Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Darcy
T hough I’d lived in the area forever, I’d never been to The French Laundry, and now that I was here, I regretted not coming sooner. It was everything I expected it to be and so much more.
The brick building dated back to the pastoral 19 th Century in the Napa Valley when it was, in fact, a French Hand Laundry. The building was an ivy-colored two-story former laundry surrounded by herbs, roses, and a modest garden. There was nothing especially fancy about the place from the exterior, even down to the small, back parking lot, which had no fancy valets to retrieve Mr. Aster’s three-million-dollar Bugatti for him.
Walking through the interior, I was able to keep relaxed, feeling a sense of romance and charm, even while the only enemy I’d ever made casually rested his hand on my lower back, guiding me through the place as if he owned it.
From the moment we entered, we were greeted warmly by attentive staff who ushered us into a meticulously designed dining space. The interior of the place was intimate and understated, with muted colors, soft lighting, and tasteful décor that was befitting the reputation of the world-renowned chef, Thomas Keller.
Our table was in a corner with the perfect amount of privacy, almost lending the feeling that we were the only people in the dining room. It didn’t surprise me that we were offered the best table. I was here with two powerful billionaires who demanded privacy while dining extravagantly, most likely using this dinner for business and not pleasure.
While it was obvious that business was why we were here—aside from Sebastian being a dick and wanting to make our first appearance as a couple in front of his business associate—I had to admit, the atmosphere felt the opposite of all of that.
Thank God for that, too, because I had many thoughts about throwing myself from Sebastian’s car on the trip here. Maybe that’s dramatic, but I was genuinely dreading having to lie to Avery and Jim and, worse, doing what I’d been doing since we began our luxurious dining experience, smiling and acting star-stuck that Sebastian Aster was mine!
Avery and I kept the conversation light while Jim and Sebastian chummed it up over details of how Sebastian was refining and enhancing the winery. I knew Avery must’ve had five billion questions for me, but instead of getting into it, we ate our food, sipped our wine, and got through the fancy meal, talking about how delicious the food was.
I knew the questions were all coming, but right now, I was just smiling and acting overly interested in Sebastian—an act that should’ve won me an Academy Award.
Thank God this man looked fine as fuck in his bespoke suit, with his sharp-as-a-razor jawline, freshly shaven skin, and perfectly polished features from head to toe because it helped ease the headache of frustration threatening to ruin my night. Instead of being annoyed with his smooth, deep, commanding voice, I found it soothing. Seriously. I had no idea why, but perhaps I had a nervous breakdown in the car on the way over, or the insanely expensive wine that’d been paired with each course we were being served was going to my head.
“I am impressed with the efforts of the marketing team,” Jim said, relaxing back in his chair as his and Sebastian’s conversation began winding down to more casual talk.
“Truly,” Sebastian answered. “To have this particular team on board, going full force until things turn completely around, is the effort I wanted when I put them in place.”
“And you,” Jim brought his attention to me. “How did you manage to pull this one over on me?” He grinned, glanced at Avery’s excited smile, then eyed me, “No one lies to me and gets away with it.”
Avery laughed and nudged him in the ribs at his reference to the time he fired her for thinking she’d lied to him before they were married.
I chuckled, appreciating our relaxed dining vibe. Oddly enough, even with Sebastian here, we were forming some cool bond, like old friends who’d known each other since childhood.
“Very cute,” I answered him. “I’d hate to think what you’d do to me for lying to you after Avery told me you fired her over a lie when she was your girlfriend .”
“I’d love to say that was the biggest mistake I ever made,” his eyes roamed back to Avery lovingly, then to me and Sebastian. “Of course, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have cleaned up my mess of a personal life, which resulted in me truly appreciating that this woman had been delivered to me by the angels.”
“Oh, please,” Avery rolled her eyes and sipped her wine. “Don’t listen to his bullshit; he just wants to get laid tonight. And speaking of angels bringing people into each other’s lives,” she eyed me, then brought her attention directly to Sebastian as if she might’ve been questioning whether to buy into this whole relationship thing we were faking. “Is that how you feel about our sweet Darcy, Sebastian? I think she’s an angel and a half but does Sebastian Aster? ” she said his name with the mystery it seemed the Aster family loved generating about themselves. “The man who seemed to have sworn off women for all eternity; have you suddenly found love?”
The way she questioned him was cute but protective, almost as if Avery wanted to ensure he had good intentions and wouldn’t hurt her friend.It even caused Sebastian to pause momentarily before resuming a look of adoration for me.
“This is true,” he answered. “And trust me, I’ll face the same questions when my parents arrive here on Monday.”
Avery nearly spit the wine she’d just sipped back into her glass, then looked at me. “Are you—” she paused because she knew what everyone knew about Margot Aster. The woman was lethal in protecting her family and status, and I was a major threat to their legacy if Sebastian—her firstborn son and principal heir to their centuries-old dynasty—was in a relationship with me. “Are you prepared for that?”
I chuckled and smiled sweetly at the man I couldn’t stand, “Oh, you know this handsome man of mine has prepared me for his family.” I squeezed his knee, trying to offer a soothing rub on his leg, and watched as his eyes widened with surprise.
I watched in amusement as a youthful and adorable expression crossed the man’s features, not because he was offended by my touch but because I’d squeezed him at a ticklish part of his knee. The formal smile he’d held all night slipped into a goofy grin as he began to wiggle involuntarily. It was a cute moment, probably one we both needed since this was the longest we’d gone without trying to bite each other’s heads off.
“Jesus Christ, you two are so damn cute,” Avery said while Sebastian pulled his eyes away from mine bashfully and shook his head as if to try to think straight again.
Shit, even I had to take a breath. I couldn’t believe how attractive he was when I saw a playful expression on his face.
“I thought you two were pulling one over on us,” Jim added as Sebastian and I pulled ourselves together over the brief, candid moment neither of us saw coming. “I guess I was wrong. You two are really into each other.”
“I have no time for silly games,” Sebastian looked into my eyes, and I watched the fake side of him return. “We’re dating, but unlike you and Avery, there are times I think the devil sent her to me, not the angels.”
Jim and Avery laughed, and I stopped myself from snapping at him for his stupid remark. “You say that like I’m the one who deviously stole your heart,” I laughed, feigning that I adored him in some stupidly believable way.
“Well, didn’t you? It’s as though you gave me no other option. Truth be told,” he continued to stare fake-lovingly into my eyes, “I’m grateful for it.”
“Well, I guess the devil was looking out for you,” Jim said, shooting me a wink, “because you were supposed to be the grand prize at the bachelor auction.”
Jim and Sebastian laughed, making me marvel at how easily some men could forge friendships. The two men had been merely acquaintances before investing in the winery. Now, I watched as Sebastian turned into this lighthearted—dare I say fun— kind of a guy as he and Jim began to joke with each other as if they were long-standing friends. I wondered if it was all fake, but I knew Jim Mitchell was anything but fake. And since I’d gotten pretty good at seeing Sebastian be a phony while we were pretending to date, I could tell he wasn’t acting with Jim. It almost seemed like being around Jim was a breath of fresh air for Sebastian.
Jim was a firm businessman with a commanding presence but also a cool guy. It was as if that was bleeding over onto Sebastian, like the stiff bastard needed a positive light shining around him. It was strange to see because I hadn’t seen a lighter side to Sebastian since he arrived at my home like an ominous thundercloud.
“Perhaps that’s why we’re in the relationship,” Sebastian teased Jim with the truth. “What the hell were you thinking to allow such an absurd idea, anyway?” he questioned Jim, his playful—yes, playful —eyes dancing in excitement when he looked at me. “Not to insult you, sweetheart, but your cute games can get a little too wild sometimes.”
“I’m not insulted at all,” I said, genuinely shocked yet weirdly happy about Sebastian’s current mood. “I just didn’t think you wanted anyone to find out about us, and I figured it was a perfect plan to keep our relationship hidden.”
As I felt my heart skip a bit, seeing this man lighter and happy for once and oddly finding him beyond attractive, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was watching a broken man who’d been in a very dark place suddenly seeing the light again. And though I knew that whatever it was that’d made him suddenly happy was something small, I could sense that his response was pretty big for him.
“And a perfect way to pimp out your guy,” Avery said with a laugh, then looked at me like I’d grown two heads. If I was honest with myself, I think I probably had, given the sudden change of heart I was feeling for Sebastian at the moment. Happy for him to be happy? “You and I met because of how the women in their circles can be; I’m shocked you’d throw your highly sought-after man up on the chopping block for one of them?”
“I wasn’t thinking,” I said, remembering when Avery and I had met at a gala. “Could you imagine someone like Haylee Foster bidding on him?”
I laughed, recalling the woman who tried to ruin Jim’s reputation after he acquired her small publishing press. She’d created a fake scandal after she developed intense and psychotic feelings for him, which resulted in a restraining order after she showed up drunk at the gala. She confessed everything on a microphone to everyone in the room, saying she was madly in love with Jim and accusing Avery of stealing her soulmate from her before she’d had a chance to meet him. It was the most bizarre scene I’d ever witnessed, and it was how Avery and I met, so it was always funny to rehash.
“Do you know that she fled the country to evade taxes?” Avery said. “The feds caught up with her, though. Can you imagine? What a life.”
“I think I recall hearing something about this,” Sebastian said, looking at Jim with concern. “So, there was nothing between you and the woman?”
Jim’s expression darkened, and then he looked at me and smiled, “God, no, but if it weren’t for my wife and your little devil, it could’ve been much worse.”
Sebastian looked at me in question, “What did you do?”
His mask and fakeness had dropped, and he was asking me a question with sincerity.
“She saved his ass,” Avery said. “Well, Jim wasn’t losing a dime over the woman, but after Darcy sat down with him and hung out with us, she wrote the most beautiful and glowing article about who Jim really is. She’s the only one Jim has allowed to write anything personal about him,” she smiled at me, “and you did well on that. I still am shocked that you’re not out on your own and writing for a more reputable company instead of working for Juniper,” Avery said, rolling her eyes. “You know I can’t stand your slimy boss.”
Sebastian reached down and gently grabbed my leg, but his touch caused me to jump instead of being cute and gazing into each other’s eyes like we did moments ago.
“Look at that,” Sebastian said with a flirty grin, another expression I’d never seen. “I’m not the only one who doesn’t want that creep getting any money for my life story.”
“Wait,” Jim said, looking at Sebastian, “you’re having her write about your personal life?” he chuckled and sat back, his left hand casually propped up on the back of Avery’s chair. “This is fucking new .”
“Well, it’s not because I want her to,” he said, looking at me. “Don’t take that as an insult, sweetheart,” then he looked at Jim, “but I had to pick the lesser of two evils when I found out my lady had decided to auction me off for money for the winery. I opted for the interview instead of a high-risk date, and after hearing about what happened between you and that woman, I think you can easily understand why I’m not going on a date to the highest bidder.”
“The more money they have to spend on nonsense, the crazier they are,” Jim chuckled.
“And I’d rather deal with Juniper and my beautiful girl than take a risk on an auction date.”
“I can’t believe your father went for this,” Jim laughed. “I knew you’d try to find a way out of it, but I’m more shocked that your father wanted to do this than I am to learn you’re dating Darcy.” He looked at me, “No offense, of course.”
“None taken. Trust me, I never thought it would happen, either. I imagined him standing up there and being auctioned off, breaking records for the highest sum of money any woman dared to spend on a man.”
“The fact that this vixen,” Sebastian looked at me in fake adoration, “even had a vision about me being auctioned off for a date is more than likely why I had to come clean and let everyone know she and I were dating.”
He challenged me with an arch of his eyebrow, and because of the friendly dining atmosphere and getting tiny glimpses of a different side of Sebastian, I may have found him attractive for a quarter of a second.
“Well, it’s kind of a bummer,” Avery said. “I was hoping to meet both of you in the same room after Darcy spoke like you were the worst man she’d ever known,” Avery laughed, referencing my drunken rants about the arrogant Sebastian Aster. “You were pretty brutal.”
Sebastian looked at me with humor and curiosity in his eyes, “Oh, so you went out of your way to make me appear the worst asshole on the planet, did you?”
I shrugged while Jim eyed us in question. “What else was I supposed to do? I was surrounded by everyone asking what I thought about you. I wasn’t going to give us away and risk your dad losing his shit on you for dating me. So, that’s where the whole idea to put your handsome ass up on that auction block came from. Two birds, one stone. You make the business all the money you were spending, and no one thinks we’re in love.”
“It’s why I fell in love with you,” he smirked. “Always so damn spontaneous and creative.”
“I know,” I smiled in return.
“Seriously, though,” Jim interrupted Sebastian and me as we sat in a silent yet playful stare-off. “What made your dad go for the idea of you getting auctioned off like that? He is certainly not a man who puts his kids in a circus for money.”
I watched Sebastian, wanting the answer myself, and his face grew somber. “I think he was just worried about me,” he said sincerely. “Since Melissa died and left me a widower with a baby daughter, who I still have no clue how to raise or be there for, I’ve admittedly been pretty checked out on everyone and everything.”
I sat in shock as Sebastian vocalized his darkness in a way that sounded more like a confession than an excuse.
“I know we’ve already expressed our deepest condolences for your late wife, but truly, I can’t imagine what you went through when you lost her,” Jim said with a tone that resonated with Sebastian, keeping the man’s reaction tame instead of turning dark as it had every time I’d talked to him about it. “I find it very understandable that you would find yourself in a very dark place after such a profound loss. We only met on a handful of occasions, but she was a lovely woman.”
“I appreciate that,” Sebastian answered.
For a man who didn’t need anyone’s sympathies for his wife’s passing and his sad situation, he was open to Jim’s. I wondered if that’s what the poor, grumpy, and miserable man needed all along, someone who didn’t set him off when they mentioned his wife. It was apparent Sebastian was stuck in the anger stage of grieving, and whether anyone had offered him help with his grief, he hadn’t gotten it yet. Or maybe up until now, he didn’t want it.
Jim was a good man, and I could see that he and Sebastian, being close in age and like-minded businessmen, were forming an unexpected bond. It was neat to see, and I found myself sitting there, happy that we’d come to dinner with Jim and Avery. For the first time since I’d met Sebastian Aster, I watched him show some politeness and decency.
It was a good look on him, but who knew how long it would last.