“Son, Nico isn’t here,” his mother informed him. “Andréa came over for dinner, and Nico asked if he could stay with her tonight, and you know she wouldn’t turn him down for anything in the world.”
Sebastian thanked his mother and ended the call. The ticket agent signaled him, and he grabbed his bag and raced over.
On the plane, he called ahead to have a cab waiting to take him to Andréa’s place, for his pride and joy along with the love of his life waited there. He paid the cabbie for getting him to his destination in record time and gave the man a generous tip. He greeted Hank as he headed for the elevators without pausing to talk. Hank’s smile said it all. The man understood his urgency.
Andréa frowned at the sound of her doorbell, wondering who it could be, considering that Hank hadn’t called to announce anyone. Maybe Teresa had come by to tell her how the date with Basil had gone? Andréa discarded that idea. Basil would have picked Teresa up and taken her back to her place once the date ended. She walked to the door, opened it, and found herself pulled in to a pair of well-muscled arms.
Sebastian captured her startled gasp with his mouth, being sure to enter and close the door behind them. He ended the kiss and confessed, “God, I missed you.”
“I thought you weren’t due back until tomorrow,” Andréa said, planting kisses all over his face.
“I couldn’t take it; I missed you guys too much, so I camped out at the airport on standby, and here I am.”
“Yes, where you belong,” she added, capturing his mouth again.
Sebastian went to work removing her clothes. Andréa unbuckled his pants after she’d ripped open his shirt, promising between kisses to purchase him a new one. As soon as his pants pooled by his feet, Andréa wrapped her legs around his waist, and with one powerful thrust, Sebastian buried his thick and hungry cock inside her pussy. He growled. She clamped around him and moaned his name as she nipped the side of his neck. His cock pumped in and out of her, driving them both to an ultimate climax. Her body tightened around his, and he captured her mouth with his, swallowing her scream and giving her his as his body exploded deep within her, filling her with his essence, planting his seed deep.
“God, it’s so great to be home,” he panted against her kiss-swollen lips.
Sebastian carried her into the bathroom trying to keep from waking Nico. They showered together, and Sebastian made love to her again before he washed and dried their bodies. She stepped into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt while he donned a pair of pajama pants that Andréa kept at her place for him. They slid into bed with Nico between them. Sebastian gave his son a kiss on the forehead and smiled as Andréa did the same. He’d made it home where he belonged.
Nico opened his eyes. His daddy lay in the bed with him. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and his father still lay there. He popped up and yelled. Both adults bolted up in bed.
“What’s wrong, Nico?” Sebastian asked.
“Nothing’s wrong, Daddy. I didn’t know you made it home,” Nico said, throwing himself into his father’s arms. “I thought you’d come home tomorrow and I missed you and Andréa missed you too so I asked if I could stay with her last night.”
“Well, I missed you guys too, and that’s why I caught the first flight that I could to come back home. Daddy promises that I won’t accept any more speaking engagements that are out of town because I can’t stand to be away from the two of you,” Sebastian confessed. Giving both of them a kiss, he held them in his arms.
Chapter Twelve
Sebastian stood at the edge of his property viewing the work that Mack’s crew had done so far on the house. It was all coming together, and he couldn’t wait to get moved in. He also couldn’t wait to bring Andréa here and make love to her in every single room to break the place in the right way. Sebastian checked his watch. With a sigh, he turned and headed to his vehicle. He needed to get back to his office. He had a few more files to complete before he transferred the remainder of his patients. Once he completed the work at the office, he planned on going home and starting dinner. He wanted everything done and ready by the time Andréa arrived tonight. He would prepare all her favorites: grilled salmon with a spinach salad and grilled vegetables. Sebastian planned on feeding her and pampering her, and he’d make love to her all night long.
His phone ringing interrupted his thoughts. He frowned seeing the display on his dashboard. Marlena’s office number.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sebastian. I got the test results back, and what I suspected is true. The bastard slipped her the drug with each one of her pregnancies. I’m having my assistant call Andréa to ask her to come in today, and I wanted to give you a heads up just in case you wanted to be here with her.”
Sebastian pulled into his parking space but didn’t shut off the car. He tried to breathe through the anger that boiled within him. He didn’t know what he would do if the bastard stood before him now. His phone beeped signaling another call.
“Hey, Marlena, Andréa’s calling me on the other line.”
“I’d bet she’s calling to let you know my office called. Offer to come with her. I don’t know if she’ll be in any shape to drive herself home once I tell her what that bastard did,” she said before ending the call.
“Hey, baby,” he said, answering the other line.
“Hey yourself. I wanted to let you know that Marlena’s office called and they need me to go into the office to go over my test results, so I may be a little late getting to your place.”
“Where are you?” Sebastian asked, pulling out of his parking lot.
“I’m at the house changing before I head to the doctor’s office,” she answered.
“How about I swing by and pick you up and I’ll go with you to Marlena’s? Once we’re done there, I can take you home with me and get a little dessert before I prepare your special dinner,” he offered.
Sebastian let out a sigh of relief that she agreed to meet him in front of her building in twenty minutes. As he made his way to Andréa’s, he thanked God that Rafe planned on keeping Nico along with BJ and Carl and would pick them up from school today and take them home with him for the weekend. Now, he would be able to focus on Andréa and give her what she’d need.
“I’m kind of nervous,” she confessed as Sebastian drove across town to Marlena’s office.
“Baby, no matter what, you know that everything is going to be okay,” he said.
As soon as Andréa signed in, the receptionist called them back to Marlena’s office.
Once they were seated, Marlena began. “Andréa, I got your results back on all the tests I put you through, and everything shows that you are capable of carrying a baby full term.”
“If that’s the case, why wasn’t I able to carry my babies to full term?” Andréa asked, afraid to get her hopes up too high.
“I had the same questions after you and I had first talked, so I had the blood that Sebastian took from you tested, and a suspicion bugged me that I didn’t like. I contacted the hospital and had them test the blood they’d taken at the time of your miscarriages for a particular experimental drug that is a form of the morning after pill. The drug forces a miscarriage, and I believe that it had been administered to you during each one of your pregnancies.”
Andréa couldn’t breathe. Her chest tightened as if a huge weight sat there constricting her breathing. She stood and moved behind the chair she’d just vacated—her legs wouldn’t let her go any further. “Are you saying that he gave me a drug that caused me to lose my babies? He killed my babies?”
Sebastian stood and walked over to her, but she wouldn’t allow him to touch her. “How could he hate me so much to take away from me the one thing that I’ve wanted so much? And he had to know how much I wanted children. Is there something so wrong with me that no one…?” She stopped and shook her head, unable to continue.
Sebastian tried again and again to comfort her, but she moved away from him. She couldn’t allow him to touch her.
“Did you know about this?” she asked him.
“Baby, Marlena told me what she suspected but didn’t want me to say anything until the test results came back confirming or denying what had happened. I promise you, if I had known for sure I would have told you.”
She had to get out of there. She had to leave and leave now. “Could you please call me a cab?” she asked Marlena.
“Andréa, I can take you—”
She cut him off, shaking her head as she backed away.
“I’ll have my assistant call you a cab, but please, call us and let us know where you are,” Marlena said, placing a hand on Sebastian’s arm to keep him from going after her. “Sebastian, she needs her space right now. I’m sure she’ll call you later, but she has a lot to deal with.”
“She shouldn’t be dealing with this alone. I need to be there with her,” Sebastian said, raking his hand through his hair in frustration.
“You will have to be patient until she is ready let you help her deal with this,” Marlena said again after she’d instructed her assistant to call the cab.
Andréa completely backed out of the office, unsure where she should go or who she would go to. She had no one… She couldn’t go to Mack. He and his crew were working on Sebastian’s home trying to get it completed by Nico’s birthday, and Teresa had her date alone with Basil thanks to Rafe keeping the boys, and if she contacted Teresa she’d want to cancel and find Curtis and kick his ass.
“Where to, lady?” the cab driver asked.
Andréa rattled off an address, not even sure what address she’d given, but as the car pulled into the circular driveway of Sebastian’s parents’ house…somehow her subconscious had instructed her to the place she needed to be. She paid the cabbie and, on automatic pilot, climbed out of the car and headed up the stairs to the front door.
Basil had stopped by his parents’ to check on them before his date with Teresa. He’d wanted to make a visit because he planned on spending the entire weekend with Teresa without any interruptions, since Rafe had the boys for the weekend. He opened the door, surprised to see Andréa standing on the other side.
“Hey, Andréa,” he began, but the utter defeated look on her face halted the rest of his words. He pulled her inside and called for his mom. He led her into the family room, and as soon as Nola and Nicolai spotted her, they went to her.
Nola held her as she cried, soothing her in a way only a mother could, and she listened while Andréa explained what had upset her.
“How could Curtis hate me so much?” she whispered. “Is there something so wrong with me that no one can love me? I mean, my parents didn’t want me, and the man I intended to marry took three babies away from me…”
“Andréa, you are loved, not just by Nico and Sebastian, but by me, Nicolai, and Rafe and Basil. You also have Teresa and Mack, and you know BJ and Carl love you as well,” Nola assured her.
Nicolai stepped forward. “Baby girl, you may not want to hear this, but sometimes a person can love another person too much and can be downright selfish about it. I think your ex is so selfish that he didn’t want to share you, not even with a child that the two of you created together. If you’d have had the child it would have taken your full attention away from him, and in order not to have that happen he did the most despicable thing a person could do.” He gave her a kiss on her forehead before instructing Nola to put her to bed. He told Basil to call his brother—Sebastian would be going out of his mind with worry.
Nola said, “Come up to Sebastian’s old room, Andréa. I’ll put you to bed with a cold compress across your forehead to help soothe the headache I see pounding behind your eyes.”
She led Andréa away and returned downstairs. “Did you call your brother?” she asked Basil.
“Yes, he’s going crazy. She’d demanded Marlena call her a cab and she wouldn’t allow him to leave with her. He’s on his way here now, Mom, and I don’t think you or Dad will be able to keep him away from her,” Basil warned.
“Don’t worry, son, I don’t plan on keeping him away from her. He is what she needs now. I think the shock that her ex would go to such extremes and for him to make comments that suggested she wasn’t able to carry a baby to term got to her. That’s why she needed her space away from your brother, but now she needs him more than ever, and that’s why I put her in his old room,” Nola informed him.
“Basil, son, could the drug that the bastard used be one of the experimental drugs that went missing from that testing lab? If I’m not mistaken, the vial Sebastian took from Curtis the day he’d set up that meeting through his mother, is another experimental drug that you said went missing from the same testing lab,” Nicolai said.
“Yeah, Dad, I think it is. I called my assistant to do some checking on the people working at the testing lab. Now that we have Andréa’s ex’s name, we can check for anyone seen with him. I need to get going; I don’t want to keep Teresa waiting, and I know once she hears what Andréa found out today she’s going to want to come back here to check on her.” Basil said his goodbyes after giving his mother a kiss. He wasn’t surprised to find Sebastian coming into the driveway like the hounds of hell chased after him. “She’s up in your old bedroom. I’m on my way to pick up Teresa. I need to know what you found in the vial you took from the bastard. I think he’s mixed up with the experimental drugs that have gone missing at the testing lab.”
Sebastian stopped and turned to stare at his brother. “I’ll be damned. It never occurred to me that the deal you’re investigating is connected to that prick. I hope you can get what you need to get his ass, because if you don’t I can promise you that I will,”
Sebastian turned and headed inside.
He made straight for the stairs to his old bedroom. He found Andréa on her side. She’d been crying, and it made him want to kill the bastard. He kicked off his shoes and climbed into bed behind her, slipping his arm around her waist.
“I’m sorry I left Marlena’s office the way that I did,” she said, turning to face him.
“You don’t have to be sorry, baby. I understand why you did. I may not like it, but I do understand it. I want to make sure you know why I didn’t say anything until we’d confirmed Marlena’s suspicions.”
“Yes, I know that you wouldn’t have kept it from me indefinitely. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that he could tell me he loved me and betray me in the worst way. It’s like I’m grieving for my babies all over again, and at Marlena’s office everything started closing in on me all at once as if I should have known that—”
“No, baby, there’s no way that you could have known or not trusted the man that claimed to love you. He wanted you for himself, and his selfishness caused him to treat you in a terrible way just so he didn’t have to share you,” he said, wiping away her tears.
“I should have seen Curtis for whom and what he is, but I didn’t, and now I’ve paid the ultimate price.”
Sebastian rolled her onto her back, forcing her eyes to meet his. “You had no way of knowing the true Curtis. You told me yourself that coming from an orphanage where you stayed in the background and weren’t granted much attention, he came along and used it to his advantage. You saw what he wanted you to see because he gave you what you needed, what you’d missed out on as a child. He picked up on your need, but once you looked at him without the blinders, you saw him for the sack of shit he is. You made the move and got away from him, made yourself into the woman you are—a strong woman who has made herself into the top architectural designer in the country who can chose her clients and charge them outrageous prices. What that bastard did doesn’t define who you are and can’t change the woman you’ve become, which is a very beautiful and intelligent genius that is well loved by so many, including me.”
This time the tears that spilled shimmered with joy. He hoped she’d picked up on the sincerity of his words.
“I love you too.”
Sebastian kissed her, conveying his deep love
for her with his mouth.
“So, are we still on for my pampering and feeding?” she asked once the kiss ended.
“If you’re up to it I’ll take you home and put you in the tub while I make dinner, and after your soak I’ll give you a very special massage and we’ll have dessert,” he promised.
Andréa called Teresa before they left Sebastian’s old room.
“Hey, Andréa, what’s going on?”
“Has Basil arrived yet?” Andréa asked.
“He just got here, why?” Teresa listened while Andréa explained everything that had happened. Teresa offered to go to her, but Andréa declined—there wasn’t a need for her to. “Okay, I’ll let you have your way this time, because I agree you need Sebastian more than you need me, but you know that if I see that bastard I’m going to kick his ass,” Teresa promised.
“I know. Now go and have a great time with Basil,” Andréa instructed and disconnected the call. She turned to Sebastian. “Now, my love, I demand that you take me home and pamper me, feed me, and fuck me until I’m limp and exhausted.”
Sebastian laughed, scooped her up into his arms, and headed for the door. “As you wish, my love.”
They stopped long enough to say goodbye to his parents. Andréa gave his mother and father a kiss in thanks, and Sebastian carried her out to his truck.
Chapter Thirteen
Andréa enjoyed the long soak in the sunken tub. Sebastian had lit candles around the bathroom, and their scent helped soothe and relax her. The pain of the loss of her babies and Curtis’ betrayal still lingered, but she realized that Nola had spoken the truth: she no longer had to deal with the loss of Curtis’ so-called love, because she had Sebastian’s and Nico’s. Andréa always believed that things happened for a reason and God guided everyone where they needed to be, and that night years ago, he’d guided Sebastian to that highway to save her. Now she’d accept the second chance at love that the man above had provided. She still had that emptiness she had at not knowing whether or not her parents had wanted her or if something had happened to them and she’d ended up at the orphanage, but she promised herself that one day maybe she’d find out.
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