by Ashley Blake
Someone Unexpected
Blu Brothers Series- Sebastian
by
Ashley Blake
New Adult Romance
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www.ashleyblakefiction.com
Packing up and moving to Miami after college was the best thing that Elena Sumner could have done. Trying to forget about an abusive ex-boyfriend who taunts her from prison, Elena throws herself into her job at Blu Sierra Miami, a luxury hotel. Meeting a man is the last thing on her list, she is career focused and knows what she wants. Until she meets him.
Billionaire Sebastian Blu is a tall, rich, gorgeous, playboy and owner of the Blu Sierra hotel chain who is used to getting what he wants. As one of the country's top ten most eligible bachelors, he literally has his pick of women and is seen with a different lady every night. No one has been able to capture his interest until he meets Elena. He is relentless in his pursuit of her and even though she tries to resist him, she fails.
Just when she thought she had met the perfect guy, their pasts get in the way of their happiness. She wonders if she will be able to accept the secret he was keeping from her all along...
Copyright, 2013 by Ashley Blake.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter One – The Dream
Chapter Two – Flashback
Chapter Three – Meeting Him
Chapter Four – Next Steps
Chapter Five – New Beginnings
Chapter Six – Getting to Know You
Chapter Seven – São Paulo Part One
Chapter Eight – São Paulo Part 2
Chapter Nine – São Paulo Part 3
Chapter Ten – São Paulo Part 4
Chapter Eleven – Blind-sided
Chapter Twelve – Recovery
Chapter Thirteen – Answers
Chapter Fourteen – Moving On
Chapter Fifteen – Blu Men Group
Chapter Sixteen – Court Calls
Chapter Seventeen – Making Up
Chapter Eighteen – The Perfect Date
Chapter Nineteen – Jaden
Chapter Twenty – The End of Brian
Epilogue – Two Years Later
Chapter One – The Dream
Okay, this is weird, everything seems too perfect. I was walking home through the park and something was different but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The air was fresher than I had ever remembered, the grass was a beautiful bright green, the flowers were more vibrant and beautiful than the prettiest picture I had ever seen, and as I looked at the people around me everyone seemed to be happy and had a smile on their face. Could this day be any more perfect? I felt really happy as I walked toward my building and I couldn't quite tell why I was in such a good mood, but I felt a huge sense of peace and happiness all around me.
A couple was walking toward me and from a distance they looked so happy together. He had his arm draped over her shoulder and her head was lying on his shoulder, her arm around him. That’s so sweet, I can’t wait to have that with someone. I had a smile on my face as they got closer and it slowly turned to a frown when I saw her battered face and the look of fear in her eyes. He had a strong hold on her and a sinister look on his face. I could tell that she needed help but when I started to say something they disappeared into the trees. Okay, that was weird, what is going on?
As I turned into the vestibule of my building, I reached into my purse for my keys and I felt strong arms grab me as a large hand covered my mouth, snapping me out of my reverie. I tried to scream but my voice was gone.
“I told you I would see you again.” The voice in my ear was deep and familiar as chills of fear enveloped me, and I realized that he had finally found me.
My eyes flew open as I sat up straight in my bed, sweat pouring out of me, my heart banging against my chest cavity. I was completely disoriented for a minute as I looked around my room panting, trying to catch my breath. It took a few seconds for me to realize that I’d had the dream again but I was safe in my apartment. In that moment I wished so badly that my best friend Chloe and I were still roommates, but she had moved in with her boyfriend the month before and I still wasn’t totally used to her being gone. I’ve got to remember to place that ad for a new roommate. I hadn’t had that dream for at least six months and I was so happy about that because I thought the nightmare was finally over, I thought that I had finally broken through the fear. I dragged myself to the kitchen for a cup of coffee as I tried to shake it off. I had to remind myself that he was locked up in prison and he wouldn’t be getting out for at least six more years.
I downed my cup of coffee and shifted my focus to work because it was almost 7:00 and I had to be there at 8:00, so I went to hop in the shower. I was the front desk manager at the Blu Sierra Miami and I had been working there for just about two years. Having recently graduated from college with a double major in hotel management and marketing, I really wanted to own a boutique hotel in South Beach one day. My rise to manager was very fast and the swiftness with which I was promoted was unheard of in the industry. I worked my ass off at that hotel and took every opportunity to showcase my talent. I was currently hoping for another promotion to operations manager any day, so the last thing I needed to do was to be late for work.
The Blu Sierra Miami was the only six star hotel in the United States so we attracted many high end, über wealthy clients every day. When I originally got the call that I landed an interview for the job, I nearly fell off of my chair. I never thought in a million years that I would be able to get a job at such an exclusive hotel, at least not right of college. I graduated at the top of my class so I know that was a huge plus, but I was also a beautiful girl, not just pretty, but strikingly beautiful, so that probably helped too. All my life people told me how beautiful I was and I learned at an early age that boys, and later men, were putty in my hands. I always downplayed my looks because I wanted people to recognize that I was also a smart girl and not just a pretty face. It made me really uncomfortable to get compliments about my looks so I always changed the subject whenever the conversation was heading in that direction.
I put on my standard uniform of an azure blue mini skirt and crisp white blouse and black heels, pulled my long dark hair back into a low ponytail, and headed out the door. I walked in the door of the hotel at exactly 7:48 a.m. so I rushed to put my things away and quickly checked myself in the mirror before casually strolling out to the desk. I didn’t ever want to appear as if I was rushing around employees because I didn’t want to give my boss any kind of reason to question my professionalism.
I checked on each person at the front desk to make sure that we were ready for the day. We had a really big day ahead of us because an A- list celebrity and a Saudi prince were scheduled to arrive that day. Janelle was the assistant manager of the front desk so I pulled her into my office so that we could go over all of the arrangements for our guests. We went through my intensive checklist and then I reminded her to double check restaurant arrangements with Chloe.
Chloe was my best friend and was the manager of the hotel restaurant. We started working there at the same time when we graduated from college. Chloe and I grew up together in Pensacola, Florida and we both wanted to move to Miami since we were in high school. Her parents live across the street from my
parents and we’ve been inseparable since we were little girls. She knew me better than anyone and she was the only person who I trusted without reservation.
I was still a little flustered from the dream and didn’t even see Chloe standing at the desk when Janelle and I returned.
“Good morning Laney!” Chloe I met each other for the first time when we were four years old and it was easier for her to say Laney than my full name Elena, so that’s what she always called me.
I laughed when I saw her. “My head must really be in the clouds, I didn’t even see you there!” I gave her a big grin. “Are you ready for today?”
“Oh yeah, we are going to be slammed today! Janelle and I will go over all of the final arrangements for our special guests today, but everything should be in order for them.”
One of the long-standing policies of the hotel was that none of the employees were supposed to say the name of any high-profile guest out loud, so you would never hear any of us utter the name of any celebrity guest just in case the paparazzi happened to be lurking about. If anyone broke that rule, they would be fired immediately.
I noticed Chloe staring at me and I raised my eyebrows at her. What’s going on?
“I need to double check the list of meal requests for our VIP guests that are arriving later this week.”
I gave her a curious look. “Oh, okay, follow me.”
We went into my office so that I could get that information for her and as I opened my file cabinet to get the folders, she put her hand on my arm to stop me before I pulled them out.
"I didn't really want to go over anything else Laney, you seem a little bit frazzled so I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. Is something going on? Do you have a hot date tonight that you’re worried about?” There was a bit of teasing behind her words, but I could see that she was concerned.
I gave her a little smirk. "Hardly."
Guys were actually the last thing on my mind these days and I hadn't dated someone in almost a year. My focus was on my career. I was sure that the right relationship would come along later on so, for the time being, I was all about work.
Chloe knew me better than anyone else and I wasn't surprised that she was able to pick up on the fact that I’d had a rough start to my day. I looked at her and took a deep breath.
“I had the dream again.”
I could see the worry in her eyes as she gently squeezed my hand.
“Oh Laney, I’m sorry you had to deal with that again. But don’t let it get to you because he’s locked away for a long time.” She put her arm around me and gave me a hug. “He can’t hurt you again.” Chloe was the only person, besides my parents, who knew what had happened to me.
Chapter Two – Flashback
When I was a junior in high school, I met Brian who was also a junior and I thought he was really cute and sweet so my crush on him was instant. I saw him in the halls all the time and we had a few classes together but we didn’t actually get to know each other until the last week of school our junior year. I fell in love with him almost immediately and I wanted to be with him every waking hour of every day. We were inseparable the summer before our senior year and I started imagining how he would propose to me, what kind of house we would live in and what our kids would look like. I was head over heels in love and I had never felt happier. My parents thought it was puppy love and they didn’t have a problem with him because he was always so polite whenever he came over to our house.
Brian treated me like a queen for the first three months of our relationship and then something in him changed our senior year. He became much more possessive of me and he would get really jealous whenever another guy looked at me. Guys looked at me all the time because I had big boobs and I had a pretty face. I found myself having to constantly reassure him that nothing was going on with any other guy and that he was the only guy that I wanted to be with. That would placate him for a while but then something would happen to set him off again.
I remember the first time he hit me we were in his car and I was so shocked that I didn’t know what to say. He accused me of flirting with my lab partner Matt earlier that day in school. I told him that we were just talking about our project that was due the next week and nothing was going on with him, but Brian didn’t want to hear it. His eyes glazed over and I remember seeing a vein pop out on his forehead as his face turned beet red before he slapped me across the face.
“Don’t lie to me, Elena!”
My hands flew up to my face as he raised his hand to me again and hit me on the side of my head. I couldn’t believe what had just happened and I immediately started crying uncontrollably. The guy that I loved who I thought loved me back had just hit me. I knew that this was wrong and that I should end things with him immediately, but he started crying and apologizing for hitting me. He told me that it would never happen again as he kissed me gently all over my face. I could see the remorse and his eyes so, like a fool, I forgave him and I never told anyone what happened. I told myself that if it ever happened again I was going to break up with him. I put make up on my face to cover the bruises, pulled my hair over my eyes and wore big sunglasses for a week until the swelling went down. My parents thought that I was going through a phase where I thought I was the coolest thing around and that’s why I was wearing my sunglasses all the time. My mom made a little teasing comment about it asking me if I thought I was the next big superstar, but she never dug deeper because I was able to hide the bruising so well.
Brian was really nice to me for the next couple of weeks, bringing me a rose every day and he kept promising me that nothing like that would ever happen again, and I believed him. Three weeks after the first incident he hit me again when a waiter at a restaurant flirted with me. Brian accused me of flirting with him and when we were in his car he slapped me as soon as he closed the door. Again, he immediately apologized and told me that he loved me and he wanted to kill himself for hurting me. He begged me not to leave him and promised that he would never do it again. He said he really meant it this time. I decided to forgive him again because I loved him and I couldn’t see that I was stuck in a cycle of abuse.
For the next couple of months, things were going perfectly with us, he had mellowed and stopped the possessive behavior (the fact that I tried to avoid guys when he was around helped, I’m sure), I bought a gorgeous dress for prom and we were the golden couple at school. A month before prom he saw me laughing in the hall with a couple of guys as I was getting ready to leave and he went ballistic. He held it together in front of everyone but I could tell that he was pissed when he came over to me and told me that he needed to talk with me in private. We walked outside and I could feel a huge pit in my stomach as I braced myself for what he was going to say.
He pushed me into his car and peeled away so fast that the squealing tires caused a lot of heads to turn. We pulled into the last row of the crowded mall parking lot where no one would see us, and he turned furious eyes toward me and just started screaming at me.
“I bet you liked having those guys fawn all over you, didn’t you? You looked like a slut begging to be fucked, and you wanted that didn’t you, Elena? Did you sleep with them? Did you? Answer me!”
I was terrified to say anything when he was like this, but I knew that I had to say something to make him calm down. I reached out and gently touched his cheek, trying to calm his concerns.
"Brian, no, nothing happened with those guys, we were just chatting. You know that you're the one that I love and you're the one that I want to be with. Only you.”
I was really hoping that my words would be enough to soothe him but I could not have been more wrong. He knocked my hand away from his face and he slapped me across the face, cutting my lip. When I tasted the blood in my mouth, something snapped in me and I was done. I was tired of being afraid of him and I was not going to be that girl that lived in fear of her boyfriend anymore. I had a vision of what my life would really be like with Brian and I finally came to my senses.
I flung open the car door and Brian reached across to grab me, and I hit him with my backpack as I ran out of the car. I ran as fast as I could into the mall and ducked into the ladies’ bathroom. I hid in a stall and was shaking and crying as I called Chloe.
“Hello?”
“Chloe?” I could barely get her name out.
“Laney? What’s wrong?!” She sounded panicked.
“Can you come pick me up at the mall?”
“Of course! Where are you?”
“I’ll meet you in the parking lot in front of Chili’s.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in 10 minutes!”
“Thanks Chloe.”
After a few minutes I washed my face, pulled my hair in my face and got myself together and gingerly stepped out into the mall, carefully looking around making sure that Brian was nowhere in sight. By the time I made it outside to the parking lot, Chloe was waiting for me. I quickly got into her car and started crying all over again. When she saw my face, she couldn’t believe what she saw.