by Cat Schield
“Fly to Raleigh and talk to him there.”
An ache formed in Sebastian’s chest as Missy rested her head on David’s shoulder. She hadn’t been willing to take comfort from him.
“Fine. I’ll go.” Sebastian ended the call without waiting for his brother’s response.
He banked his fury at this unwelcome turn of events and headed toward Missy.
She’d been watching him the whole time and offered a weak smile as he neared. “Usually that would be me looking for you.” She checked her watch. “It’s almost eight in the morning. What’s the crisis?”
“I have to fly to Raleigh. Lucas is backing out of our deal.”
“Go,” she said, nodding. “That’s important.”
More important than her. He read her loud and clear.
“I don’t want to leave you.”
She offered him a grateful smile. “I’ll be okay. Dad’s not out of danger, but the doctors think he’ll make a full recovery. Smythe Industries is important.” She got to her feet and tugged at his arm. “Come on. David can drive you back to the plane.”
He was startled by how reluctant he was to leave her. For the first time in his life, he had no desire to return to work. Someone else should be able to take care of business, leaving him free to be with Missy a while longer. But that’s not the way Case Consolidated Holdings was structured. His need to control all aspects of the business had made it so that he was the one who stepped in when things weren’t working.
“You’re sure you don’t need me to stay?”
She shook off the scared, lost girl she’d been for the last few hours. Her spine straightened. She firmed her lips and enfolded herself in the brisk professionalism she usually demonstrated.
The transformation caught him off guard.
How often had she hidden hurt, fear or sadness from him? He’d taken her efficiency for granted, he saw now. She wasn’t made of granite. Far from it.
He cupped her face in his hands. “Tell me you need me and I won’t go.”
Tears brightened her eyes. Her breath caught. She blinked a few times and swallowed hard. “That’s not necessary. I have all my family here. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t doubt that. You’re all wonderful support for each other. I just feel funny leaving you behind.”
In truth, he’d gotten used to having her around all the time. Except for a half-dozen business trips that had lasted a week, he realized that he hadn’t gone without seeing her for more than three days.
“You feel funny?” she echoed, a grin ghosting through her eyes.
And that was all it took. He leaned down and kissed her, not caring one single bit who saw.
Sebastian registered her utter shock before the compelling warmth of her soft lips made him forget everything but the way she made him feel. He wrapped his arms around her. With her fingers threaded through his hair, he savored the texture of her lips and the sweetness of her soft body.
A throat cleared behind him. “We should probably get going,” David said.
Releasing her took longer than it should have. How long until he held her again? He knew she needed to be here for her dad and family. But he’d been a selfish bastard for so long and couldn’t resist hoping that she was back in Houston within a couple weeks.
With her cheeks a bright pink she peered at him from beneath her lashes. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to stick around for a while.”
His instincts screamed that leaving her here was a bad idea, but what could he do? Her family needed her. His company needed him.
“Take as much time as you need.”
Just come back to me.
“I’m doing fine,” Malcolm Ward said, pushing away Missy’s attempt at dinner. “Don’t you think it’s time you went back to Houston? It’s been three weeks.”
Missy stopped dragging her fork through the lumpy mashed potatoes and met her father’s gaze. She hadn’t told him she’d quit her job. He needed to focus on his recovery. If he had any idea she had no pressing reason to return to Houston, he’d start worrying about her instead of getting better. Not that her dad was any good at thinking about himself. Always, his congregation came first. Then his family. Then the rest of the world. Then himself.
Having a saint for a father had never been easy.
“I have over a month of vacation saved up. Sebastian doesn’t have any problem with me using it to take care of you.”
“How much time do you have left?”
Three days.
“Plenty.”
She carried her plate to the sink and dumped the burnt meatloaf and overcooked green beans into the garbage disposal. Normally her father protested any waste, but not even he would wish that dinner on anyone.
“Who’s filling in for you while you’re gone?”
“They hired a temp. It’s done all the time. Don’t worry. There’ll be a job for me when I go back.” Someone would hire her. Or she could stay at Case Consolidated Holdings as the director of communications. If the position was still available.
“Your brothers like him.”
“Who?” She transferred a large slice of chocolate cake to a plate and set it before her father. Chocolate was one thing he let himself indulge in.
“Your boss.”
“Sebastian is terrific.” Thinking about him sent a sweet pain shooting through her body. During the three days her father had spent in the hospital, struggling to heal and overcome the infection that had kept him delirious, Missy hadn’t had time to dwell on what had happened in Las Vegas or fuss over what the future might bring.
“Cares about you, does he?”
Missy sat down with her own wedge of triple chocolate delight. She couldn’t cook, but she knew how to bake.
“I’ve worked for him a long time.”
“From what I hear, there’s more to it than that.”
Her cheeks burned beneath her father’s all-knowing stare. Who’d told him? David? She’d sworn him to secrecy. He wouldn’t spill the beans for fear that she would tell his wife how much he paid for that new revolver.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“He’s called here every day, sometimes twice a day.”
“That’s about work.” She found little breathing room in the barrage of her father’s questioning. “They’ve recently bought a new company.” In her absence, Sebastian had saved the deal with Smythe Industries. “There are a lot of details involved in integrating their employees into Case Consolidated Holdings, and he’s calling me to help the temp with contact information and such.”
“And the kiss he gave you at the hospital?” her dad quizzed, his tone conversational. “How were you planning on explaining that? Improved employer-employee relations?”
“Who told you?” Missy clapped her hands over her hot cheeks. She hadn’t felt this embarrassed since her father had caught her and Wayne Stodemeyer necking in the tool shed when she was fifteen. “If it was David, I’ll…” She let her threat trail off, unwilling to voice her intention to break one of the Ten Commandments to her dad the minister.
“Don’t worry, your brother didn’t rat you out. It was one of the nurses.”
“Great. Just great.”
“Is that why Tim broke up with you?” her father quizzed, revealing that his ability to know everything that went on around him wasn’t quelled by the fact that he’d almost died three weeks ago.
Missy shoved aside that horrifying thought so she could deal with setting her father straight.
“No. Tim broke up with me because I worked too many hours and he was lonely. He found someone new. Sebastian had nothing to do with it.”
Nothing directly. Although in the past few weeks she’d analyzed her relationship with Tim and come to see that her crush on Sebastian hadn’t been as over as she’d assumed. It had interfered with her priorities.
“I see. Are you two a couple then?”
“Sebastian and me?” The words exploded out of her on an incredulous l
augh. “Of course not. I’m not his type. If he ever gets married again, he’s going to choose someone gorgeous, wealthy and sophisticated. Three things I’m not and never will be.”
“Maybe you have it wrong.”
Not possible. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her small town. He’d been polite to her family, but he’d also been sizing everyone up. She wouldn’t trade a single brother, sister-in-law, niece or nephew for anyone from Sebastian’s well-connected circle; but that didn’t mean she was blind to their flaws or shortcomings.
None of her brothers had the sort of ambition that kept them working sixty hours a week at their jobs. The second oldest, Jacob, had taken until he was in his mid-thirties to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up. They were college educated and had successful careers, but they balanced work with family.
Sebastian wouldn’t recognize the value in balance. He’d chosen business over family.
“Do you have feelings for him?” her dad persisted, breaking into her thoughts.
“Of course. And he has feelings for me. Just not the same sort of feelings.”
Or that’s what she told herself. She really didn’t have a clue what Sebastian wanted beyond her returning as his assistant—or her spending an indefinite amount of time in his bed. Back in Las Vegas, she’d doubted there was a future for them past Las Vegas. Now that he’d seen where she’d grown up, she doubted it even more.
If only she could get that goodbye kiss out of her head. The hungry strength in the arms around her. The way it seemed to take a long time for him to let go. She told herself not to read too much into his daily phone calls or the smooth caress of his tone as he asked her how she was doing.
She rubbed her arms as goose bumps appeared. Beneath her father’s keen regard she finished her chocolate cake and went to start the dishes.
“Thanks for dinner,” he said, his arms sliding around her from behind. He kissed her cheek. “I think you should go back to Houston. You can’t hide out here forever.”
Missy whirled on her father, a protest cocked and ready, but he was already out the door, moving better than he had since coming home from the hospital. He’d done that on purpose, hit her with a blunt opinion and then fled before she could defend herself.
Was she hiding?
Damn right she was hiding.
Almost four weeks ago she’d quit her job and slept with her boss. Returning to Houston meant having to cope with both things. She wasn’t ready to decide on anything more taxing than whether to bake another chocolate cake or to shake things up and try lemon.
“I’m going to the store,” she called, grabbing her purse and the keys to the truck.
“Can you pick up a prescription for me while you’re out?” her father asked from the living room.
Missy made the drugstore her first stop. She could use a tube of toothpaste. All she’d packed before going to Las Vegas was travel-sized toiletries. A week ago she’d run out of her brand and started using her dad’s and didn’t like it at all. Another sign that she needed to go home.
Browsing the aisles, she added shampoo, lotion and dental floss to her basket. It wasn’t until she passed the feminine products that she stopped cold. She’d been in town almost four weeks and in Las Vegas three days before that without having her period. Whipping out her phone, she keyed up her calendar and tracked backward.
She should have started two weeks ago. Either she’d skipped her period because she was stressed, or she was pregnant. How was that possible? She and Sebastian had been careful.
A wave of dizziness struck her. Except for that first time. They’d been so caught up in the moment neither one of them had thought about protection. But to get pregnant after one mistake? That just wasn’t realistic.
She needed to find out for sure, and she needed to know tonight. But she couldn’t buy the test here. Everyone would know. Her father would find out. She’d head over a couple towns and hit a pharmacy where no one would recognize her.
In a fog, Missy paid for her purchases and headed to the truck. Forty-five minutes later she sat in the bathroom of a roadside diner and checked her watch for the fifteenth time in thirty seconds.
She was waiting for a blue bar, but she didn’t really need it. She’d convinced herself she was carrying Sebastian’s child. Time rushed at her like a charging bull. Regret squeezed her eyes shut. It was like high school all over again. Except she hadn’t been pregnant then, just the victim of a vicious rumor. Not that it had stopped her boyfriend from dumping her when word got out.
And if she could count on one thing, it was that Sebastian would not react well to her being pregnant. He would think she’d done it on purpose. All her talk of getting married and babies. He would believe she’d tricked him, and who could blame him? It’s what his ex-wife had done.
But he’d marry her. And spend the rest of his life resenting her the way he resented his first wife. Missy couldn’t bear that. She loved him too much to put him through it. So, she wouldn’t tell him.
Her phone rang. It was a Houston number, but not Sebastian’s.
“Missy,” Max Case boomed. “I hope your father is doing better.”
“Yes, much. Thank you.” She stared at the stick and watched the blue bar coalesce.
Positive. Pregnant.
“Glad to hear it. Do you still want the director of communications position?”
She couldn’t be pregnant. She didn’t have a husband. No job meant no income, no health coverage. What was she going to do?
“I’m sorry, Max, you broke up.” What had he said? “Could you say that again?”
“I asked if you’re still interested in Dean’s job.”
This answered the problem of her job situation, but what about Sebastian? A second ago she’d decided that she wouldn’t tell Sebastian he was going to be a father. Could she have his baby and stay working around him at the same time?
“Missy?” Max prompted. “Are you still there?”
“Yes.”
“So, what do you say?”
What could she say? “I’m still interested in the job. I’m just worried about Sebastian’s reaction.”
“Don’t let it stop you from what will be a wonderful career move.”
“You’re right. I’ll take the job. And thank you.”
“When are you coming back?”
She scrubbed her cheeks free of tears and shook her shoulders like a dog shedding water. With her spine as stiff as she could make it, she exited the bathroom and headed for the truck.
“I’ll head home Wednesday,” she said, wishing she could linger in Crusade and hide from her troubles a little longer.
“I’ll see you in the office on Thursday.”
“Max, can you let me tell Sebastian about the job?”
“If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
Missy sighed as she ended the call. Sebastian would be unhappy that she hadn’t talked to him about staying on at Case Consolidated Holdings before accepting the job.
Hopefully he would be glad she was sticking around. From the start, he’d made it clear that his need for her started and stopped at the office. Besides, no matter how amazing the sex between them had been, they’d both known it was only a matter of time before Sebastian came to his senses and relegated what had happened between them in Vegas to a massive mistake.
Or perhaps he’d figured it out already. Although she heard from him almost every day, their conversations were strictly business. She couldn’t help but wonder if Sebastian had been going out with Kaitlyn. His mother wanted him to marry the wealthy socialite. Missy understood why. They were a perfect social and economic match. Sebastian was practical. Was it only a matter of time until he saw the advantages?
Could she work at Case Consolidated Holdings and watch him marry someone else while she raised his child on her own? Missy grimaced. It would be hell. And she’d spent enough years pining after a man she couldn’t have.
Lightning arced
across the sky overhead. A storm had blown in while she’d awaited the results of the pregnancy test. By the time she got a mile down the road, rain hammered the truck roof like angry fists. Visibility diminished to ten feet in front of her. Driving in these conditions was beyond reckless. But she couldn’t shake an urgent need to get home.
The windshield wipers flew back and forth at top speed, but as quickly as they cleared water from the windshield, more replaced it. A pair of lights appeared before her, too close for her to stop. She swerved toward the shoulder and hit the brakes. The tires caught in the soft gravel, turned to thick mud by the downpour and pulled the truck even farther from the road. Coming to a full stop, she gripped the wheel hard. A jackhammer pounded away in her chest.
The near miss had brought crystalline clarity. No matter what happened between her and Sebastian, this wasn’t just about them anymore. She was going to be a mother. Maybe sooner than she’d expected and without hope that the father would ever believe she’d had no ulterior motive when she slept with him. But she had a new focus for her life. Going forward, every decision she made would be with her child’s best interest as her priority.
And if that meant working as the director of communications for Case Consolidated Holdings and letting the love of her life never know he was the father of her child, that’s what she’d do.
Nine
Sebastian raced home, hoping to beat Missy there. Her plane had landed an hour ago, but the heavy rush-hour traffic from the airport would probably double her half-hour commute. He checked his cell, expecting an irate phone call when she discovered the car he’d sent to fetch her wasn’t taking her to her house but to his.
Being separated from her for a month had taken its toll on him both professionally and personally. He’d gone through three temps, the longest one lasting nine business days before dissolving into tears.
“Impossible to find good help,” he muttered, turning into his driveway, his fingers tapping an impatient rhythm on the armrest as the wrought iron gates swung open.
The neighborhood where he’d built was an eclectic mix—mid-century ranches and twenty-first-century mansions. Close to downtown Houston and boasting a highly desirable school system, many people, himself included, had bought an older home on a large lot with mature trees and torn down the house to make way for a mini estate.