Sebastian let his fingers fly over the keys. It helped to hone his focus and pull him to a place where he wasn't thinking about Mariss' naked body lying in the bathtub in his guest room. He pulled his mind away from trying to figure out what had happened to her to send her into such frightening, dissociative episodes. It took him away from the fact that Hellena would be here at some point tonight and he'd have to explain something to her about the girl Mariss had tortured for information.
Sebastian finished up
Fantasie
Impromptu
and launched right into Chopin's
Nocturne
. He played and relaxed and let the music lift the moments of the day that he no longer wanted to carry on his back.
Sometime later, Sebastian looked up and saw Juliet starting at him. She cleared her throat and threw her eyes behind him. He stopped playing and turned to find Mariss staring at him, transfixed.
"Why did you stop?" Mariss asked.
"I forgot you were here."
She frowned. "Why should that matter?"
"I don't usually play for anyone. Juliet is something of an exception."
"Looked to me like you were playing for yourself."
She shrugged. "You're very good."
He raised an eyebrow. "Do you play? Mariss Red, you are so very faceted."
She nodded. "I'd play you something, but the food is getting cold and I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. That's probably why I freaked out."
Sebastian stood from the piano and her eyes drank him in. He sneered, though he didn't mean to. "You expected me to wear suits all the time?"
Mariss shook her head. "That's a good look for you. It makes you look…human. Kind of like when we were in the car this afternoon and you weren't worried about which face to put on or what I would think when you copped your little attitude. You were just being you. I like it."
"I guess I should wear jeans more often, if it means you'll look at me like that."
Mariss looked at him, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Like what?" she asked.
"Hungry."
"Oh, no.
You mistook my actual hunger for food for being about you."
Sebastian grinned, relieved that she was back to her normal, smartarse self. "Ah, I see. Well, then, shall we?" He motioned her to the front room thinking he may have finally found
someone
he could be himself with.
Good Night Kiss
"Why don't you like to play the piano for anyone?" Mariss asked.
She took a bite of her steak and chewed, looking up at him through her thick eyelashes. She and Juliet had opted to sit on the floor and use the coffee table while Sebastian stayed on the sofa. He'd put his meal on a plate, arranging it much the way he was sure they would have in the restaurant. Mariss and Juliet ate out of the
styrofoam
take-away boxes.
"I just don't. It's not something I do to show off. I play for myself, not other people."
Mariss smiled and shrugged. "I'd like to hear you play again." She took another bite. "Why is Juliet so special?"
"Because he doesn't want to sleep with me," Juliet answered. Then she added, "I'm gay."
"Oh, I see. So it's not that he doesn't want to sleep with you, because we all know he'll do anything with a vag. It's that you don't want to sleep with him." Mariss nodded. "I'm glad to know that works for someone."
Juliet snorted. Sebastian would have kicked her if she'd been close enough.
"Don't think he didn't try," Juliet went on. "But he let it go when he realized it wasn't about not wanting him, it was about not wanting men."
Mariss laughed.
"Oh, my god.
He's so vain."
Sebastian did kick Mariss then. He tapped her bottom with his toe until she turned to look at him.
"I'm right here," he told her, his mouth twitching with the need to smile. "Don't talk about me like I'm not."
Mariss bit her lip and he was struck with just how sexy that was. No wonder she almost died from heart failure when he did it.
"I'm
sorry,
did I hurt your feelings?"
He shook his head. "I don't have feelings."
Mariss smiled wide, pursed her lips together, and turned away. She shoveled some more food in her mouth and shook her head.
"It's true," Juliet agreed. "He works me to the bone. I'm overworked, under paid, can't get a vacation, let alone a day off, and he makes me do all of his dirty work. I should quit."
"You should. Leave him high and dry and see what happens."
"He'd crash and burn without me."
Sebastian shot Juliet a fiery look. "That's enough, you two. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you being friends."
"What are you going to do about it if we are?" Juliet asked. "Fire me?"
"I'd never fire you," he said affectionately. "I'd make your life a living hell."
"I don't doubt that for a second." She bumped Mariss who was concentrating on her food. "His last assistant was this poor thing who couldn't think straight when he was around. Kind of like you."
"What?" Mariss huffed, but her face brightened with humor. "That's not true."
"No. She was way worse than you. Anytime he asked her to do something, he'd have to repeat it several times before she'd get it right."
"I made her write it all down so she wouldn't forget," Sebastian added.
Juliet grinned and leaned toward Mariss conspiratorially. "The notebook she was supposed to write these things down in was full of hearts and 'I heart Sebastian Boa'." She and Mariss laughed together. "I worked with her for, like, a week. She was supposed to train me, but I ended up figuring it all out on my own."
"Did he fuck her?" Mariss asked.
"Oh, oops.
Sorry, Bassy. Did you fuck her?"
"Bassy, huh?"
Juliet eyed him suspiciously.
"Mm hm.
It's either that or Bash." Mariss shrugged. She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Sebastian watched her until she turned around.
"Are you going to answer the question?"
"Yes, I did. It was before I hired her."
"Why did you even hire her?" Juliet asked. She shoved a piece of broccoli into her mouth.
"She needed money."
Mariss looked up at him. "But you don't have any feelings."
He smiled. He wasn't sure why, but he did. "I was nominated for Top Model of the Year," he blurted. "I'd like for you to come with me to the ceremony."
He saw Juliet over Mariss' head. She'd stopped chewing and was looking at him like he'd just taken his clothes off and started shaking his dick around.
"There's no guarantee that I'll win, of course. I'd like you to come all the same."
Mariss frowned. "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Sebastian.
Really.
I'd have to clear that with Holden and he wouldn't like it at all. Where is the ceremony being held?"
"London."
"Naturally.
He wouldn't like that, me going to London to be with you."
"Talk to him. See what he says."
"Sebastian Fenwick Boa," Juliet exclaimed. "She said no. Leave it there."
"She wants to go." Sebastian caught her looking him over and grinned. "Indulging yourself, were you?"
Mariss blushed.
"Not at all."
He winked at her. "You want to go, don't you?"
Mariss made a strange face with her lips pushed out so she looked like a duck. "No." She looked away from him, stabbed the last bite of her steak, and put it in her mouth. "First of all, I thought we were friend-zoned. Why would I accompany you to this event if we aren't sexually involved? Second, I forgot what second was. Third, I'm married."
"You would go as my friend."
"Friend?
Oh man!" Juliet laughed. "Sebastian, you are out of your ever-loving mind and I blame you, Mariss Red. You've done this to him, though I can't say it's a bad thing. Carry on. Please, continue. You two are making my night."
"There's no one else I'd rather be seen with at the ceremony. No one else I'd rather share it with. Besides, we work together now. It would be good promotion for your business."
He knew that was the excuse she needed, because she did want to go with him. He could see it in her eyes - excitement and disappointment, longing and confliction. All she needed was the right excuse to give her husband. Now she had it.
"I'll talk to him," she said.
"Oh. My. God! This is a train wreck waiting to happen. I can't watch this." Juliet gathered her food. "When you get ready to shop for the perfect dress, call me," she offered on her way through to the kitchen. "I know what he likes to see."
"I do too," Mariss called. Then quieter she added, "And hear."
Sebastian leaned forward and said low in her ear, "You."
Mariss shuddered. "Where is my dessert you promised me?"
Overcome with the need to touch her, Sebastian traced a lazy finger up and down her arm. Goosebumps popped up wherever he touched.
"It's in the freezer."
"Oh." She didn't move.
"Were you going to get it, or did you want Juliet to bring it with her when she comes back?" He traced along the collar of her shirt.
"I'll get it."
Mariss pushed herself up, but collapsed onto the sofa with a shout a second later.
"What's wrong?" Sebastian begged.
"My foot is cramping!" she moaned.
"Oh, is that all?" His heart settled back into his chest. "Come here." He took hold of the foot she was grasping and worked her sole with his thumbs.
"Ooh, my god!" Mariss relaxed so suddenly, melting off the couch so half her body was hanging off the edge.
"Bassy, oh my god."
"Mm. Say it again."
She looked up at him. "Seriously, be careful. My feet get neglected."
"Careful?" He gave her a very self-aware smirk. "Your husband doesn't rub your feet?"
She shook her head. "He won't touch my feet. He finds feet disgusting."
Sebastian plied the sole of her foot again and she let out a long, low moan that reminded him of what she sounded like when she was about to come.
"My god, Red.
Does he know it does this to you?"
"He's never rubbed my feet. Oh, that feels good!"
He smiled.
"What are you two doing in here?" Juliet stood in the kitchen door way, licking the spoon she was using to eat Mariss' dessert.
"Ooh. She's eating my dessert."
Juliet grinned and winked. "That's right, honey."
Sebastian chuckled. "Say my name, sweetheart."
"Oh, Sebastian.
Rub my feet. That's it.
Right there.
Don't stop."
Juliet cackled from the kitchen. Sebastian worked his way up Mariss' firm, toned calf. He hadn't realized she worked out.
Mariss tugged her leg out of his grasp and gave him the other. "This one," she panted.
"Uuuh!"
Sebastian chuckled. "Are you going to come, Red?"
"I…I might. Don't stop."
He rubbed her foot and her calf as he'd done with her other leg. "Do you want a back rub too?"
"No," she snapped and pulled her leg away.
"Nope.
That's off limits."
"Why off limits?"
"It makes her horny." Juliet came back into the room with two desserts. "I hope you don't mind, Sebastian. I bought myself one too, because I'm worth it."
"Tell him." Mariss dug into her dessert and sat close enough for him to put his arm around her. "What's the plan for the evening?"
"What do you mean? I had no plans.
Dinner and dessert.
That's what you asked for."
"Let's watch a movie," Juliet suggested.
"Ooh! Are you a movie person, Bassy? What should we watch?"
"He likes romantic comedies, ironically. Down With Love!"
"Oh, my god!"
Mariss licked her spoon. "That's such a Sebastian movie!"
"He reminds me of Catcher," Juliet agreed.
"Right?
Only meaner."
Both women cackled.
"That's enough, now. We can watch whatever you want."
Juliet reached for a remote. A panel on the wall rotated, bringing the TV into view.
"Wow. That's high tech," Mariss said. She snuggled into his side. "Is this okay for the friend-zone," she asked saucily.
"Decidedly not."
Just her proximity made him randy and hard.
"Do you want me to move?" Sebastian wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in. "I'll take that as a no."
"Very good deduction."
He knew it was dangerous and risky, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care. He wanted her close. Her warmth seeped into him and he
relaxed,
something he never did around women.
"Why don't you believe in love?" Mariss asked him halfway through the movie.
"Love is an emotion," he answered as he stroked her arm. "It's an ideal rather than a real, tangible thing."
"Love is pain," Mariss replied. "It's happiness, regret, strength, betrayal. All of those things are ideals too. Well, except for pain and a lot of people would argue that."
"Love is pointless. It blinds you. It makes you become someone that you aren't," Sebastian explained.
"Or it can change you for the better if you let it. That's not a bad thing."
"Do I need changing?" he asked in her ear.
Mariss tipped her head back to look at him. Her full lips beckoned and he obliged, but the moment their lips touched he knew he was in trouble. He kissed her the way he'd been fighting all day. Her lips were sticky and sweet from the ice cream.
"God, Red," he moaned. "You taste amazing."
She giggled. "There's the Sebastian we all know and don't love because we don't believe in it."
He chuckled and shut her up with his mouth once more. She kissed him back, craning her neck so she could reach him. Sebastian gripped her hips and pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him. Her hands snaked around his neck and into his hair, tugging, pulling him closer until she could attack his mouth greedily with hers. Her tongue speared into his mouth, tangled with his. Mariss moaned and he moaned. Her hips writhed against him. Sebastian ground himself against her so she would know just how badly he wanted her.
But there was a restraint on both their parts. Sebastian felt her holding back, even when she bit his bottom lip and deepened the kiss. He held her hips still as he thrust against her, but even in his supremely aroused state, he knew nothing would happen. This was the tension that had been building between them since she left this morning, the tension caused by their new, self-imposed "friends" status. They were letting off steam in the only way their bodies understood.
And it felt so good.
"Did you forget you had an audience?"
Mariss' hands stilled in his hair, but she didn't let go. They stayed the way they were for several moments, trying to catch their breath.
"Sorry," Mariss finally whispered. "I think that was my fault."