Hope.
He looks around my apartment. “So, what do we do now?”
I haven’t hung out with anyone on a platonic level for a really long time. It’s always been sex driven. “I have no idea.” I shrug. “Watch porn?”
“Works for me.”
I giggle. “You’re a sex maniac, Mr Garcia.”
"And you're excellent in bed, were perfectly suited."
"No, you're next level."
“You can talk. I’ve never met a woman like you. You’re more sexually charged than I am.”
My mouth falls open as I fake horror, “I am not.”
He raises an eyebrow.
I pinch my fingers together. “Little bit.”
“I’ll last longer than you will.” He smirks.
I smile goofily over at him, I like this game. And, of course, he’ll last longer than me. He doesn’t have to look at his beautiful body like I do.
“Let’s place a bet on it,”
“What’s the prize?”
“Hmm.” I think for a moment…what’s something that he would never want me to do…okay. “If you cave before me, you have to let me fuck you with a strap on dildo.”
He snorts wine up his nose. “What the fuck?” He splutters as he launches into a full -blown coughing fit. He slaps his chest, mortified. “That’s not fucking happening.”
“Well, then, keep your cock away from the Motherload.”
He throws his head back and laughs, and I do, too. It feels so good to laugh together.
He falls serious. “What do I get if I win? Which I will, by the way.”
“What do you want?”
“Hmm, the possibilities are endless.” He narrows his eyes. “Let me get back to you on that.”
“Or not. We both know I’m going to win, anyway.”
His eyes darken, and the energy is there again between us.
It’s atomic.
I need to change the subject. “We have to go back to your house,” I say.
His face falls. “Why?”
“Because, as your legal representative, we both know you being here isn’t a wise move. Especially with Theodore missing. If something were to go wrong and it came out that you’d snuck away…”
He rolls his eyes.
“I’ll pack a bag and come to your house.”
He opens his mouth to say something and then swiftly shuts it again.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“I’m playing in a golf tournament tomorrow.”
“And?”
“I have to leave ridiculously early.”
“Sebastian, I’m more than capable of amusing myself for a few hours.”
His dark eyes drop down my body as if imagining something. “Doing what?”
“Not that.” I widen my eyes. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“Apparently, my body isn’t allowed in it, so…” He shrugs. “Come on, let’s go.”
I walk into my bedroom and take out my overnight bag from the closet. Sebastian walks into my room and looks around. He walks to my shelves and carefully studies my photo frames. “Who’s this?”
“That’s my sister Eliza, and that’s Nathan.”
He picks it up. “She looks like you.”
I smile. “She does.”
“And they guy?”
“That’s her partner. He’s a surgeon.”
He nods and places the frame back on the shelf. “Who’s this?”
“My parents.”
He places it back on the shelf, and then he picks up a rock. “What’s this?”
“My lucky rock.”
He smirks. “You have a lucky rock?”
I smile, feeling bashful. “Uh-huh.”
He turns it over and looks at the bottom. “What luck has it brought?”
“I found you.”
His eyes rise to meet mine, and he smiles softly. “You did.” He places it back on the shelf. “But I found you the first time.”
I think back to him coming to the coffee house for my bad coffee, day after day. “You know, there’s been a lot of weird coincidences between the two of us,” I say.
“Such as?”
I bite my lip to hide my smile. “You said that exact line the day we met.”
“I did?” He asks surprised.
I nod.
“What were the coincidences?”
“I saw you in the street the morning we met. You gave money to a homeless man on the street. After that, you came into my café.”
He smiles softly as if remembering. “Then I met this gorgeous blonde with a hot tight ass.”
“Who made great coffee—”
“Horrible coffee,” he cuts me off.
“You kept coming back because it was so good.”
“I was trying to warn people away. Duty of care to humanity.”
I giggle. “And at the same time, I was broke and looking for another job.”
He doesn’t like this part of the story. “Don’t remind me.”
I hesitate, unsure if I should go on, but I want to go over this with him. We haven’t discussed it all. “And you came to the club.”
He pulls my hips toward his. “And I choked you out.”
“You did more than that. You blew my mind.”
The air between us crackles with electricity.
“And we spent a wonderful two weeks together… until.”
His tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “Enough of the train wreck. I don’t want to talk about it,” he murmurs against my lips as he kisses me softly.
“I fell for you then, and you threw me to the side.”
He stiffens and pulls back from me. “Why are we going over this shit?”
“Don’t you ever think about these things?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Why not?”
“Because all I see is a whole lot of reasons why we don’t work.”
I hold my hands out wide. “And yet, here we are.”
Our eyes are locked.
I take my overnight bag down and begin to throw my clothes into it. I pack my toiletry bag, a few clothes for tomorrow, and even some work clothes for Monday. I don’t know why I feel the urge to lay it all out on the table for him, but I do.
“This is our last chance, Seb. If we don’t get it right this time, I’m going home to America, and I’ll never see you again.”
“Is that a warning?”
“No.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“I want you to know why this is important to me. I’m not being over dramatic but I need to strip us back and try again for real this time.”
He exhales heavily. “Why would you even think of this crap? It won’t work. Sex has nothing to do with our problems.”
Maybe he’s right and this is totally ridiculous. “My therapist told me to do this for years, and I never wanted to. But tonight, I’ve been thinking maybe it was just the person I was with at the time.”
“Oh.” He fakes a smile. “That makes me feel so much better. You couldn’t stop having sex with him, but you’re more than happy to stop it with me.” He walks toward my bedroom door. “I don’t want to hear your fucking bullshit, April. Are you coming to my house or not?”