Chapter 17 Marfil #4
Concentrate? With that half-naked body in front of me?
He had a skull tattoo on his left pec that I didn’t like at all. But I stored that image away to analyze it later and did as he asked. I slipped the shirt on over my bathing suit and tried to get my hormones under control. He was turning me on so much. Didn’t he realize that?
He lay on the floor and told me to get on top of him like he’d done with me.
Sebastian. Underneath me. Shirtless. Someone pinch me.
Fuck.
I placed myself between his legs, and he immediately wrapped them around me. I was tiny compared to him; his legs double the size of mine.
“The important thing is that you understand what comes next.” He put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me to him. “Once you have me in this position, lift my shirt,” he said as he moved his fingers up my back and wrapped the shirt I was wearing around my neck.
My body was pressed against his chest, but I had no time to fantasize. He moved quickly and decisively, the way I was supposed to if I found myself in that situation and wanted to live to tell the tale.
“Lift your head,” he told me.
His mouth was just inches away, the smell of him all over my skin, his fingers touching one of the most sensitive parts of my body: my neck.
“With this hand,” he said, lifting his right, “grab the shirt, tight.” I was immobilized, my head against his.
“Then you push your feet into my hips,” he said, simulating the movement with his knees, “and cross your left arm… like this.” As he did this, my head was trapped between his crossed arms. I couldn’t move; I couldn’t do anything.
“The next step is to apply pressure.” He did so, and I understood.
Two seconds later, he released me, and I gasped desperately for air.
“Did you get it?”
I nodded, rubbing my neck. “Would that really work on someone like you?”
Sebastian took me by the waist and lifted us both to our feet in one motion. “On someone of my size, yes. On someone like me, no.”
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “A little arrogant, aren’t you?”
“Give me the shirt and lie down,” he said, ignoring my joke, seeming to want to get the lesson over with as quickly as possible.
I took off his shirt and threw it at him. Why did he have to be such an asshole?
I lay down, and before I knew it, he was kneeling between my legs.
Annoyed by his indifferent attitude, considering that he was on top of me—Fuck!
—I tugged on him hard, taking the lessons seriously for the first time.
My left hand lifted his shirt—my fingers grazing his bare skin, wishing I could dig my nails in and cover his mouth with mine—as my right hand gripped his neck tightly.
“Now grab—”
“I know,” I interrupted, grabbing the collar of his shirt, pushing my feet against his hips and crossing my arms until I had him trapped on top of me.
“Very good…” he said, his brown eyes so serious and his mouth once again so close that his breath mingled with mine.
I pressed my arms together and saw the effects up close. I could choke anyone this way…
I released him and felt proud of myself to see that he was coughing and struggling for air.
Once he recovered, he placed his palms on either side of my head, and I could see equal pride in his eyes.
“Good work, Elephant.”
My breathing picked up, and his gaze moved to my mouth as I unconsciously licked my lips, imagining all the other things that could be done from that position.
“Class is over,” he then said, jumping up in one agile motion and killing any type of fantasy that might be going through my mind.
I closed my eyes, trying to get my feelings under control. When I finally opened them, I was irritated to see that he was still standing over me.
“I should shower and get dressed for dinner,” I said, ignoring his extended hand in offering.
Sebastian simply nodded and went to pick up the gloves he’d thrown on the floor earlier.
“Do you promise to stay out of trouble while I work out for a while?”
I threw him a glance over my shoulder, already starting up the stairs.
“I can’t promise you anything.”
I took the longest bath in history, and I told Lupita that I didn’t feel like going down for dinner.
I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone, much less Sebastian, who had left me as horny as a teenager, with nothing I could do about it.
I needed to get some fresh air to clear my head, and try to forget about my fucking bodyguard.
Shortly after midnight, I leaned out my window and climbed down the willow tree that had served as a ladder for me my entire life.
I crossed the backyard and passed the pool to the stables.
I couldn’t help but look back, making sure no one was following me, that no one had noticed I was leaving the house on my own.
The stables were clean and empty except for the sound of the horses in their stalls and the whisper of the wind. I found Philippe asleep in his, but he woke up as soon as he heard me approach.
“Hello, cutie. Do you want to go for a ride in the moonlight? Do you?” I said, talking to him like a baby as I opened the door to lead him over to the saddles. I laughed as he whinnied in response.
Unfortunately for me, we didn’t make it past his stall.
I felt a presence behind me and turned around, frightened, grabbing the first thing I could find on hand, which turned out to be an umbrella leaning against the wall.
Sebastian observed me from the entrance to the stables, leaning against the wooden doorframe.
I sighed with relief.
“An umbrella? Seriously?”
“What do you want, Sebastian?” I said, spinning around to place a saddle on Philippe’s back.
“This is what you call not getting into trouble?” he asked, watching as I saddled my horse.
“I don’t get you,” I said very coldly.
How the hell did he know I was here?
He stepped toward me, into the shadows of the stable that now bathed both of us in darkness.
“I thought I’d made very clear what would happen next time you escaped out of a window.”
“Were you spying on me?”
He walked up to Philippe and rubbed his mane without looking at me. “I’m not spying on you; I’m looking out for you.”
I tried to climb onto the horse, but Sebastian put an arm out to stop me. “You’re not going out riding alone at this hour, Marfil.”
I didn’t pull away from his grip, but I tensed. “I’ve done it a thousand times.”
“Does your father know?”
I huffed. “Did you tell your father everything you did, Sebastian?” As soon as the sentence left my mouth, I knew I’d put my foot in it. Sebastian didn’t have parents. What an idiot.
“It’s dangerous for you to be out alone,” he replied, ignoring my last comment.
“I’m at home. I’m not in any danger here.”
“There’s danger everywhere.”
He was just a few feet away from me, but I could hardly make out his face through the shadows, which made him look more menacing than normal.
“How did you know I’d left?”
Sebastian seemed to hesitate for a second. “Cameras… on your bedroom window. I saw you climb out and almost fall when your foot slipped on a branch…”
So they’d put a fucking camera on me. Just what I needed.
“You’re unbelievable,” I said, trying to get back on my horse.
I almost managed it, but this time he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me down, trapping me between the horse and his chest.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, so close that I felt his breath on my lips.
“Leave me alone,” I replied between gritted teeth.
Ever since we got here, he’d been so buddy-buddy with my father and so distant with me.
Even today, he acted so indifferent as he showed me how to defend myself, and it all somehow left me feeling betrayed.
His days now centered around my dad, and it bothered me, a lot.
Sebastian was mine, not my father’s… That’s how I felt. That’s what I wanted.
“Tomorrow I’ll ride with you wherever you want, but right now you need to get back inside and go to bed.”
My breasts brushed against his chest, and all my hairs stood on end. I couldn’t help but feel turned on whenever he was near me.
“I’m not tired. My mind is too filled with fantasies to sleep… You and me naked in the gym…”
Sebastian released me and took a step back, pointing to the house. “Go. Now,” he said, his jaw clenched tightly, his tone intimidating.
I knew that referring to what had happened that afternoon was a low blow.
Those moments between the two of us were sacred, veiled in a silence we both upheld.
Afterward, we both acted like those glances, those caresses, had never happened, and he avoided any mention of the kiss we’d shared a few weeks ago, denying the attraction that existed between us.
And even though he had done everything possible to seem indifferent to me ever since we’d arrived at my father’s house, I hadn’t forgotten the way he’d run his hands through my hair on the plane until I fell asleep.
If he was acting so cold now, it was because of my father, not me.
“Are you afraid my father’s going to find out?” I said, now enraged with him for denying what he felt for me, because he had to feel something, I knew it. I could tell.
“Fuck, Marfil,” he practically shouted, making me jump. “How many times do I have to tell you? This might be a game to you, but it’s my job, dammit!”
I had never seen him so irate. I understood his concern—if my father found out what had happened between us, as innocent as it might have been, he’d have Sebastian drawn and quartered—but it bothered me that I didn’t even figure in Sebastian’s list of priorities unless he was getting paid. It hurt me more than I wanted to admit.
A flash of lightning momentarily lit up the stables, followed by a loud clap of thunder that made the horses whinny with fright.
“This might be your job, but it’s my life. I’ve done everything you asked me to. Ever since the concert, I haven’t caused you any more trouble. But I’ve gone out riding at night hundreds of times; nothing is going to happen to me.”