Mara laughed. “Honey, I may not have given you an accurate portrait of my life with Enzo. He’s got money to burn and he wants me to burn it. I’m a lady of leisure now, Eden, and I plan to live up to his expectations of what that means.” Mara winked at her. “So perk up, I’m taking you out. Screw lunch.”
Eden smiled, she loved how direct Mara was. Despite all her social training, Mara managed to shove all that aside and just say what she thought.
****
Sitting across from Eden, sipping ice tea, Mara rambled on excitedly about her move. While Enzo’s salary gave Mara a practically unlimited spending budget, he worked hard and wanted to keep it like that.
“It was either my career or Enzo. And I chose Enzo. I’m not going to cry about it now.”
“But your degree, Mara? You worked so hard to just give it all up. It was your dream to start your own fashion consulting company.” Eden knew that Mara was proud of her degree in business studies, and she had regaled Eden for hours about her plans to merge her two passions of business and fashion together.
“I didn’t give up a dream, I just got another one—Enzo. I know it sounds old fashioned, but I always knew how Enzo was. I made this decision on my own, Eden. No one pushed me into it. And I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing anything. I’m just choosing a different path. I held out as long as I could in Edinburgh, but as soon as I moved back and saw him and our old life, it just made sense. I’d been fighting something, and one day I woke up and realized that I didn’t even know what I was fighting against. I guess I wanted to feel that I hadn’t been pressured into it. I mean, I couldn’t have picked a better guy as far as my parents are concerned!”
Eden grimaced. She knew the pressure Mara’s parents had put on her to marry Enzo. “I can imagine they’re thrilled.”
“Ha! To say the least! Let’s see—good background, check, smart and classy, check, money, check, and successful career, check! He gets full marks in their book.”
“How about madly in love with their daughter?”
Mara snorted, almost spitting out her drink. “Oh honey, I’m not so naïve as to think that was a requirement for them. That one was just for me. And, trust me, I don’t doubt Enzo for one moment. But what about you, Miss Sex in the City? What’s going on in that department?”
Eden blushed red thinking about Sebastian. She proceeded to tell Mara all about him and how he had found in her New York.
“Eden Maxwell, please tell me you got in his pants this morning!”
It was Eden’s turn to almost spit her drink out. “God, no! I mean, I wanted to, trust me, the man is…something else.”
“Sex on a stick?”
Eden blushed again, nodding.
“Okay, that’s it, I’m looking him up.” Mara reached for her phone and quickly found some paparazzi pictures of him at a fundraiser. “Ahh, I see what you mean! Holy hell, Eden, he’s amazing. I can see what you’re all worked up about now.” She frowned. “Who’s the chick he’s with in some of these photos?”
Eden peered over the screen. A young woman, younger looking than Sebastian, appeared in several shots. She was similar-looking to Eden—short, dark hair, and curvy. But she held herself with the confidence of a woman who was used to being photographed and hanging off the arm of a handsome billionaire.
“I didn’t do that much searching about him, does it say?”
“No, but she seems to regularly attend events with him Look, this one’s dated from last month. It’s in London.”
Eden shook her head. “Stop, I’ve seen this guy twice, and both times it was for less than half an hour. I’m not going to start stalking him online.”
“Okay, fine, ruin my fun. But what does this mean for you and Joachim? Have you seen him yet?” Mara asked, putting her phone away.
Eden’s blush faded quickly. “Ugh, yes, that’s who I had lunch with and it went as expected. He wants to get back together.”
“You shouldn’t leave him hanging if you’re going to be with Sebastian.”
“Be with Sebastian? I don’t even know what we are. I think it’s just something casual. I don’t even have the guy’s number.”
Mara put her glass down, and for once her face was serious. “Eden, my little chica, I know you haven’t had a lot of experience with men, but trust me when I say that most men aren’t looking for something casual when they track you down across the goddamn Atlantic Ocean.”
“I just don’t want to assume anything.”
“Fine, but even if Sebastian wasn’t in the picture, what about Joachim? Where do you stand with him?”
Eden sighed and gave Mara a rundown of her lunch with him. “He’s just a friend, Mar, and I know it’s the last thing he wants to hear from me. I just couldn’t bring myself to lay it all out for him this morning.”
Mara’s phone rang, interrupting her guilty confession of not being more honest with Joachim.
“Oooh it’s my fiancé.” She winked at Eden before answering and enthusiastically babbling away in Spanish. She hung up finally, apologizing. “Okay, are you free next Friday? Enzo wants to go out. He’s desperate to meet you. I talked his ear off about you. Yes? Say yes, Eden!”
“Going out? Oh, Mar, I don’t want to be a downer, but I’m still not great about clubs—”
“Cut the crap, Eden. You’re twenty-two. I know something happened in Boston and you never have to tell me the details, but that was a long time ago. You have to start having fun, living a little. Are you never going go to a club again? Never going to drink again? Never going to dance your ass off until the sun rises? Because I refuse to believe that. You need to start living like you’re supposed to, and you’re starting by coming out dancing with us.”
Eden bit her lip. Mara was right. She couldn’t stay in her apartment forever. “Okay, where are we going?”
“Granada, a Latin club. My baby likes to take me dancing. You’ll love it.”
“Mara, how is it that you’ve been in this city less than twenty-four hours and you already have a better social life than me?”
“I have no idea, but I’m dragging you into it, whether you like it or not. Wear dancing shoes!”
Eden returned to her apartment, nervous about the idea of going dancing, but thrilled that Mara was moving to the city. She had already texted Eden three times since leaving her after drinks, and Eden knew it was going to be hard to be lonely in the new city now that Mara was there. She had told her about her Friday dinner date with Sebastian, and Mara had already planned to go out shopping on Friday morning to find the perfect outfit.
Chapter Eight
Standing in the upscale department store, surrounded by dresses in the changing room, Eden almost regretted Mara’s offer to help her find something. She had wanted to wear something similar to the dress she had worn to the Acer Club.
“I’m going for sophisticated chic, Mara, not whatever this is!” She dangled the tiny silver mini-dress that Mara was expecting her to go try on. It would barely cover the top of her thighs.
“No, you’re going for asexual librarian with your choices. Now stop being a prude, Eden. That was Edinburgh Eden, right? Not sexy, hot New York Eden.” Mara had not only chosen ten dresses that Eden would never have picked, but she also had a box of heels that could only be described as “fuck-me-shoes.”
“Let’s compromise. I pick the dress and you pick the shoes.”
Mara shook her head. “No way, lady.” Seeing that she was pushing Eden too quickly, she dropped the silver dress and rifled through the pile. “This! You can’t argue with this!” She held up a dark green silk dress with a high rounded collar. Thin straps held it up over the shoulders, but overall, it was pretty tame. The dress looked like it would hit Eden just above her knee and was far too demure for Mara’s taste.
“What’s the catch, Mara?”
Her friend’s eyes twinkled as she turned the dress around on its hanger. Eden raised her eyebrows. The dress was almost completely backless, with nothing but a tiny tie around th
e neck to keep it from falling off. It ended with a gentle swoop, dangerously low on the back.
“I can’t even wear a bra with that outfit! Or even a thong! Look at how low it’s cut in the back.”
“That’s the whole point, Eden! On, now!”
Eden grabbed the dress and scowled at Mara as she yanked the curtain shut. She had to concur that the dress was great. From the front, the only thing overtly seductive about it was the fact that she couldn’t wear a bra, and despite how loosely the material fell across her breasts, the shape of Eden’s chest was pretty defined. That and the shoes. She decided to forego buying new shoes and wear the same sexy pair that she had worn the first night she met Sebastian. It was only when she turned around that the full impact of the dress was made. Mara reassured her that it looked great. She also convinced Eden to buy a few more outfits, including a fun purple dress with a flirty skater skirt for the Tuesday night dancing. Mara dragged her to the lingerie department next.
“Seriously, I bet you’re still wearing the same bras from before you moved to Edinburgh.”
Eden adjusted her shoulder straps, embarrassed about how accurate Mara was. “I didn’t have any cause to buy anything racy, you know that!”
“Um, hello? You are a good cause. A woman shouldn’t just buy lingerie for a man, Eden. You should wear it because you’re hot and it will remind you every time you put it on! Come on! I’m not suggesting crotchless panties and nipple tassels! Just some nice lacy bra sets. God, my mother wears racier stuff than you.” Mara teased her, but Eden knew she was right. Wearing it was not the same as flaunting it.
****
“I didn’t realize you were friends with Joachim Benedict,” Sebastian stated before she had even put her clutch and coat down on his sofa. Eden couldn’t tell from his tone what he was getting at. His obvious anger had thrown her.
When he’d opened the door to her, his face held the same expression as when their eyes had met in front of Joachim’s office building. His voice was flat and slightly cold. Part of her had expected the town car not to be waiting for her when she exited her apartment building that evening. The look he had given her after seeing her with Joachim had been so full of anger it had stayed with her all day, replacing the feel of his touch from their morning encounter. Her heart had jumped at seeing the car waiting for her, but now she could see that his anger had remained with him and he was projecting it on her.
“We grew up together, as I’m sure you remember. He’s an old friend. We even went to college together…for a while.”
“An old friend. Nothing more.”
“Is that a question?” She turned to face him, the interrogative manner of the tone rankling her.
“I’m hoping it’s a statement of fact.”
“You mean, am I sleeping with him? No!”
“Did you?” he pushed on. He had barely let her come into the apartment and she felt uncomfortable standing in his hallway, holding her coat and purse, being chastised by him.
“I don’t see how this is any of your business. I’m not sleeping with him now. Why would it matter to you if I had in the past?” She started putting her coat back on, irritated at herself, at him, at the whole situation. She turned to move toward the door. This had been a mistake.
Eden had never slept with Joachim. They had come close several times, but something always made her stop, even before the attack. Despite his tender approach to her in bed, he was always too eager, too rushed when it looked like they might actually do more than just fool around, as if trying to complete a sale, desperate to seal the deal before it was too late. Then when she would cool things down, he would return to being affable, sweet Joachim who used to play in his tree house with her and had been her charming escort at the debutante ball. Why she wanted Sebastian to think otherwise, she wasn’t sure yet. She’d been questioned so much about her sex life in the aftermath of the attack, she assumed that Sebastian’s line of questioning was a matter of judgment and nothing else.
“Wait, Eden, stop.”
Something in his voice made her hesitate, her hand on the doorknob.
“The way he looked at you this afternoon, I know that look. The way he hugged you…I don’t want to get involved in the middle of something.” And almost as if had read her mind, he continued. “It’s not my business whether you’ve slept with him, but I do want to know if there is something going on with him now. I don’t want to play games and I don’t share.”
“No,” she capitulated, realizing that she wasn’t interested in playing games either and deciding to ignore the last part of his statement about sharing. “I’m not sleeping with Joachim, and…I never have. We grew up together, dated on and off, and he was there for me at a time when I needed him, but now…we’re friends, nothing more.”
A look of relief swept across Sebastian’s face. “He doesn’t know that, though.”
“I’ve never led Joachim on. I never even saw him the whole time I was in Edinburgh. I think it’s pretty clear where I stand, and whatever his sentiments are toward me are out of my hands. We are just old friends.” Eden turned around, facing him to explain herself, which is what she felt she was doing, even though he hadn’t asked her to outright. She felt slightly guilty about her last statement. She had told Joachim she wasn’t ready to start dating, yet just a few hours later, here she was having dinner with a tall, handsome man who made her drench her panties just by talking to her.
“And you told him you were seeing me tonight.”
“No. Again, that’s a question, right? He asked me for dinner, I said I already had plans. He asked with who, and I told him a friend from Edinburgh. Would it have mattered if I told him it was you?” She had purposefully not told Joachim she had a date, especially after their conversation. Eden was getting angry again. Was he ashamed for people to know he was seeing her? Up until now, she had assumed that Sebastian didn’t know about her sordid past, but suddenly, she wondered if he did and he didn’t want people knowing he was dating the damaged Eden Maxwell.
“With whom.”
“Excuse me?” Eden held her breath, trying to control her growing exasperation toward this arrogant man in front of her. Had he dared correct her grammar?
“Yes, I corrected you, and no, you’re wrong about my asking if he knew.” Again, he was accurately guessing what she was thinking. “It’s got nothing to do with what people think about whom I’m seeing. I’m sure you know that people will speculate about sex regardless of the truth.” He tone had become gentle again.
“Is this what this is—just sex?” Eden tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. She couldn’t deny that she had been thinking about Sebastian in that way, even when Joachim was sitting across from her, but she also couldn’t believe that what she felt when he touched her, when he spoke to her, when she found his gaze lingering on her face, was simply about sex.
“Is it your turn to question me now, Miss Maxwell? I did promise you answers, didn’t I?” His gentle tone had now turned joking and he held out his hand. “Come, I promised you dinner, and dinner we shall have.”
And with that simple gesture, he managed to diffuse the conversation. Eden stared up at him, amazed that his outstretched hand seemed to erase the multitudes of irritations she had been feeling toward him. The feeling was only magnified when he placed it on the small of her back, bare in the silk dress, to guide her into the dining area.
Eden knew she looked good in the dress, good enough that she had expected some sort of reaction from Sebastian when she removed her light summer jacket. Instead, he had started questioning her about Joachim. But now, with his hand on her naked skin, she sensed a change in his attitude, as if he was only seeing her now clearly.
Sebastian chuckled softly and leaned his head down as they crossed the room, his mouth brushing against her ear. “You look stunning tonight, Eden. You should wear silk all the time.”
She let herself smirk slightly, glad that he couldn’t see her face fully as she walked ahead of h
im. Could she let herself be this woman? The type of woman who deliberately dressed seductively to get a man’s attention? Apparently so when that man was Sebastian Stone.
Dinner was amazing, more so than she imagined it would be going on what Sebastian’s penthouse was like. She had expected opulent décor. Sebastian’s English heritage had made her picture Downton Abbey meets Sex and the City. Instead, she was confronted with minimalist chic. The open plan space was sparsely filled with a few black Corbusier leather sofas and chairs centered around a low glass coffee table. Large, colorful modernist paintings hung on the white walls, but other than that, the apartment in no way reflected the real wealth of Sebastian Stone. But the food laid out for them was anything but minimalist. While sushi wouldn’t have surprised Eden at all, the Italian spread she found as he led her to the dining area was more than impressive.
“I must confess,” he began with a smile, “I’m not a foodie, as they say. I asked my cook to make us a nice meal, and voila. Monica is half Italian. I have no idea what this all is. I know there’s garlic bread here, but that’s basically the extent of my culinary knowledge.” He gestured toward the table and pulled out a chair for her.
“Well, I suppose one confession deserves another,” Eden remarked, her good mood slowly returning. She could still feel where his hand had touched her back and found Sebastian’s self-deprecating attitude toward the meal charming. It made a stark contrast to his usual confident demeanor. “I’m not a foodie either. Frankly, I’d be happy with cheap take-out. So, my questions,” she began as they started in on their meal, both of them putting aside any polite smalltalk about the quality of the food, which was actually exquisite. “What are you doing in New York?” What she really wanted to know was whether he had come here to find her.
“As I said before, I work in security. I have offices in London, Edinburgh, and New York. I have a number of international clients and it makes sense to have multiple sites I can work from. I split my time between the three. Next.”
“What happened to you? I mean, after your parents got divorced, you just disappeared. And there’s hardly anything about you online.”
Trusting Stone Page 6