Chapter 8 Sebastian #3
When I finally pull back, we’re panting in unison.
As I stare at her beautiful face, blind panic hits. What is she going to want from me? Expect now that—
She gives me a gentle kiss, then pushes off me. She zips her pink jacket, then fixes her hair. Her gaze moves to the patio doors.
“I should go.”
I get to my feet, tucking myself into my pants. “It’s dark.”
She shrugs and grabs her jacket. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
As she zips it, fear rolls through me. What if that jackass, Silas, is lurking around? He doesn’t seem the type to handle rejection well.
I grab my sweatshirt and pull it over my head. I hear the patio door shut. My arms are in the sleeves, pulling it down, while I stuff my feet into my sneakers, then hurry after her.
This time, it’s me jumping over the deck railing, landing on the cold, hard ground. I hurry after her, catching her just as she steps onto the trail in the woods.
She whirls around, eyes wide with fright.
“It’s just me.” I hold up my hands. “I worried about you being in the woods by yourself at night.”
All fear vanishes from her face.
“Oh. That’s very considerate of you.” She beams at me. “I’ve never had anyone worry about me.”
I give her a sidelong look. “What about your dad? Didn’t you say you live with him?”
She waves her hand dismissively as we walk, eyes focused on the dark path in the woods. “I’ve looked after him since Mom died when I was eighteen. He wasn’t in the right headspace after her death. It... well, it really rocked him.”
From the look on her face, it had the same effect on her. I don’t comment. Some things feel too intimate to name.
“I had plans to leave. My first-year tuition at an Ivy League school was fully funded. But I...” She looks down at her feet, her voice lowering. “I couldn’t leave him.”
My heart twists inside my chest. “That’s very admirable of you to stay.”
She shrugs. “There was no one else. I don’t have any siblings. Never met my dad’s parents. They disowned him when he married my mom. Said he was too young. And my mom’s parents... they had a lot of health issues and died a year apart when I was a kid. So the three of us were pretty close-knit.”
I stare at her for a moment, not saying anything. Our shoes crunch through the snow.
“Did you ever go to college?”
She smiles up at me. “Yeah. I did my bachelor’s degree online in three years. I’m finishing up my master’s right now. I only have one more year—”
Her foot slips on a patch of ice. I catch her before she falls.
She stares up at me, two pink blotches on her cheeks. My arms are around her waist. The moment is far more intimate than it should be. Yet I don’t release her.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” Her voice is slightly breathless.
I finally let her go, and we continue walking toward her house.
I clear my throat and run my hand through my hair, wondering what the hell just happened. Why do I want to keep holding the woman who is stalking me in my arms? Why have I done any of the things I’ve done with her? Why have I allowed her to infiltrate my life?
“So, you’re working on your master’s, huh?”
A twig snaps beneath my boot. She automatically grabs my arm, fear lining her face.
“It’s okay. I just stepped on a twig.”
“Oh.” Her other hand is over her heart. I can’t help but think how cute she looks bundled in her jacket, wearing the damn little pink jacket beneath it.
A vision of her wearing my sweatshirt hits. Something feral rolls through me. I like that she wears it, too. More than I should.
“Um, yeah. I’m studying behavioral sciences.”
How ironic.
I almost ask her if she learned anything about stalking, but then think better of it.
“Nice.”
“You studied business, right?”
I glance down at her. She’s still holding onto my arm like we’re two lovers taking a stroll. Honestly, the way the moonlight shines through the trees tonight, bathing the forest in its silver glow, is quite romantic.
But I push the thought away. Bringing it up to Ivy would be tantamount to being engaged.
I don’t ask how she knows. She stalks me. Of course, she knows.
“Business info systems. Minored in management.”
She nods. “I’ve never been a big math person. Taking statistics for psychology was hard enough.”
“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.”
We reach the back garden. Her house looms behind it.
I notice a small cottage on the grounds, smoke billowing from the chimney. She catches me looking.
“Thomas lives there. My driver.”
I nod. “Is your father home?”
“No. He’s traveling. Took his new girlfriend on a cruise.”
Even though she has someone living on the property, a hint of worry rolls through me.
What if Silas shows up again?
She’s all alone in that big house.
“Give me your cell phone?”
She blinks at me. “What?”
“I want to put my number in it. In case of an emergency.”
She slips it from her pocket and presses it into my hand. I enter my name and number into her contacts, then hand it back.
“Send me a text so I have yours.”
Her fingers fly over the keys, and then my phone beeps.
I nod toward the house. “Goodnight, Ivy.”
“Thanks for walking me home.” She gives me a warm smile. “Goodnight, Sebastian.”
“You’re welcome.”
She turns and heads through the garden gate. I stand there watching until she reaches the back door. She waves, then disappears inside her house.
I turn and head toward home, debating whether to ask Marcus if he knows a good therapist.
I just walked my stalker home.
The girl I fooled around with on the couch.
The one who swallowed my cum.
If that isn’t grounds for an undiagnosed mental illness, I don’t know what is.
I climb up the steps of the back deck and slip through the patio door.
I should lock it.
But I don’t.
I’m not going to analyze why.