26. Sebastian Courtland
26
SEBASTIAN COURTLAND
I’d been standing there as Kaylan had taken Byron’s call.
Of course, I might have also gotten a quick call from my mother hours earlier telling me her plan to woo Byron into taking the COO job at Stanton Holding and that if I promised to not fuck it up again, she might try to sneak in a good word for me.
I’d planned everything to the second days ago with help from Rome, Pierce, and Declan, but I’d been stuck in a holding pattern until I could find the perfect moment to spring it on Byron.
Kaylan might have enjoyed his part of trying to talk Byron out of coming back to me a little too well, but he’d gotten what I needed—a timeline for Byron’s arrival and the reassurance that he would cut through Fountain Square to get to the office.
Now he was standing in the center of the downtown park, staring openmouthed at the jumbo screen as it scrolled slowly through more than a dozen pictures of my sweet Byron. Most of them were taken from corporate events where people had snapped candid shots of him smiling and laughing. There were even some more recent pictures of him helping at my mother’s charity fund raiser.
And then there was the picture that threw our life off track.
When you stepped away from the turmoil and chaos, all you could see was the love and the happiness. They were beautiful pictures of two men seated on a park table framed by dark-green leaves, sharing a tender, intimate moment.
I wanted to include them here to remove the stain that had inadvertently tainted their beauty. I just hoped that Byron could see their perfection as well.
As the pictures flashed by one after another, the apology I’d recorded played on the outdoor speakers for all the city to hear.
“Byron Graham is the most honorable, amazing man in Cincinnati. He started working for Courtland Enterprises three years ago as the executive assistant for the CEO. During his time there, he exemplified determination, hard work, compassion, and courage. There was no task too big or too small. Everything he touched, he gave his all to make sure that it was the best it could be.
“But most importantly, he touched countless lives at Courtland Enterprises. Everyone who worked with him remains in awe of his dedication and thoughtfulness. For him, it was more than getting a job done. It was about supporting and protecting his coworkers when times were tough, while never asking or expecting the same support. Byron’s only mistake was daring to date a man who wasn’t worth a tenth of him…”
I walked up behind Byron, barely listening to the audio. I’d spent days writing it and going over it, trying to word the apology just right. There were three little words missing to it, and those I wanted to say to his face. He was such a private person. I was afraid he’d hate this. Yet, our lives had been torn apart in a very public way. It felt right that the entire world would see my apology to him.
My eyes were locked on his stiff form as he watched the screen. He was in the suit I loved him most in—a lovely charcoal gray with a pale-blue-gray button-down shirt and understated tie. But his suit was wrinkled and drenched with sweat. His normally perfect hair was also soaked in sweat, and his face was bright red. Had he run here?
But even in all his flushed sweatiness, he was still perfect. My arms ached to hold him, to gather him close and tell him I loved him with everything I was.
A murmur of noise was building in volume. People had stopped watching the video and had now turned toward Byron. They were pointing and whispering as they realized that the person the video was intended for was standing amongst them.
The audio stopped, but the pictures continued to scroll. A ragged gasp from Byron gripped my heart and squeezed.
Taking an unsteady breath, I spoke. “Byron?”
He swung around, his eyes wide and shimmering, with tears poised to slip down his face. I dropped to my knees and held out my empty hands in front of me.
“My life is nothing without you in it. Just a great black emptiness where my heart used to be. I don’t deserve a second chance. I’m sorry for failing to protect you. I’m sorry for not taking the danger to your livelihood as seriously as I should have and not fully considering the weight that rested on your shoulders. If you give me a second chance, I swear I will do better. I won’t treat every problem as something to be solved with my checkbook. Your feelings and the well-being of your family will always come first. Byron Graham, I love you and I swear I will love you until the end of my days. Please, will you take me back? Can we try again?”
Byron covered his mouth with one of his hands, his tears finally breaking the dam that held them and slipping over his fingers. The audience we’d accumulated was calling out helpful suggestions. And not so helpful suggestions.
“Take him back!”
“Say yes!”
“Say no! Make him suffer!”
“Give the poor guy a second chance!”
Thankfully, my sweet Byron didn’t leave me to hang in uncertainty for too long. He extended one of his hands to me as he nodded.
“God, yes please,” he choked out as he lowered his other hand from his mouth.
I’d barely made it to my feet when Byron launched himself at me. His lithe body crashed into mine, wrapping his arms behind my neck as my arms closed on his waist. The first touch of his lips was heaven. Thunderous applause broke out across the square, drowning out the rush of cars that echoed up the tall buildings. Now that I had Byron in my arms, everything else faded away. There was no one else that mattered to me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered between frantic kisses.
Byron’s hands shifted to frame my face as he pulled away. “No. No more apologies. I fucked up, too. I panicked at the first sign of things getting difficult and pulled away. My pride got in the way. I’d been supporting my mom and brother for so many years on my own that I thought it was bad if I depended on anyone else. I was scared you’d think I only wanted to be with you for your money.”
“No, baby! Never! You’re not like that.”
“I promise that I’ll be more open and willing to lean on you in the future. I’ll let you support me instead of pushing you away.”
His words made my heart soar. This was all I wanted. To be part of his world, to support him. Not just with a wad of cash, but to be the person who held him as his heart was breaking or the times someone had made him angry.
“I love you.” The words tumbled from my lips and hung trembling in the air between us. “I love you, Byron. With all that I am. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Never let me go again. No matter what stupid things I say.”
I slammed our mouths together. The kiss tasted salty from his tears and sweat, but nothing had ever been sweeter to me. Byron was in my arms, and I was never letting him go. No one had ever fit me so well. No one had ever crawled into my heart and made themselves at home the way Byron did. Losing him for those three weeks had been like my soul had floated free of my body and I’d been nothing more than a husk, going through the motions.
Not anymore.
The kiss slowly ended, and I glanced up to find that the crowd surrounding us had lost interest in our drama and moved on. The jumbo screen had returned to showing local advertisements of businesses and upcoming events. It looked like the world had moved on, but I still had my Byron.
“Baby, not that I’m complaining, but why are you so red-faced and sweaty? Did you run here?”
“Oh fuck,” he moaned. His head dropped forward to rest on my chest. “My car died. It limped down Gilbert Avenue and finally gave out at Seventh and Broadway. I ran here because I was afraid of missing—oh, shit!” His head suddenly popped up, his eyes wide. “Your flight! You’re supposed to be leaving for Paris.”
“Not without you. But first, I need to get you some water and cooled off before you suffer from heat stroke.”
“But—”
“No buts. You promised you would let me take care of you.” I tucked him against me with my arm around his waist as I ushered him across the square to the Courtland Enterprises building. Byron’s smile turned a little smug, but he didn’t argue one bit as we walked together.
His sigh was profound as we entered the air-conditioned building. The cold air swept over us, working to lower his temperature. Normally, I would head straight for the elevators. Today, I made a pit stop at the security desk where two guards sat wearing the company uniform.
“Mr. Courtland!” one greeted as soon as I drew near. Both men jumped to their feet.
“At ease, guys,” I said with a laugh. “I wanted your team to be updated first. This is my boyfriend, Byron Graham. He’s permitted up to see me at any time he wants. No security checks, please.”
Byron huffed a near-silent laugh and waved to them. “Hey, Nate. Charlie. Good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Graham,” Nate replied.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Courtland. We’ll update our records and make sure that the entire security team receives your news.”
“Thank you.”
I ushered a giggling Byron onto the elevators. We leaned on the wall as it whisked us up to the top floor.
“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” he asked, breaking the silence after we’d traveled a few floors.
“Sooooo much,” I admitted, rocking my head back and forth on the wall. “You have no idea. Do you know what else I’ve been dying to do?”
“What?”
I swooped in for another kiss, stealing his breath away as the kiss went on and on. We both seemed to revel in the freedom to kiss each other in public without worrying about the horrific consequences. The thrill of possibly being caught had been fun, but this was a thousand times better.
We only broke apart at the sound of a surprised gasp. My head snapped around to find that the doors had opened without us noticing on another floor and someone was standing on the other side.
“Oh! Sorry. Um…I’ll just get the next one,” she said, her face bright red while a broad grin stretched across her lips.
“Thanks, Fiona,” Byron called out as the door slid shut.
“Fiona?”
“Payroll,” Byron replied as he pulled me in for another kiss.
“How am I supposed to survive here without you to save my ass constantly?” I teased between kisses.
“Kaylan will take excellent care of you, and I will be there to kiss your bruised ego at the end of the day.”
“Promise?”
Byron’s smile was like a million sparkling lights glowing in a frosty night sky. “I promise.”
The elevator doors opened once again, but to the correct floor this time. I threaded our fingers together and pulled him out after me. As soon as we strolled into view, Kaylan launched from his chair and thrust his arms above his head.
“Yes! I knew you could do it!” he shouted, followed by a wild cackle.
“Thank you for your help. Now, your next job is to make sure that no one disturbs me,” I directed, pointing at him.
Kaylan directed a jaunty salute at us. “Got it. You were never here.”
Now that our backs were covered, I escorted Byron to my office, where I attempted to capture his lips, but he slipped away from me while holding up one hand.
“Let me borrow your bathroom for a moment to splash some water on my face. I feel disgusting,” Byron begged.
“Go ahead. I’ll get you some water.”
Byron dropped his jacket and bag next to the black leather sofa and disappeared into the bathroom. I immediately tossed my suit jacket across my chair before grabbing a bottle of water from the mini fridge. But that wasn’t good enough for my new boyfriend. No, I got a crystal glass, filled it with ice, and poured the water into that. Then I dug around the assortment of snacks that Byron had always made sure were in my office for when I inevitably got hungry and restless at three o’clock.
What would he like? A packet of mixed nuts? A granola bar? Maybe he had more of a sweet tooth and needed some dark chocolate with sea salt. Or?—
“Stop overthinking it!” Byron called from the bathroom above the sound of running water.
“How did you know?”
Byron’s answer was a low chuckle. Oh, right. Of course, he knew. Byron knew me inside and out from our years of working together. But soon, I was going to know everything about him because of our dating. I couldn’t wait.
Byron reappeared with his tie off and sleeves rolled up. He’d slicked his damp hair off his forehead, and his face was much less flushed. But the wonderful smile was still there, as if he couldn’t stop it from showing now.
I directed him to the couch, where I had the water waiting with a granola bar.
“Perfect,” he murmured as he kissed my cheek.
“Okay, now tell me about your car. Are you okay? Where is it?”
“I’m fine. Just hot and tired,” he answered after drinking half the water I’d poured. “It’s parked, a bit illegally on Seventh, though. I’ll have to call a tow truck to get it taken to a mechanic.”
Carefully, I gathered Byron’s hands in mine. I rubbed my thumbs along his long, nimble fingers, loving that I could now do this whenever I wanted.
“Baby, we’re dating now. Officially, right?”
Byron pressed his lips tightly together, but they still trembled as he nodded. He looked as if he were trying very hard not to laugh in my face.
“If we’re going to be dating, I need you to be okay with something.”
“What’s that?”
“I need you to let me spoil you.”
Byron narrowed his eyes. “Define spoiling.”
“Let me buy you a new car.”
“No.”
“Please, sweetie. I really need to take care of you.” I stuck out my bottom lip and widened my eyes, trying to give him my most pathetic expression. “Please, I need to spoil my baby, and you’re my baby. You’re the only person in my entire life I’ve ever wanted to spoil.”
Byron cackled and pressed his hand into my chest, trying to push me away, but I grabbed his wrist and pulled him in close, nuzzling his neck.
“You’re ridiculous!”
“I’m in love. Hopeless, endlessly, forever in love with you. I want to give you the entire world, but I know you won’t let me. So let me spoil you. A little bit.”
“Okay! A tiny bit!”
I lifted my head. “So, a tiny bit is BMW instead of Lamborghini?”
“Okay, but nothing more than a three series.”
I scoffed at him. “Ridiculous. You’re going to be the COO of a multi-million-dollar company. You need at least a five series.”
“It’s a charity, and—hey! How did you know about that? I haven’t even accepted the job offer.”
“Yet,” I corrected with a grin. I kissed the tip of his nose, but he still glared at me. “Mom called me this morning to warn me she was going to meet with you about the job. She said something like, I need to adjust to this, because while I might have been dumb enough to let you slip through my fingers, she wasn’t.”
“Oh, good Lord,” Byron muttered as he covered his face with his hand.
“Besides, I think you’ll be great at Stanton. Have you thought about it? Are you going to accept? Not that I’m trying to pressure you. You need to do what’s best for?—”
Byron pressed his fingers into my lips and smiled at me. “You’re not pressuring. You’re an adorably excited golden retriever. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and I want to accept. However , I need to look over all the materials Danielle gave me so I can make a fair and informed decision. This has to be what is best for me and the charity.”
I took his hand and pressed a kiss to his fingers. How could I possibly tell him how proud I was of him? He was brilliant and compassionate and I was so fucking lucky to have him.
“But before we get sidetracked,” Byron said, his expression turning serious as he pulled his hand free. “There’s something I need to say. What you did for Ronnie? I…” His voice gave out, and he swallowed hard. “I don’t have words. Sebastian, you didn’t have to, and I can never thank you enough.”
I leaned in and kissed away a tear at the corner of his eye. “You already have. Plus, I didn’t do it just for you. I did it for Ronnie because he means so much to you. This way, you both can live the best life you can. I would have done it even if it meant never having you in my arms.”
“I’m never leaving your arms. I love you too much to ever be without you,” he whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around my neck.
There was nothing I wanted more than that.
Okay…maybe a little more.
“Baby, I know of this amazing place where you can read all that information my mother gave you. It’s quiet and relaxing. Perfect for making big, life-changing decisions.”
Byron pulled back, his brow furrowed in silent question. “I don’t think your bed is a good spot to make life-changing decisions.”
I chuckled. “No, but I like how you think.”
“Where?”
“Paris.”
“What?” Byron almost choked on the word. “You really need to go to Paris for business? I thought that was some ruse Kaylan made up to get me to hurry downtown.”
I shrugged with a tiny wince. “He made it sound like I was walking out the door so you would come directly here. I was going to leave tonight, but I can postpone it if you need more time to get things in order for your mother.”
“How long would we be gone?”
“What I need to get done would take only a day or two, but we could stay a week. Plenty of time for you to think things over. Plus, it would be our first personal trip together. We could do all the touristy things. Wander the city. Drink wine and eat baguettes. Kiss in front of the Mona Lisa. What do you say?”
“Let me get my passport.”