Chapter 7
Moonlight
Victoria remembered her first time in the ocean. It was on a cruise with her parents, a trip her father had won at a company raffle during a Christmas party. Her mother stayed with her as she stood on the deck, looking at the vastness of the sea with the wonder-filled eyes of a 10-year-old for the first time. There was a feeling of getting cut off from the world, losing anchor, heading to somewhere unfamiliar, strange, and exciting.
She felt that now. While she knew exactly where Sebastian was taking her, spending this moment with him — a curiously intimate moment considering they were almost strangers from different worlds — was unnerving and unreal. Reality felt like a distant memory.
She knew it would never happen again. In a moment of weakness and guilt, Sebastian offered to take her home. In a beautiful car, under a magnificent moon. She would recall this moment on the nights when she’d be alone and lonely or bored. It would be a good memory, but that’s as far as this would go.
It was funny, really. She wasn’t meeting any eligible men because she was desperately looking for a job. Now she’s found a job, and this gorgeous man was taking her home.
He wasn’t even her type. She preferred warm men. Men who smiled. Men who would look at her like she was the only woman in the room. Sebastian only acknowledged her presence when she did something to make him angry. It seemed like most of the time, her existence barely registered in his consciousness.
“Sebastian Chase seems flakey,” Nicolette had said, when Victoria had told her about inexplicably getting offered the job despite being turned down the first time. “Are you sure he’s the actual CEO and not some crazy Mattheson nephew they gave a VP position to because no one would hire him?”
“I looked it up right after my interview,” Victoria said. “It’s him, Sebastian Chase, CEO of Mattheson Bank. Apparently he’s the son of old man Mattheson, the guy who founded the bank from old Texas oil money.”
“Why is his last name Chase, then? Is he one of those wildly enlightened men who take their wives’ last name?”
“I don’t know.” Victoria really couldn’t find a definitive answer to that question. She did find out that Chase was Sebastian’s mother’s maiden name. He hadn’t said anything on record, and the media speculation varied: he was adopted, he was an illegitimate son, he was disowned at a young age and accepted back when his brother died and there was no other heir left.
She couldn’t bring herself to ask him. Not even when it was just the two of them driving through the quiet night together. It was an intimate space, but she feared she could break the moment with the wrong word.
“Don’t fall asleep on me now,” Sebastian said. His voice was almost a whisper.
“Oh no,” she said. “I’m not tired.” Victoria sat up even more straight, as if to prove she was wide awake.
“Really? That must have been a good long nap you had back at the house.”
“Sorry. I don’t usually just doze off like that.”
She felt herself blush, grateful it was probably not bright enough for him to see her face turn red. She could have been drooling in her sleep. Or snoring. Or mumbling things from her dream he probably didn’t want to hear.
“You could’ve switched channels, you know. The other channels have programs that are actually in color.”
“Oh no, I watch that channel a lot. I love old movies.”
“You’re 25,” he said. “Is that a hipster thing?”
She laughed. “Do you even know what that is?”
“I assumed it was someone who only liked things that existed before they were born.” He turned to her, frowning slightly. “Am I terribly out of touch?”
“Not terribly,” she assured him. “How old are you, anyway?” She regretted her words as soon as she spoke them but he didn’t seem to mind the question.
“Thirty-two. Does that sound ancient to you?”
“No. But using the word ‘terribly’ is.”
“Really now.”
“Sorry.” She giggled.
As she observed his profile, Victoria thought she saw a small smile play on his lips. A tiny one.
Maybe one day she’d make him laugh.
She groaned inwardly. It’s official. I’m completely crushing on my boss.
His smile disappeared. “This isn’t your place?” he asked. He looked alarmed.
“Huh?”
“This is the address. 34 Fenton Street.”
It was only then that she realized they had stopped. The car was parked in front of a five-story apartment building flanked by an abandoned lot full of piles of scrap metal, and the burnt-down office building that used to hold a bunch of law offices, private investigation firms, and a pawnshop before it was destroyed by a fire a month ago.
She was home.
“Oh right. Yes, this is my place. Thank you again, Mr. Chase.”
“Wait!” He put a hand on her shoulder as she opened the passenger car door. “You actually live here?”
“Well, yes.” What was his deal? Her place was nowhere as nice as his, obviously, but it was a decent apartment in a not-so-terrible neighborhood.
“Is it...safe?” His hand rested lightly on her shoulder, as if it was enough to keep her from leaving.
“It’s perfectly safe, Mr. Chase. I’ve lived here for several years now.” And she’d only gotten mugged once. “Are you planning on keeping me in the car all night?”
“Of course not.” He let go of her shoulder.
“Thank you again for the ride. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”
“Right. Good night, Ms. Slade.” He still seemed unsure about dropping her off. Victoria felt something funny in her chest as she looked at him.
“Good night,” she said.
She
got out of the car and walked up to her building. Right before
going in, she turned back to smile at him. She hoped it would
reassure him that she was all right.
Sebastian felt like a complete idiot.
He could have woken up Connor and asked him to drive Victoria home. Instead, he, Sebastian Chase, CEO of Mattheson Bank, was sitting in his new Bentley, parked in front of what looked like a crack house right next to a burned-down building at two in the morning. He half-expected some thug to come out of the shadows and pull a gun on him at some point. His instincts were urging him to drive away fast before he got shot or stabbed or both.
But he couldn’t.
Sebastian waited for Victoria to get herself safely inside. You’d think that if one were out at two a.m. on a street where only one streetlight in four was actually lit, one would be running to one’s front door. She was practically dawdling as she walked up to her building.
He had to restrain himself from getting out to walk her to her door. But considering his current state of mind, he would probably have just pulled her back into the car. Then drive her back to his house.
You just want to take her home. To your home. Your bed.
Surely that was safer than this godforsaken place, he said to himself, trying to rationalize his thoughts that were turning increasingly lurid.
Thoughts that included the image of her red hair tumbling across his sheets as he covered her naked body with his. The sight of her looking up at him through half-closed lids, her mouth agape as she braced herself for the thrust of his manhood he held at bay, waiting impatiently between her thighs.
Blinking hard, Sebastian tried to clear his thoughts. Victoria had disappeared into her front door, and he was the fool sitting outside with his fantasies.
He cursed under his breath as he started the engine.
That was the end of it. It had to be. Nothing good was coming out of thinking about his son’s tutor in a sexual way. Although Sebastian took it for granted he could seduce Victoria — most women fell for his charms quite easily — she was his employee. And he had a rule never to sleep with someone who worked for him. He found the idea of a romantic employer-employee relationship distasteful, even exploitative.
Sebastian had been driving for a while before he noticed his knuckles had turned pale. He had been gripping the steering wheel too hard.