by Sian Ceinwen
“I promise to kiss it better if that happens, princess,” Sebastian laughed.
“Yes, I’m sure you would. It’s well established how very kind and caring you are in that regard.” Lita rolled her eyes.
“Maybe I should kiss it better now? Prevention is better than cure, you know,” he smirked at her.
Lita lifted her face to his and kissed him, then said, “Don’t think I don’t know that I would end up having sex with you, and then I’d have to call in sick to work so we could fuck all day instead, Mr. Fox.”
“Brilliant, let’s do that,” Sebastian said, but Lita just laughed and shook her head. She kissed him again and got out of bed. As she headed off to the bathroom to shower, Sebastian called after her, “I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave, princess.”
Lita was laughing as she made her way to the bathroom. She showered and brushed her teeth before going back to her bedroom. Sebastian was still lying in her bed, looking at his phone now.
“Priority number one, princess, is getting you a bodyguard,” he said in a serious tone. “They have your name.”
“Damn, that was quick.” Lita frowned as she got underwear out of her drawer and put it on.
Sebastian watched her with a seductive smile on his face. “Yes, it was, but I’ll be damned if I’m not struggling to focus for some reason right now.”
“Yes, yes, I’m very sexy.” Lita rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll be out of your way soon, so you can get shit done.”
“Good, princess, because you’re very distracting. Aren’t you going to eat before you go?” he asked her.
Lita shook her head. “No, I still get nauseated most mornings. I’ll get something from the café near work at about ten.”
“You ate breakfast with me at the hotel yesterday, though?” Sebastian looked confused.
“Yeah, much later than seven in the morning, Seb. I’m sure if I was staying here, breakfast wouldn’t be on your mind for a while, like it wasn’t yesterday,” Lita smirked at him as she pulled a pair of pants out of her wardrobe and put them on.
She’d finally gone maternity clothes shopping last week. Very few of her regular clothes fit her now, and she’d gotten some new bras as well as pants that had a fabric panel, allowing for her expanding stomach. Lita pulled on a stretchy top that accentuated her new curves and Sebastian smiled at her.
“I like your top, princess,” he told her. “You looked much better without it, though. There’s still time to call in sick, you know.”
“You’re a bad influence, Sebastian Fox. We can’t all just laze around for months on end waiting for our tour to start, you know,” she grinned at him.
“Oof, you hurt me,” he said, but he was laughing.
Lita checked the time. She didn’t need to leave for another ten minutes, so she climbed back onto the bed and kissed him. He put his arms around her and kissed her back. Just for a second, Lita was struck by the bizarre life she was leading now. Sebastian Fox was lying in her bed, she was kissing him, and she was having his baby. Not just that, but the whole world knew it now too.
“So, what happens with the whole bodyguard thing? How do you even find a bodyguard?” she asked him.
Sebastian smiled. “There’s a personal protection agency we used in Chicago. I’ll contact them and see if they have people in Seattle, or if they know of a company here.”
“Okay, how soon will they be able to provide someone? Wait, where’s Daryl?” Lita suddenly realized Daryl must have accompanied him here, but she hadn’t seen him.
“He stayed in a hotel nearby. He’ll come get me when I need to go out later.”
“Oh, shit, I’ve only got one key for this place because I gave the spare key to Becky.” Lita frowned.
“I’ll get a key cut today if that’s all right. Then we can drop your key off at your office if you give me the address.”
“Sebastian Fox, you are not coming to my place of work,” Lita laughed at him.
He grinned wickedly at her. “Well, I had thought I could have Daryl drop it off, but now you mention it, I am very interested in seeing where you work.”
Lita ignored his comment and kissed him again, and he pulled her tight toward him. “Okay, sounds like a plan, then. The house keys are hanging up by the door. If you have any issues, just text me.”
She was very aware he was completely naked, and she wanted to do exactly as she’d suggested to him and ditch work to stay here and have sex instead. Lita knew she couldn’t, though; they had so much on at work right now.
She ended their kiss and said, “All right, I’m going now. You try and stay out of trouble. I’ll see you tonight. Let me know how it goes with the bodyguard and apartment hunting.”
“I will, princess,” Sebastian smiled at her, then added, “Please be careful.”
“Of course,” she said, then walked out of the room and grabbed her bag and car keys before leaving.
It was strange to not take her apartment keys with her, and stranger still to leave Sebastian Fox alone in her apartment for the day. Lita supposed he would be able to sort himself out for food. She hadn’t shown him around the apartment at all, though he’d seen most of it anyway. He was there, amongst her things, but if you couldn’t trust the person you were having a baby with to be alone in your apartment, who could you trust? Lita reached her car, which was parked a short way up the street from her apartment, and pulled out her phone to send Sebastian a text.
Don’t go through my underwear drawer while I’m out, pervert.
She got into her car and looked down at her phone as his reply came through.
Too late. I’ve already been through it AND found your vibrator.
Lita laughed. She was pretty certain he was kidding and had just taken a guess she had one, but she couldn’t resist replying to him all the same.
Well, it wouldn’t have been hard to find. I needed an orgasm last night after you fell asleep.
Instead of turning the car on, Lita looked at her phone and waited for Sebastian’s reply. It came through about ten seconds later.
No sleeping with someone else if the other person is in town, right? I’ll be disappointed if you really did deny me the opportunity to give you another orgasm last night, or at the very least, to get to watch you give yourself one…
Lita could feel herself getting aroused. She could still walk back to her apartment, and she was very tempted to do just that.
I bet you would love to watch that, pervert. Maybe tonight. I really need to stop texting you and drive to work now. I’ll sort those blue balls out as soon as I get home.
She switched off her phone and dropped it face down on the seat next to her so she wasn’t tempted to look at it while she was driving. Lita was horny as hell now. It was going to be a long day, that was for sure.
18
LEVEL 16.1 – Pressure
Pregnancy dreams can seem incredibly realistic. Also, while you’re sleeping, your partner may tell you that you’re snoring now. Pregnancy hormones can cause stuffiness in the nose, just to add to all the fun you’ve been having lately. Your partner can sleep on the sofa if this is a problem for them.
Lita parked her car in the parking garage a block away from her office. She yawned as she made her way down the stairs and into the street, then headed toward her work. She looked at the reply Sebastian had sent her and laughed.
Cruelest baby mama ever. You’re lucky you’re sexy as fuck. Thirty thousand if you manage it tonight, I’m desperate.
She put her phone in her bag as she crossed the street and then noticed there were people out the front of her building. It was unusual for that to be the case, and it was quite a large group, as well. When she got closer, Lita was utterly horrified to see quite a few of them had cameras.
Reporters. Fuck. She was close enough now for someone to have spotted her, and the group had started coming toward her. Lita didn’t know whether to go back to her car or continue on to her office. She figured her office was
not only closer, but it was also safer. If she tried to get back to her car, she’d have to either wait for the elevator or go up the stairs with these people following her.
Lita walked toward them as they closed in on her, and they met in the middle. All at once, people started yelling questions at her.
“How does it feel to be having Sebastian Fox’s baby?” one person asked.
“You won a competition to meet them, didn’t you? Was this part of the prize?”
Ugh. That was so disgusting, but nothing on the next questions someone had for her.
“Did you know about the other women Sebastian has been sleeping with? Do you ever have threesomes with him? Or does he just have sex behind your back?”
Lita resisted the urge to tell the person to fuck off. She kept her mouth shut, ignored their questions, and walked faster to her office. Once she got there, the automatic doors opened, and she walked through. They didn’t follow her inside, but they did yell more disgusting questions at her until she had walked far enough into the building so she couldn’t hear them anymore.
She walked through the lobby of her building with everyone looking at her; it was mortifying. Lita wanted to cry, but she held it together as she stood in front of the elevator with a group of people waiting to go upstairs. When she reached her floor, all of her co-workers were looking at her as well. She walked to her desk amidst whispers and covert glances. When she sat down at her desk, she pulled out her phone and called Sebastian.
“Hey, princess,” he purred at her when he picked up. “Are you calling to tell me you’ve decided to call in sick and come home to have sex with me after all?”
“Seb,” she managed to choke out before she started to cry.
“What’s wrong, Lita?” Sebastian immediately sounded alarmed.
“They were at my work,” she told him through her tears.
“Shit! Fucking assholes.” Sebastian blew out a breath, then said, “Stay there. Don’t leave until we come to get you, okay?”
Lita laughed. “I still have to work today, Sebastian.”
“You’re right, of course. We’ll come get you when it’s time to leave,” he told her.
“What about my car?” she asked him.
“If I can get a bodyguard to start today, they can drive it home for you. Otherwise, we’ll work something out. Don’t worry, princess, we’ll keep you safe.” He sighed.
As he was saying this, Simon walked up to her desk with a concerned look on his face. “Hi, Lita, can we talk?”
“I’ve gotta go, Seb. Keep me updated with what happens, okay?” she asked him.
“I will do, princess. Try not to stress; I’ll talk to you later,” he said before their call ended.
Lita put her phone down, vaguely noticing that the screen was full of notifications from Reddit, along with messages from her friends and family. She turned to face Simon and sighed deeply, placing her hands on her bump as she did.
“Can we go into a meeting room for a minute?” Simon asked her.
“Um, sure, I guess,” Lita said, then followed him into the same meeting room she’d sat in the day she’d first told Sebastian about their pregnancy.
They each took a seat and Simon cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “So, Lita, I’ve had HR on the phone this morning. I need to tell you that you don’t have to tell me anything about your personal situation at all. I just wanted to ask if you’re okay and if there’s anything I can do to assist you right now?”
Lita was amused by her boss’s professional manner. “So formal, Simon! Look, yeah, I guess I might as well tell you Sebastian Fox is the father of my baby. I got pregnant when I went to Chicago to meet Cruise Control. It’s not like you couldn’t literally find that information online now, apparently.”
“Well, congratulations again on the pregnancy.” Simon smiled at her. “Did you want to take today off work, given the situation?”
“No!” Lita exclaimed in alarm, and Simon looked shocked. “Sorry, Simon. I never wanted this stuff to affect work. I guess I should’ve expected it, though. Sebastian is getting me a bodyguard today, to help me get around places. I can’t leave the building until they come to pick me up this evening.”
“A bodyguard?” Simon gaped at her.
“I know, right, how is this even my life right now?” Lita shook her head.
“Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just want to do my work and forget all the drama in my personal life, if that’s okay?” She grimaced.
Simon gave her a kind smile. “Sure, not a problem. If there’s anything I can help you with, just let me know.”
“Oh, if you wouldn’t mind going out and getting me some food later, I’d appreciate that a lot,” she said.
“Not a problem, just let me know when and what you want,” he told her.
They left the meeting room, and Lita went back to her desk, turned on her computer, and lost herself in her work. A bit after ten, Simon went to get her a bagel from the café nearby. When he came back to deliver it to her, he told her the group of paparazzi outside had doubled in size.
“I’m sorry, Simon. I didn’t want to bring my drama here,” Lita sighed.
“It’s fine, Lita, don’t worry about it,” he smiled.
He walked away, and Lita blew out a breath. She headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water. As she did, she opened her texts with Becky and sent her one.
Simon just told me there are twice as many paps outside now. FML.
When she reached the kitchen, there were two women from another development team in there, talking. They both looked at her when she walked in.
“Hey, is it true you’re having a baby with Sebastian Fox?” one woman asked her, looking down at her obvious bump.
Lita didn’t see any point in denying it. “Yes, it’s true.”
“So, are you his girlfriend or something?” The other woman raised an eyebrow at her.
Lita got a glass out of the cupboard as she said, “No, Seb isn’t my boyfriend.”
“He sleeps with so many women,” the second woman said. “But he’s so gorgeous.”
“And your point is?” Lita asked her.
The woman looked abashed. “I didn’t mean anything, I just…” she trailed off.
“I think what Tracey means is that we saw this timeline of women he’s slept with on Reddit, and it was a lot,” the first woman shrugged.
“Okay, so that affects you, how?” Lita’s tone was cool.
The two women looked at each other, then the one called Tracey spoke again. “I suppose it doesn’t, but doesn’t it bother you?”
“Not that this is any of your business, but no. As I said, Sebastian and I aren’t together, just having a baby,” Lita shrugged.
She didn’t feel the need to add that they had slept together about eighteen hours ago, and she’d left him in her bed this morning. It was clear to Lita that if her own family and friends, who’d had their situation explained to them in great detail, couldn’t necessarily come to terms with what they’d been doing, then random colleagues at work were even less likely to get it.
As if on cue, the phone in her hand started vibrating, and the words ‘Baby Daddy’ came up on the screen. All three women looked at it, and Lita cursed herself for entering him in her phone that way. Although, his name wouldn’t have been any better, she supposed.
“I’d better get this,” she said stiffly, before raising the phone to her ear, and couldn’t resist answering it with a snarky, “Hey, baby daddy. What does the hottest guitarist I know have to tell me right now?”
She started walking back to her desk as he answered, sounding amused. “That’s quite the greeting, princess.”
“Oh, I was just getting hassled with gossip in the break room, so I figured I might as well stoke those flames a little.” Lita grinned. “If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, right?”
“You’re trouble, Lolita Ciccone. I knew that from the moment I met you, now you
’re confirming it for me,” he laughed, and it made her miss him; she was feeling really raw right now, and she wished he was here with her.
Lita sat down at her desk and put the glass of water next to her bagel. “So, seriously, you have some news?”
“Yeah, I’ve hired you a bodyguard, his name is Benjamin Thomas. He’ll come with Daryl and me to get you after work, and he’ll drive your car home for you,” Sebastian said.
“Oh, that’s a relief. My boss, Simon, went and got me something to eat just now, and he said there are twice as many people out the front now.” Lita cringed.
“Damn. Well, Ben comes really highly recommended, and he’s free to come to Chicago whenever you want to come to visit me as well. He seems really nice; hopefully, you’ll like him. I’m also going to see about five apartments this afternoon. I’ll buy one of them and ask for an immediate settlement, so we have somewhere safe to go,” he told her.
“Whoa, Seb, don’t just pick the first place you come across; that would be crazy.” Lita was shocked.
“I’m not stupid; I know I’m not going to find the perfect place today. It just has to be good enough for now. I’ll keep looking and get another one when I find the right place, then I’ll sell the first one,” he told her.
“Sebastian Fox, you cannot just buy a random fucking apartment with no intention of keeping it,” she scolded him, then noticed people nearby had turned to look at her because she’d spoken too loudly.
Sebastian laughed. “You’re too sexy to act like my mother, princess. I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep you safe. I probably won’t lose much money in the changeover, and I don’t give a shit if I do, anyway. I thought we agreed that you and our baby being safe was the top priority, always?”
“Yes, but”—Lita took a deep breath—“It’s all just happening so fast. You only proposed this to me last night, now you’re talking about buying an apartment today. I haven’t even agreed to move, and then, shit, I’d have to pack everything and move. Anyway, I still have six months left on my lease. It’s all just too much, Seb.”