by Bella Andre
“That’s brilliant.”
She scanned him again, right into him, past his good looks. “You’re brilliant. I would never have thought of mixing the two mediums, metalwork and tile work.” She thought of the anger he must still feel over his parents destroying themselves with alcohol and partying, especially when he’d needed so badly for them to be there for him. And she couldn’t help adding, “It’s going to be amazing fun to break plates against the wall, venting all our frustrations in a good cause.”
“I like it. And you.” He reached for her, brushed his fingertips over her lower lip. “I like you too, Charlie. So very much.”
Her heart stilled for a moment as she basked in the way his eyes mapped the lines of her face. This time when they kissed, she wouldn’t be able to stop at that. Not with this reckless need pounding through her veins. Just as she was about to put her hands on both sides of his gorgeous face, a horn honked, startling her and breaking the moment.
Sebastian made a frustrated growl. It was the first time she’d seen him fail to get his way, and she was just as frustrated as he levered himself away from the bench, his muscles rippling.
A white van idled on the drive as a uniformed driver jumped out and handed Sebastian a box. A few seconds later, she was surprised when he held it out to her.
“I don’t need gifts.” He’d already given her so much.
“It’s not for you. But you can open it. Don’t shake it, though. It’s fragile.”
What could it be? On the workbench, she grabbed an X-Acto knife and carefully cut through the tape. Inside were six smaller boxes—three flat, three square. She opened a flat box first.
“Oh, my gosh.” She gaped at the utterly beautiful china plate. Monarch butterflies floated across the white porcelain, their wings trimmed in gold. The plate’s scalloped edge was lined in a dusty pink and outlined with gold. “It’s exquisite.” The butterflies flew around leaves and ornately painted flowers with swirls of gold between them. “You don’t expect me to break this for the mosaic, do you?”
He grinned, shaking his head. “No, these are for your mom.”
“My mom?”
“Apart from your visits, the china is her only luxury, isn’t it?” When she nodded, he smiled and said, “Open the rest.”
Her hands weren’t quite steady as she unearthed two more plates and three delicate matching mugs, with yellow butterflies, blue butterflies, all edged in gold. She didn’t have to ask to know the gold was real. Sebastian was a man who insisted on nothing but the best.
“They’re beautiful. Mom will adore them.” Her mother had never owned anything so elegant. Or so expensive, she thought before she could stuff the thought away to join all her other conflicted emotions about Sebastian’s money—and how free he was with it when it came to her.
“My friend Will imports these from England.” He flipped the plate over. “They’re signed by the artist who paints them. This is by Rose.” He pointed to a small rose under the maker’s name.
Charlie was overwhelmed. All she had to do was make one offhand remark about forgetting a plate and a cup, and he miraculously conjured them for her from England. But not just two. Three. Because he clearly planned to join them again.
“I’m going to visit my mom again on Wednesday. I know you’re busy, but if you can carve out a little more time, will you come with me?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
Her eyes stung with tears of gratitude. She’d been pissy about his offer to help her mother, making it about her and her guilt. Yet everything he’d done had been kind and thoughtful. He always praised, never criticized. He built people up, never dragged them down. Right from the beginning, even when she’d expected the rich, take-what-he-wants, stomp-on-whomever celebrity, he’d been different. She’d looked for chinks, but everything he’d done defined him as a flesh-and-blood man who actually cared.
In that moment, Charlie put aside every reservation about his research into her mother’s illness. He wanted to give, so she would accept without automatically assuming there were strings attached.
She carefully put the plate back in its box. “Thank you.” Reaching up, she framed his face in her hands, then rose on her toes and kissed him. Soft and sweet, still trembling with emotion. “For everything.”
* * *
Maybe a better man would have looked at Charlie’s kiss as nothing more than a sweet thank-you. But Sebastian didn’t have it in him, not after the hours he’d spent watching those lithe curves move, her strong yet elegant hands performing miracles in metal. Hell, the way her mind worked was the sexiest thing of all.
Being with Charlie, especially when they were in her workshop, reminded him that there was a life beyond work and society events. Reminded him of the simple pleasures of working with your hands. Of getting hot and sweaty. She’d brought that joy of art and creativity back into his life, right there in front of him. She’d let him watch, had even let him be a part of it when she’d run with his mosaic suggestion. She was right that he didn’t have any spare time to be there with her in her workshop, but Sebastian was inexorably drawn both to being a part of the creative process and being with her.
He’d always craved creating. Now he craved her too. Which meant resisting the irresistible wasn’t an option.
His arms around her, he lifted her off her feet, taking her mouth as roughly as she had taken his so sweetly just moments before, steeping himself in her taste. He would have sung a chorus of Hallelujah when she opened fully, giving him everything, if it hadn’t meant lifting his lips from hers to do so. Holding her tight, he possessed her mouth while she tangled her fingers in his hair.
Her tongue licked out against his, her curves pressed into his muscles, the pulse at her neck throbbed against his thumb, and he was lost in need. Desperate to have more of her. All of her. Every gasp of pleasure. Every moan of desire.
She mesmerized him, and his body took over, raging hard and tight. He consumed and was consumed. Never before had anyone made him forget time or place. There was only the feel of her, the taste, the scent, the moan in her throat. He wanted her with every cell, every organ.
And he knew she wanted him just as badly. His hands molded her bottom to shift her, and he felt her heat, hotter than her welding torch. Every instinct told him to shove her up on the bench, to take, grab, own, possess. Need clamored inside him. He wanted his mouth on her everywhere.
He might have taken everything he wanted if a cloud hadn’t passed over the sun, if the light hadn’t changed and woken him up for an instant. Lord knew he wanted to jump into the deep end with her. Wanted to take her hand and fly out over the edge. Wanted to risk everything on the hope that they were the perfect fit.
But only last night, he’d drawn more pictures of his parents. Sketches that reminded him of how brutal toxic love could be. That it could destroy absolutely everything.
Nothing about Charlie seemed toxic. On the contrary, she seemed to be his ideal match. And yet...he still hadn’t been able to completely figure her out, still didn’t understand why she hadn’t been reaching for her full potential until he’d found her in the middle of her junkyard. He’d never felt this strongly about another woman, never felt like he was falling in love before.
And that very fact made him recognize that if toxic love was going to hit him, it would be now, when Charlie already mattered so much to him. He couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to fall completely for her, only to have to give her up. When they finally did dive into the deep end together, he wanted them both to truly know enough about each other to take the risk not just with their bodies.
But with their hearts.
Though it was even harder to pull back today than it had been two nights ago, he forced a breath of space between them. Her chest rose against him, as she gasped for the air they’d both lost in their sweet, desperate kiss.
“You...” The word came out raw. Ragged. “I want...” Damn it, he was never at a loss for words. Hell, his job was a
lways having the right words for everything. But he’d never felt this way about anyone, never had to stop himself from moving too fast because his heart was tied so closely to his desires.
She put her hand on his face. The same strong, elegant hand that could create such majestic art. “I want you too.” She sucked in another shaky breath. “Just as badly. But—” She lifted her beautiful eyes to his. “I want to be sure.”
Trust Charlie to find the words. Exactly the right ones. Exactly the ones he was feeling.
“Soon,” he said again, just as he had after their first kiss two nights earlier. “We’ll know soon.”
She echoed the word “Soon,” in a whisper of a kiss against his lips. Even before the day arrived when they finally stripped away each other’s walls and became one, for him every other woman had already been erased. Because all along, something told him he’d been waiting for Charlie.
He hoped like hell she’d eventually realize she’d been waiting for him too.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
For the next handful of days, Charlie alternately worked on the chariot...and daydreamed about Sebastian’s kisses. Once or twice she did both at the same time, but that was a surefire way to cut right through a finger, so she forced herself to focus one hundred percent while she was in her studio. When she was back in her bungalow at night, however, all bets were off.
She’d been right about his incredibly busy schedule. More than once, she heard the helicopter taking off, and at one point she was pretty sure there was a film crew on the property up by the main house. But though they were both so busy, Sebastian always made sure to find her each day to give her a kiss. Just one perfect kiss each time. So perfect that he’d left her with her head spinning and her lips tingling. And every single time, as he drew back, he said one word.
“Soon.”
It had become both her favorite word...and her most hated.
After working on some of her creations for up to a year or two at a time, Charlie thought she had patience down to an art form. But her need for Sebastian was eating through it faster than a plasma cutter.
But for as much as she desired him, she found herself liking him even more. His thoughtfulness knew no bounds. When Wednesday morning came, he had his driver waiting right on time to take them both to Shady Lane for a visit with her mother. She’d hoped Sebastian would steal his kiss in the limo, but he seemed happy just to hold her hand, stroking his thumb over her palm in seductive circles that made her almost mindless with need. And if they hadn’t been on their way to see her mother—who would notice absolutely everything, the way she always had when Charlie was a teenager—Charlie might have given in to the reckless urges pumping through her veins and jumped him right then and there on the black leather seat, with the driver only feet away.
Once they were inside the building, Charlie handed the box of beautiful china to Sebastian. “You should give your gorgeous present to her.” He didn’t have a mother anymore, but he was a man with so much love to give. Charlie was happy to share hers, especially when she knew how much her mother enjoyed his company and attention.
Despite the dingy room, he was almost ceremonial in his presentation of the cups and plates. Sebastian, it seemed, could transcend anything. Two alcoholic parents. A childhood of poverty. Even the less than stellar surroundings of an elder-care center.
Her mother gasped with joy. A joy that, amazingly, seemed to replace the pain for a little while. “Oh, Sebastian.” She pressed his hand. “I’ve never seen anything so lovely.”
“I have,” he murmured so softly that only Charlie could hear. He looked straight into her eyes and her heart thumped even faster in her chest.
He suggested they drive Francine out to Lake Elizabeth and share their tea and bear claws as an outdoor picnic. The park was only a mile from Shady Lane, and her mother seemed to enjoy the ride in the limo as much as she soaked up the dappled sunlight streaming through the trees on the comfortable portable chairs he’d stashed in the trunk.
“I’d like to bring a doctor by to see you, Francine.” Sebastian had thoroughly discussed the Stanford hand surgeon with Charlie and she’d agreed to his intervention if it had any chance of helping her mother. “Would that be all right with you?”
“You’re such a dear, but it’s too late now. All the doctors have told me that.”
“If you don’t mind seeing one more, I know my friend would be very interested in coming to meet with you.” Sebastian poured tea from a Thermos he’d brought, having naturally thought of absolutely everything.
Her mother nibbled her bear claw. “It tastes even better on this beautiful china.” She added a sip of tea to her delight. “I’ve never heard of a doctor doing house calls, at least not in this century.”
“It’s a personal favor. Unfortunately, he’s out of the country right now, so he’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”
Charlie shuddered to think that Sebastian had probably promised to fund a new wing at the hospital in return. She’d worked to get past her hang-up about his spending so much money on her and her mother...but it was difficult when he only grew more generous by the second.
Her mother squeezed Sebastian’s hand. “You’re going to spoil me,” she said in a singsong.
“You deserve to be spoiled.”
“I know what a busy man you must be.”
“I’m not too busy to see you.”
“We both know that isn’t true,” her mother said in a soft voice. “You’re very special to carve out time we all know you don’t have to visit an old woman you’ve just met. Very special, indeed.”
Charlie’s heart turned over at the glow on her mom’s face—and how moved she could see that Sebastian was by the bond he was forming with her mother. She knew how badly he’d wanted to help his parents, and it wasn’t hard to see that he’d channeled that need into helping others.
So despite her lingering guilt at accepting his help, she was doubly glad she’d consented. The look on both their faces was worth everything. If the doctor could find a way to help her mother experience even a tiny bit less pain, it would be all Charlie could ask for.
Sebastian was good for her mother.
And, she thought, as he snuck in his one perfect kiss while her mother’s head was turned toward the sun, she couldn’t deny that he was good for her too.
* * *
“Do you need to head straight back to the workshop?”
The limo had just dropped them off at his house, and even though she should have gone right back to work, how could she resist more time with Sebastian? And if she could actually work on the sculpture while spending time with him? Well, that would be absolute perfection.
“Actually, I was thinking about doing a little shopping this afternoon.” At his surprised look—he’d obviously noticed she wasn’t particularly into fashion—she laughed and clarified. “For parts to use on the chariot.” She’d formed the body and haunch of one horse, but she was working on the legs and head, and the chariot still needed its base. He’d already taken off a ton of time and it was a long shot, but she decided to say, “There’s both an estate sale and a construction sale this afternoon, if you’d like to come with me.”
“Isn’t an estate sale basically just a glorified garage sale?”
It was kind of adorable how his nose crinkled at the words garage sale. Clearly, he’d been living in the lap of luxury for a while. Either that, she found herself thinking on a more sober note, or garage sales had been the only “stores” his parents could afford to shop at when he was a kid.
“One person’s junk is another’s treasure. It can be a goldmine. I adore junk shopping.”
“You adore junk shopping?” He gave her his best innocent look as they headed for his garage. “Could have fooled me.”
She playfully swiped at his chest. He grabbed her fingers, and lifted them to his lips for a quick kiss that left her skin tingling and her heart racing as they stepped into his enormous, and well-stocked, garage. Not th
at she could make fun of him for his collection of classic cars, however, considering her personal collection of broken shovels and pipes.
She insisted on taking the truck, but he insisted on driving. It made her hot and bothered to watch him behind the wheel. A man with a truck was just plain sexy, but Sebastian dressed in black jeans and a black shirt behind the wheel of a half-ton pickup was downright meltingly hot.
The day had been absolutely perfect so far, so when they uncovered an array of crockery, including chipped and mismatched china, not five minutes after arriving at the estate sale, she honestly wasn’t surprised. Everything Sebastian touched seemed to turn to gold.
There was no reason for the thought to send a shiver running down her spine. No reason to be anything but thrilled at connecting with him the way she had. And yet, if everything he touched turned to gold...then did that mean she would too?
It didn’t make sense that she should be so uncomfortable with the idea of breaking out as an artist, as Sebastian had told her time and time again was his plan. Especially when she so badly needed the money for her mother’s care. Still, it took some work to remember to smile when she caught Sebastian looking at her strangely.
“Is everything okay?”
His hand was on her face and when she felt his warm touch and looked into his eyes, she knew she must be crazy for having any reservations at all. “Everything’s perfect.”
His gaze dropped to her lips for one heady, heated moment, before he simply brushed his thumb over her lower lip and said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Yes. I want you. Badly.
His grin stole her breath, even before he lowered his voice and said, “God, how you tempt me, Charlie.” She could see how much self-control it took to add, “The other thing I’m thinking.”
Her breathed whooshed out in a half-laugh, half-sigh. “The mosaic,” she whispered. “The china was meant for us.” And truly, her heart was fluttering at both the excitement of the find, and from being with Sebastian.