Chapter 4
Sebastian
RUBY FACED ME NOW, standing close, wiping herself with the tissue without removing her eyes from mine.
She then leaned closer, her lips hovering close to mine.
We were still catching our breaths, and she was already teasing me again.
But then she bent and pulled up her panties and jeans, forcing me to step further back.
Straightening up, she moved around the kitchen like nothing had happened, tying her disheveled hair up again.
She looked efficient. Unbothered.
But after this many years, I knew. I knew that our fucking moved something in her, and she needed a moment to file it away.
After all, so did I.
I stayed quiet, still catching my breath, putting my shirt back on.
What I didn’t tell her was what I’d seen in her planner.
I wasn’t looking for anything, just collecting data to assess the renovation timeline. But there it was—one of the cabins blocked out for two hours the night before I arrived.
No name. No guest count. No maintenance note. Just a two-hour blackout.
I realized instinctively it was her code. Blocked slot, nighttime, no staff note. That wasn’t plumbing.
That was a man.
Likely someone who tried too hard, lost her interest fast, and would never hear from her again.
And based on how she’d responded to me just now, he hadn’t done a good job, or any at all.
I shouldn’t care. We weren’t anything. That was the rule—her rule.
But that cabin block stuck in my head, made something in me knot so tightly I had to grip her and remind her what this was. Who I was. How I knew her. Because whoever else there was, she always ended up here with me. Needing me.
Not because of feelings. That wasn’t her style.
But because this thing between us had a force neither one of us could explain.
I didn’t say any of that. This setup has worked great for us so far.
I had Ruby when I came home—sometimes I came home just for Ruby.
I had the job I wanted, the name I’d built, the focus I’d fought to protect.
And if I needed to scratch the itch in between, I dated women who wanted the same—no ties, no mess.
Only lately, the thrill of it all was dulling. Promotions and new projects weren’t hitting the same. I’d find myself looking for conversation and connection with the dwindling number of women I hung out with. But no one hit the same wavelength.
No one but her.
I should have seen it coming, but I wasn’t prepared for it.
I grabbed a pen from the tray of mismatched pens, Post-its, and used batteries she kept on the counter, and motioned to her planner. “Can I?”
“Sure,” she said, tugging her shirt over her head and glancing at me through the collar.
I flipped open the hard-backed notebook. “If we start with cabins seven and eight, we might salvage some fall bookings.”
Ruby came to stand beside me. I inhaled the clean scent of her hair that drifted up to me.
“The other six are booked, but they’re smaller.
Couples mostly,” she explained. “And unlike families, they’re the first to walk out if they so much as smell paint or see a tarp on the ground.
They won’t sip their wine with power tools drilling outside. ”
“Then give them fair warning. Offer a discount. Anyone cancels, we’ll fill the gaps.”
Her head tilted up toward me. “We?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
She didn’t answer right away, just watched me for a beat. “I appreciate it, Sebastian. Really. But I know how to manage this.”
I slid onto the apple-green barstool beside the island where we’d had good breakfasts and great sex. “I know. That’s not what I’m saying.”
She looked away. “I was going to close for the season, keep the core staff, bring in a contractor who knows what he’s doing.”
“Or keep part of the place open—as long as we’re smart about the schedule.
Cabins first, since they’re separate. Then you can phase the main building, but once the upstairs work starts, that’ll shut the whole thing down.
We’ll have to time it carefully if you want any chance of reopening by Thanksgiving. ”
She brought her gaze back to me. “What do you know about running a business?”
“Not much.” I smiled. She looked flushed, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the workout we’d just had or because she was getting angry at my butting in.
I took a chance she’d get really flustered when I added, “Okay. So at least hire the guy who said he’d bring an engineer if he brings the right one. Or I’ll do the damn calculations myself.”
She smiled. “Still bossy.”
“Still right,” I retorted.
“Still arrogant.”
“Still letting me do the math,” I shot back.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not. Even though you’re the only person who thinks it’s fun.” Then, under her breath, “You and Evangeline. God, you two can start a math club.” Evangeline was one of her three best friends, who, I was pretty sure, knew everything about me, including girth and veinage.
I could have told her right then that math was easy, but she was a variable I couldn’t solve.
“HEY, MUSCLES-FOR-brAIN, I saw you did that on purpose! Watch it!” Ruby, two heads shorter and a foot narrower than the quarterback, glared at him as he kept walking and laughing with his friends.
“Did you hear me?” she called after him.
“I heard you, pizza face,” he called over his shoulder. “Lois Lane is saving Superman,” he added to his giggling friends.
“Come on. He’s not worth it,” I said, tugging her by the elbow. I admired her for not being afraid to talk back to that crowd, even though it was me he’d tried to trip.
“I hate him,” she muttered.
“Most girls have a crush on him.” I didn’t envy guys like that. All I wanted was to have someone to take to a school dance, or someone to call my girlfriend. But with a width that almost matched my height and permanent red cheeks, I had zero chance.
“If he asked me out, I’d say yes in a heartbeat. But, yeah, I also hate his guts,” Ruby added as the sharp smell of the cafeteria hit us.
“You’d go out with someone like that?” I frowned. “I don’t believe you.”
“He’d never ask someone like me, so it’s not even a thing. But if he did, I’d have my way with him, then dump him faster than a pigeon dumps on my dad’s windshield.” Ruby flashed the shiniest metal-filled grin. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
I laughed and bumped her shoulder with mine. “He’s worse than pigeon shit.”
I liked Ruby. A lot. Not as a girlfriend—not then.
We were totally platonic. But she was a girl and a friend, and she did join my sci-fi club, The Force Alliance, although she wasn’t nearly as crazy about the genre as I was.
She said it might entice more girls to join, and she was right.
“And maybe I’ll meet a guy while I’m at it,” she’d said.
We grabbed trays and entered the lunch line. Before we could pick between mystery meat and pasta surprise, she hushed a gasp.
“Oh, my God. She did it. Rio’s sitting with her brother’s hot friend—and that other friend of theirs is there too. “She clutched my arm. “You don’t mind if I go sit with them, right, Sebastian? That guy’s now a third wheel, and I can make it four.”
I shrugged. “Sure. Have fun.”
She grinned and gave my arm a little squeeze before darting off.
I turned back to the food. Picked the pasta. I really didn’t mind Ruby going. It wasn’t like I didn’t have anyone to sit with. Alex, Brandon, and Hugo sat at our usual table—I called it our Quantum Lunch Table, because I loved Quantum Leap.
I nodded at them and continued to the dessert choices, which today featured chocolate pudding or shiny red jello.
Someone stepped up beside me.
“Hey, Sebastian,” said Heather, a girl from my homeroom who acted like she owned the place.
I looked over.
“You have such a beautiful name. I used to love it. Wanted to marry a Sebastian or name my kid that.”
I smiled, my cheeks heating. “Thanks.”
“But you ruined it,” she said flatly. “It’s not a hot-guy name anymore. Thanks for ruining Sawyer, too.” She spun on her heel and joined her friends at a nearby table.
“Fuck you,” I muttered. I never cursed at girls. Not out loud. But this time, I wished I had.
I grabbed my tray and headed toward Alex, Brandon, and Hugo. We had a club meeting to plan.
HEATHER HAD RUINED the name Heather for me. Even years later, when two objectively hot Heathers hit on me at completely different points in my life, I couldn’t bring myself to go for either of them. Not even just for an actual fuck’s sake.