Eight

Sebastian

I still couldn’t believe she was here. Honestly and truly here. And that I wasn’t just imagining it. The hand that was caressing me told me she was real and if I didn’t slow her down, I was going to embarrass myself. And fast.

Reaching down, I put my hand on top of hers to still it. A little sound of protest escaped her lips. I silenced it with my mouth as I kissed her. Slow. Deep. Sweet. God, I could kiss her forever, and it still wouldn’t feel like enough. I was never one who really found kissing to be more than a way to get to the good stuff, but right now I was finding that kissing Ali was essential.

It was even better than it had been between us before, as if the intervening years had heightened the pleasure, the meaning.

Her lips were so soft, and her sighs and little sounds she was making were so erotic that I could easily lose my mind. Unable to help myself, I raised my head and just looked at her. Her eyes were a bit dazed, her skin was flushed, and I had an overwhelming need to just cradle her in my arms and cherish her.

It was everything I’d been waiting for all this this time—holding her again. I went back to kissing her, and I could feel her smile against my lips. God, I loved that. The honesty. The innocence. The pure joy that she seemed to have at just the simplest of touches. She was the only woman I’d ever been with who seemed to see me, know me, want me for real.

For real.

Ali’s hands were at my waist, and she was trying to nudge my shorts off. It was kind of cool that she was fumbling with them. That told me that she didn’t make it a habit of seducing guys and getting them into bed. I knew it was an unworthy thought, but I liked the idea of her not being with a lot of men other than me.

Her squirming and wiggling beneath me had me at my breaking point. Taking pity on the both of us, I quickly rolled away and stripped. In a flash, I’d gotten the condom in my hands, and I watched Ali as she watched me roll it on. Her breathing was heavy, and a small smile played at her lips, and all I could think was that I’d do anything to make sure she always smiled.

Starting now.

Slowly—painstakingly slow—I eased into her. She let out a low moan and then bit her lip. She was killing me, and she didn’t even know it. “Ali,” I whispered, and when she looked up at me, I knew she was not really focused on my face but on what my body was doing to hers. “Ali, sweetheart, look at me.” She tried to focus, I could tell, but she was wiggling again and trying to take me all the way in.

“Sebastian, please,” she cried softly, and I couldn’t hold back. Taking her hands in mine, I pinned them over her head as I sank all the way in. She was so tight and felt so incredible that I couldn’t help but cry out with her. Together we began to move, her legs wrapping around my waist, and I swear that I’d died and gone to heaven.

We moved together as if we’d done this a million times before, and where I’d normally be thrusting hard and fast, I was taking my time and savoring the feel of her and watching the expressions on her face.

Every time I withdrew and then slowly moved back into her, she smiled.

Each time I leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips or her cheek, she practically purred.

This wasn’t just sex. This wasn’t just two people giving in to a mutual attraction. This was like coming home to that one place that meant the most to you—that one place where you knew that you were accepted for who and what you were and loved for it.

This was making love.

It had always been that way between us.

I couldn’t let myself delve too deeply into all that at the moment though. I wanted to go on feeling Ali, pleasing Ali. Over and over our hips met up, and the only sounds in the room were our own whispered sighs of pleasure and the rustling of the bed.

Suddenly Ali’s legs tightened around me, and her breathing became a little more erratic. I knew she was going to come again, and I found that I wanted that more than my own release. Reaching down between the two of us, I let my hand linger at her breasts. She cried out my name as her head thrashed from side to side, but she wasn’t quite there yet.

Farther down, I let my hand come to rest just shy of where our bodies were joined. “Tell me what you want, Ali,” I growled against her ear. Her head continued to thrash slowly as her hands came up and clutched my shoulders. “Whatever you want,” I urged, “is yours.” My hand moved just an inch and yet still shy of where I knew she wanted it.

“Touch me,” she said breathlessly. “Please touch me.”

It would be cruel to play with her right now even though the thought crossed my mind. I enjoyed that aspect of our relationship. But right now it was not her laughter I wanted. I wanted to send her soaring while crying out my name. I homed in on that one sweet spot that was aching for my touch. One light brush of my finger and Ali nearly bucked off the bed.

With my name on her lips.

Yeah, that pretty much did me in, and it didn’t take long for me to come.

With her name on my lips.

My breathing was ragged, and I was beginning to wonder if we’d been here in my bed for minutes, hours, or days. All I knew as I carefully rolled over, took care of the condom, and tucked Ali in beside me was that, however long it was, it wasn’t enough.

With my arms around her, I hugged her close to me and smiled as I felt her gently kiss my chest. It was a nice feeling. Without a word, Ali made me feel like I was the one that was being cherished.

It was all of my dreams come to life—having Ali in my arms once again.

There were so many things I wanted to say to her, and yet I had no idea where to begin. How did I tell her that she was different than every other woman I’d ever slept with? Then again, what woman wanted to hear about the other women you’d slept with immediately after you’d both orgasmed?

Better to keep that one to myself for a while.

Gently I kissed the top of her head. “You okay?”

“Mmm...,” she murmured, and that made me smile. “Definitely.” Raising her head, her dark eyes met mine. “And you?”

She was smiling, but there was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes and in her voice, and I wasn’t sure how to respond to it except with the truth. “Yeah, I’m good,” I said. My voice was gruff, almost to the point that I didn’t recognize it.

“Good,” she said with a little nod of her head. “That’s... good.”

I knew it shouldn’t make me feel good that she was nervous, but it did. It reinforced my earlier thoughts that she was not that experienced, and that meant that I wouldn’t have to kill too many other guys. Because just the thought of any other man touching her the way I just did made me see red. How unreasonable is that?

I reached out and skimmed a hand down her cheek and watched as her eyes slowly fluttered closed. “I’m really glad you came here tonight, Ali. So many times I wanted to try to find a way to be alone with you, but I didn’t want it to be at Gentry’s house.” At the mention of Ken’s name, she tried to withdraw, but I held her close. Placing a kiss on her sweet lips, I said, “Thank you for being brave enough to seek me out.”

Her eyes opened, and part of her finally looked relaxed and relieved. “You completely saved me today. From Ken Gentry... and from myself. I need my job too much to take such crazy risks.” I could tell that she wanted to say more, but I didn’t want to go there right now. I had no idea how long she could stay, and I didn’t want to waste it talking about work, the Gentrys, or vendettas.

Actually, I didn’t want to talk at all.

Carefully, so as to not alarm her, I rolled her over until she was under me. “Well, this is one crazy risk I’m glad you took,” I teased as I lowered my head to the slender column of her throat and licked my way from collarbone to earlobe. “Feel free to do it again anytime.”

Her back arched, and the feel of her breasts pressed up against my chest was amazing. “Really? Anytime?”

I nodded and kissed my way all the way down until I had one perfect nipple in my mouth. “Mm-hmm.” Slowly I lifted my head and looked Ali right in the eye. “I promise to make it worth the trip.”

And then I was done talking.

For a really long time.

****

Two days later, I really needed to talk.

Not to Ali but to someone. One of the guys. I ended up with Declan. The knock at my hotel room door didn’t surprise me, but seeing Declan on the other side did. He took one look at the confusion on my face and laughed.

“You sounded weird on the conference call earlier—distracted and whatnot. I had some free time, so I figured I’d drive up and see what was going on.” He took a look around my hotel suite and grinned. “It’s nice seeing how the other half lives.”

“Fuck you,” I muttered and shut the door. Luckily, Ali and I didn’t have plans tonight, but I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that it wasn’t her here with me. I tried playing the polite host and offered Declan a drink, but he just shrugged. To hell with it. I needed a drink. Opening up the mini fridge, I pulled out a beer and then sat down and waited to hear what he was thinking.

It didn’t take long for him to cut to the chase.

“Is your old man still giving you shit?” he asked as he pulled my desk chair out and sat down to face me.

“No. He’s been fairly quiet for a few days now.” I took a pull of my beer. “Then again, I haven’t made any attempts to see or talk to him either.”

“Okay,” Dec said with a nod. “And the Gentry job? Everything is going smoothly there?”

I gave him a recap on how everything was coming together. “Honestly, I still don’t see what the problem is. The protestors—and I use that term lightly—are fairly peaceful. Not once had any of them caused a problem or a scene. There have been no direct threats to Ken or his family. There’s a lot of negative press about him, but nothing that screams problem. Seems to me he needs a PR firm, not security.” I leaned back on the couch and slouched down. “But what if I’m wrong? I mean...I’m stumped. What am I missing?”

Declan stared at me until I started to squirm. “What?” I demanded.

“Are you sure that you’re on top of everything?”

I couldn’t help the eye roll. “Dude, I’m on this guy like white on rice most days. If anything, he overshares with me. I’ve talked to everyone working on the property at least a dozen times a day. I’m telling you, there is no big threat here. The press is going to print what it wants to print, and from what I can tell, they’re not exaggerating anything. Everything that I’ve read is spot on. It’s negative because what he and my father have done is fairly negative. We can’t go after someone for printing the truth.”

“True,” Declan said, but he continued to stare.

“Now what?” I hate when he used that tactic.

“You’re distracted.”

“Like hell I am. I’m here every freaking day dealing with this crap.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but you’re not into it. I think that maybe you’re not looking close enough because you don’t give a shit.”

Damn, he had a point. I know that I zoned out a time or two when talking with Ken. “Okay, maybe,” I said begrudgingly. “I still don’t think this is all that big of a deal. I think the night of the gala there may be an actual scene, but for now it’s a whole lot of nothing.” I paused. “You’d think if he was that concerned about his own safety, he wouldn’t have planned this event at his own home. He could have used any number of hotel ballrooms, why put his home and family in danger—and I use that term loosely—when there are other options?”

“It’s not really our place to judge on what a client considers to be important, even when it is nothing. We’re being paid to do a job, and every client—including ones that are friends with your parents—deserve our undivided attention.”

“They’ve had it. Day in and day fucking out, I’ve been there. Even when I didn’t want to be, and even when I knew it was a waste of damn time. I’m doing the best that I can in a crappy situation and making sure that no one gets into trouble. Satisfied?” I realized that I was the only one raising my voice. I glared at Declan, who merely arched a brow at me.

“Care to tell me what caused your little outburst?”

Not really, but maybe he was the perfect one to sound this off of. My head was spinning at the change of events lately, and my heart was in knots over Ali. I didn’t want to deal with Gentry or the damn gala. I wanted to spend time with her. We’d snuck off a couple of times to be alone, but it was never enough. If anything, it only served to frustrate me more.

I didn’t want stolen moments.

They were too much like how we had been forced to be all those years ago.

I didn’t want to have to wait until late at night when she could sneak away from her family.

Images of last night crept into my brain of how Ali had looked in the shower, up against the wall, as I’d made love to her. She’d been so quiet and reserved because she didn’t want her voice to echo too loudly that it had become my mission to make her scream.

And she did.

A small smile crept across my face at the memory.

“There,” Declan said abruptly, effectively bringing me out of my reverie. “That expression on your face right now? That goofy, sappy smile tells me that something else is going on with you that has you distracted.” He cursed under his breath. “What the hell is going on, Sebastian?”

I finished my beer and placed the empty bottle down on the coffee table. “Okay, fine. I... connected with someone again. Someone I knew from high school.”.”

“Okay. So?”

“She’s working the Gentry event.” Declan looked at me blandly, like he was unimpressed so far. “Her father used to work for my father and Ken Gentry. He got laid off several years ago, and he’s pretty much been in a downward spiral ever since.”

Now he perked up. Sitting up straighter, he said, “Is she a threat? Is that what you’re afraid of? You don’t want to rat her out because you’re screwing her?”

“I’m not screwing her,” I snarled.

I stalked across the room and grabbed another beer. Declan stayed where he was, and I could feel him watching me. Then, without a word, he stood up and crossed the room to help himself to a beer.

“Okay, I think we’ve established that this is more than a pleasant distraction for you,” Declan began carefully. “But are you sure this woman is no threat to Gentry or this event?”

Leaning forward, I hung my head down. “First of all, her name is Ali. Secondly... I have no idea. I’ve caught her snooping around a bit, but I catch her every time.”

“Are you—”

“Every. Time.” My tone was deadly, calm, and serious, and Declan didn’t question it again. “She wants some sort of retribution for what happened to her father, but she’s not a threat in the way that Ken or my father are suspecting. Ali may dig up some info to prove the way her father and so many others were wrongfully terminated, but she’s not a violent threat, and she certainly isn’t the mastermind of some group who is.”

With a nod, Declan simply sat back, took a drink of his beer, and waited.

“I’m stumped, man. I mean, I get what she’s doing, and I feel for her, I really do, and it has nothing to do with how I feel about her. I want to fix the problem for her, but there isn’t a damn thing I can do.”

“Isn’t there?”

I knew what he was thinking. I could very easily get the information Ali was looking for and effectively put her Nancy Drew antics to an end. “That’s the problem,” I said. “I probably could do something but at what cost?”

“Are you really worried about pissing your father off? Because last I checked, he was pretty much blackmailing you to make you fall in line.”

He had a point. It would make an interesting leveraging tool to get my father to back off, but it could also serve to enrage him more and put our company—the livelihood of myself, Declan, Levi, and Cole—at stake. “I honestly don’t know anymore, Dec. The thought of putting the old man in his place and having something to hold over his head so he has to listen to me is tempting, but... that just makes me no better than he is.”

“What does Ali want you to do?”

“I don’t know that either. She hasn’t asked for anything. She just confessed her whole plan to me the other day. And since then, I’ve done my best to not bring the subject up. I’m doing my best to keep her distracted so that maybe she’ll let the whole thing go.”

“Not likely. Not if her family means anything to her.”

“She doesn’t talk about them much, but I know she’s had to be the primary breadwinner and caretaker since the shit hit the fan with her dad. I can’t even imagine how she’s held it all together. She’s too young for all this responsibility to be dropped in her lap.”

“So what are you going to do?”

My expression was bleak—as was my hope. “Oddly enough, I’m torn. No matter how I feel about my family and the things that they do, they’re still my family. How much honor is there is destroying my own family?”

“I think ‘destroying’ is a bit dramatic, Seb,” Declan said reasonably. “But how much honor is there in protecting a crook?”

That was one of the great things about Declan. He didn’t pull any punches. “None.”

“Is this about honor, or is this about protecting Ali?”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “I thought they were one and the same.”

Declan finished his beer and slouched down beside me. “Now I see your problem.” He looked over at me. “And it’s a bitch.”

“You’re telling me? What am I supposed to do?”

“I wish I could tell you, man, I really do. But this is something that you need to work out for yourself. If it were me, I’d say screw it and stick it to the old man. But that’s just me. I’m a bastard that way. But you? You’ve got a heart.” He shook his head like the idea disgusted him. “You need to figure something out that you can live with.”

“I know you’re right. It just sucks.”

“I would imagine so.” We sat there in silence for several long minutes. “So this Ali... Are you serious about her?”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “I am. I’ve been serious about her since I was nineteen years old. Nothing has changed in all these years except I’m not going to lose her again.”

“Is she serious about you?”

“I think she is.”

Declan nodded. “What is it that you want to do?”

“Honestly? I want to take away all her hurt. I want to give her everything that she lost and make it all better.”

He cursed. “Good grief, it’s like listening to Levi.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I just never thought that any of us were going to do this settling down thing. I pictured us all on the prowl together, having a good time and making up for lost time. Levi freaking went and got involved with Harper right away. I don’t begrudge him for that or anything, but I just thought that he’d get over it and move on.”

“I’m sure Gavin would have loved that,” I said, and the thought of Gavin caused that familiar kick to my chest.

Declan chuckled. “Well, if Gavin were here, I greatly doubt Levi would have gotten anywhere with Harper. No one would have had to know if he had a quick fling with her and moved on.”

“He loves her,” I said simply.

“Yeah, great. Sell it to Hallmark. It’s all bullshit to me.”

“I used to think so too. Now? I’m not so sure.”

He cursed again. “You’re that serious with her?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know where it’s going to go but... yeah. I’m that serious with her. I want what Harper and Levi have. I want to protect her.”

“And what about your family?”

That was the biggest fly in the ointment right now. I looked over at Declan. “Any chance of them simply disappearing and never being heard from again?”

“’Fraid not, buddy. Why? Are you looking for volunteers to make that happen?”

“What? No. Hell, no. That’s not what I meant.” Much. “I just wish that they would perhaps butt out of my life and let me live it the way that I want to without their intruding on it. Ever.”

“Yeah, good luck with that.”

Luck? Hell, luck had nothing to do with it. Right now the only thing that could possibly help was a miracle.