Chapter 11
The paper was face up when she came into his office the next morning. She'd managed to sleep through her alarm and had been running late. She'd cursed and swore at the pile-up of traffic on the highway and had used her horn more than usual. Even so, she'd reached the large towering glass building half an hour late. She'd forced herself not to run all the way to the elevator and had barely managed to greet the receptionists as usual as she made her way to the suite of offices that housed the management staff. She'd put her purse away before going straight to his office and that was when she saw it on his desk.
Her eyes were drawn to the glossy picture of Gabriel’s head bent to hers as he kissed her on the lips. She read the caption and swore beneath her breath. ‘Gabriel Bryant seen here in an intimate moment with his latest conquest.’
“Conquest?”
Mia scoffed, trying to make light of the photo. “Surely they
could have come up with a better word than that.” She met his
eyes. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“So
enlighten me,” he said softly as he leaned back in his chair,
but she could see the anger in his eyes“Because from what I see
here it looks like you were sharing something very intimate and
special.” He leaned forward. “Tell me, Mia, does he know
that you're carrying my child?”
“That’s
what I went to lunch to tell him.” She closed the doors behind
her and sat down in front of his desk. “We're just friends,
Sebastian.”
“You look more than that.” His voice
was soft and ominous. “Was that why you didn't want to come
home with me last night? So that you could spend the night with him?”
Mia stared at him wordlessly before getting to her feet.
“We're not finished Mia!” he bit out.
“We are,” she told him coldly. “If you really think of me like some kind of slut who could just be with you the night before and share what we shared and then go and be with another man then frankly I don’t think you deserve to be with me. And why would you want to be with someone like that anyway?”
He stared at her for
a moment and then looked down at the photo. “His lips were on
yours!” His grey eyes glittered as he looked at her.
“You're—”
He stopped abruptly and Mia knew
instinctively what he'd been about to say.
“I'm not yours and I'm not Gabriel’s. I'm my own woman and I want you to know that, Sebastian.”
He took up the paper and flung it across the room, causing the pages to scatter all over. “You're right,” he told her coldly as he stared at her. “Do whatever the hell you want. Now, since you're half an hour late I expect you to catch up on what you've missed so far. I have a conference call in a few minutes so please send it through as soon as it comes. You may go.”
“Sebastian—”
“Close
the doors on your way out,” he said rudely.
Mia stiffened at that and without another word she turned and walked out of his office, closing the doors behind her. Two could play the same game!
*****
“Darling, I saw the photo,” Gabriel said as he called later that day. “How much trouble am I in?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she told him lightly. Sebastian had ignored her the entire day and when he addressed her it was as if he was addressing someone new to him. She'd taken it in stride and was determined not to let it get to her or get in the way of her doing her job. Her door was always open and she'd seen him leave his office several times without even saying anything to her.
“Should I expect to encounter a shotgun pointed at me the next time I see Sebastian?”
She laughed at that.
“I doubt it will go that far. He's mostly mad at me. He thinks
we're sleeping together.”
“The man is an idiot and
clearly doesn't deserve you.”
“That I agree
with. Are you still in town?”
“For the next couple of
days. Would you like to come and spend the night at my apartment? I
promise not to touch you.”
She laughed softly. “Gabriel,
behave,” she told him softly. “I have work to do.”
“Call
me if you need me, darling.”
“I will.”
She'd
been so into the conversation that she hadn't noticed that Sebastian
had come in and was standing in the doorway that led to both their
offices. Mia stifled a sigh as she saw the look on his hard, handsome
face. She'd certainly convinced him that there was something going on
with Gabriel.
“Sebastian—”
“Make
a reservation at Leon’s,” he told her coldly.
“For?”
“Two. I'll be having dinner there tonight. Also order a bouquet of flowers to be delivered there as well. Make it for eight o’clock.” His grey eyes wandered over her face for a moment. “Make sure you have those reports typed up before you leave.” He added before he turned and walked into his office, closing the doors behind him. The meaning was clear.
She knew the routine and had dealt with it for years. He was going out with someone and he wanted her to know it. He was punishing her for the photo and for her conversation with Gabriel just now. She closed her eyes briefly and felt her body tremble. The old Sebastian was back and she wasn't sure she would be able to deal with it at this point.
*****
Leonie Jackson smiled prettily and allowed her hand to linger as Sebastian pulled out her chair and turned her face up to his before she sat down. “Darling how wonderful to see you,” she gushed.
“And I hear
you're making waves in the movie industry,” he said with a
slight smile as he took his seat. He'd noticed all the extra
paparazzi outside the restaurant and wondered if that had been her
doing. He also wondered, after seeing her performance the minute she
came into the restaurant, if proving to Mia that he could have any
woman he wanted was worth it. He'd stood at the doorway and seen the
expression on her face as she called Bryant’s name and had
wanted to punch something. Maybe Bryant’s face! He'd never felt
so out of control in is life and had wanted someone to pay for that.
So he had called Leonie.
“It’s just a part darling.”
She waved an elegant hand and focused her eyes on him. “It’s
good to see you in one piece.”
“Thank you.” He nodded as the waiter came over and took their order. He noticed that she kept the man waiting deliberately and felt his mouth tighten at that. “I'll have the beef brisket,” he said briefly.
“The salad for me,” she said with a careless wave of her hand. “Make sure the lettuce leaves are fresh and thinly cut and the tomatoes are small.” The waiter nodded and left.
Sebastian leaned back in his chair and stared at her for a moment. He didn't feel anything, not even the slightest stirring of emotion. She was a beautiful woman who lit up the small screen and he was sure would make an impact on the big screen as well but she did nothing for him. Mia had spoiled him when it came to looking for qualities in women. He knew she was honest to a fault and that she didn't suffer fools gladly. He also knew that she cared about people and would certainly not have the waiter standing there while she took her time and debated what she wanted to eat.
“Sebastian?”
He
shook his head and focused his attention on the woman in front of
him. “Yes?”
“Are you all right? I've been talking for the past few seconds and you haven't heard a word I said,” he chided softly.
“I'm sorry.” He leaned forward. “What were you saying?”
She touched his arm lightly and allowed her fingers to linger. “I was saying that I have to go on location in New York tomorrow but will be back by the end of the week. I was hoping we could have dinner when I get back.”
“I'll have to check my schedule,” he told her briefly.
“I was so
pleasantly surprised when you called,” she continued softly. “I
was hoping you would.”
“Were you?” he asked
lightly as he sipped the wine that had been placed in front of them.
“I want us to
pick up where we left off.”
“We didn't leave off
anywhere Leonie,” he told her in amusement. “We flirted
briefly and that was it. You were with someone else and so was
I.”
“That's no longer the case,” she murmured
huskily. “After dinner you could take me back to my hotel and
we can spend the rest of the night getting to know each other
better.”
He felt repulsed by her offer, he couldn't help it. “Let’s just have dinner for now,” he told her lightly.
*****
For the first time in her adult life Mia felt weighed down by sheer nerves. She'd spent the previous night agonizing over whether or not Sebastian was sleeping with the bitch. Yes, she'd referred to the beautiful Leonie Jackson as a bitch and had gone to the internet and pored over everything she knew about the woman like some damned besotted fool!
She'd curled up in her bed last night with a cup of tea in one hand and her laptop on her crouched knees and tortured herself as she read everything about her. She'd never done that before. All the years her love had laid dormant and unrequited and she'd dealt with it with grace and went on about her business, not even a peek at the women Sebastian was seeing... well, maybe once or twice but she hadn't obsessed about it!
But it was different now. He'd been inside her on two occasions and the love she had for him had blossomed into something much more. They'd combust when they touched each other. They were like animals in heat when they came together and it had put something else on the love she had for him. He was a bastard.
She'd seen the way he dealt with the women he saw in the past when he wanted to get rid of them. She'd been the one to pick up the pieces and tell them that a particular expensive trinket had been sent to their address. She'd been the one to hear the curses and the tears and the questions and she'd borne them well until the last few months before his accident when she'd told him to do his own dirty work!
Now it was her on the receiving end of his coldness and she couldn't stand it. She'd spent last night vacillating between remembering their lovemaking and torturing herself on what he was doing to that bitch. She'd felt the jealousy deep inside her, like a monster waiting to get out and she couldn't sleep as long as the night lasted. Now this morning as she stared at herself in the mirror and saw the ravages of the sleepless night she berated herself on losing sleep over a man who didn't deserve the time of day!
She used makeup to hide the bruises underneath her eyes and deliberately took out a chic red jacket suit she'd never worn yet out of her closet. She teamed it with chunky hammered gold accessories and let her shoulder-length hair loose so that it swung a little past her shoulders. She wasn't going to let him know that he'd caused her not to sleep last night. She wasn't going to give him that satisfaction. If he'd slept with her—Her heart stuttered at the gut-wrenching thought! If he'd slept with her she would never forgive him and she would never let him touch her again!
*****
He watched her through narrowed eyes as he came into the outer office. Her door was open as usual and she was on the phone. His heart raced as he wondered if she was talking to Bryant but she had that purely professional expression on her beautiful face and she looked absolutely different.
He frowned as he took in the shiny hair that drifted past the red jacket she was wearing. She looked up just then and her dark brown eyes connected with his and then went back to looking at something on her computer. She didn't acknowledge him and pride didn't allow him to acknowledge her either. He strode past her door and went into his office, closing the doors behind him.
The date had been a disaster. He had to acknowledge to himself. He'd known it from the beginning but he'd wanted to prove a point. Leonie had wanted them to go back to the hotel she was staying at and wanted to know why he told her no. She'd tried to kiss him and he'd had to back her off physically and had to look at the hurt expression on her face. His intercom sounded just then and snapped him out of his reverie. “You have Simon on the line.” Her voice was cool and professional and grated on his already frayed nerves.
“We need to talk,” he told her briefly.
“We don’t need to do anything, Sebastian. You have a meeting with the board about the investor you met with a few days ago and I have to finish typing up this report for that meeting. I don’t have time for your foolishness.”
He bristled at her words and her tone. “You work for me, goddammit!”
“And that can change at any minute,” she told him coolly. “I'm putting Simon through.”
He slammed his fist onto the desk and took a few seconds to calm down before he took the call. “Talk to me,” he said brusquely.
*****
She avoided going into his office as much as she could help it. She'd arrived at the office early enough to put everything on his desk that he would need in order for her to avoid coming in contact with him. She'd buried herself in work so that she didn't have to think about him being with his date and what they'd probably done. But there came a time when she couldn't avoid going in to face him. She had a meeting with him so that she could prepare him for the board meeting coming up in half an hour and she'd brought him his lunch. They had a chef in the building who prepared meals for the entire staff but sometimes Sebastian preferred something simple. That was when she would order from his favorite restaurant and make sure that she fixed the meal onto the table for him to dine. He liked it prepared a certain way and she was the one who always did it, no matter what, and today was no exception.
Thankfully he was in the R&D department and had been in there for the last half hour so she was hoping that he wouldn't come in until she'd finished what she was doing in his office. She quickly put the meal onto the plates and made sure that he had water and some lemon juice as well. He didn't really eat breakfast other than a cup of coffee and she always made sure he had a filling meal when it came to lunch.
He worked long hours and wasn't one to snack, and dinner for him was maybe not until seven or eight. She wondered fleetingly if he would be having a second date with her. He hadn't said anything to her but sometimes he made his own arrangements. She stepped back to look at the arrangements on the table before turning to put some things on his desk and made sure he had the reports to peruse after lunch. She was congratulating herself on finishing before he came back when she heard the doors open behind her. She took a deep breath before turning around to face him. His grey eyes scanned her from head to toe before meeting her eyes and watching as she walked towards him.
“Stay,” his voice was soft.
“No.” She made to move past him but he did not budge.
“Have lunch with me.” His grey eyes wandered over her face.
“I get queasy just smelling the lamb so my answer is no.”
“Sit with me and talk.” He didn't move towards her and for that she was grateful. If he did she wouldn't have the power to resist him.
“I have work—”
“If it was Bryant would you be saying no?” His voice had turned hard.
She stared at him for a moment and nodded her head. “Maybe not. How is Leonie?” she asked him sweetly.
“Wonderful,”
he said silkily. “I had a hard time leaving her this morning.”
It took a lot for Mia to not show him how his words had dealt a crushing blow to her. “I'll be leaving a little earlier today because I have some personal things to attend to. I've prepared everything for the late meeting you'll be going to. Eat your lunch before it gets cold.”
She almost pushed him out of the way as she made her way past him. She closed the doors behind her.