Just a Little Faith (10 page)

Lincoln waved in the direction of a beautiful petite blonde-haired woman
.
“Hey sweetie, come over and meet Seb's girlfriend, Paxson.”

Paxson swallowed so hard she
feared she would c
hoke.
Girlfriend? What ha
s
Seb been telling his friends?

Traci
gave Seb a hug
then stuck
out her hand to Pax.

“Hi Paxson
.
It's
wonderful
to meet you. Lincoln and I have been curious to know
who's
been commandeering so much of Seb's time
the last few days
.
The boys have been asking where Uncle Seb is.
”

Paxson blushed.
Glancing
at Seb
, Traci elbowed him in the side
.

“I can see why you'd want to keep her to yourself
.
I take it you haven't introduced her to Rangy yet?”

Putting
his arm around Pax's waist
,
he pulled her in close
. “I want to keep her around
,
Trac
i
. Not have her snatched away by our resident Latin Lover.”

“Well, it'
s great to meet you
,
Paxson. You're getting a good guy here if he'll settle down for two minutes. Sometime we
'
ll have to double. I can share with you the real secrets Seb won't tell.”
Traci's eyes sparkled with a mischief.

If Paxson
didn't
plan to
stop seeing
Seb
,
she knew Traci would
be
a good friend.
Her friendly acceptance made Pax realize she
miss
ed
having more girlfriends to spend time with.

T
hey all
shared goodbyes
,
and i
n passing
,
Pax heard
Seb and Linc talking
of getting together later
to double sometime.
A pang of sadness washed over her.
S
he knew she probably
wouldn't
see the couple again, at least
not
while
on a date with Sebastian.

Seeing a sign for the ladies room, she placed her arm on Seb's. “Excuse me for a minute. I'll be right back.”

Inside the restroom, s
he
looked in the mirror
.
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes
.
S
he blotted at them with
a
paper towel to keep them from falling down her cheeks
.
Whispering a silent prayer
,
she
combed out her hair with her fingers, touched up her lipstick and
returned
to where Seb
stood
.
He
smiled
,
lifting the batch
of fudge
he
had
bought
in her absence
.

“
Someone needs a chocolate fix, I see.”
She glanced at her watch. “It's getting late. I guess we should be getting back.”

He r
each
ed
for her hand
.
She hesitated. Taking his hand would only exacerbate the difficulty of letting him go. Pushing her sadness aside, she grasped his hand wishing the night would never end so she didn't have to face the difficult conversation to come.

“I'm glad you got to meet Linc and Traci. They're a great couple. We'll have to get together with them soon.”

“They
were very nice
.
I'm glad I got the chance to meet them.” Inside
,
her heart crumbled
,
and she looked away as she fought off tears
.

Pulling into the parking lot outside her apartment
,
Pax
hesitated on whether to invite him in.
Look
ing
at the clock on the dash
of his car
,
she
decided it wasn
'
t too late
.
She
needed
to get this over before she chickened out
.
She had to tell
him
goodbye.

Glancing at
Seb
,
she watched him
put the car in park
.
“I was thinking
a cup of coffee
might be nice
. Would you like
to come up for
one?”

He
reached behind her seat
and held
up the
bag
of fudge he'd stashed there. Wriggling his eyebrows he shook the bag in front of her face. “I was hoping you would ask… it would go great with the fudge.” She laughed, glad for a chance to smile.

Once insid
e, she set to making the coffee.
“Why don't you see if you can find something good on the radio?”

Sebastian turn
ed
the stereo on and flip
ped
through stations settling on a soft rock channel
.
Walking into the kitchen
,
he stood beside her
,
waiting while
she poured the hot coffee into a couple of mugs
.

“You know, I'm going to have to hear you sing again sometime. I hope the hospital wasn't my last opportunity.”

“Um, I don't know. I don't plan any public or private appearances anytime soon.”

“I'll take what I can get, I suppose.” He gently squeezed the back of her neck
caus
ing chills go up and down her spine.
“Let's head into the living room.”

Carrying their
steaming
mugs
,
they sat
on the couch
, e
njoy
ing
a few bites of fudge while listening to the radio.

“Since you met Linc and Traci, I need to show you the
ir
kids
.
They
'
re the spitting image of Linc. Traci says when they get older, girls won't stand a chance.”
R
each
ing
into his wallet
, he
retrieved a photo
to show her
.
A smile
l
it
up
his handsome features
when
he described some of
his
outings
with Linc's family
.

“The way you speak of them, it's like they
'
re family.”

Staring
at the photo, Seb's finger ran down the edge.
“I guess
,
in a way
,
they are. Since I don't see my girls that much, Linc's been great to include me in their family
gatherings
. I'm lucky to have him in my life.”

“You are. I miss my friends back home
.
They
always invited me to do things with their families since I didn't have any kids of my own.”

He started to put the photo back when he paused over an item tucked away in the back pocket of his wallet.
He started to pull it out, then stopped.

“Is that a picture of your girls?”

Pulling it the rest of the way out of the pocket he sighed. “
It's not a recent one. This was taken right after Maggie was born. Ashlynn couldn't get enough of her baby sister.
Melissa and I were all the time telling her to stop
constantly
kis
sing her for fear she'd accidently smother her
.
”

He handed the photo to Pax. Studying the faces
of his girls
, she smiled. “They're beautiful
,
Seb. You are certainly blessed to have them.”

She returned the photo
,
and t
hey sat in silence until she stood to t
ak
e
the dishes back to the kitchen
.
A
song came on
the radio
that had been played at one of her friend's weddings back home only a few months ago
.
Hearing the familiar tune caused her to smile.
When
s
he came back to the living room,
a smirk
l
ifted the corners of
Seb's
mouth.

“What?”

H
e
laugh
ed
. “Thanks for the concert. Your voice
i
s as beautiful as I remember.”

She looked at him
then
closed her eyes. “I didn't even know I was singing. Don't expect it to happen again
.
”

She reached over
to
punch him in the chest
when his hand met her halfway.
Trying
to get him with her other fist
,
he
snatched it
. Q
uickly shift
ing
his grip
,
both her hands were now encased in one of his
.
H
e reached
in
to
t
ickl
e
her stomach
, she was easy prey
u
nable to
free herself or
put up much of a fight
.
S
he laughed
gasping for breath.

Finding herself on her
couch, flat on her
back and stunned, her giggles subsided. His
face lowered to meet hers. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her face. His
lips pressed against hers.
H
er body
trembled as a
rush
of blood
poured
through her
system
at a quickened pace.
Her heart pounded against his chest. Releasing her,
Seb
's
hands
trailed down
her waist
.
His lips continued
their caress
. She could
n't
think
.
Seb
kisses
moved
t
o her cheek
and progressed
down her neck and behind her ear
.
His
hand reach
ed
over her sweater
and
lightly feathered
her stomach
through the fabric
.
He reached for the edge of her sweater
.
No!
S
he pushed him away and sat up
.

“I think you need to go home.”
She forced the words trying to get
herself
under control.

Sitting on
the end of the couch
,
Seb
rubbed his face with his hands
then stared
.
“What? Pax. I don't understand. You're confusing me.”

Af
raid to look him in the eye
, she kept her eyes focused on the area rug beneath her feet
.

“What is it? Tell me what's going on?”
Voice h
usky with emotion
, Seb
reached over and
pulled her chin
up
to
face him
.

“Sebastian. I have never been kissed
or touched
like that before
.
I had to stop yo
u before
something happened we would both regret
.”