I tried desperately to steady my breathing as he stretched me, filled me, but as I watched him in the mirror, I couldn’t help but get worked up. His eyebrows were bent, his mouth partly open as he watched himself enter me. The sight of us was so hot that my entire body felt on fire.
His hands gripped my waist, and he grunted when he couldn’t go any deeper. Then he started to pump, slowly at first then picking up the tempo as he went.
“F-fuck,” I said. Not five minutes later, I felt the coiling in my core. I held on as long as I could, but holding back was impossible when Sebastian was hitting me in just the right spot.
“You’re a tight little thing, aren’t you?” He moved faster, deepening his thrusts. “Tell me how that feels.”
“Oh my God, Sebastian.” The quickening in my core was too much. “I… can’t… talk.”
“Then scream,” he growled. “I need to know you feel good when I’m inside you. Let me hear you.”
I opened my mouth to scream but stifled it with a bite of my lip just as fast, then shook my head. Someone was bound to hear us if I gave in.
He glared back at me in the mirror then slammed a palm over my mouth. “Don’t hold back, Kai.”
A scream ripped past my throat as I came, muffled in his palm as he groaned.
“Sweet Jesus.” He slipped out of me slowly and spun me around, our breaths colliding. Then he lifted one of my knees and pressed it into my chest as he inserted himself again. He moved slower this time, like he wanted to savor every second, until I could tell he was getting ready to let go. He placed his lips to my ear and let out a breath, making me shiver in his hold. “By the way,” he rasped. “I am yours.” He gripped my thigh harder as he rocked his hips. “And you are mine.” This time, he deepened his thrust. “And you will never question that again.”
When his mouth met mine, it didn’t match the ferocious demand of his words. No, this kiss was everything I imagined Sebastian was on the inside. Sweet. Caring. Gentle. And I loved that he showed me those fragments during times like these.
We came together, our moans muffled with our kiss as he held me tight.
He treated me like I was precious cargo in his arms for safekeeping. Like he’d never dare to let me go. And I trusted that was the way we would stay. All I could do was hope.
Chapter 32
Sebastian
Bang bang bang.
The fist on the door pounded loudly and in rapid succession, causing me to tense. Kai stiffened, too, as I was still holding her after the best sex of my life. Every time was good with her, but layers of her fell away more and more each time we got intimate. That made me crave the next time and then the next, like some sex addict also high on caffeine.
Kai snatched her robe off the wardrobe rack and tied it around her waist while I zipped up my trousers, ignoring the fact that my top half was still bare. Whoever was at the door would just get the confirmation the rest of the cast had already been whispering and gossiping about. Kai was my girl. Screw Dirk and whatever he tried to do about it when he found out. What I had with Kai was finally something he couldn’t steal from me.
I jerked open the door while Kai took a seat on the bench. She grabbed a makeup brush to powder away the after-sex glow.
Jimmy stood there, a deep frown on his face. “Thought I’d find you here, Bash.”
I gritted my teeth at that nickname. That people still insisted on calling me that was fucking pissing me off. “If you’re here to lecture us, don’t bother. We know what we’re doing.”
Jimmy sighed. “We have bigger problems than that. Guess who just showed up?”
The annoyance I was feeling over Jimmy’s knocking morphed into something darker and uglier. He didn’t have to tell me who.
“Great,” I spat. Then I looked over my shoulder to see Kai watching us in the mirror.
“I just wanted to warn you.” His gaze floated to Kai before returning to me. “And Kai.”
I was about to ask Jimmy what he meant by bringing Kai into it when he spoke up again.
“Dirk didn’t come alone.”
So much tension was in the air that I could’ve stabbed it with a blade. Jimmy’s warning could mean only one thing. Claudette was on the boat with Dirk. I could ask myself why, but the answer was painfully clear.
“Stay here, Kai.” I needed everything in me to keep my voice calm when I felt anything but.
“But—” She started to rise from her seat.
A jolt of fear struck my chest. “Stay here,” I snapped. Then I followed Jimmy out the door, slamming it behind me. “I won’t put up with his shit anymore. He wasn’t supposed to get here until sail away on Thursday.”
Jimmy sighed and shook his head as we crossed the corridor. “You know he’s only doing this to rile you. He wants your reaction, and you need to try not to give it. The show looks great, and he’ll see that this week. Claudette is just his last weapon to take you down. Do not let him win. We have a sold-out cruise series because of you. Don’t forget that.”
I paused in the hallway, and Jimmy allowed the moment. I took a deep breath and exhaled it, knowing that everything Jimmy just told me was one-hundred-percent true. Dirk couldn’t touch me if I didn’t let him.
I straightened my shoulders and started walking. “Okay, let’s go.”
The second we reached the stage, my blood started to boil. Dirk was there with Claudette, his hand on her back as they examined the opening set. They both had huge smiles on their faces, like they were part of everything the cast and I had created over the last two months. Fuck that.
A sickness spread through me as I started to wonder what Dirk had been doing in New York City all this time. He said he’d been taking care of business, but maybe he’d been trying to schmooze Claudette to join the cast all along—which, the more I thought about it, was strange since they’d separated and Claudette filed for divorce years ago. I eyed the couple again. They sure didn’t look divorced.
But none of that mattered—Kai already had the part, and she was brilliant at it. The cast loved her. Jimmy loved her. Hell, even the AV crew loved her. Just reminding myself of everything the cast had put into place since Dirk had been away relieved me some.
“If you’re here to watch the dress rehearsal, the cast should be back shortly.”
Dirk’s attention snapped to me, his big-ass smile sticking like he’d glued it on. “Great.” Then he looked over at the dark-haired woman to his right—a woman who felt like a stranger to me now—and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You remember Claudette, I presume?” Dirk couldn’t hold the smile. Instead, his eyes shot through mine like a bullet.
Claudette practically purred her greeting. “Hello, Sebastian.”
I nodded, barely giving her a glance as the sick feeling continued to spread through me. The two most toxic creatures in my life were standing together like a team on a devious mission. And maybe they were, but I wasn’t going to stand by without a fight. “Claudette. What brings you to the Royal Athena?”
The two shared a look of amusement over some kind of mutual understanding. Dirk opened his mouth to speak first. “It’s no business of yours, Sebastian. We’re just looking forward to the brilliant show we’ve been promised.”