I dug into my eggs like the starved woman I was, not even realizing when he sat in front of me with a plate of his own.
He didn’t waste any time and got straight to the questions. “Where’s your brother?”
My fork full of eggs paused, suspended in the air. A fireball of guilt ignited in my stomach. I was in such a luxurious place, eating bacon and eggs, while he was stuck in some children’s home. Swallowing hard, I answered. “They took him.”
Throat clenching, tears rushed to my eyes.
“Who?” he asked.
I choked down my feelings. “Child protective services.” I looked up just in time to see his tan face pale.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” His chair scraped across the floor as he stood and went to his phone. Picking it up, he dialed a number and left the room.
I sat there confused, until finally he came back into the kitchen.
“Vick’s on her way to pick up your brother.” He sat back in his seat and began to eat again, acting as if he hadn’t just turned my world right side up again, leaving me dizzy in the process.
I gawked at him. My eyes landed on his lips and I was taken aback by how full they looked. “What?” I asked breathlessly. No way did he fix everything for me with a single phone call.
He looked up from his food. “Your brother. Vick is getting him.”
The muscles in his arms flexed as he bent over his plate. It was then a tattoo was revealed. It wrapped around his arm and moved up, out of sight. While I was never one to find such things attractive, it changed his look. He went from Sebastian, suit-wearing club owner, to Sebastian, tattooed Sex God, with muscles I wanted to touch.
Without a second thought, I stood and walked over to him. Completely against myself, I bent and wrapped my arms around his neck. He stiffened in my arms, and turned to look at me.
We were face to face. Nose to nose. Lips to lips. I could feel his breath against my mouth and the strange desire to kiss him took over.
Pulling away, I cleared my throat and looked away. “Thank you,” I said.
“Don’t thank me. Thank Vick,” he said, before he dove back into his food with a pinched, angry brow.
I smiled to myself and sat back at the table.
He stood then and I looked up at him, but he wasn’t paying me any attention.
Going to the sink he rinsed his plate and then turned to leave the room. I felt confused and disappointed all at once.
“I’ll be in my office. When you’re ready, find me there.”
And then, he was gone.
I felt annoyed with him, and more with myself when I realized this was all a part of his plan. This was a game to him and he was currently winning.
When I was done, I rinsed my plate and went back to the room I’d stayed in the night before. I would not be looking for him like he expected. I couldn’t be in the same room with him without wanting to slap him for being so smug and self-assured. Yet at the same time, I wanted kiss him because every time he looked at me I felt like I was seconds away from going up in flames.
I dressed in the only clothes I had and decided to get out of his apartment before I did something totally against who I was. Something like, drop my panties for him and beg for his touch. It could happen.
I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders now that I knew Kyle was going to be okay, but at the same time, I knew I had to figure out my situation. And I had to figure it out fast.
I m ade it to the door of the club, and then stopped. It was insane, sure, but what if I took Sebastian’s offer? I had already decided that having sex with him sounded… intriguing. And getting paid to do it? Well, hell. That was kind of a bonus in my current situation.
Sure, he was a little extreme and, for some odd reason, he refused to learn my name--insisting on calling me Jessica. And despite the fact he wanted me to think Vick was the one who was always fixing everything, I knew he was a good guy.
Lots of people didn’t want to be in a relationship. Trish was one of them. I spent an entire night listening to the pros and cons of being single, and honestly it didn’t sound terrible.
There was also the tiny fact I couldn’t stop thinking about him. At first he’d seemed intense and somewhat odd, but now I’d been around him for a while, I was starting to feel different. I was a woman, and as Trish had once said, women have needs.
I never understood that statement, until Sebastian whispered in my ear. And also when I stepped into his kitchen this morning and saw him half-naked. The fact was, I wanted him. I could kill two birds with one stone. I could get money to set me and Kyle up, and I could spend some time with Sebastian. I’d be stupid to turn that down.