Chapter 4 Sebastian
Sebastian
Sebastian tried to keep his lust under control, but the tight leash he’d forced over his reactions since Meredith’s fateful phone call slipped and need bucked all convention.
A ray of sunlight framed her perfectly. Meredith never hid behind layers of couture, coifing and cosmetics like a plastic doll come to life.
She’d always been more. Softness, heat, and utterly feminine—she’d kindled a wild possessiveness and desperate need to claim her from the first moment they’d met.
The familiar fire exploded to life and surged in his blood. Question filled her features and her mouth fell open for the length of a heartbeat before she snapped it shut. Fury replaced shock, but before he could respond to any of it, Kate stepped into his line of sight.
“You really should have waited at the house,” the former bodyguard murmured. “I don’t think she’s ready to see you, and we need to talk—”
“No,” Meredith’s voice rang out from the tarmac, and she turned to get back in the helicopter.
Cutting around Kate, Sebastian strode toward her. He was not letting her leave, not before they talked. “Meredith—”
He didn’t make it a half-dozen steps before O’Connor stepped into his path and body blocked him. “You need to back off.”
A moment later, Vidal drove O’Connor back, inserting himself between the prince and the guard.
Violence thrummed in the air and Sebastian’s gaze hardened as he pinned a glare at the bodyguard tasked with Meredith’s safety.
The same man who’d been having dinner with her, whose touch lingered on Meredith’s hand and arm longer than necessary.
“Stand down,” Vidal ordered in a cold, cutting tone, but the command had little effect on O’Connor.
“You tell him to keep his distance. She doesn’t want to see him and he doesn’t get to use his position to force the issue.
” He shook off Vidal and shifted his weight.
The two were squared off and Vidal didn’t retreat a step.
The rest of Sebastian’s detail surged up around him.
O’Connor’s hand shifted and, for a fraction of an instant, Sebastian thought he might actually go for his gun.
Switching his attention to Meredith, Sebastian’s heart stopped when she rushed forward and put a hand on O’Connor’s arm. “Terry.”
She was too damned close to him and the man adjusted his angle to put her behind him. Too damn close. “Meredith, come here.” Sebastian issued the directive and—although he was fairly certain O’Connor wouldn’t harm her—he refused to take any chances with her safety.
“You stay where you are.” O’Connor countered with his own order. Tension crackled in the air.
Bracketed by two more of Sebastian’s detail, Vidal invaded O’Connor’s space. “I told you, stand down.“
“Meredith, get away from him. Right now.” Sebastian wanted her out of the rapidly escalating showdown. She hesitated, glancing from O’Connor to him and then pulled her hand from the man. When O’Connor intercepted her step away, the violence exploded.
Vidal struck O’Connor’s arm while a second bodyguard hit him full in the chest. The third man scooped Meredith up and jerked her away from the fray. Sebastian retreated with her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her toward the car. It was over in seconds, with O’Connor pinned.
Gasping with horror, Meredith strained at Sebastian’s hold. “Terry, stop. It’s all right. Please, Bastian, make them stop.”
He’d rather dump the ass back on the helicopter and ship him off the island, but he couldn’t dismiss the worried look pinching Meredith’s features. “It’s all right,” he soothed, rubbing her arm. “Vidal.”
The head of his security detail rose and they brought O’Connor up with them. Vidal removed his weapon and unloaded it before retreating a step to look at Sebastian. “Your Highness, you and your guest should go to the house. We’ll settle this issue here.”
“Settle it?” A tremor fractured Meredith’s tone. “No, Terry goes with us. This is a misunderstanding. There is nothing to be settled.”
Her immediate defense chafed and Sebastian clenched his teeth.
“You know what would help, Meredith?” Kate was suddenly on Meredith’s other side, drawing her attention away from the scene.
“You and Sebastian go chat. Let these men settle it as professionals. Everyone is a little one edge and they aren’t going to calm down until all protectees are in a secure location. ”
Richard Prentiss’ fiancée wasn’t finished, she swept a cool glance over them.
“In fact, I’ll take over, along with Michel here.
” She indicated the bodyguard who’d stayed with Sebastian.
“You four figure it out and, O’Connor, I’d like to remind you that I and the helicopter are still here. You can go back with me.”
If Sebastian wasn’t mistaken, Kate actually sounded like she relished the idea of O’Connor fighting her on the issue. Irritation turned to concern at Meredith’s trembling beneath his arm.
Ignoring the others and focusing on her, Sebastian lowered his voice. “Come with me. It will be all right, I promise. No one will hurt him.” No matter how he might wish it otherwise, this wasn’t about her bodyguard, but her. Meredith was the only one who mattered.
“I can’t believe you did this.” Emotion quivered in her voice and she strained to pull away from him again. This time he let her go. When she took two shaky steps toward the car, he followed—ready to catch her.
“I needed to see you.” He wouldn’t apologize for it, but he would say, “I’m sorry for the scene. I did not expect O’Connor to object so strenuously to our speaking.”
“What does that even mean?” She whirled to face him, halting halfway to the car. Kate and Michel still stood between them and the others.
“I missed you,” he told her simply. “We need this time together. We need to work out whatever issue convinced you to try and end us.”
Her cheeks went scarlet and she shot a glance past him to the others and then back. Lips clamping together, Meredith pivoted and strode toward the car with Sebastian keeping pace. He made it a step before she did, waved off Michel and opened the door for her. She slid inside and he followed.
Kate caught the door before he could close it. “We’re going to take care of this. I’ll follow in the second car.” Her gaze went past him to Meredith briefly and then back to him. With a warning look, she closed the door and patted the roof. The driver pulled away immediately.
“Why did you do this?” So low was Meredith’s whisper, he strained to catch it.
“Because you wouldn’t talk to me.” Leaning back, he tapped his fingers against his thigh. What he wanted to do was wrap an arm around her, but her stiff posture, the way she angled to look out the opposite window and her still folded arms all screamed ‘keep away.’
“So you just decide to invade a meeting where I’m supposed to be—” She broke off and twisted, her wounded gaze striking him like a physical blow. “There’s no job, is there?”
Turning sideways, he put his arm on the seat behind her. “No, I’m sorry. When you refused the calls and not even O’Connor could get you on the phone, I needed to take some drastic measures.”
“Drastic? Really?” Her mouth opened as though she intended to say something else and then snapped shut again. When she gave him her back, her spine ramrod straight, he scowled.
The drive from the landing pad to the house was mercifully short. The moment the vehicle came to a halt, Meredith fumbled with the door and pushed it open, all but spilling out to walk away with jerky motions. Following her, Sebastian waved off the men coming to greet them.
“Go away,” he ordered and strode after Meredith. Clearly an audience was impeding her ability to speak. When she didn’t slow, he caught her arm. “Meredith, we’re alone you can—”
“You son of a bitch. Who do you think you are?” She whirled, and her palm slapped his face with a sharp crack. Angry fire snapped in her eyes and her face flushed with temper. Well, at least she isn’t walking away.
MEREDITH
The moment her hand connected with his face, regret and the horror set in. Meredith jerked back a step and covered her mouth. “Oh my god, I’m sorry.”
“No.” Sebastian wore a rueful expression and shook his head. The white mark on his face from where she’d struck him turned a livid shade of red. “I deserved it.”
She was shaking from the inside out. Yelling at people. Hitting them. This wasn’t her. The pattern of irrational, nonsensical behavior defied convention. “I can’t believe I hit you.”
“I always said you were the passionate one.” The corner of his mouth curved upward with the familiar teasing words and her rebellious heart squeezed. Even the evidence of her slap couldn’t diminish his charm.
“Oh God, Bastian. This is not how I pictured any of this.” She pulled the band from her hair and freed her ponytail to ease some of the pressure on her skull as she stared at him. The riot of her emotions tossed her down the rapids to bang off rocks of frustration, longing, anger, and need.
All at once his face gentled and he closed the distance between them.
“Nor me. I’m so glad you’re here, so if you need to yell at me or hit me again to get it out of your system, then do it.
But promise you’ll talk to me afterward.
” Artless charm, and playfulness underscored the sober conviction in his expression.
“Tell me what I did wrong, so I can fix it.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.” As painful as it was to admit it out loud, it was true.
He’d never been anything but himself. “I—I just can’t do it anymore.
” She’d rehearsed the words she’d used in their phone call for three days before she’d gathered up the courage to make it.
Confrontation was not her forte. She could handle teaching a class or addressing a thousand-person-filled auditorium—as long as it was on numbers, formulas, or equations—but Bastian turned her inside out.