After dinner, Anh went to take a nap (that girl can not handle her alcohol, even a couple glasses of wine), and Johnny and Connor retired to the ‘dojo’ on the floor below the penthouse.

Ever since the assassination attempt last year, Connor has been obsessed with my safety. He still blames himself for endangering me, which is ridiculous; Connor risked his own life to keep me safe. I think what it really is, is that he felt exposed and at the mercy of the hitman, and he never wants to feel that way again.

Anyway, he’s got some kind of a macho stick up his butt about it, so he dragooned Johnny into being his Mr. Miyagi. Every night Connor’s in Manhattan, he makes Johnny teach him a bunch of ninjutsu and Special Forces stuff.

I’m not kidding. We’re talking hand-to-hand combat, guns, knives. There’s a private, sound-proofed gun range two floors down where they shoot pistols and assault rifles. In the Olympic-sized pool next to the gun range, Connor got certified in scuba. Just in case. It’s like he’s expecting he’ll have to invade a small, third-world nation at some point.

I can’t bag on his new hobby too much, though, since he’s in almost Olympic-athlete-level shape… and his already great body is bordering on obscenely hot…

He’s even pulled me into his obsession, getting Johnny to teach me basic self-defense and stuff like lock-picking – even when Connor wasn’t around. Remember, Johnny’s my bodyguard now, so we’re talking a year of training. It was annoying as hell in the beginning, but Connor basically guilted me into it. Said it was the only gift he ever wanted from me, even when we’re 79 with grandkids. So I basically became a female James Bond. Well… not really. But I can pick locks now, which is kind of cool.

I drew the line at guns, though. Connor relented on that, as long as I learned how to kick the shit out of anybody trying to attack me.

My fiancé had been out of town and hadn’t trained in a while, so he and Johnny went downstairs alone. Enjoying my well-deserved break, I poured a couple glasses of wine and went out to talk to Sebastian on the patio.

He was looking out over the twinkling lights of Central Park and all the lit-up skyscrapers surrounding it.

I held out a glass of wine with a questioning look on my face. Want it?

“Thank you,” he said, taking the glass.

“You alright? You seem a little tense.”

“Do not use that word again, Lily, or I swear – ”

“Alright, alright, jeeeez,” I said, laughing. “But seriously, you’re kind of making my point.”

He took a long sip and stared out morosely at the bright lights of the city. “Javier and I broke up.”

“Oh, Sebastian… I’m sorry.”

Javier was a sweet guy Sebastian had been dating for the last year. In fact, Javier was the ‘hairstylist to the stars’ who had helped me look like a supermodel the night I got Connor back.

“What happened?” I asked.

Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know… he says I spend too much time travelling, I’m too focused on work – ”

“Um, well, he kind of has a point.”

Sebastian shot me an irritated look. “Don’t you start in on me, too.”

“Sebastian… come on. You know I’m on your side.”

He sighed, and looked back out into the darkness. “I know.”

“Have you talked to Connor about this?”

Sebastian got a panicked expression on his face. “No, and you have to promise not to tell him.”

“What?! Why?!”

“Because I don’t want him replacing me, or – ”

“He’s not going to replace you, Sebastian!”

“Mm,” Sebastian said dourly.

“Dude, seriously, Connor’s not going to replace you. But I know he doesn’t want you to ruin your life by working for him.”

“Ha – you wouldn’t have said that three years ago if you saw him.”

“Maybe, but that was three years ago. He’s getting married. He understands there’s more to life than mergers and business deals.”

“Hmph,” Sebastian scoffed.

“I think you just don’t want to feel like you’re anything less than indispensable,” I said.

“Because I’m not anything less than indispensable,” Sebastian said, with all the snap! snap! attitude of a drag queen.

“I didn’t mean to imply you are,” I soothed him. “But you need to have some work-life balance. If you did that, do you think Javier might want to get back together?”

“…I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“…because he kind of gave me an ultimatum, and I… didn’t choose him.”

“Oh shit,” I whispered.

“He’ll still be there to do your hair at the wedding,” Sebastian said in a dull voice.

I hit him on the arm.

“Owwww!” he whined. “What was that for?!”

“Because, you big dummy, I don’t care about that. I like Javier, I do – but you’re family.”

He looked down at me, and then sadly smiled. “Thank you, Lily.”

“Come here, you big galoot,” I said, and wrapped my arms around him.

“Uh… we really don’t have to – ”

“Shut up and hug me.”

He sighed and put his arms around me. We stood like that for a few seconds, me trying to pour some love out onto him and him being all awkward about it, until he said, “Okay, you can stop now.”

“Too bad,” I said, and hugged him some more.

“No, really, you can stop now.”

“You’re my big Fairy Godmother! I probably wouldn’t even be getting married if you hadn’t – ”      

“You did not just call me ‘Fairy Godmother’ again,” he huffed.

I broke off the hug and quickly pulled away. “I’m gonna go inside now.”

“Yes, you do that, and sober up while you’re at it.”

I stopped at the sliding glass door. “Sebastian?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry about Javier.”

He stood there silent for a moment, then nodded. “Thank you, Lily.”

Then I went back inside.