CHAPTER 20
Maya
WE DIDN’T TOUCH.
His body hovered inches from mine, his muscles visibly taut, but his heat sank beneath my skin like a living, breathing thing.
I should’ve pushed him away. My fingers curled at my side, but the impulse fizzled before I could act.
“What are you doing here?” My pulse drummed in my ears. “Don’t tell me you’re stalking me again.”
Sebastian tipped his chin so our gazes aligned. The dim lighting cast his face in warm ochre, highlighting the sharp planes of his cheekbones and the amused curve of his mouth. “I was never stalking you, Sal. My family owns this bar.”
Right. The Laurents’ portfolio included several high-end cocktail bars in addition to their restaurants. But that didn’t answer my question.
“Your family owns a lot of places,” I said. “Yet you keep showing up to the ones I’m at. Seems like an odd coincidence.”
“It’s a small island.”
“It’s a big city.”
His smile kicked up a notch. “You’re the one who keeps going to places that my family owns. I should ask if you’re stalking me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m on a date.”
“I can tell.”
His gaze flicked down the length of my body and back up again. The perusal lasted less than a second, but tingles erupted in its wake.
This wasn’t how I’d imagined our reunion. We were supposed to meet in a bright office, safe behind the veil of work—not alone in the dark hall of an intimate bar basement, our bodies so close I could almost count the beats of his heart.
On the surface, Sebastian looked the same. Same thick, wavy hair, same amber eyes, same full lips and devastating features. But after so much time apart, the intensity of his presence hit me like the first shot of espresso after months without caffeine—rich, heady, and utterly consuming.
“Who’s the unlucky guy?” he drawled, his tone bored. “Eventually, your mother will run out of men to set you up with.”
“This isn’t one of her set-ups. I met Zack at a holiday party, and we hit it off.” I forced a casual shrug, refusing to let him see how his sudden appearance affected me. “This is actually our second date.”
Something dangerous sparked in his eyes. “Is it?”
“Yes.” Despite my best efforts, a trace of breathlessness spilled out.
A brief silence hummed in its wake.
The front of his shirt grazed my chest, and I had to consciously slow my breathing so I didn’t press into him.
“I’m glad it’s working out,” Sebastian said.
“Me too.”
Our low voices hung in the space between us. I’d already been buzzed, but the longer I stayed, the drunker I got on the charged currents swirling through the air.
I attempted to wrangle my scattered thoughts into some semblance of coherence. My tongue darted between my lips, wetting them, but I regretted it when his eyes dropped to my mouth.
My heart renewed its insistent pounding.
“I found something interesting in my office last week.” I finally grasped on to a concrete thread of conversation.
“Yeah?” Sebastian drawled.
“Yeah. It was a necklace.”
“Sounds nice.”
“It is.” I held his gaze. “Any idea who might’ve left it there?”
“None.”
His breath brushed my lips, and a shiver coursed down my spine.
“Who’s the bad liar now?” I whispered.
Another curve of his mouth, this one nearly imperceptible.
He kept his eyes locked on mine as he reached up and slid a thumb across the delicate gold chain around my neck. His touch was warm against my flushed skin, and the air thickened as he gently freed the locket from beneath my bodice.
He opened it with a soft click.
I didn’t look down; the image was already etched into my brain.
It was a picture of me standing onstage after beating Sebastian in our university’s annual student debate. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, but I never got an official winner’s photo.
Less than a minute after receiving my trophy, I’d succumbed to a nasty case of food poisoning (courtesy of that night’s dinner) and thrown up all over myself.
I’d been both humiliated and devastated, and the fact that I never took my winner’s photo had haunted me all these years.
Sebastian had beaten me every year prior, and that was the only chance I’d had to commemorate my victory.
The picture in the locket was a candid of me taken literally seconds before the Great Vomit Debacle. I was smiling at the dean, my trophy in one arm and a bouquet of congratulatory flowers in the other. My face glowed so brightly, it made my heart ache.
All these years, I never knew such an image existed.
But it did, and he’d held on to it this entire time.
Until now.
Sebastian held the locket in his palm and traced the edge of it with his thumb. “You were so happy when you won,” he said quietly. “I’ve never seen you smile that big before.”
“It was a great night until…”
“Disaster struck,” he finished, a gleam of laughter in his eyes. “Were you that happy because you won? Or because you won over me?”
“Both.”
“Hmm.”
My breath suspended in my throat when he closed the locket and slowly, carefully tucked it back under my dress’s neckline. His touch lingered, and little bolts of electricity filled my blood like static.
“How did you get that picture?” Keep talking. Talking is safe.
“I took it.”
“Sebastian.”
His mouth quirked. “What can I say? I had a camera and great timing.”
“But you held on to it for years without telling me. Why…” My mouth went dry when he released the necklace and rested his hand lightly on my waist. “Why did you give it to me now?”
The heat from his palm seared through my dress. I was burning all over, like my bones had liquified and I was seconds away from collapsing.
“I wanted you to have it.” Sebastian spoke so softly I almost didn’t hear him. His smile was gone. “It was supposed to be your birthday gift.”
My heart pulsed at his admission. I knew he wouldn’t have gotten me something as generic as a gift card. “Why did you change your mind?”
“I had three months to think.”
“And?” The drumbeat in my ears pounded harder.
Sebastian’s silence spoke louder than words.
Another shiver rippled through me when he slid his palm up the curve of my waist with tender, agonizing slowness. The thin layer of cashmere separating his skin from mine might as well not exist.
The faint thump of music and laughter seeped through the door and down the stairs, but it was nothing more than background noise.
I was dizzy with want, my body flushed and aching as Sebastian’s hand skimmed over my shoulder.
My lids grew heavy with desire, my breaths shallowing.
He pressed his forehead against mine, and I could feel the tension vibrating off him. It was in his slow, controlled exhales, in the restraint of his touch and the banked heat simmering between us.
With each breath, our lips brushed each other—barely. It wasn’t so much a kiss as it was the suggestion of one, but it made my head spin.
A soft moan slipped out when he curled his hand around my nape.
Hand against neck.
Skin against skin.
It wasn’t overtly sexual, but every muscle in my body tightened in response. My nipples hardened, and a flame pulsed to life between my legs. I was so lost in the sensation that I barely heard Sebastian’s low groan.
I instinctively arched my hips against his, seeking more friction. His arousal pressed against my core, and my moan turned into a whimper.
He cursed, his grip tightening around my neck.
“What changed?” His harsh tone pierced through my daze.
The abrupt shift jarred my eyes open. He stared at me, his own eyes tortured and dark with frustration.
“What do you mean?” My voice was husky, my body still thrumming even as my brain scrambled to catch up with what was happening.
“This.” He gestured between us. “What changed?”
Confusion doused the remaining embers of heat. I went cold all over. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A muscle worked in his jaw. He opened his mouth right as the door banged open, and footsteps clattered down the stairs.
“Oh, shit.” A guy in a black bartender’s uniform flinched when he noticed Sebastian. “I’m so sorry, boss. Just, uh, pretend I’m not here.”
He ran into the bathroom. The sounds of him using it effectively ruined the moment, though there wasn’t much of it left to ruin.
I wanted to hear what Sebastian was about to say before we were interrupted, but when I turned my head again, he was already gone.