I jolted up and gazed around the unfamiliar room and the empty spot next to me. Sebastian’s suite. I stretched out my battered body, remembering how pleasurable it had been to become this exhausted.
Swollen lips from his aggressive kisses. Sore nipples from his teeth. Unsteady legs from him twisting me into positions I didn’t know were possible. A delicious ache between my thighs from his length, fingers, and tongue.
Hades. A shiver coursed through me when flashes of the night we shared flooded my thoughts. I plopped against the fluffy pillows and tugged the sheet over my naked form. Staying with him forever was all I wanted, but reality set in.
Going to Greece with him wasn’t an option. At least not today. I owed my parents an explanation. Right now, they thought this was all on Sebastian. I had to take responsibility for my part in the two of us getting together.
How could my dad ever accept me and Sebastian when they couldn’t be in the same room with one another? I had to be the bridge that brought them together. This feud had to end.
“You’re awake.” Sebastian stood in the doorway holding a purple shopping bag. “Did you sleep well?”
“Once you let me, I did.” I sat up, taking the sheets with me. “You had lots of stamina.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining.” He came into the room, sat on the edge of the bed, and handed me a single white rose. “I heard plenty of other noises escaping your lips, but no complaints.”
Heat filled my cheeks when he caressed my arm.
“This is beautiful.” I sniffed the rose, being careful not to prick myself on the thorns. “It reminds me of our first time.”
“Me too.” He ran his thumb along my collarbone. “Every time I see a white rose, I’ll remember you sitting on my desk in that sexy black dress, sipping prosecco as you waited for me.”
“You didn’t think I was brave enough to swim with a shark.”
“It wasn’t your bravery I doubted, little minnow.” He traced his fingertips across my chest, and then brushed my hair over my shoulder. “Sorry I wasn’t here when you opened those gorgeous eyes.”
“Where were you?”
“I went to the gym early this morning, met with Atticus to go over our travel plans back to Greece, and then I went to the boutique downstairs and got these for you.” He placed the bag in front of me. “I hope you like them.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” I peeked into the bag. “But I do love surprises.”
“As gorgeous as you looked in that dress last night, it’s not practical for you to wear it today.” He reached in the bag and took out a pink sundress with embroidered hearts on the hem, and a cute pair of matching flip-flops. “I thought these might be better.”
“I love this dress.” I kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
“The hearts reminded me of that little tattoo on your ankle.”
“You’re so sweet.”
“Don’t tell anyone.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “I also put a toothbrush and other stuff you might need in the bathroom. They had mango bodywash in the boutique that I thought you might like.”
“I do like mango.” Particular body parts tingled when I remembered why I was a sudden fan of the fruit. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“I’ll order breakfast for you while you shower.”
“Okay, but can we talk about going to Greece?”
“What about it?” He twirled his finger around the ends of my hair. “We can leave later today. You’ll need to go to your parents’ house and get what you need. I can go with you.”
“That might not be such a great idea given what happened last night.”
How was I ever going to get Sebastian and my parents in the same room? Would I always be stuck in the middle?
“I can’t go today,” I said as regret filled my entire being.
“Why not?” He tilted my chin and stared at me with his stone-cold eyes, expecting a prompt answer.
“I can’t leave with the way things are with my parents.” I pulled my knees into my chest. “My birthday is in a few days and my mother wants to have a dinner for me.”
I didn’t want to fight with them. I needed them to understand that I was old enough to make my own choices. In a perfect world, they would accept my relationship with Sebastian. Asking for much?
“What are you telling me?” he asked. “If you don’t want to come, just say that.”
“If I said that, would you accept it?”
“Not at all.” He rested his hand on my knee. “I want you to go with me, but I’m willing to wait until you come to some kind of truce with your parents.”
“That could take a long time.”
“I’ll wait until you’re comfortable with leaving.” He brushed the back of his hand along my cheek. “I won’t leave you here unprotected and alone.”
“You don’t have to protect me from my parents.”
“I have to protect you from everything.” He closed his eyes. “The world is dangerous and cruel. Your father hasn’t prepared you for the world he lives in.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said. “I found you all on my own. I even broke onto your estate because I wanted to know you.”
“Not one of your smartest moments.” He shook his head. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I’ve waited a lifetime for you. I’m not going to lose you now.”
“You’re not going to lose me.” If my parents couldn’t accept our relationship, then that was on them. “Let’s stay for my birthday, and then I’ll go back with you until school starts.”
“I’ll take that for now.”
“Sebastian, I have one semester left. I have to come back.”
“And then what? Run a hotel in the Hamptons with…” His jaw tightened. “No, that isn’t what you want.”
“I am a bit lost here, which is why I went to Greece in the first place,” I said. “I feel like I don’t have my own identity. A say in my life.”
“You’ll always have a say with me.” He got into the bed and pulled me against his chest. “When you come home with me, I’ll explore options to help you switch that degree of yours to fashion design.
Even if you have to spend a few more years doing it, I’ll support you.
Emotionally and financially. I just want you with me. ”
“You make it all sound so perfect. Like a dream that I’ve always wanted to come true.”
“I’ll make your dreams come true.” He held me close to him. “All you have to do is take a chance with me.”
Sebastian had given me plenty to think about while I showered and got dressed. I was prepared to go to Greece with him for the duration of the summer but then I thought I would return and finish school.
What if I went with him and pursued my dreams in fashion?
I’d be doing what I loved and spending time getting to know him.
There were so many parts of him that I didn’t understand.
But the one thing I was certain of was he did want to take care of me.
When I was with him, I was safe, happy, and excited for the future.
There was a knock on the suite door. I hoped it was breakfast because I was famished.
I didn’t eat dinner last night and having that much sex worked up an appetite.
After I ate, maybe I could persuade Sebastian to take this little sundress off me before I went home.
I had a feeling he wasn’t going to put up much of a fight. I might not make it home at all.
“Is breakfast here?” I asked as I emerged from the bathroom. “I’m starving and—”
“Capri,” my father said.
“What are you doing here?” I glanced at Sebastian who stood by the suite door. Atticus and Zeus were in the doorway. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
“Get your things,” he said. “You’re going home.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you.” Sebastian came to stand next to me. “Don’t escalate this.”
“I didn’t say she was going with me,” my dad said. “Your mother is waiting in the lobby for you. She’s worried and wants to see for herself that you’re fine.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Start another fight with Sebastian?”
“Hades and I have a few things to discuss.” He glared at Sebastian. “Don’t we?”
“Zeus.” Sebastian motioned for his guard. “I need you to escort Capri to the lobby so she can meet with her mother.”
“No,” I said. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“He can handle himself,” my dad said. “I’m not going to ask you again to go to your mother.”
“I need to speak with your father.” Sebastian took my hand and led me to the doorway. “This has to be done.”
“I can wait in the bedroom.” I squeezed his hand. “Please.”
“Listen to me,” Sebastian said. “Remember when I told you at the club that when I asked you to do something it’s because I’m protecting you? This is one of those times.”
I shook my head, trying to hold back the tears that pooled in my eyes.
“Don’t cry.” He ran his finger underneath my eye. “The sooner I get this done, the sooner we can move forward.”
“Capri!” my father snapped. “Your mother is waiting.”
Sebastian nodded.
“You’ll call me?” I asked as I grabbed my bag from the foyer table.
“I will.”
When he kissed my cheek, my father muttered a few choice words. I wasn’t sure if they were meant for me or Sebastian.
“Try to listen to one another,” I said to them both. “It’s been a long time for this grudge. Resolve it for me.” I didn’t think my words would get through to them, but at least I tried.
Zeus accompanied me to the lobby but didn’t say much. He was a muscular man with a strong jawline and pretty eyes. His silver hair was cut close on the sides and longer on the top. He looked to be in his early forties. No wedding ring.
“Have you known Sebastian long?” I asked when we got into the elevator. “I guess you call him Hades.”
“I do.”
“Do you hate my father too?”
“I’ve never met your father,” he said. “I met Hades after their falling out.”
“How come you came all this way?”
“Hades asked me to.” He nodded when the elevator doors opened, indicating he wanted me to step out first. “He’s a loyal friend and someone I can trust. That’s rare these days.”
“Well, I hope we can be friends too, Zeus.”
He smiled as my mother came rushing toward us.
“I’m going to let you handle this,” he said.
“Capri.” She hugged me. “I wanted to go up but your father wouldn’t let me.”
Zeus made himself scarce, but he stayed in the lobby.
His presence didn’t bother me, but I would feel better if he was upstairs helping to diffuse any physical altercations between my dad and Sebastian.
I hoped neither one of them came crashing out of the penthouse window and splattering onto the sidewalk.
“What are you thinking?” My mother put her arm around my waist and hurried us over to a sitting area by the front windows of the lobby. “How did Hades even find you?”
“I found him.”
“How?” She sat on the couch by the window, facing the hectic Manhattan street.
“I saw a video of him at his club and noticed he had the same tattoo as Dad.” Seeing that video changed my life. “I wanted to know why.”
“It didn’t occur to you that you should have asked me before you went off looking for him?”
“Why would that occur to me?” I sat down next to her. “I went to his club and met him. I was curious.”
“He should have turned you away,” she said. I had never seen her appear so anxious. “He was the adult.”
“I’m an adult too,” I reminded her. “I have been for a few years.”
“You know what I mean.”
“He did try to send me away, but I didn’t listen.” I traced my finger along the hearts on the hem of my sundress. “I pursued him.”
“Hades had an agenda when he met you. He only let you believe that being with him was your idea.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he always has an agenda.” She set her hand over mine. “You have no idea who he is.”
“He’s not the man you think he is,” I said. “He’s good to me.”
“Capri.” She shook her head. “Even if you did pursue him, he saw you as a way to get back at your father. We haven’t heard from him in almost twenty years. Why would he come back to provoke your father now? He’s using you.”
“He wouldn’t do that.” No matter what had happened between Sebastian and my dad, that was between them. “Sebastian wouldn’t even be here if it wasn't for me.”
“I get it,” she said. “He’s charming, sexy, and dangerous. You’re young, and you were in another country and fell for an attractive, older man. You should have left all of that behind the moment you landed in New York.”
“I didn’t bring him back with me.”
“That’s my point.” She ran her hand through her black, silky hair. “He knew what he would unleash if he taunted your father with your relationship. You are a means to an end for Hades.”
“I don’t believe that.” I couldn’t let her words come between Sebastian and me. “I realize you have history with Sebastian. I don’t know what happened all those years ago, but I do know there are two sides to every story.”
“Three.” She gazed out the window, taking in the crowded street. “It’s in all of our best interests to never revisit what happened back then. It was a very unstable time.”
“It’s too late,” I said. “Sebastian tried to tell me to leave the past behind, but I didn’t listen. None of this is on him.”
“Stop defending him.” She glanced around the lobby when she raised her voice, louder than she probably intended. “He’s not the man you think he is. He’s a cold-blooded killer.”
“I guess you would know a little something about falling for a criminal.”