by Elise Faber
CeCe and Sera appeared almost simultaneously, catching the tail end of Clay’s statement, as well as the pillow Heather launched in his direction as he sauntered off.
And silence.
CeCe opened her mouth—
“It wasn’t me,” Heather snapped and pointed at her camera. “It’s the quiet, steady one.”
All eyes turned to Rachel’s face on the screen.
She couldn’t feel it considering her friends were miles to oceans apart, but she still knew all their attention was focused on her.
Which nearly made her chicken out.
But, no, dammit, she thought, lifting her chin and straightening her shoulders. She was going to do the normal—okay, semi-normal—well-adjusted thing. She was . . .
“I slept with Sebastian.”
Going to blurt it all out, apparently.
“Well,” she scrambled. “I mean, I slept with him like three months ago. You know that night some of us met up at Bobby’s. I—uh—didn’t go home early. I kind of took him back to the hotel room I had been staying at while my apartment was being renovated and then I—we—”
“Banged like two teenagers on prom night?” Sera supplied.
Rachel winced. “Um, kind of?”
“Word of advice, kid,” Bec said. “Stop trying to be hip. You had sex with Sebastian three months back and go.” She gestured for Rachel to continue talking.
“Well, he kind of ditched me while I was in the shower. I came out and he’d gone.”
Outraged gasps exploded out of her speakers.
“No,” she hurried to say. “That’s not the issue. There was a problem at work. He had to go and I’ve left—” She waved a hand. “Regardless, we didn’t exactly exchange information . . . or even names—”
Five voices began talking almost at once.
“You exchanged something,” CeCe muttered.
“Holy shit,” from Abby who promptly covered baby Emma’s ears and repeated. “Holy fucking shit.”
“No names?” Bec grinned. “I told you to get un-virginized, but damn girl, I’m impressed.”
“That sounds kind of dangerous,” Sera said. “Bringing a strange man back to your hotel room.” To which Abby winced and started protesting that she’d met Jordan in that exact same way.
Heather raised her fist to the screen. “Nice work. Honestly, I didn’t know you had it in you, kid.”
“Guys!” Rachel cried and threw up her hands. “The one-night stand was . . .”
“Outstanding?” Bec asked. “Or at least, that’s what you told me.”
Abby gasped. “You told her first?”
“Oh my God,” Rachel dropped her head into her hands. “Yes, it was good. Really fucking good, but that night isn’t the point. Well, neither is this morning, I guess. It’s—”
“This morning?” Heather repeated.
CeCe hooted. Bec and Abby grinned.
“Why did I call you all again?”
“Because you love us,” Sera said. “Okay, obviously, you like him or you wouldn’t have slept with him again. So, what’s the real problem?”
“Is it because he works for Clay?” Heather asked. “You know, if it’s important to you, we’ll find a way to make it work. I want to keep you around, Rach. I honestly don’t think I could do this without you.”
“This, what?” CeCe teased. “Running your own life? Or keeping your workaholic side busy enough?”
Heather snorted. “Yes, to both.”
Rachel shook her head. “It’s not because he works for Clay,” she said. “But thank you for being open to figuring it out. It—” And dammit, her eyes filled with tears. “It’s—” A sniff. “Shit. It’s because before I started working for you, Heather, my life was a fucking mess.”
And then she told her friends everything.
She told them about her mom leaving, her dad and the way he used to smack her around when she’d made him angry, her grandparents and their sharp, controlling words. Then finally, she told them about Preston and his heavy fists, the blows to her body, the way he’d controlled every aspect of her life, from the food she ate to who she spent time with to the pleasure or pain she received in bed.
“I don’t know how I managed to land the job with you, Heather,” she said, wiping her eyes on the hem of her T-shirt. “My résumé was a mess and I hardly had any work experience at all. Plus, I felt like I was in a fog during that whole interview.”
Heather shrugged. “I’ll admit that you were lacking on the experience front, but, Rachel, there was something about you that was so determined I couldn’t help but offer you the job. I wanted to see that spark inside you grow.”
“Don’t start up the waterworks again,” Rachel said and sniffed. “But, whatever the reason you picked me, I can’t thank you enough.”
“Shit!” Bec’s outburst drew all their gazes. She narrowed her eyes at them. “I don’t have any tissues and—”
“Oh, no,” Abby cried. “Are you not using that waterproof mascara?”
CeCe shook her head. “You know, you used to be a normal person who didn’t worry about mascara and its waterproof qualities.”
“I used to be a normal person before these kids rotted my brains.”
“Brains?” Sera teased. “As in more than one?”
“Ugh.” Abby sighed and flopped back onto the bed she was perched on. “You guys are seriously the worst.”
“You love us,” Heather said.
“Also, let it be noted that I wasn’t complaining about my mascara at all,” Bec said. “Rather that you bitches are making me have all these . . .”
“Feelings?” CeCe said with a smirk.
“Yes. Those.” Bec grinned. “Pesky little things.” She clapped her hands together. “I’ve got the Preston asshole tied up legally in a dozen different ways, and his daddy’s district attorney’s connection will quickly be coming to an end. As for the rest of it—”
“The feelings part?” Sera asked.
“Yes. That,” Bec replied. “You lot had better help her. I’ve done all I can.”
Rachel shook her head, biting back her smile. “I thought you gave me excellent advice when I talked to you about Bas.”
“One time lucky girl talk session.” Bec shrugged. “You need me to sue him, I’m your girl.”
“I would like it noted that I feel like I should have been the go-to girl for Sebastian talk,” Heather said.
Abby beat Rachel to her explanation. “Honeymoon.”
“Pish.” Heather rolled her eyes. “Plus, I’m going insane,” she whined. “This is the least busy I’ve been on a trip in probably a decade. What am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know, your husband,” CeCe said.
Abby cackled.
Well, okay they all did.
“Yes, yes,” Heather muttered. “Clay is taking care of me in that department, but I’m bored.”
“You’re also taking over,” Sera said.
Heather froze. “Damn. I am. Sorry, Rach.”
“First, you’ve had three business meetings in the last two days, so still working,” Rachel said. “Second. Take over all you want. I’m fine.”
“If you were fine, you wouldn’t have called us,” Bec pointed out.
Rather unhelpfully, Rachel thought, leaning back against her couch cushions and sighing. “Okay, be logical, why don’t you? I know I’m not fine, but I also—fuck, I don’t know I am fine.”
“Explain, please,” Heather said.
“Like I feel a lot for Bas, too much for such a short time, but also like just the right amount. My gut is like this is great, he’s so perfect and amazing and a little dorky and he writes me poems and actually cares about me . . .”
“He writes poems?” CeCe asked.
“Focus,” Bec told them. “Poem talk later. Revelations now.”
“Who’s the caveman now?” Abby muttered.
Rachel laughed then sighed. “You guys. I’m so messed up. I thought it would take m
e forever to just trust another man to kiss me. Then I jumped into bed with Sebastian and it was so incredible and even this morning, he wanted to wait, to give me more time, but I was the one who really wanted to go for it.”
“And?”
She didn’t know which of her friends had asked that. She was too deep in her internal quagmire of thoughts that it merely spurred her on.
“All I know,” she said. “Is that sex aside, when I close my eyes and picture a random day in the future—a month, a year, more—I see Bas with me.”
“Isn’t that enough for now?” CeCe asked.
“But what if I panic a month from now?” she said. “What if I’m fine now, but it’s all a strange coping mechanism and then I’m going to freak out down the line?”
“Newsflash, kid,” Heather said. “We all have freak outs.”
“Right,” Abby added. “Plus, if and when you do freak out, you and Sebastian will either get through it or you’ll know then it wasn’t meant to be.”
“But what if—”
“Do you really need to have all the answers now?” Sera asked. “Or are you just looking for a convenient excuse to pull away?”
Fuck.
“Oh my God,” Rachel said. “You guys are good.” She scrubbed a hand over her face and straightened. “So, I’m doing this?”
Bec fixed her with a glance. “You tell us.”
Rachel bit her lip, sighed, and then straightened her shoulders and pushed the final tendrils of her past deep down.
“I am so doing this.”
EIGHTEEN
SEBASTIAN
* * *
IT WAS Thursday and instead of heading over to Rachel’s office to coax her away from work and talk her into dinner at his place, he was walking into a very nice, expensive restaurant near the waterfront.
Sighing, he handed off his coat to the hostess but declined her offer to take him to the table.
He could already see his family.
Bas was having Rachel withdrawals. They’d texted constantly over the last two days, sent a few business-related emails. They’d even had plans last night.
But Rachel had to cancel because a work meeting in Los Angeles ran long and she hadn’t gotten back into the city until after eleven o’clock that night.
All logical reasons.
He still was almost desperate to wrap her in his arms and just smell—
Just smell her?
Fuck, he was losing it.
His phone buzzed and he pulled it out, half-expecting it to be Kelsey, telling him to get his ass in gear.
Instead, it was Rachel.
I just finished. Want to grab foods?
Foods? She was too cute. And yes. Yes, he did want to grab foods.
Unfortunately, he could not. But she sent another text before he could reply.
Oh shoot, I’m losing my mind. I just remembered that you’re having dinner with your family and now I’m probably interrupting. Ugh. Sorry! Talk to you later.
She was fucking adorable.
He was just typing out a response to tell her that when his phone was snatched out of his hands.
“Stop working to avoid us, bro,” Kelsey said.
“It’s not—”
Which was pretty much the worst thing he could have said because then Kelsey glanced down at the screen and a wide smile broke out across her face. “Who’s Rachel?”
“Shut up.” He reached for his phone as his sister scrolled up.
“Holy shit,” she said, eyes wide. “Those are either some seriously dangerous HR violations or Sebastian has a girlfriend.”
Considering she all but sang the last and held his cell out of his reach, Bas was ready to kill his sister . . . or at least tackle her to the ground and tear the phone from her cold, limp fingers.
Especially when she pressed a button on the screen.
She wasn’t.
She seriously. Was. Not.
Except, she was. Kelsey put the phone to her ear. “Hi, is this Rachel? This is Kelsey, Sebastian’s sister. Oh no, don’t apologize, you’re not interrupting. I just wanted to invite you to join us.” A pause as she listened for all of two seconds then began talking again. “No. You wouldn’t be intruding. Sebastian has told us so much about you. Please, come.”
Kill him now.
Kelsey began walking toward the table his family occupied. Bas moved after her a beat later, but he wasn’t far enough to miss her exclaim, “Great! I’m so excited to meet you.”
She stopped in her tracks, so quickly that he almost mowed her down, and hung up, turning to slam the cell into his chest.
Then she hot-footed it over to the table where his parents, Devon, and his wife, Becca, sat and declared, “Sebastian’s girlfriend is joining us for dinner!”
He was going to kill her.
IN SHORT ORDER, another chair was pulled over and Sebastian was being inundated with questions.
“How did you meet her?” Devon asked.
“What’s she like?” From his dad.
“It’s been so long since you’ve brought a girl home!” His mom’s gleeful exclamation.
Thankfully, his phone buzzed, granting him a reprieve.
I’m on my way, but I definitely don’t have to be.
If Rachel didn’t already own his heart, that text would have done the trick.
“Aw,” Becca murmured, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Look at his face. He really does like her.”
Shaking his head, he typed out a response.
Please come and save me from the evil that is my sister.
Of course, Kelsey happened to glance over his shoulder as he sent that. “Ouch,” she said. “That’s mean.”
“Bad things happen to people who stick their noses into other people’s business,” he gritted out.
Kelsey smiled. “If I didn’t push, you’d just isolate yourself even more.”
“Hard to isolate yourself from something you’re not even part of.”
She frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
Fortunately, the server came at that moment to take their drink order and they put in for a couple of appetizers. Becca “awed” again when he asked for a glass of red wine for Rachel.
They’d just finished the order of Oysters Rockefeller when Rachel walked into the restaurant.
He was standing and walking toward her before he even realized that he’d moved.
And fuck, but her smile at his approach just took his breath away.
She looked a little frazzled, her hair a little windblown and her coat tied haphazardly, but she was beautiful and fuck did he love her.
“Hi,” she murmured.
He crouched a little to draw her gaze when she looked around nervously. “Hey, you.” Brown eyes met his and she visibly relaxed.
“Hi, sorry,” she said. “I’m unreasonably nervous about meeting your family.”
“They’re a lot, but they mean well,” he told her. “Feel free to run at any point. I’ll make your excuses.”
She released a shuddering breath and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Come on. I’ll introduce you.” He handed off her coat to the hostess with a murmured thanks then slipped his arm through hers and led her to the table.
His family stood as they approached.
“Rachel,” Devon said. “It’s so nice to meet you. This is my wife, Becca.”
She shook both their hands then extended her palm to his mom and dad. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Scott. I hope you don’t mind me intruding on your dinner.”
“Oh, not at all,” his mom said. “We’re happy we’ve had a chance to meet you. Sebastian can rarely join us for dinner when we’re in town.”
“He works really hard,” Rachel said and turned to his sister. “Kelsey?”
“In the flesh,” his sister joked. “I’m glad you came.”
Rachel’s lips twitched as they all took a seat. “I’m not sure I had much of a choice,” she said. “But I am honored to be in
cluded.”
They settled into their drinks as a few more appetizers were ordered after Bas’s mom had given Rachel the fifth degree about her food preferences. Then she polled Bas, Devon, Becca, and Kelsey as if she didn’t already know whether they preferred calamari or shrimp cocktail.
His mother knew all—she just wanted everyone to feel included.
Or so she claimed.
If that were the case, then why had he always been the odd man out?
Why had they never come to his school events? Or sports games? Or—
He was way too old to be holding a grudge about childhood insecurities. His parents had done the best they could. They’d made mistakes as all parents did, of course, but he’d had food and love and—
He’d always felt left out.
Boo hoo, Scott, he sneered at himself. You’re a grown man. Get over it.
Rachel slid her hand into his. “You okay?” she asked softly.
“I’m—”
“So,” his dad said, “how did you two meet?”
Sebastian inwardly groaned, just waiting for the jokes.
But Rachel smiled and suddenly all those old hurts from his childhood didn’t matter. Not when he had her and she was smiling at him like he was important.
“Funny story, actually,” she said. “Bas and I met because our bosses fell in love and got married.”
“Aw,” Becca said and sniffed. When all eyes turned to her, she turned beet red. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. That’s just so sweet, and Devon and I met when we—”
Tears streaked down her cheeks.
Rachel looked alarmed. “I—uh—sorry if I offended—”
“No.” Becca wiped her eyes on her napkin. “I’m just a mess because I’m pregnant!”
Kelsey jumped to her feet and rounded the table. “Holy shit, that’s amazing! I thought the doctor said that the IVF might take a long time to—” She shook her head. “Never mind. How far along are you?”
“IVF?”
Bas didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Devon winced. “We’ve been struggling for a while to get pregnant—”
The rest of the words were cut off as his dad swept Devon up into a tight hug that lifted even the six-foot-plus former hockey player off his feet. “I’m going to be a grandpa!”