All That He Loves (Volume 2 The Billionaires Seduction) (18 page)

I peered at Sebastian harder. His voice had taken on a decidedly alarmed tone of voice as he listened to whatever Connor was saying.

“…are you sure?” he asked, glancing at me quickly. “I don’t… alright, if you think that’s… yes, she’s here…”

As soon as he said that, my heart leapt a little – but my stomach immediately took a nasty dip at Sebastian’s wary tone of voice.

“…alright, hold on…”

Sebastian handed the phone over to me. He looked a little guilty when he did it.

“Hello?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Hey.”

Connor’s deep, resonant voice filled my ear, and suddenly I felt ten times better.

“I heard you watched The View.”

“Yeah. You were great, as always.”

“Thanks. They went easy on me.”
There was an uncomfortable pause.
“So, how’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” I lied. I’d slept fitfully at best, waking up and tossing and turning several times during the night.

“Good. Look… I won’t be coming back to LA tonight.”

It felt like the sofa dropped out from underneath me.

“…what?”

“I need to go back to Nevada and secure the politicians. Actually, I’m flying to D.C. tonight to schmooze the Senators and Congressmen, and then I’ll fly to Carson City and meet with the governor and the major state representatives tomorrow.”

“…Carson City?”

“Yeah, last time they came to me in Vegas. Now, with the situation being what it is, I’ve got to go to them. But I think they’ll all still be on board, especially when I pull out my checkbook for their reelection campaigns.”

My head was swimming. “But you… you said…”

“I know. I’m sorry. But phone calls aren’t enough, I’m really going to have to be there in person to make sure the deal is still on.”

It was reasonable. Everything he was saying was reasonable. So I tried to find a compromise. “Okay, well… we could come meet you in New York… or Washington… or Carson City – ”

“Lily.”

I stopped talking. I could already hear it in his voice.

The panic started in earnest.

“I think it would be better if you stay there in LA.”

My eyes stung with tears. I didn’t want Sebastian to see, so I turned away from him.

“You said you just needed a day,” I whispered.

A long, painful pause.

“…I know. But I need a little more time.”

“A-are you coming home tomorrow night?”

“No… probably not.”

I closed my eyes. I could feel a tear roll down my cheek.

“…but I’ll see you on Saturday.”

“When?”

“I don’t know… but I will. I promise.”

“You said one day,” I whispered, my voice not much louder than a breath.

Silence. Then, finally…

“Saturday. I promise.”

Pause.

“I need to speak to Sebastian again.”

“Okay… good-bye…”

“I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Okay…”

I handed the phone back to Sebastian, my movements slow, my eyes glazed over. He had obviously been listening to the whole thing. His face was drained of color, and he was watching me like I was on suicide watch.

Sebastian took the phone back, stood up, and went into another room and closed the door before he said a word. He sounded angry, though I couldn’t make out what he was saying.

I hoped that he was chewing Connor out on my behalf, but it was probably something about having to babysit for an extra couple of days.

I went back into the bedroom, curled up in the bed, closed my eyes, and let the tears come.

I came out of the bedroom close to dinnertime. Before I walked out, I splashed tons of cold water on my face to bring down the puffiness around my eyes, but I knew I wouldn’t be fooling anybody.

Sebastian was sitting on the sofa watching another interview with Connor with the sound down low. As soon as I walked in, he shut off the TV with the remote.

“It’s okay,” I mumbled.

“I am sick to death of listening to Connor,” he announced.

I laughed, though it sounded more like a hiccup. “That’s rough, considering it’s part of your job.”

Sebastian ignored my comment, and instead gestured at the blank TV screen. “The man has too high an opinion of himself already. This just feeds it like a forest fire.”

I stopped in my tracks and raised my eyebrows. “HE’S
got too high an opinion of himself?!”

“MINE is
completely
justified,” Sebastian said as though he were highly offended. Then he turned casual – almost warm. “What do you think about watching a movie tonight?”

I stared at him. “What about work?”

“Fuck work,” he said airily.

“What about Connor?”

“Fuck Connor.”

I laughed in disbelief. “What?!”

“
Fuck
Connor,” he repeated for emphasis.

“What about Javier?” I asked slyly.

“Johnny would make some sort of dreadful joke at this point, but I’m not vulgar like he is.”

“Something about ‘Fuck Javier’?”

“Apparently someone else is vulgar, too,” Sebastian said primly, “although I could have already told you that from the photographs.”

I burst out laughing in spite of myself.

It was nice to have the old Sebastian back.

Or…
was
it the old Sebastian?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did Connor put you up to this?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Really,” I said, not believing him.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Lily, Connor can be something of a jackass sometimes.”

I laughed again, once, and nodded ruefully.

“He’s in full-on jackass mode right now,” Sebastian continued. “And I don’t like him very much when he’s a jackass. So, no, he and I haven’t discussed anything besides work.”

I sighed and sank down on the sofa next to him. “But it’s Friday night. Don’t you want to go out with Javier?”

“He’s on a long shoot today. A commercial. Can’t get together. Already checked.”

“Oh.”

I wasn’t sure if Sebastian was lying or not… but if he was…

“Look, I appreciate what you’re trying to do – ”

“Hush, or you’ll ruin it. I’ll order up some dinner for us, and after that some popcorn and sodas. We’ll make a night of it.”

“You can get popcorn here?” I asked, incredulous.

“Lily, the man I work for owns the hotel. I can get any damn thing I want, even if they have to drive to a movie theater to get it.”

“Oh… yeah.”

“What do you want to watch?”

“What do
you
want to watch?”

“You’re the one being babysat.”

I considered for a moment. “Nothing with show tunes.”

Sebastian stared me down hard. “Stereotypes? Really?
Really
.”

I grimaced. “Sorry.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, then settled back to normal. “We could watch reruns of
Glee,
” he suggested.

“That’s the exact same thing!” I shouted and laughed at the same time.

“No it’s not,” he said petulantly.

“Basically!”

“No, it’s
not.
”

“No, you’re right, it’s just people doing
versions
of show tunes.”

“They’re contemporary hits,” Sebastian sniffed.

“Yeah, staged as big song and dance productions.”

“Sung by cute guys.”

“…okay, I’ll give you that one. But I’m not really feelin’ it tonight.”

“But – ”

“Who’s the baby?”

Sebastian went silent and glowered at me a little.

I decided to throw him a bone. Metaphorically, that is. “Speaking of people singing contemporary hits, have you seen
Pitch Perfect?”

Sebastian suddenly turned into a twelve-year-old girl.

“Oh my GOD, like seventeen times, I LOVE Anna Kendrick,” he squeed.

I grinned at him, eyes wide, totally taken aback.

Flustered, he looked away. “Well, I do. And the Indian boy is cute, too, although I have
no
idea why he likes that psychotic little Asian girl.”

“That’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“He’s kind of geeky. The Indian guy. I thought you would have gone for the British DJ with the six-pack.”

“Oh, he’s definitely nice… but a little too conventional for my tastes.”

First Javier… the Indian guy… and I remembered what he said about Bruce Lee…

“Ohhhh… you have a thing for dark meat, huh?”

“I am
not
dignifying that with a response.” Sebastian paused for a second. “We could watch something romantic…
Pride And Prejudice
with Kiera Knightly?”

I
love
that movie.

But I knew there was no way I could watch it and not think of me as Elizabeth and Connor as Mr. Darcy and keep from bawling my eyes out.

“…I kind of need to laugh tonight,” I said. “Do you mind watching
Pitch Perfect
for the eighteenth time?”

“Honey, I could watch that boy sing
I Got The Magic In Me
all night long.”

“Another missed opportunity for one of Johnny’s inappropriate jokes.”

“Hush. What do you want for dinner?”

Dinner was a delicious Chicken Kiev with baby potatoes and grilled asparagus. Sebastian ordered the popcorn and cokes afterwards, and once they came we settled down to watch the movie on the hotel’s cable service.

He had to excuse himself ‘to go to the little boys’ room’ two-thirds of the way through, so I paused the movie. Coincidentally, it was the scene where the heroine goes to apologize to the hero for being a jerk – but he shuts her out because she keeps hurting him.

I guess it got me thinking.

When Sebastian came back and sat down, I said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Oh God, here it comes,” he muttered.

“What?” I asked, both surprised and slightly offended.

“The therapy section of the babysitting.”

Now I was just offended. “Fine. Never mind.”

I hit ‘Play’ on the remote and started the movie.

“No, no… go ahead,” he grumbled.

“No, I’m – ”

Sebastian snatched away the remote, hit ‘Pause,’ and turned to me. “Just ask the damn question.”

I pouted for a few seconds… and then gave in to my curiosity.

“Why’s Connor shutting me out?”

He sighed in total world-weary, put-upon fashion. I almost expected him to start belting out ‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen But Jesus
.
’

“I was afraid of this,” he said.

“What, of me asking?”

“No,
that
I’m just annoyed by.”

“Give me the remote – ”

“Shush,” he said, holding the controller out of my reach. “Do you want to know the answer or not?”

“…yes.”

He stretched out on the couch and squinted at the ceiling. “It’s complicated.”

I waited a few seconds for more. When it didn’t come, I tilted my head forward a little. “…and?”

He flipped over on his side, facing me, and rested his head on his fist like we were gossiping at a slumber party. “First off, Connor’s afraid of commitment.”

“Yeah, well, most guys are.”

“Most guys can’t get Victoria’s Secret models.”

Ouch.
“Okay, forget it,” I said glumly.

“You misunderstand.”

“No, I understand perfectly,” I said bitterly.  “He can have any woman he wants, so why settle for me?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but it’s not the main part of it. If that was it, he would have booted you after that first night. He’s obviously
waaay
into you. The problem is, he’s
waaay
into you.”

I frowned. “That makes no sense.”

“I don’t think he’s afraid of ‘no more Victoria’s Secret models’ – I think he’s afraid of how much he cares about you. He hates being weak, and you’re his weakness. I was shocked –
shocked
– that he didn’t ditch you once Miranda gave him her little ultimatum. He
hates
ultimatums, and he’s been known to cut off his nose to spite somebody else’s face.”

“That doesn’t make
any
sense.”

“You know what I mean. He’ll do himself harm just to show someone else they don’t have control over him, even if it doesn’t really harm the other person in the least. Did he tell you what he did to his father when he was 19?”

I remembered the story, and realization came rushing in. “He basically told his dad ‘Fuck you.’ But it’s not like he didn’t do any harm – he lost his father’s ten million dollars – ”

“Ten million dollars was nothing to his father. But Connor intentionally burned his bridges. He could have achieved a lot more, with a lot less pain and struggle, if he hadn’t made enemies out of his family. And I’m saying that as someone who absolutely
hates
his family.”

“Well, maybe he had to do it, psychologically,” I suggested. “To cut the apron strings and be his own man.”

“I might agree with you – except he’s done the same thing time and again, in matters both big and small. He likes antagonizing people, especially if they threaten him or insinuate that he ‘owes’ them. Businesses, lawsuits, women, friendships – doesn’t matter. He’ll cut off his nose to spite their face.”

I thought back. The way he’d handled the buyout with Exerton… he could have just told them that he’d changed his mind, but he’d had to publicly humiliate Klaus and question the CEO’s ability to do his job.

Or the way he taunted his family when they first showed up… before he found out about the blackmail.

It’s true, Connor wasn’t one to be quiet and respectful. I had chalked it up to playfulness and fearlessness… but maybe there was a darker side to it, too.

“You think he wants to do that to me?” I asked, afraid.

“No, no, no,” Sebastian said in exasperation. “I was just demonstrating the way he
can
be. No, I said he actually
cares
for you, and that scares him. Maybe he even needs you, and that scares him even more.”