Chapter Four
The second his lips touched Grace’s, a jolt sank straight to his groin—hot and tight—via his chest and somewhere much deeper. Somewhere a simple kiss had never affected him before.
Somewhere…primal.
Her soft gasp played with his senses. Her soft skin did the same. The warmth of her lips, of her body, the subtle scent of her…a scent he hadn’t realized he remembered until now.
Why had his mind cataloged it? And why was his body reacting to it now?
He needed to know why, after all these years, his mind had remembered the way she smelled.
And kissing her will do that?
The kiss was for generically good-looking Justin’s sake. To fire up the other man’s jealousy, so Cody could have a father figure, and Grace could have someone to help her out, make her breakfast, to kiss her in the morning…
Like I’m kissing her now?
No. Not like that. A morning kiss should be…more. Like…
Jesus, I’m kissing Grace Ford.
Shit. Shit, what was he doing?
He jerked away, heart thumping in his throat. Balling his fists at his side, he stared down into her face.
“I…”
“Forgot we had company?” she finished, her voice steady. Hell, this close, her eyes were so green. And so unreadable.
Company. Shit. That’s right. Generically good-looking Justin. That’s why he’d kissed her in the first place. To make Justin jealous.
Chest tight, he let out a chuckle and turned to where Justin stood in the kitchen watching them.
Justin studied them. Studied him. Sized him up.
A heavy pressure pulsed through Sebastian, and he grinned. “Sorry, mate. I did forget you were here.”
“Oh hello, Mr. Hart,” a strange and yet familiar female voice said from somewhere behind him. “You are just the man I was looking for. Have you been here long?”
Sebastian bit back a groan. The tension in his body thumped faster. Judge Myers was here? Turning away from Justin, he bestowed a loose smile on the judge. “Yvonne. What are you doing here?”
What exactly did you see? The kiss?
A hot rush of sensation flowed through him, and he fought the urge to tug at the groin of his jeans. It was tighter down there than it should be.
“I came by to chat with Grace this morning.” Yvonne made her way back to the living room, settled on the sofa, and picked up one of the cups from the coffee table. “It’s fortuitous you also happen to be here.”
The sound of movement behind Sebastian made him grit his teeth. Justin was still there, taking it all in.
What did he do?
Fuck it.
“Definitely fortuitous. I just dropped Cody at school—he’s going on a trip to the zoo. His class is doing an art unit based on Where the Wild Things Are. I suggested I help him make a stop-motion movie.” He smiled. “He liked that idea because he’s a huge fan of Aardman films.”
“Who?” Grace asked.
“Aardman. British film company. Responsible for Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run and… It doesn’t matter.” He really needed to sit down with her and watch some DVDs. Maybe tonight after dinner. Wallace and Gromit was a classic. “Anyway, I just called back in to let Grace know Cody was okay, and now I’ve got to get to work. Things I need to take care of at the office. My PA has been trying to get a hold of me since last night.”
And from the steady stream of texts he’d been getting, from her and his publicist, it all had to do with the reviews coming in for Samantha and Dave.
“You have to leave?”
He swung to face Justin, now leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter and watching him with a scrutiny that made Sebastian want to punch the guy in his generically good-looking face.
“I’ll be back.” He showed Justin his best stay-the-hell-away-from-my-girl smile. Nothing would rile up a potential suitor more than a smile like that. “I’m taking Grace out for dinner.” He turned back to Judge Myers. “And Cody.”
Judge Myers arched an eyebrow at him.
He needed to get out of here. With the way Justin was watching him, it had done exactly what he’d intended, but he sure as hell hadn’t intended on it rocking him to his fucking core. He needed to clear his head and deal with the unsettling, disarming thickness in his groin.
“See you later, Grace.” He wanted to drop a quick kiss on Grace’s cheek, for Justin’s benefit, of course, but he grinned at Judge Myers instead. “Yvonne. Give my PA a call and we can tee up a time to chat.”
He did not want to be talking about his community service with Justin around. Why the hell wasn’t the guy at work anyway? What did he do for a living? If he was going to be Cody’s future father figure, Sebastian wanted to know.
He was at the front door when Judge Myers’s voice stopped him.
“Mr. Hart?”
He paused, his hand on the front doorknob.
“Yeah?”
She studied him with that enigmatic expression he remembered from his court appearance. “What are you doing?”
“Going to work.” As if to help with the statement, his phone pinged with an incoming message. He didn’t want to read it. Not if it had to do with Samantha and Dave.
“I mean what are you doing with the Wilders? Being here so early, offering to help Cody with his homework. You are either a better man than I pegged you to be, or you are up to something.”
Up to something. Huh, how did he explain he was trying to help Grace out to Myers without sounding like a…a…
Wanker?
“What?” he said, giving the judge a frown. “Just because we clashed in your courtroom, you think I’m not a nice guy?”
“You bragged about all your awards, Mr. Hart.”
“Bloody oath, I did.” He grinned. “But I get the feeling you think I’m a tosser.”
She dipped her head in acknowledgment.
He ground his teeth. Okay, maybe he had been a bit of a pretentious wanker in her courtroom, maybe he could have been a bit more humble. “Look, believe it or not, I’m actually a nice bloke. Honest. And Grace and I go way back. We used to be neighbors when we were kids. Seeing her again last night…” He shrugged. “It brought back a lot of memories.”
That wasn’t a lie.
It had to be the negative response to Samantha and Dave. It was throwing him off-kilter. He didn’t like being off-kilter. Not at all.
Myers pinned him with a level gaze. “If you’re messing about with the Wilders just because you are Sebastian Hart, I will make your life hell, do you understand? Orange would not suit you, Mr. Hart. Think about that.”
“All I’m thinking about is my next movie, and what Cody and I are going to do this weekend. I’m thinking a day trip to Sea World.”
“Sea World is a plane trip up the coast of Australia away.”
“Just an hour’s flight in my private jet.”
Myers raised her immaculately shaped eyebrows. “And Ms. Wilder is okay with this?”
“I’ll take her with us.” He’d love to see Grace at Sea World, swimming with dolphins, feeding the sea lions. He’d arrange for special VIP access, take them both to all the places normal visitors couldn’t go. It would appeal to Grace’s nerdy-science side.
“Mr. Hart.” Myers stepped closer to him. “May I remind you you’re on community service as a big brother to Cody, not a contestant on a reality show. The Wilders are not mere cast members for you to boss around for your own entertainment.”
“Reality television is the product of the untalented, Your Honor, and I am far from untalented. As for my community service, I can assure you, Cody could not have a better big brother. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
He turned, pulled open the door, and left.
It probably wasn’t wise being so abrupt with the judge overseeing his conviction, but the comment about bossing Grace and Cody around had rubbed him the wrong way.
Thank bloody God, Myers hadn’t mentioned the kiss. Who knows what would have happened if she’d seen that. And while he was all for Justin thinking he was dating Grace, the judge thinking the same thing could be very problematic.
A dry snort tore at the back of his throat as he yanked open the door of his Range Rover. Dating Grace was not even a consideration. Not when they were kids, not now. Her bite had been too sharp back then. But he had to admit, the thought of hanging with her and Cody wasn’t as horrific as he’d anticipated. Her son was smart, and his knowledge of film quite impressive. Hell, the kid knew more about the art of making movies than some of the people in the industry Sebastian worked with.
Buckling into the driver’s seat, he shook his head. “Dating Grace Ford. Huh. No way.”
Movement at the front of her house caught his attention. Justin was striding away from the house, a frown on his generically good-looking face.
Sebastian chuckled. Good.
Keep walking, mate. Keep walking.
Wait, wasn’t the idea to make Justin want to be with Grace?
Something coiled tightly in Sebastian’s gut. Jaw clenched, he threw the Rover into reverse and backed out of Grace’s driveway.
He refused to think about her on the way back to his offices. Instead, he called his publicist.
“Kimmy, talk to me,” he ordered when she answered.
“‘Bloated, overindulged mess’ is the term being repeated in the reviews.”
Kimmy never minced words. It’s the reason she was his publicist. Still, she could have sugarcoated it a little. Damn.
“Are we talking all reviews? What did Variety say?”
She paused and cleared her throat. “Variety is a bit harsher.”
He sucked in a breath. “Harsher than ‘bloated, overindulged mess’? Jesus.” What the hell?
“How do you want me to spin this?”
He shook his head. “Don’t. I’m going to think about it for a bit. Could be just sour grapes from the US reviewers because the red-carpet premiere is in Sydney, not L.A.”
“You think?”
He ignored the soft sarcasm in her voice. “Are we ready for that, by the way?”
“We’re all ready for tomorrow night. All invited official guests are attending, there are requests coming in hourly for tickets and invitations, and Chris Huntley is arriving this afternoon.”
“Good.” He pictured the actor cast as Dave being swarmed by screaming fans at Sydney airport. “Has he arranged a driver from the airport, or is Liev with him?”
“Liev is with him.”
Okay, so Chris’s husband would keep the fans at bay. No worries there.
“And don’t forget,” Kimmy went on, “your on-the-carpet interview with Dickie is scheduled for seven.”
Sebastian chuckled. It had been a while since he’d interacted with the notorious Australian entertainment reporter known as Dickie. The last time had been at the previous year’s Australian Film Institute awards dinner, where Sebastian had accepted Dickie’s challenge to wear black Crocs with his tuxedo instead of formal shoes. As a consequence, Dickie had had to donate five thousand dollars to the charity of Sebastian’s choice.
The red-carpet interview would be another opportunity to get the reporter to donate more money to the Children’s Leukemia Foundation.
And if he wants to talk about the early reviews? Or your community service?
“I’ve specified no questions allowed about the Hugo Boss incident,” Kimmy said, her voice as no-nonsense through the car’s speakers as it was in real life.
“Excellent.” His phone chirped with another incoming call. “I’ve got Harry calling, Kimmy. I’ll speak to you later.”
“Sure. Oh, before you go, how do you want me to deal with the pap photos of you with a half-dressed woman taken last night at her house? And the ones of you delivering a young boy to a school this morning?”
His gut twisted into a knot. “The what?”
“Pap photos. They started popping up online about an hour ago.”
Shit. Theo Olsen had clearly stalked Grace’s place over the last twenty-four hours, the prick. So not only had the paparazzo taken photos of him talking to a half-dressed Grace on her doorstep yesterday morning, he’d gotten shots of Sebastian taking Cody to school.
Grace was not going to like this. He didn’t like it. Cody was off-limits.
“Call my lawyer.” He flung the Range Rover into a U-turn. He needed to go back to Grace’s place and let her know what was going on. “We need to kill those images ASAP.”
“Sure. Can do. I’ll call you later.”
The incoming call with Harrison clicked over immediately.
“I was about to hang up.” Harry laughed. “Seriously, whoever you were talking to isn’t as important as me.”
“I was talking to Kimmy.” How the hell did he break the news to Grace that her son was now the target of a scum bucket like Olsen?
“About the paparazzi images of you and Grace Ford? Who’s the kid?”
So Harrison recognized their old neighbor. Why did that twist a knot of caveman-type possessiveness in him? “Hers. His name is Cody. He’s awesome. Weird and quirky, but awesome.”
“Why were you at Grace’s place? And was she really not wearing pants? She looks amazing.”
Back off, dude.
The warning snarled in his head.
He gripped the steering wheel, his heart thumping hard. Fuck. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Brother? You still there?”
He blinked. “Still here. You know that community service I’m doing?”
Harrison’s laughter filled the Range Rover. “Are you kidding me? You’re the big brother to Grace Ford’s son?”
“It’s Grace Wilder now.”
“Where’s the father?”
“The father’s dead. He was a firefighter. Died on the job.”
“Shit. That’s tragic. Poor Grace. Maybe I should call her. Do you have her number?”
“Back off, dude.”
The words burst from him this time, before he could bite them back.
Stunned silence greeted the rebuke, followed by more laughter. “Fuck a duck, Bastian. Have you finally realized what was bloody obvious years ago? I mean, has the shoe finally dropped?”
Sebastian frowned. “What do you mean has the shoe final dropped? What shoe?”
Harrison laughed again. “Oh man, this is priceless. Awesome, in fact.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Nope.” Smug delight danced on the word. “Not going to tell you. But this is going to be so much fun.”
“I’m going to beat the crap out of you at lunch if you don’t tell me what you’re talking about.”
“Can’t do lunch. Busy. Want to beat the crap out of me now? I can meet you at your offices in fifteen, if that works?”
“I’m heading back to Grace’s now. Got to talk to her about… Why are you laughing again?”
“Brother, I just want to let it be known, it’s about bloody time. Talk to you later. Say hello to Grace for me.”
And with that, Harrison disconnected.
Sebastian gritted his teeth at his absent brother and gripped the steering wheel harder still. What the bloody hell was Harrison talking about?
…
This is crazy.
Walking beside Yvonne, Grace scanned her front yard. No sign of Justin. No sign of Sebastian.
Good. That was good. She didn’t know how she’d react—to either of them.
Yes, you do.
“I will be dropping in from time to time”—Yvonne stopped at the side of a silver Jaguar sports car—“to observe Hart with your son, if that is okay with you? I will let you know when. Plus, I’ll occasionally call you for an update on how things are progressing.”
Grace nodded. Damn, why was her throat tight?
Because you want Sebastian to come back and kiss you again?
“Are you okay, Ms. Wilder?”
She started at Yvonne’s question. Piercing eyes studied her from behind spotless glasses. “Yeah. Yes. I’m fine. Why?”
A frown pulled at Yvonne’s forehead. “For a second there, you looked terrified.”
Terrified. That was an understatement. What kind of masochist would she be if she was suddenly attracted to Sebastian Hart? After one kiss given solely to make another man jealous? A nice man, albeit one who just as suddenly seemed to be interested in her because another man was?
“No. Not terrified.” Okay, so she almost shouted that.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Yvonne studied her. “Would you rather I remove Mr. Hart from being Cody’s assigned big brother? Your history with the man might be too flustering for you?”
Flustering. Huh. That was one way to describe it. Thankfully, the judge hadn’t seen Sebastian kiss her. If she had, there’s no way she’d be asking Grace if she wanted him gone. He would be. No if, buts, or maybes.
Justin had inadvertently come to her rescue by stomping out a few moments after Sebastian, muttering about being late for work.
Grace had raised her eyes at Yvonne and offered an apology on behalf of her neighbor.
Another memo she clearly hadn’t received was that her life was becoming a sitcom.
If only she could demand a different director for it. Sebastian may be one of the most talented and influential directors in the world, but he was doing a shoddy job of this narrative. She had no idea where she was meant to stand, or how she was meant to react.
To what? The kiss?
“Ms. Wilder?”
Oh God, she’d done it again. Left Yvonne standing, waiting.
“We’ll work it out.” Heat flooded her cheeks at the lame answer. “We had a…unique relationship when we were teenagers. We’re grown-ups now.”
This is crazy. So crazy.
“Hmm.” Yvonne opened the driver’s door of the Jaguar. “I shall be in touch.”
And with that, she lowered herself into the car, closed the door, and drove away.
Grace spun on her heel and stormed back into her house. She would call Shelli and keep calling Shelli until her erstwhile BFF answered. And then she was going to make Shelli’s life hell for thrusting Sebastian back into hers.
Shelli didn’t answer.
Of course.
“Probably scared,” she muttered, typing out a text message.
If you don’t call me ASAP I’m elevating Rory to Best Friend status and giving him the Supernatural Blu-ray boxset I’ve bought you for Christmas. Call. Me.
Tossing her phone onto the kitchen counter, she let out a shaky breath and picked up the two mugs of coffee Justin had brought over.
She looked at the surface of one. She could zap it in the microwave to warm it up. He had made her favorite coffee, after all.
“Or not.” With a sigh, she poured the two coffees down the sink. For some weird reason, she didn’t feel like coffee.
Or food. But she needed to eat before she went to work. She wouldn’t get a chance while there. The day shift on Monday was always the busiest weekday. Something about the first day of the week brought out the crazies and the reckless.
So thinking about work will stop you thinking about Sebastian?
Yes. Yes, it—
Someone knocked on her door.
“Of course.”
If it was Justin with more hot beverages, she didn’t know what she’d do.
And if it’s Sebastian?
She pulled open the door, and her heart smashed into her throat.
Sebastian stood on the other side. “Grace, there’s something I need to tell you.”
She frowned and ignored the ridiculous riot of butterflies taking up residence in her stomach. Ignored the way her body seemed to want to step into his. Sure as hell ignored the way her lips tingled, craving his again. “What?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
She rolled her eyes. Okay, so the messed-up desire to be kissed by him again was fading very quickly. “What is it, Seb?”
“I…”
She arched an eyebrow, a small smile playing with her lips. “You?”
He stared at her. Ran his hands through his hair. Shook his head. “Jesus, I can’t believe I’m going to say this.”
“What?”
“I think I want to kiss you again.”
And without preamble, he closed the distance between them and did just that.
Or did she kiss him? Their lips came together, so did their tongues. One second she was looking up at him, his unexpected confession making her heart slam up into her throat, the next his hands cupped her face, his thumbs brushed her cheekbones, and his breath mingled with hers as their mouths joined.
She rose onto tiptoe, for the first time in her life wishing she were taller.
Sebastian chuckled softly, the sound becoming a raw groan as she feathered her fingers over his chest.
“Shit, Grace,” he rasped against her lips. “This is not”—his shirt came free of his waistband and a liquid pulse of delight shot through Grace—“what I planned.” He moved his lips to her chin, her throat, as he helped her hand slide beneath his shirt.
His skin was so warm. Sebastian’s skin. His bare skin. Against hers.
Sebastian Hart’s.
What are you doing?
She jerked away. Stumbled backward. Breath choking her, she pressed her palm to her mouth.
Sebastian watched her, nostrils flaring. God, he looked like a sexual god, hungry and powerful and beyond her understanding. An emotion she couldn’t fathom burned in his blue eyes.
“Sorry,” she burst out against her palm before jerking it from her lips. The moisture from their kiss was still there. Their kiss. “Sorry. You don’t need…”
You don’t need to kiss me. You don’t need to make Justin jealous. I’m not interested in him. Say it. Tell him that.
“Justin’s not…” She shrugged. “There’s no need to kiss me.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes for a heartbeat and then smiled—the patented Sebastian Hart smirk. “That was lucky. Imagine how awkward it would have been if I kissed you just because I wanted to.”
She forced out a wobbly laugh. “Too gross. And wrong.”
A long beat of silence stretched between them, broken only by the birds and other outside noises coming through the open door.
Damn it, she’d kissed him in her open door, where anyone walking or driving past could see. If Mrs. Hill across the road had been watching, the senile old biddy would be likely having a fit. The woman was convinced Gary was just away for a “firefighter’s thing,” and nothing Grace could say would change her mind.
She took another step backward, pressed her fingers to her lips, and turned away. She had to stop looking at him. He was too…
Sebastian.
“I’ve got to get ready for work,” she said. Damn, if her pulse didn’t slow down soon, she’d need to call an ambulance for herself. “Thanks for coming back, but as I’ve been trying to tell you, you don’t need to try to make Justin jealous because I’m not interested in him.”
“You’re not?”
“Also,” she went on, “Judge Myers told me you only need to interact with Cody once a week to fulfill your big brother duties, so I guess you don’t have to come back until next week. Maybe Sunday again? I’m working a double shift so you could—”
Warm, firm fingers wrapped around her arm, and she jerked her stare back to him.
At some point, he’d closed the door. Phew. Or not. Now she was behind closed doors with him, and why the hell did she keep looking at his lips? “Grace, I need to tell you something.”
She shook his hand free of her arm. The old Seb would have just told her straight out, as if it were her duty to listen to him.
Was it insane she missed that Seb?
It was easier to loathe that Sebastian. This one…
No. She loathed this new Sebastian as well. Even though he did make something deep inside her go all warm and greedy with a kiss.
Pretend kiss. Remember that. He only thinks about himself. The kiss was to make Justin jealous so you’d tell Judge Myers how amazing he is.
“I’m going to be late,” she said.
“Please.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Sebastian never said please. What the hell?
“Who are you?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And what have you done with the real Sebastian Hart?”
He chuckled at her lame attempt at humor. Why was she even trying to diffuse the tension? “I used to say please to you all the time when we were growing up. Please, Tinsel Teeth, stop looking at me. Please, stop kicking me in the shins.”
“Oh yeah, you were a paragon of manners.”
He grinned.
Okay, this was better. “What do you have to tell me, Seb? Can’t it wait? Honestly, I have to get ready for work. Patients expect a certain level of beauty perfection when being checked for suspected heart attacks or fighting with me in a drugged-out psychosis.”
He chuckled, although it sounded forced. “I pity any junkie trying to take you on. My shins remember all too well the feel of your wrath.”
She smiled. Couldn’t help it. It was weird, smiling with Sebastian. It felt wrong. But also…right.
Her stomach knotted, and—before he could see whatever expression she feared might be on her face—she turned and began walking back to the kitchen. “I have to get ready,” she threw over her shoulder. “I’ll catch you Sunday.”
He followed her. Damn it. “I’m taking you to dinner tonight. I promised Cody.”
The knot in her stomach turned to a ball.
“But that’s not the point.” He caught up with her, snagging her elbow again in a gentle grip. “Grace, I really need to tell you something.”
Stopping, she let out a sigh and rubbed at her eyes. She’d gone too long without her glasses or contacts. She was beginning to get a headache. One that had nothing to do with the blast-from-the-past bastard currently in her home.
Yeah, right.
“What is it? I’ve already lied about us to the judge. I’m not sure I can—”
Her phone rang, Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars.
Her boss.
“I’ve got to get that. And then I’ve got to go.” She hurried into the kitchen, scooped up her phone, connected the call, and covered the receiver with her palm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me later. Got it?”
He nodded, expression impossible to read. “Got it. See you tonight. Pick you up at six.”
And with that, he turned and left.
Before she could tell him no.
Typical bloody Sebastian Hart.