“Absolutely.” Dinner with Grace and Cody was exactly what he wanted to do tonight. And after dinner, he’d arrange for his personal masseuse to come to Grace’s place and give her a massage while he and Cody worked on the project. The perfect night.
The bell rang, and like a hive of disturbed ants, kids scattered. “Gotta go.” Cody grinned, gave him a snappy Spock salute, and climbed out of the car.
Back in his Ferrari, he played the three messages left by Judge Myers. All three were none too impressed with his tardiness.
Hey, when he told her why he was late she’d cut him some slack. He was a changed man. Life was good.
Getting a park at Myers’s inner-city offices wasn’t good, which made him even later. As did being stopped twice by people on the footpath who recognized him and asked to take a selfie or two with him. Normally, he said no to such requests. Today, he found himself wanting to share his grin with the world.
Striding past Myers’s office assistant, he flipped a wave at her. “It’s all good. I’ll announce myself.”
Myers didn’t look up from her laptop when he closed the door behind him and crossed the room. She didn’t look up when he dropped into the seat in front of her desk.
“Judge.”
She ignored him.
He tapped his foot, drummed his fingers.
“Yeah, not really a fan of this,” he finally said, leaning forward. “I know I’m late, but I’ve got good reasons. You’re going to be impressed with me, Judge. Promise.”
“Impressed with the fact you’ve spent three nights at Grace Wilder’s home since your community service began?”
A cold finger traced up his spine. “How do you know that? Why do you even need to know that?”
Myers finally lifted her attention from her laptop, removed her glasses, and fixed him in a steady gaze. “It’s my job, Mr. Hart. You don’t think I just forgot about you the moment you walked out of my courtroom, do you? As I said at Mrs. Wilder’s home Monday morning… How many days ago?”
“Twelve?” Was it only that? His life had changed so much in such a short period of time.
“As I mentioned twelve days ago, I will be doing regular follow-up appointments and interactions.”
“Interactions?” The finger turned to an angry fist in his chest. “That includes stalking me? What business of yours is it if I’ve slept at her house three times?”
“It’s entirely my business if you are undermining the purpose of your community service, and or putting Cody Wilder at risk—and Cody and his mother being hounded by paparazzo falls into that category. And I’m making it entirely my personal business if you are using Mrs. Wilder for some kind of ego trip.”
“What?”
Myers closed her laptop. “When I discussed you being assigned to Cody with Shelli Holt, I was apprehensive about your past relationship with Grace. But Shelli assured me you were perfect for Cody. And that Cody would be perfect for you. Surprisingly, Ms. Holt has more respect for you than I expected, given she knows more about you than the average person. She alluded to the fact that Grace might… How shall I put this, bring your ego under control? Apparently, that’s something Grace did very well when you were all younger, yes?”
He swallowed. “That’s one way of putting it.”
A glint flickered in her eyes, and she leaned back in her chair, playing with the reins of her glasses. “So the question has to be asked, are you toying with her? Or do you think spending time with Grace is an easier way to pass your community service time?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
She didn’t respond.
“So you think everything I’m doing with Grace, with Cody, is because I’m…what? A selfish bastard?”
“Possibly. A very rich one used to never hearing the word ‘no.’”
He ground his teeth. “And you brought me here for this?”
“No, I brought you here to make certain you are being truthful with Grace and respectful of Cody. He doesn’t need an egomaniac giving him false expectations and crushing his heart and his mother’s.”
“That’s not what’s going on.”
She put on her glasses and opened her laptop. “In that case, you’ve got nothing to worry about, and my fears are unfounded.”
“You don’t believe me.”
She arched an eyebrow and started tapping on her keyboard. “We’re only a little way into your service, Mr. Hart. Let’s just say I’m watching your progress with great interest. Thank you for coming in.”
He narrowed his eyes again.
“Y’know, Myers”—he rose to his feet—“the role of Judge Judy has already been cast. Just in case you didn’t realize.”
He left. He definitely didn’t have time for this, to be called a liar.
The summer heat wrapped around him as he stepped out onto the footpath. Squinting, he covered his eyes with his sunglasses and shoved his hands into his pockets. Jesus, it had been a while since he had felt so agitated.
Sucking in a deep breath, he counted to ten. He’d call Grace, arrange dinner, and then get to work. He was behind his self-imposed schedule on his next film. Sure, it was still only the rough storyboarding stage, but he was still behind. Not what he wanted.
And you always get what you want, right?
He pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through until he reached Grace’s name.
The only thing he wanted now was to hear her voice. Just hers.
“Care to share your thoughts on this, Hart?”
Hot anger sliced through him. Theo Olsen.
Glaring at the bastard, he shook his head. “Clearly you don’t prize your kneecaps.”
Olsen shoved a smartphone at him. “What do you think about this?”
Despite himself, he checked out the image on the oversize screen.
Grace. On her front porch. Smiling up at Justin who stood close to her. Too close. Both had a coffee in their hands.
“Or this?” Olsen swiped his finger across the screen to reveal another shot. Almost identical, except for the fact Justin was tucking a strand of Grace’s hair behind her ear.
An invisible inferno crawled over Sebastian’s body. His gut churned. His throat seized.
“I took them this morning after you left with her kid.” Olsen sniggered. “How do you feel about the fact she’s double-dipping on—”
Sebastian lifted his head and looked at Olsen.
Whatever Olsen was going to say next died in his mouth.
“I really suggest you walk away from me.” Sebastian kept his voice low, calm. “Right now.”
Olsen bared his teeth at him. “What you gonna do? Hit me? You’re already on community service. You think you can charm and grease your way out of being where you really belong if you physically assault me? Your slut girlfr—”
Sebastian smashed his fist into Olsen’s jaw.
Olsen went down.
The stunt guys always made punching someone look so easy and painless, and Sebastian flexed his knuckles against the pain there. Without waiting for a response from the felled Olsen, he strode away, ignoring everyone around him.
He needed to talk to Grace.
…
Damn it, she was running late.
She should have just told Justin to go away when he’d turned up on her door with coffee a few moments after Sebastian and Cody drove away. Should have nipped the whole ridiculous thing in the bud when he’d suggested he catch up with her for lunch.
Instead, she’d felt so guilty about constantly brushing him off that she’d accepted the coffee, and then blurted out that what Cody had said about her and Sebastian was true.
He was her boyfriend.
Wow, her boyfriend.
And here she was now, running around searching for her shoes, still somehow on a cloud and a smile pulling at her lips. Discovering she was wrong about Sebastian was a life-changing event.
All she had to do now was figure out how she and him were going to—
&
nbsp; Her phone rang.
“Argh.” Hurrying into the kitchen—oh good, her shoes were under the dining table—she snatched her mobile up from its dock, warmth spreading through her at the sight of Sebastian’s name.
“Hi.” She wedged her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she snagged up her shoes from the floor. “I’m running late. How did your meeting go?”
“Wonderful.” Just hearing his voice made everything somehow better. “I’m thinking the three of us should have Thai for dinner tonight. I remember you love Thai. I know the best Thai chef in the world. He lives in New Zealand. I’ll fly him in today, and then after dinner I’ve planned a surprise for you.”
“I’m working a double shift today.” She tugged on her left shoe. Damn it, she was getting later by the second. “I’m not home until eleven. Shelli is picking Cody up from school and looking after him until I finish.”
“Call in. Take the day off.”
A cold prickle crept up her spine, over her scalp. “What?”
“Better yet, take the week off. We can spend it talking and really catching up. We can fly to the Gold Coast and hit the theme parks up there. Go to Sea World and Movie World. I’ve got a bit of an in at that park for some reason.” He chuckled.
Grace blinked. The air in the room grew thick. Or maybe it was her throat getting tight. “I’m sorry, you want me to what?”
“I want to see you, Grace. I want to have dinner with you. You don’t need to do the double shifts anymore. I mean, really you don’t need to do any shifts anymore if you don’t—”
“So…what? After one night of sex I’m the…little woman?”
There was silence for a beat. “That’s not what I’m saying. But sure. I want to be with you. Why do you need to put yourself at risk every day when I want to look after you. And Cody.”
Don’t do this, Seb. Please don’t do this.
“Sebastian.” She closed her eyes, fighting a wave of something dark and heavy and familiar. The tsunami that was Sebastian Hart expecting, demanding everything go the way he wanted. “I’m not taking the day off just because you want to have dinner with me tonight.”
“What about if it were generically good-looking Justin asking?”
All the heat left the world. And then rushed at her. Smothered her.
“Do you remember this morning, Sebastian,” she said, keeping her words, her voice steady, “when I asked you not to do something really stupid? Do you remember that?”
Silence.
She ground her teeth. “You just did.”
She ended the call, dropped her phone on the dining table, and stared at it.
What the fuck had just happened? What—
Her phone rang, the tight-lipped smiling face of her mother-in-law filling the screen.
“Are you kidding me?”
Don’t answer it. Don’t answer it.
She picked it up and connected the call. “Hi, Edith.”
“Would you mind explaining to me why my hairdresser has just shown me footage of you breaking some poor man’s camera on a public street while my grandson looks on, Grace?” Edith’s prim and oh-so-proper British accent came through the phone clearly.
Some poor man. She scrunched up her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That poor man isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue, Edith. He’s a member of the paparazzi and he—”
“Which brings me to my next question.” Same old Edith; a steamroller hell-bent on having her say. “Since when do you think a Hollywood celebrity with a bad reputation and a criminal record is an acceptable person to expose Cody to? To replace my son with?”
Grace pinched harder on her nose. “Edith, I’m not—”
“I have seen pictures of you dressed like a floozy kissing him in public. Are you having sex with him while my grandson is asleep in the next—”
“That’s enough.”
There was silence from Edith for a while. “How dare you—”
“Enough.” Grace opened her eyes. The world roared around her. “My son loves me, and I love him. He is my world, the reason I draw breath every day. And sure, it’s been hard since Gary died, but we have made it because we have each other. Me and Cody. And despite all these years of you making snide little comments about me not being good enough, I’ve finally realized I totally one hundred percent am. I am good enough. I am more than good enough. I am incredible.
“I am an amazing mother, Edith. And it’s high time you realize that.”
Somewhere in the background of wherever Edith was, the faint sounds of a radio played.
“Do you understand me, Edith?”
“If I see photos of you beating up photographers again, I will—”
“What? Fly over here? Be angry at me in person? We’ve done that before, remember? How’d that work out for you then?”
Once again, there was silence.
“Give it your best shot, Edith. I’m ready.”
She disconnected, returned the phone to the table, and closed her eyes.
Damn it, she really was late for work now.
Her phone rang.
Shelli.
“I love this day,” she muttered, picking up the annoying device and sliding her thumb over its screen. “Hey, Shels.”
“What did you do to Hart?”
Damn it, what now? “What do you mean, what did I do?”
“I just received an email from Judge Myers instructing me to remove Sebastian as Cody’s big brother and to assign him to someone else. What’s going on?”
Chapter Twelve
Work was a waste of time. Three hours in, when she failed to duck the swung fist of the man in his nineties irate because she was attempting to change the festering, infected bandage on his wife’s knee, Rory told her to go home.
“Pack it in, hon.” He handed her an ice pack from the ambulance’s kit as the elderly man hurled abuse at them from his apartment window. “You’re off with the fairies. And I don’t mean my kind.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. When we get back to base, I’m telling the boss you sneezed all over a patient and can’t stop coughing.”
“Rory.”
He shrugged. “A guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do. I’ll do your double shift. I don’t have any plans for tonight, and it’ll save me from having dinner with Mum again. She’s still trying to set me up with her chiropractor.”
She opened her mouth to argue and closed it. “Okay.”
You could have had dinner with Sebastian after all.
No. She wasn’t thinking about Sebastian anymore. That ship had sailed. Was done and dusted and over. Now she had to get her stupid heart on the same page. Just thinking about him kicked it into higher gear.
Cody’s face made leaving work early worth it. Surprise flooded his face when he saw her waiting at the school gate.
“Mum!” He ran up to her, beaming. No matter what she did after all this, she was going to make certain she spent every afternoon with her son. No more afternoon or evening shifts. She was missing too much.
“Heya, bug. Surprised?”
“Hell yeah.”
She mock frowned.
He grinned and then looked behind her, around her. “Is Seb here?”
And there was the punch to the stomach. “No.”
No way she could tell him Sebastian wasn’t ever going to be here again. She didn’t have it in her, not at the moment at least. She’d break it to him later. Before Sunday, when he expected Sebastian to arrive.
Before then, she intended to call Judge Myers and ask why Sebastian had been reassigned. Not because she wanted to see him again, but because Cody would be devastated.
Yeah, that’s the only reason.
Gritting her teeth, she took Cody’s hand in hers. “Want to go get ice cream? I’ve a hankering for some chocolate peppermint crunch.”
“Yuck.” Laughing, he twisted up his face. “I’ve got a hankering for some honeycomb twirl.”
Swinging the
ir hands in a loose semi-arc, she nodded. “Honeycomb twirl it is.”
Ice cream didn’t lessen the dull ache deep in her chest, an ache she kept telling herself wasn’t there.
Telling herself was one thing. Listening to herself, however?
Bastard. Making her believe in him. Making her think he really was the guy she’d wanted him to be all those years ago. Making her…want him.
“Mum?”
She blinked. Shit, when had she started crying?
“You okay, Mummy?”
Swiping at her eyes, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m good, bug. Just…” She gave him a crazy smile. “Just got a bug in my eye.”
He didn’t laugh.
“C’mon, let’s go home.”
She prattled about nothing on the drive home. Better prattling than thinking about everything that had gone down during the day.
Pulling into her driveway hurt more than it should. No bright yellow Audi R8 sat there. No gleaming black Range Rover. No sleek gray Aston Martin.
Damn him.
“I’m going to work on my project.” Cody scurried out of the car and hurried inside, as if she were some kind of walking, talking virus he didn’t want to be close to.
A car drove along her street, and before she could stop herself she turned. An older-model blue Ford drove past. Continued past. The elderly man behind the wheel frowned at her.
Probably wondering why the crazy lady is staring at him so intently.
She needed to get a grip.
Entering her home, she tossed her keys and phone—a phone that stubbornly refused to make any incoming message beeps—on the kitchen counter and headed down the hall toward her bedroom.
Maybe a shower would—
Sebastian’s voice wafted down the hallway from Cody’s bedroom.
Grace froze. What the…
She hurried to Cody’s room, heart hammering in her throat, and slumped at the sight of Cody sitting at his homework desk, his small stare locked on the screen of his ancient iMac as he moved the mouse across his Captain America mouse pad.
On the screen was a freeze-frame image of Cody looking at someone off-screen, smile wide.
The Irredeemable Billionaire (Muse series) Page 18