Chapter Five
He rushed through the rest of his day. It made no sense of course. Meetings, brunch meetings, lunch meetings, Skype meetings with his preproduction team, more than one conversation with Kimmy and Samantha and Dave’s marketing team, and more than one conference call with the studio releasing the film.
Normally, when working, he was 100 percent present, 100 percent focused on the task, the topic.
In all those meetings and conversations and interactions, he kept finding himself thinking of Grace.
He’d never thought of Grace Ford as anything but an annoyance back in the day. What had changed? And why?
So she’s still annoying me. Just in a totally different—
“Boss?”
Shaking his head, he frowned at the young man standing in front of his desk. “Sorry, Mitch. I was woolgathering.”
Mitch—the personal assistant whose main job was to keep track of his non–film related appointments—shuffled his feet. He’d only been a part of Sebastian’s team for a short while but was panning out well. Except for the fact he was like a nervous puppy when it came to giving Sebastian bad news. The feet shuffling, the fidgeting with whatever was in his hands—in this case, Sebastian’s Sydney office’s landline phone.
Okay, so whatever he needed to say, he was prepared for Sebastian to get angry. Couldn’t be about Samantha and Dave. That was film related, handled by his other PA, Anya.
Settling back in his desk chair, Sebastian picked up the coffee he’d been neglecting and took a sip. “What is it?”
Mitch cleared his throat and shuffled his feet again. “Someone named Grace Wilder called your offices with a message for you.”
Taking another sip, Sebastian ordered his heart to slow down. Had she seen the pap images of her and him? Or the ones of him and Cody? Why the hell hadn’t he told her when he’d intended to?
Because you didn’t want to see her upset or stressed.
Mitch shuffled his feet again and fidgeted with the phone. “She said she’s collecting Cody from school this afternoon and that dinner isn’t happening.”
“Give me the phone.”
Mitch didn’t move. “She said you weren’t to bother calling her. She wouldn’t answer.”
“Mitch, who is your boss?”
“You are, Mr. Hart.”
“Give me the phone.”
Mitch gave him the phone.
“Hers was the last incoming call on this phone?”
Mitch nodded.
He hit caller ID and then returned her call.
It went straight to her message service.
“Hi, this is Grace—”
“And Cody,” Cody’s laughing voice interjected over hers.
“We can’t take your call right now, but leave us a message—”
“And a fart noise.” Cody said, giggling like crazy.
An electronic beep sounded in Sebastian’s ear and, without hesitating, he pressed his palm to his mouth and blew a loud raspberry against it. A loud one.
Mitch’s mouth fell open.
“See you at six, Grace,” Sebastian said into the phone, grinning. “Cody, tell your mum to dress up.”
He hung up, tossed the phone back to Mitch, and reached for his coffee. “If Ms. Wilder calls back, tell her to refer to the fart noise.”
Mitch nodded, stared at Sebastian like he’d gone insane, and hurried from the room.
“Dinner not happening, my arse.” Sebastian chuckled, opening his laptop. Okay, it was work time. Anything to make the hours between now and when he collected Grace and Cody to go quicker.
Those hours flew. Thankfully, his afternoon meeting with Chris Huntley went well. The star wasn’t used to negative reviews but handled it with a relaxed humor Sebastian admired.
“What are you going to do?” Chris had shrugged as they discussed the early bad reviews for Samantha and Dave’s appearing on Rotten Tomatoes. “I hate the film The Shawshank Redemption, which I’ve been assured repeatedly is a cardinal sin. Creative work is subjective. We both know that. Hey, did I hear right that you’re doing community service for some Hugo Boss thing? And who’s the woman not wearing pants I saw you photographed with?”
Yeah, the day went quickly. The way he wanted it to.
The low summer sun was stretching shadows across Grace’s front yard when he pulled to a stop in her driveway five minutes before six p.m.
Cody sat on the top step of the porch, focus fixed on the notepad on his lap.
“Whatcha doing, buddy?” Sebastian closed the Range Rover’s door and ambled over to him.
Cody didn’t look up. “Homework. I have to make a presentation on an important person.”
“Huh. Going okay?”
Cody shrugged, finally lifting his attention to Sebastian. “Don’t know. Are we going out to eat dinner with you? Mum says we’re not, but she’s inside putting makeup on, and she never wears makeup.”
A smile pulled at Sebastian’s lips. Grace Ford in makeup? He hadn’t seen her in makeup since the dance where she’d worn the floaty dress that showed off her legs. She’d looked so different that night, not like the Grace he lived beside. It hadn’t felt right, and he’d made no bones about letting her know.
“And,” Cody dragged out, “she told me to get out of my school clothes and into something clean and decent.”
Sebastian chuckled. Of course she couldn’t refuse dinner with him. Who was she kidding?
“Then I guess”—he grinned, lowering himself down to sit on the step beside Cody—“we’re all going out to dinner.”
He’d made a reservation at Quay earlier that day, certain Grace wouldn’t back out regardless of her bluff. It was impossible to get a table at Sydney’s most awarded restaurant on short notice, but when the maître d’ discovered who was requesting the table, their best one suddenly became available.
Cody beamed. “Excellent. I’m hungry.”
“How was the zoo? Anyone get eaten by the lions?”
“No. I couldn’t convince the lions to break out and start snacking.”
Yeah, definitely Grace’s son. He’d recognize that biting sarcasm anywhere. “Anyone in particular you want eaten by lions?”
Cody dropped his attention back to the notepad on his lap. On it, in writing that was at once messy and neat, were the words “The Most Important Person.”
Who was he going to do his homework task on? His father? Being killed while saving lives as a firefighter made what Sebastian did for a living seem…less significant.
Silence stretched. Long enough for Sebastian’s gut to clench. “Someone giving you a hard time at school, buddy?”
Pushing his glasses up on his nose, Cody looked up at him. “I told my friends I knew you today. They called me a liar. No one would sit with me when we had lunch.”
A finger of cold anger traced up Sebastian’s spine. Fucking kids and their mean behavior. It pissed him off.
And you were different how, exactly?
The cold finger crept through his scalp. He ground his teeth, gently placing his hand on Cody’s back. “How ’bout I walk you into school tomorrow? What do you think? What do you think your friends would do then?”
Sunlight flooded Cody’s face. “They would freak out. Can we do that?”
“Do what?” Grace’s wary voice sounded behind them. Sebastian twisted on the step and directed a beguiling smile up at her.
And then he froze. Forgot how to breathe.
Wow. He swallowed, slowly rising to his feet. Wow.
“You look…” He swiped at his mouth, lost for words.
She stood on the open door’s threshold wearing a knee-length black dress that fell over her curves and dips with a delicateness that made his pulse quicken. Its neckline scooped low on her breasts, teasing their creamy shape without flaunting their fullness. The thin straps left her shoulders bare, and for the first time, he noticed a toned strength to her arms. Was it from working out? Or dealing with the patients she was called out to on the job?
She wore no glasses, the green of her eyes emphasized instead by dark, smoky eye shadow and liner, and her lips were glossed with a deep burgundy that only served to highlight just how feminine they were.
He frowned. How had he never noticed that before?
Her hair, that crazy wild mess of copper-red curls, was left untamed, tumbling around her face and neck and shoulders just like it used to back when they were kids. He liked it that way. So much more. It awoke something in his, a desire to bury his hands in it as he drew his head down to hers, as his lips found hers…
“You look beautiful, Mum.”
Cody’s awed statement jerked Sebastian’s breath from him. He cleared his throat. “You do. Very beautiful.”
Grace narrowed her eyes.
He pressed his hand to his chest. “I’m serious. You look…”
Stunning. Gorgeous. Amazing.
“Perfect.”
She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and snorted. “Okay, Seb. If we’re doing this, we’re doing this. C’mon. Let’s give the neighbors a show, shall we?”
“Why?” Cody asked.
Licking her thumb, she reached for his cheek. “I’ll tell you—”
“Argh.” Cody ducked her hand. “Gross.”
She laughed. “Get your butt moving, bug. Take your notepad inside and then get back out here. You’ve got ten seconds before we leave without—”
Cody bolted inside.
Sebastian swallowed, his chest as tight as his throat. Why was it suddenly so hard to look at her?
“I…” Whatever she was going to say, she stopped.
Scrubbing at the back of his neck, he stepped closer to her. “Can generically good-looking Justin see your front porch from his house?”
“Generically good-looking…” Her lips twitched. “I told you I’m not—”
He kissed her. A soft, simple kiss.
A softer moan escaped her, almost impossible to hear. And yet there. A moan of pleasure and surrender.
His blood roared in his head. His body erupted, every nerve ending and molecule sparking, aware of her smell, her taste, her warmth. He slid his hand over her waist, around to the small of her back, and drew her body to his with a gentle tug.
Oh yeah. So very yeah. So very perfect.
Another moan hitched in her throat, a little louder this time, a lot more sexual. He parted his lips, seeking her tongue. She gave it to him, an almost shy stroke against his. A building wave of warmth and wonder and delight rolled through him, making his heart thump fast and his groin grow heavy.
And then the sound of thudding feet in the house rivaled the pounding of his heart, and Grace slipped free of his embrace.
Her chest rose and fell as she flicked a glance over her shoulder and then to the right of his. “What…what do you think Justin would make of that?”
Justin. Fucking Justin Fitzsimmons. That was the reason she kissed him back? Why couldn’t she have kissed him back because she wanted to?
Taking a backward step, he wiped at his mouth and let out a shaky laugh. Hell, could it be any more forced?
“I’m ready, Mum.” Cody thundered to a stop beside her, smile wide. “We’re going to somewhere called Key? Is it far? I’m starved. Do they have chicken nuggets there?”
Sebastian laughed. Chuckled. It was that or pull Grace back into his arms and continue to kiss her, and he couldn’t do that in front of Cody, even if Grace wanted him to, which he doubted she did. What the hell was going on with him? It was as if with every touch of their lips, he wanted more. It made no sense.
“I’m sure,” he said to Cody. “The chef will make you whatever you want, buddy.” If he looked at Grace, what would he see? Was she as unsettled by their kiss as he was?
“Quay?” Disbelief filled Grace’s voice. And, yep, it was definitely huskier than it had been before. Good. He couldn’t be the only one disarmed. “As in the restaurant on Sydney Harbor near the Opera House? The really trendy one all the rich snobs—”
He laughed as she snapped her mouth shut. “Yeah. That one. I want to see how you deal with them, Ford.”
“Wilder,” she corrected, expression enigmatic. “I’m not Grace Ford anymore. I haven’t been since I was eighteen. Please remember that.”
Her soft request sent a tight, dark shard into his chest.
No, she sure as hell wasn’t Grace Ford anymore. But why did that thought unsettle him more than any other?
“Hi, Mr. Fitzsimmons.” Cody smiled and waved. “We’re going out for dinner.”
Forcing his face to remain neutral, almost bored, Sebastian turned.
Justin stood at his letter box, watching them. At his feet was a massive Great Dane, long tail wagging.
He had a dog. Every boy needed a dog. That was good.
Maybe I should get a dog?
Smiling casually, he raised a hand. “G’day, Fitzsummers.”
“Fitzsimmons,” Justin corrected with a genial smile.
Ah, he’s going to play the good-guy card. Wise move.
“Hi, Justin.” A faint pink tinged Grace’s cheeks, and she flicked a glance at Sebastian. “How was work?”
Justin’s smile widened. “Good. Remember the Aqua Hoppers account I was telling you about last week?”
And now he’s reestablishing a connection with Grace. He’s clever.
Grace nodded.
“I signed them today. Finally.”
She smiled. A cold pressure slid around Sebastian’s chest. “Well done. That’s great to hear.”
“I’m hungry.” Cody snagged her hand. “Mum, I’ve got a hole in my tummy.”
With a roll of her eyes and a soft laugh that stirred something in Sebastian he didn’t want to analyze, she scruffed Cody’s hair. “Okay, bug. Sorry, Justin, we have to go. Holes to be filled.”
“No worries.” Justin directed a smile at Sebastian. “Enjoy your dinner.”
“Will do. See you later, mate.”
Justin clicked at his dog and headed back into his house, throwing one last smile at Grace.
Sebastian let out a jovial grunt as he held out his hand toward his Range Rover. “Seems like a nice bloke. Did you want to ask him to come?”
Grace’s lips twitched. “I forgot how funny you are, Seb.”
Cody—already at the Rover—jumped up and down. “I like this car. Does it go fast?”
“Me, too.” Sebastian opened the back passenger door. “And it does. What are your thoughts on Aston Martins?”
“Like the car James Bond drives?”
Oh, this kid is awesome. “Yep.”
“Wow. Do you have one of those?”
Sebastian chuckled as Cody climbed up into the Rover and buckled himself. “If I answer that, you won’t be surprised tomorrow morning, will you?”
“Wow.”
Closing the door, Sebastian turned to Grace. “What about you, Wilder? Aston Martin fan?”
“Can I call you a pretentious wanker now, or do I save it for later?”
“Ouch.”
She gave another soft laugh, and there was another disquieting reaction to it deep in his core.
“Let’s go eat, Hart. It’s a school night, after all. We can’t stay out too late.”
“Your wish—”
“Don’t say it.” She laughed and opened her door, an unreadable light dancing in her eyes. “You may not like what I wish for.”
…
She’d promised Gary at the side of his grave, a week after burying what had remained of his body once dragged from the fire, that she would never replace him.
And she never would. So what was with the guilt nibbling at her all throughout dinner?
Her meal was delicious—and unlike anything she’d indulged in before. Four courses of the most incredible dishes that bordered on sublime. How the hell was she meant to compare ramen noodles zapped in the depot’s microwave with something so beyond her socioeconomic life she couldn’t process it?
Even Cody’s chicken nuggets, requested by Sebastian as “a special favor” made the nuggets she sometimes grabbed him at the McDonald’s drive-through look like a culinary practical joke.
“They taste okay, buddy?” Sebastian smiled and reached for his glass of sparkling water.
Cody shoved one full nugget in his mouth and grinned.
“Oh, Cody.” She dropped her face into her hand and shook her head.
“So what does generically good-looking Justin do for a job?”
The question, asked casually, made her stomach flip. She didn’t want to talk about Justin.
And you want to what? Sit and think about Gary instead? Make yourself feel bad about enjoying being out with another man?
She was enjoying being out with another man. That in itself was freaking her out, let alone the man who she was enjoying herself with was Sebastian Hart. What the hell?
“Very-nice-to-look-at Justin,” she said, giving Sebastian a pointed look, “is in advertising. He is a partner in a small advertising firm.”
“Ah. Advertising.”
She arched an eyebrow. “What does ah advertising mean?”
He stabbed at his duck and arched his own eyebrow. “See? If you’d let me help all those years ago with your English assignments you’d know what advertising meant. It’s a very easy word. Want me to help you download a dictionary app?”
Rolling her eyes, she pierced some of her own duck. She didn’t, however, hide her smile. “You’re a dick.”
“Mum.” Cody gaped at her. “You said a swear word.”
“Shhh.” She leaned toward him and gave his side a gentle tickle. “I didn’t. It was Seb.”
Cody giggled, bit into the last nugget on his plate, and then—around a mouthful of chicken—said, “Can we have dessert?”
“Sure,” Sebastian answered.
“No way, bug,” Grace said.
Cody rolled his eyes. “Bum.”
Sebastian, sitting opposite her and looking far more relaxed and handsome and sexy than he had any right to, laughed. “He is totally your son, Grace. The eye roll nails it. And the deft use of profanity, I might add.”
“Zip it, Hart.”
He laughed. “I tell you what, Cody. We’ll skip dessert tonight, but I will get you a bucket of ice cream this Sunday.”
“Cool. Is Sunday a Big Brother day?”
“It is.”
A hot lump settled in Grace’s stomach. Big Brother. That’s why Sebastian was with her and Cody. Somehow, among the four dishes, unexpectedly relaxed conversation about Cody’s school, and about how delicious their meals were, she’d forgotten that.
“I was thinking of going to Sea World.” Sebastian’s gaze found her, a question in the blue of his eyes. “If your mum’s not working, she could join us?”
Sea World. The theme park she’d been promising to take Cody to since he was five. “I’m working a double shift.”
Cody slumped in his seat. “Bum.”
Damn it, was there any quicker way for a mother to have her heart torn out of her chest than to disappoint her child?
“I’m not sure I like the idea of you flying up to Queensland without me,” she said, mouth dry, turning away from Sebastian’s close gaze.
Cody slumped farther, eyes downcast. “Oh man.”
“Hey, buddy.” Sebastian tapped the table with his fingers, a grin on his face.
Grace drew in a breath. If he contradicted her, or said he could take Cody anyway, she was going to kill him.
“We’ll do Sea World another time. When your mum can come, okay?”
A warm wave of surprised relief rolled through her. Or was it happiness? Or something else entirely?
Don’t fall for Sebastian. Don’t fall—
“Can we still have a bucket of ice cream this Sunday?”
Cody’s question tugged a laugh out of her. Sebastian nodded, returning his gaze to her. “We sure can.”
“Okay.” Placing her knife and fork on the plate, she let out a slow sigh. “It’s time to go. It’s later than I’d like and you, young man, have to get up for school tomorrow.”
“Bum.” Cody pouted. “This was fun.”
Sebastian nodded. “It was.”
A fresh ribbon of guilt unfurled through Grace. Not at Sebastian and Cody’s declarations, but at the fact that the second they’d uttered them, she’d thought the very same thing.
How could she be out having fun with someone else? What would Gary make of Sebastian?
Rising to her feet, she plucked her purse from the table. “I just…” Her head swam. “I just need some fresh air.”
Sebastian studied her for a heartbeat before he nodded. “Sure. Cody and I will meet you outside. Won’t be a sec.”
She damn near stumbled for the door.
The hot, humid night air wrapped around her eagerly, a stark contrast to the cool climate-controlled air of the restaurant.
Sucking in breath after breath, she closed her eyes. Damn it, she should have just stuck to her normal shift today instead of moving mountains to get the evening off. If she had, Sebastian would have collected Cody from school, but at least she wouldn’t be standing on a footpath overlooking Sydney Harbor, wearing a goddamn dress she’d bought but couldn’t afford, and enjoying herself with Sebastian freaking Hart.
“Ready, Mum?”
At Cody’s voice and the warm feel of his fingers wrapping around hers, her heart skipped a beat. “Ready,” she answered, squeezing his hand. Calm. She needed to be calm. Everything going on with Sebastian would disappear the second his community service finished. Everything. Including her unexpected reaction to him being back in her life again.
Yeah, right.
“Okay, let’s hit the road and head home.”
Sebastian appeared at her side, his hand smoothing over the small of her back, and before she could stop herself, before she even knew what she was doing, she smiled up at him.
“God, how did I not realize how beautiful your smile was before now?” he murmured. “I must have been…” Shaking his head, he lowered his head to hers.
A glaring white light flashed beside them, bleaching the night.
“Shit.” Sebastian jerked backward, away from her.
She blinked and then winced when the camera flash fired again.
“Who’s the chick, Hart?” a man on the footpath holding a camera asked. The same man Grace had seen outside of her house yesterday morning.
“Bugger off, Olsen,” Sebastian snarled, stepping between the photographer and Cody. “Find a log to crawl under.”
Olsen took another photo of them. “How’s it feel knowing your latest movie is a flop?”
“Mum?” Cody pressed against her.
“I’d rather direct a flop movie than have a face uglier than a hat full of arseholes,” Sebastian shot back.
“Mum?” Cody’s shoulder dug into her stomach. “Who’s that?”
“Your chick’s hot.” Olsen raised his camera and pointed it at Grace. “Face is a bit boring, though.”
Oh, classy.
“Hey,” Sebastian snapped. “That’s enough.”
Cody lunged forward. “My mum is not boring.”
Sebastian took his hand, turning his back on Olsen. “Don’t pay him any attention, buddy. Your mum is way tougher and smarter than he is. And he thinks superhero movies are lame.”
“He’s an idiot,” Cody burst out.
“Oi,” Olsen complained.
Staff and security personnel came running from the restaurant.
Sebastian dropped him a wink. “Idiots like Olsen aren’t worth your hassle. C’mon, let’s get home.”
And, as if the paparazzo didn’t exist, he smoothed his arm around Grace’s back and walked them to the Range Rover.
Olsen shouted at them, tried to take more photos, but the restaurant’s staff wouldn’t let him. Grace flinched as he attempted to kick one of the men out of the road, and then had to bite back a laugh as the man promptly put him on his arse with a shove.
“In you get.” Sebastian held the door open for Cody.
Cody scrambled up into the luxury SUV. “That guy’s a tosser.”
Grace opened her mouth and then shut it. Olsen was a tosser. She couldn’t really get angry or correct Cody for stating the truth.
“Truer words have never been uttered, buddy.” Sebastian chuckled. “High five.”
Cody slapped Sebastian’s offered hand, grinned at Grace, and then buckled his seat belt. “Man, this was fun.”
Once again, she opened her mouth. Once again, she closed it. How did she argue with that? Like his earlier statement, this one was also true.
This is a problem. Fun with Hart isn’t part of the deal.
What deal? The Big Brother deal? Or the deal she seemed to have inadvertently signed where Sebastian wowed her son into hero worshipping him?
Or the deal where she struggled to hold on to her grudge against Hart?
Closing Cody’s door, Sebastian met her gaze. “Home?”
An image of him walking into her messy home flitted through her mind. It should have freaked her out.
Should have.
She opened the front passenger door. “Home.”
During the drive, Cody—in typical Cody fashion—recounted the entire evening’s events, all embellished with his unique spin on them. Sebastian chuckled often, encouraging Cody throughout the retelling.
“And then,” he said from the backseat, “Mum smiled at you all gooey like.”
“Did she now?”
“Yep.”
Grace pressed her palm to her mouth. Thank God the interior light of the car was off. Her cheeks burned like fire. “I did not.”
“Yes, you did.” Cody grabbed at the back of her seat. “It was all big and soppy and looked like this.”
She twisted in her seat as Cody gave her the most ridiculous smile she’d ever seen. Sebastian chuckled beside her. Damn it. “Bedtime, bug. Now.”
Cody’s over-the-top smile melted into a pout of shattered hope. “Do I have to?”
“You do. School tomorrow.”
Sebastian pulled into the driveway and then twisted in his seat to look at Cody in the back. “How will everyone see me drive you to school if we’re late, buddy?”
She frowned. “You don’t need to drive him to school. Your big brother commitments don’t include—”
“Yes, he does.” Cody leaped out of his seat, poking his head between theirs. “Sebastian’s going to show the other kids at school I’m not a liar.”
“A what?” Grace blinked. A cold slither of unease crawled over her. “He’s going to what?”
“Bedtime.” Sebastian opened his door.
Muted light filled the Range Rover for a moment as he alighted from the car, and then Cody was doing the same.
The two of them made their way to the front door of the house, chatting. Their voices—one low and deep and thoroughly male, the other young and excited and full of joy—wafted back to her on the still night air.
She closed her eyes. Cody was falling for Sebastian. That was simple. And while Seb was already proving to be an enormous help with him, what was going to happen to Cody’s heart when Sebastian’s community service finished and he dropped them both like a hot potato? They didn’t live in his world—the world of celebrities and private planes and paparazzi and more money than Grace could fathom. When his time was done, no matter how amazing his kisses were, he would go and never look back.
How was Cody going to deal with that?
Justin? According to Sebastian, Justin was thumping on his chest, just waiting to swoop in.
She grimaced at the thought.
“Coming?” Sebastian called on a laugh from the front door. “You can sleep in the car if you want, but the bed’s far more comfortable.”
Had he shouted that for Justin’s benefit? Surely the way he was treating her, the overt interest, was because he doggedly refused to accept Justin wasn’t the answer to all her problems. It was the only reason that made sense, after all. When it came to arrogant assumptions, Sebastian was the champion.
She climbed from the car and made her way to her house.
Both Cody and Sebastian smiled at her as she unlocked the door. Cody ran in. Sebastian waited on the porch.
Okay, this was the part where she thanked him for dinner and told him to go home. The logical cause of action. Simple and easy to do.
“Want a cup of tea?” she asked.
He drew in a slow breath and dipped his head in a single nod. “I would.”
What the hell was she doing?