Chapter 15
Fifteen
In the slightly less dark stretch before dawn, Sebastian watched Laurel sleep.
No lines of strain marred that gorgeous face.
Her chest rose and fell in a slow, easy rhythm.
One of her legs threaded through his, and one hand pressed against his chest, as if she needed to know he was there, even in sleep.
She always slept like this with him, and he loved it.
He wanted her. Again. That was pretty much a constant, and this was their last stretch of time this weekend.
She had class at eight. He considered waking her, loving the body he’d come to know so well, but they’d already been up most of the night, wringing out as much pleasure as they could from their limited time together.
She needed to be sharp for class and he needed to be sharp enough to drive back to Eden’s Ridge.
So he watched her instead, memorizing every millimeter of her face so he’d be able to call it up during the long-lonely nights ahead until the next weekend they managed to carve out.
Her eyes fluttered open, and her lips curved. That instant glow in her smile at the sight of him kicked Sebastian right in the chest. Christ, he was a lucky bastard.
He smoothed back her hair, still mussed from his hands. “Hi.”
“Morning. What time is it?” That early morning voice rasped with sleep and sex and had his already hard cock making another bid for attention.
“About 6:30, I think.”
She bolted up. “What? Shit. I should have been up half an hour ago. My alarm must not have gone off.” Springing naked from the bed, she strode toward the bathroom. At the doorway, she glanced over her shoulder. “What are you waiting for?”
“Huh?” He was still distracted from the view.
“If you hurry, we can squeeze in one last quickie in the shower.”
He beat her to the shower, wrenching on the water.
As soon as it was warm, he dragged her beneath the spray, devouring her mouth and filling his hands with her body, still flushed from sleep.
She rose to him, matching his hunger with her own as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
His hand skated down the slope of her belly, between her thighs, to find her already wet and ready.
She tipped her hips into his hand. “Hurry.”
He remembered their first night together, her fevered chant as he’d taken her apart.
He didn’t have time for that slow, methodical loving.
Next time, he promised, as he lifted her up, pressing her against the shower wall and sliding into her, as the water beat down on them both.
She cried out as he filled her, and Sebastian thought he’d never get tired of hearing her unabashed pleasure.
“Hurry,” she gasped again.
He began to move, driving into her, drinking down every moan and cry as he lost himself in the heat they made together. She crested, coming so hard and fast, her orgasm yanked him over the edge, milking him until it was all he could do to keep them both upright.
Breathing hard, she pressed her brow to his. “Maybe that’ll hold us until next time.”
“I give it forty-eight hours. Maybe.”
She laughed and reached for the shampoo.
By the time they were dressed, there was no time for breakfast. They each packed their respective bags, reaching out for more lingering touches.
“I’ll be back on Thursday for delivery.” Since she’d come back to school in January, he’d taken over the weekly Nashville delivery for Maxwell Organics, just for the chance to see her every week.
Sometimes they managed a meal. Sometimes it was just fifteen minutes with her in his arms. Right now it was keeping them afloat.
Zipping her messenger bag, she wrapped her arms around him. “Just two more months until graduation. Then it’ll be all me, all the time.”
“Can’t wait.” He didn’t know yet what their life together would look like.
They’d spent a lot of time since Christmas dreaming.
Well, he thought of it as dreaming. Laurel considered it the first part of a multi-step action plan, with assorted variations, depending on which funding they ultimately got.
She was a force to be reckoned with, and she’d made him not only see the possibilities but believe in them.
With her help, they’d submitted three grant applications so far.
They were still waiting to hear the results.
She reached for a sheaf of papers on her desk. “Before you go…I’ve got one more grant application.”
“Another one?” When the hell had she found the time for more?
“I know, I know. But this one is for a new regional non-profit, so there won’t be as much competition for funds. If you landed this one, it would be enough to buy Josiah Massey’s place.”
Sebastian went still. “By itself?”
“Yeah. With enough left over to at least get a solid start on repairs.”
Massey’s place was their white whale. Laurel’s predictions on that front had been wholly accurate. The bank had it for sale, but so far there’d been no interest. They could only hope that continued to be the case until they could get all their ducks in a row. If this grant was really that big…
He sucked in a breath and let it out slow. “Okay. I’ll take care of it.” The grants, at least, gave him something to fill the empty evening hours with while he was missing her.
Handing over the application, she slid her arms around him. “Take care of you, too.”
“I will. I promise.” He shoved the paperwork in his bag and glanced at the clock. “You’ve got to go.”
“I know. Walk me out to the car.”
They loaded their respective bags and met in the middle.
He pulled her into his arms. “This never gets any easier.”
“No. I gotta admit, though, I’m glad you’re not in the Army anymore. I’m not sure I could hack it as a military girlfriend, with all those long deployments.”
“I figure I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Finally.”
She grinned. “Damn straight.” Rising to her toes, she kissed him, drawing him in with her sweetness and still simmering heat.
Because he knew he had to, he pulled back. “You’re gonna be late to class.”
“Damn it. Okay.” She let him go, stepping back and opening her car door. “See you soon. Talk tonight?”
“Absolutely. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
She got into her Mini Cooper and blew him a kiss as she pulled out of the drive.
Sebastian watched until she was out of sight, feeling like the luckiest bastard on earth and wondering how a woman like her was truly into a guy like him.
Then he smiled, knowing her response to that question would be some kind of fierce argument and probably taking him to bed to show him. Repeatedly.
Life was really fucking good.
Now he just had to be patient and get through the next eight weeks.
At long last, it was over. Laurel was officially a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School.
Number three in her class. She’d been hooded, congratulated by faculty and friends, and now she was wading through the chaos of the crowd on Curry Field, trying to find her family.
It had rained last night, so she hadn’t worn her heels on the sodden grass, and she cursed the fact that the DNA gods hadn’t seen fit to pass on any of her father or brother’s height.
Maybe she should stand on one of the chairs set out under the big tent.
“Laurel!”
Turning, she spotted Sebastian, cutting through the crowd like a knife. Everything inside her lit up at the sight of him. So she was laughing as he scooped her up, spinning her in a circle.
“Hot damn, you did it!”
“Yes, I did! I missed you.” She framed his face and kissed him hard and fast.
“There’s our girl!” Beaming, her father broke through next, trailed by her mom, Logan, and Athena.
She got passed from one to the next. With every hug, every congratulations, it seemed another layer of the stress and anxiety that had lingered like a malaise finally began to lift.
Joy and relief had her almost vibrating through all the requisite pictures.
She was finished, and she could finally get started on the next phase of her life.
But that necessitated a chance for some one-on-one conversation with Sebastian.
“Okay, I’m starting to bake in this cap and gown, and I’m absolutely starving. The graduate requests food!”
As the day belonged to her, she announced where she wanted to go, and everyone split up to take separate vehicles. Sebastian came with her. Laurel slipped her arm through his, happy for the chance to touch him.
“I’m proud of you, you know.”
She tipped her head up to study his face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You figure out how to take your degree and make it work for you.”
Her step hitched. Had someone told him and ruined the surprise? “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’ve got a lot of will.”
“It’s one of the things I love about you.”
They reached her car, and she stripped out of the cap, gown, and hood. Sebastian looked utterly ridiculous folded into the front passenger seat of her Mini.
“You’ll be great at this grant-writing thing. I mean, how many did you help me submit this semester in the middle of everything else?”
“Six.” Laurel swallowed, suddenly nervous as she backed out of the space. If she waited for him to bring it up, they’d lose this small window alone, and she couldn’t trust someone not to spill the beans at lunch. “Shouldn’t you have been hearing about the Calico Foundation grant this week?”
“Actually, I heard this morning. But today is for you. I didn’t want to detract from that.”
Exasperated, she shot him a look. “How would you getting the grant detract from that??? Today is for celebrating!”
His brows drew together. “How did you know I got the grant?”
“Of course you got it. It’s my foundation.” Her mouth snapped shut like a trap. That wasn’t how she’d meant for that to come out.
“It’s what now?”
Well, she was in it now. “Calico Foundation is the non-profit I set up with the money from my trust.”
“What trust?” Was there suspicion in that neutral tone? She couldn’t tell.
“My maternal grandparents left both Logan and me trusts that we gained access to when we turned twenty-five. It’s how he could afford to buy the farm. This is what I decided to do with mine.”
She chanced another glance in his direction and found him frowning.
“You set up a foundation just to fund my program?”
Disbelief was probably bad. She needed to salvage this situation. “Not just your program. I set up a foundation to provide grant funding for all sorts of regional projects. Things that will make life better for the people of Tennessee. Yours just happened to be the first one I chose to fund.”
Sebastian sucked in a breath. “I—don’t know what to say.”
She couldn’t read him, and it rattled her.
Biting her lip, she tried to find a way to explain this that wasn’t going to be a blow to his pride.
“You were worried that you wouldn’t be enough, that helping you with the therapy program wouldn’t be enough for me.
You were partly right. I want to make a difference, Sebastian.
I need to make a difference. And this way I can, on a much broader scale, without ever having to leave Eden’s Ridge or you. ”
She pulled into a parking space at the restaurant and turned to face him. His jaw was working and he wasn’t looking at her. She laid a hand on his arm, needing to make him understand.
“Please don’t be angry. I didn’t decide to fund your program just because it was yours.
I believe in what you can do with it. And I didn’t tell you about it because I wasn’t sure if you’d accept the money if you knew it was from me.
I knew for sure you wouldn’t if it came directly from me, so I got Dad to help me change the beneficiary of the trust to the Calico Foundation. ”
His gaze snapped back toward her. “Your dad knows about this?”
“Yeah. He specializes in estate planning, so he’s the one who wrote the original trusts for my grandparents.”
“And he didn’t pitch a fit that you did this?”
“No.” And hadn’t that been a surprise? “He’s pretty psyched about my new direction and excited about the kinds of programs it could support. He was actually really impressed with your proposal.”
Sebastian went quiet, his expression utterly blank.
Anxiety began to curl in her belly. She’d wanted to do a good thing for them both, but what if she’d overstepped? What if he couldn’t accept what she brought to this? Had she ruined everything by setting this up behind his back?
“Please say something,” she whispered.
Instead, he lunged across the seat, cupping her nape and dragging her mouth to his for a fierce kiss. “I love you. I love you so damned much. Thank you for doing this.”
“You’re…not mad?”
“I’m not mad. I’m in shock. You’re the most generous, capable woman I’ve ever met. You could do literally anything with your life, and you’re choosing me.”
Relieved, she cupped his face, stroking a thumb across his cheek. “I know a good investment when I see it, and a life with you is at the top of my list.”
“Thank God.” He leaned in to kiss her again.
Somebody knocked on the window, and Laurel startled back in the seat.
From outside the car, Athena smirked. “Hey, if you two are done making out in the parking lot, we’re all going inside to eat.”
As her sister-in-law strolled on toward the restaurant, Laurel snickered. “For the record, I am never going to be done making out in the parking lot.”
“Noted, counselor.” Sebastian sobered. “I’m going to buy an entire farm.”
“I’m going to run an entire charitable foundation.”
“I need a burger.”
“Dad’s buying. Let’s eat steak. And lobster.”
“That’s my girl.”