Living the Dream

by Lyla Payne

  He reaches out a hand and I take it, letting him pull me up the three steps to his side. Even though he’s been steady this whole time, on point, never wavering, up close I see his hesitance. His anticipation and his fear that all this will be for nothing. That I won’t forgive him. It makes me smile harder, makes my heart rattle my rib cage and the sweat climb to my forehead.

  He really loves me. Really. A guy like Sebastian—powerful, sexy, ambitious—loves me, and the truth of it almost knocks me off balance, as though the world stopped turning and I’m standing still.

  His eyes are soft. Asking but not pleading. Ready to explode with hope as he lowers the microphone from his lips. “Well, kitten, what do you say? Give me another chance?”

  The advice from Emilie, from Kennedy, from my brother, combines with everything I know, everything I’ve always believed so easily when it comes to other people, and I nod. Then I nod again until my head’s bobbing like some stupid ball-game giveaway doll and tears spill down my cheeks.

  “Yes. Another chance. Let’s do it.”

  He kisses me then, putting his arms around my waist and pressing me tight against his chest. I hold him back, opening my lips against his and tasting everything I’ve missed over the past month of being apart. It’s somehow sweeter, and hotter, now that I know good and well that this guy is mine.

  No one does something like this if he’s half sure.

  The room fades back into focus and everyone is clapping, even the people who still look more bewildered than pleased. Blair is grinning from the front row, shaking her head but hooting along with everyone else. Sebastian’s fingers curl around mine and everything seems weirdly normal.

  Then Quinn gets up and trots up to the front of the church, taking the microphone from Sebastian’s hand. He clears his throat, looking about as nervous as I’ve ever seen a person look without barfing all over the place. Sebastian tugs me out of the way and off to the side, until we’ve left Quinn to face the angry crowd expecting our wedding by himself.

  “What’s going on?” I whisper, snuggling close to his side.

  He grins and it’s so real and happy that my heart feels as though it could blow up. “Just wait.”

  “I know you folks came here today expecting to see Audra and Sebastian get married, and I’m sorry to tell you that’s not going to happen.” There are a few groans from the audience and someone shouts out a question about whether or not there’s still going to be free booze, but mostly people are silent. They sense something’s going to happen.

  Quinn starts down the steps and crosses to the second pew, where Emilie’s sitting near the aisle. “I’m hoping maybe we can still give these people a wedding, mi sorpresita.”

  Her mouth falls open and her cheeks get as red as apples. Her dark gaze fuses to his face, wondering the same thing we’re all wondering—if he means what we think he means.

  “There’s a dress in the chapel and some girls in this audience ready to stand up with you if you say yes. Your parents are here.” Emilie jerks, then follows the direction of Quinn’s finger as he points them out in the back of the church. “We’ll get them a better seat.”

  With that, he drops to one knee in front of her. Emilie’s hands go in front of her lips the way mine did during my fake proposal, but I know I can’t truly understand what she’s feeling.

  After everything she and Quinn have been through, they’re about to start their adult lives, and he’s on one knee, saying he wants to do that together.

  “I’ve loved you since the first time you pissed me off, Emilie Swanson. You saved me. You make me a better man every single day because I know that I’ll never be good enough to be by your side no matter how hard I try. We’re a perfect match and I never want to let you go.” He swallows and pulls a box out of his pocket, then flips open the lid. The sparkle from the ginormous diamond nearly blinds me from twenty feet away and she gasps. “Will you marry me? Right here, right now?”

  She doesn’t even hesitate. To hear their story, she never has, not once since she fell in love with him. She’s believed in Quinn, in their chemistry and their future, from the beginning, and she doesn’t falter now as she nods and pulls him to his feet.

  He picks her up in bear hug and lifts her against his chest, whispering words into her hair that aren’t for anyone else. Then there’s a ring on her finger and Ruby’s there, pulling her down the aisle and out the back door.

  “You planned this?” I ask Sebastian.

  “Quinn and I planned it together. I needed an invitation you couldn’t refuse and he needed a proposal worthy of his bride. It worked out.”

  I lean in and press a lingering kiss to his lips. “Yes, it did.”

  “I’m standing up with Quinn, so I’d better go make sure he doesn’t need anything.”

  Ruby appears at my side less than a minute after Sebastian leaves, squatting down in a knee-length peach chiffon gown that matches the decor.

  So she was in on it—surely my brother knew, too, and kept the cat in the bag?

  I shoot him a glare over his girlfriend’s bare shoulder, and even though he pretends not to see me, Cole does have the good grace to look ashamed.

  “Don’t be mad at him. I threatened him to within an inch of his life because you never would have shown up if you had known.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  She studies me for a second and I wonder if she’s remembering the words that gave her the courage to go to my brother all those months ago. “You know, maybe you would have. But that’s neither here nor there right now because we’ve got a spare dress and Emilie wants you to stand up with us.”

  “What? Really?”

  Ruby rolls her eyes. “Of course.”

  She drags me to a room at the back of the church where Emilie’s already zipped into a slightly off-white gown. It hugs every curve down to her waist before flaring out into a flouncing, ruffled skirt. The top puts her chest on display in the most tasteful way possible for a bride and there are crystals covering the bodice that trail off down the skirt and edge her cathedral-length veil. Her eyes shine as she looks at herself in the mirror, the new diamond winking on her hand.

  I don’t waste any time unzipping my sundress and stepping into the peach chiffon, which fits perfectly, letting Ruby fasten the clasp at the top. “There are nude heels in the corner, two in your size.”

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Emilie breathes, still captivated by her reflection. “This is crazy.”

  “You look beautiful,” I try. “He certainly knows you. That dress is perfection.”

  “It’s exactly what I would have picked out.”

  “He took me shopping.” Ruby makes a face. “It was awful.”

  “It’s all perfect.” I smile at her in the mirror. “The flowers, the dresses, the shoes.”

  “The music, too,” Ruby adds. “Trust me.”

  “We don’t have a marriage license,” Emilie says, panicked all of a sudden at the idea of not going through with a wedding she had no idea was happening twenty minutes ago.

  “Who do you think you’re marrying?” Ruby grins. “I stole your license a week ago and pretended to be you at the courthouse.”

  “We look nothing alike.”

  “Quinn has endless amounts of charm, as I’m sure you know. And cash.”

  Emilie grins, her face lit up as we head to the back of the chapel where her father is waiting. I know they’re not close and things have been strained, but apparently a wedding is something her parents aren’t willing to let her do without them. He tells his daughter she looks beautiful and Emilie gives him a smile. Maybe in the future things will be better between them.

  Ruby and I walk down the aisle to where Quinn, Sebastian, and Sam Bradford wait at the front of the church. Emilie follows and I watch Quinn totally lose his shit, which makes me totally lose my shit before Sebastian sneaks across the aisle and passes me a monogrammed handkerchief.

  It takes me back to the first ti
me we pretended to be a couple, when I made up that story about him crying during a Nicholas Sparks movie and he replied that he always carried a handkerchief.

  We watch each other most of the ceremony, which is as lovely as Ruby promised. The music, the flowers, the candles, the sun lowering toward the horizon outside … it’s like a fairytale. They’ve even recruited a Catholic priest since Emilie’s mother raised her in the faith.

  “Now, by the power vested in me by God and the state of Florida, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

  Quinn leans down as Emilie throws herself at him. He catches her and lifts her up as their lips meet and the kiss goes on for long enough that half the guests’ underwear have probably caught fire. Sebastian raises his gaze to me and the suggestion in his gaze makes mine ignite.

  “It’s my pleasure to introduce to you, for the very first time, Quinn and Emilie Rowland!”

  They march down the aisle with a triumphant gait and then Sebastian holds out his arm. Electricity pops through me as I slide my hand into the crook of his elbow and let him lead me out of the chapel.

  Ruby announces that there will indeed be a reception on the quad with free booze, which elicits the first cheer of the day from our captive but apparently thirsty audience.

  “Does being part of the wedding party require us to be at the whole reception?” Sebastian’s lips move against my ear, his breath making my hair tickle my neck.

  I shiver. “I’ve never done this before, but I bet you and I can come up with a pretty good scheme to steal five or ten minutes.”

  “I bet you and I can come up with plenty of creative things.”

  The reception is just like every wedding reception I’ve ever been to except it’s being thrown for a couple I admire and attended by a horde of people I know. They’re all curious about what went down between Sebastian and me, but now that we’re together and happy, they lose interest pretty quickly. Quinn and Emilie don’t subscribe to the usual bride-and-groom thing where they spend 80 percent of the evening ignoring each other in order to thank every last guest they barely know, instead acting as though they’re the only two people here.

  They dance, they cut cake, they laugh during dinner. They don’t take their eyes or hands off each other.

  I’ve never seen Blair happier in her life, and it’s nice to finally meet Sam in person. He’s as handsome as he is on television and charming enough that I can see why she’s content to put up with time zone differences and overnight flights just to see him for a day here and there. As far as I can tell—and as a friend who needs to return a couple of favors, I’ve been watching like a hawk—he’s as smitten with her as she is with him.

  They leave the green space two or three minutes apart and don’t return. Sebastian turns to me with raised eyebrows. “I do believe your roommate and her beau have the same idea as us.”

  “You can’t expect Blair to wait on anyone. She snatches up her chances.”

  “As do I, kitten. Remind me again your feelings on sex in public.”

  “With you or in general?” I lean in closer, licking my bottom lip when I’m sure he’s looking. “Because if it’s with you, Sebastian, I’m into just about anything.”

  He swallows hard and crosses his legs, urging a giant shit-eating grin onto my face. I can see options swirling through his head and it’s not thirty seconds before he grabs me by the hand. “Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?” I whisper once we’re away from the party and alone on the darkening campus. Pretty much everyone is either at the wedding or gone for the summer.

  “You’ll see.” He drags me over to the business building and digs through his wallet until he comes up with a key card. The door opens when he swipes it.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “I swear, you say you love me but it’s like you don’t even know me.”

  We creep down a dark hallway toward the dean’s office, where Sebastian gives the card another swipe and pulls me inside. There are bookcases full of boring titles and a big, sturdy desk in front of some windows. On the opposite side of the room are two chairs and table.

  Sebastian closes the blinds, then beckons me toward him.

  I think I understand what’s going on now—I’m not that dense—and I shake my head.

  “What, are you afraid?”

  I put on my best scared freshman face and cross my hands over my chest. “No, Professor Blair. It’s just … here?”

  He jerks, surprised, then allows himself an appreciative grin before getting into character. “Is there a better place to discuss your … body of work?”

  My feet carry me across the room, the plush carpet muting the sound of my three-inch heels. I lean in until my breasts brush against his chest and I breathe him in—cigars and bourbon. “What did you want to discuss, Professor? My paper?”

  “You have room for some improvement in my class,” he growls, reaching around behind me and sliding down the zipper on Emilie’s peach bridesmaid dress. “So, what I’d like to discuss is your hot ass.”

  The dress pools around my ankles and goose bumps pop out on my skin. I’m soaked with desire for him, ready to have him toss me on the desk or bend me over it, anything to have him inside me again after a month of dreaming about it.

  But we’re playing a game, and if there’s one thing the two of us are good at, it’s making the most out of every situation.

  So, I drop to my knees and raise my eyes to his, biting my lower lip. I let my voice tremble, which isn’t hard because I am so turned on I think I’ll burn up from the inside. “Is there anything I can do? To improve my grade?”

  “I think you’re in a position to come up with something.”

  That makes me smile and he tries hard to hide one, too. Cheeseball.

  My fingers are deft as they remove his belt and undo the button and zipper on his designer pants, dropping them to the floor. His black boxer briefs go next until he’s hard and pointing toward me, nudging my lips open like a man who loves taking control. I tease him at first with little licks and bites, then suck him hard until his breathing gets labored and his knees buckle.

  “Is that good enough for an A?” I ask, all innocence with him hard as a rock in my palm.

  “Get up.”

  I obey and he unsnaps my bra and shoves my panties out of the way, pushing me backward until I’m sitting on the desk.

  We’re about to fuck on the dean of the business school’s desk.

  I cannot wait.

  He pushes my thighs apart with his knee and stands between them, then puts a hand on my chest, guiding me onto my back. When his lips close over my nipple I think I’ll die from the pleasure, but then his hand joins in, right in my center.

  “More. I need more, Sebastian. I need you inside me.” I’m gasping and impatient, forgetting our little role play. I just want him. Need him.

  I slide my ass all the way onto the desk and he climbs up on top of me, pushing inside me with such frantic swiftness that he must have been dying this whole time, too. We move together in a frenzied motion that gives no thought to how long this will last, but I’ve been teetering on the edge just thinking about it. A few well-placed fingers and I’m gone, crashing and trying to be quiet in the process, clinging to Sebastian’s neck and drinking in the sounds of him following right behind me.

  I look up into his eyes, both of us panting and joined by slick skin, and have to smile. “That was fun.”

  “It was more than fun, it was incredible.” His expression is serious. “Thank you for doing this.”

  “For doing this?” I ask, motioning to us and the desk.

  “No, perv. For giving me another chance. I might screw up on occasion, but I won’t blow it. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You’re the only girl that’s ever going to get me. Understand me. Love me in spite of how fucked up I am.”

  I pull him to me, my arms tight around his neck. “Oh, Sebastian. Don’t you know you dese
rve that?”

  AFTER

  Audra

  “I am so not looking forward to going back to Whitman next month,” I groan, peering over at Sebastian through my sunglasses. The late-afternoon sun glints off the pool at his apartment complex in Washington, DC.

  The summer is too short but made even shorter by my Kappa responsibilities this fall. Recruitment starts early.

  “I’m not looking forward to you going back to school, either, but I am excited about giving you a proper send-off when we get back to the apartment.”

  It’s the first time he’s been home in the afternoon for weeks—the senator’s office keeps him busy but he’s been so stupid happy since moving here. It’s like he’s a different person, even from the guy who told me he loved me in May. This Sebastian adores his job but still finds time to send me dirty texts during the day. He made sure I got lined up with a charity for the summer so I wouldn’t be bored, and he hasn’t missed an event. He stops for groceries and makes dinner reservations and comes home with little gifts at least three times a week.

  He’s taken me to visit his mother once a week, even when plane tickets are expensive or he gets into a dark place over whether she or Teddy is really responsible for his childhood. Personally, I think they both are, but it’s Sebastian’s trauma to come to grips with and there’s no reason to force it. He’s fine.

  We’re fine. Better than, actually.

  “Didn’t you give me a send-off when we woke up this morning? And then again after breakfast?”

  “Lucky number three.” He puts down his newspaper—easily his tenth of the day. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask what you did with that engagement ring I bought.”

  “Yikes, I totally left it at the Kappa house. You could probably hawk that thing and pay for your mom’s care until the end of the year.”

  “More than that,” he says wryly, and my heart catches. That’s a lot of money. “I was thinking maybe you’d want to keep it.”

  That gets my attention and I slide my sunglasses off my face so I can see him better. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying it’s stupid obvious, Audra Stuart, that you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives together. This summer has been perfection—I mean, you drive me nuts the way you leave sticky coffee cups everywhere, and I think you’ve only sent your laundry out once—but I love coming home to you.”