"May! I was wondering why you were taking so long." Mom appears, frail on her crutches. When she sees who I'm with, her eyebrows fly into her hair, which is the same color as mine before I dyed it.
My mouth goes dry. "This is...um..."
"My name is Sebastian," he says, smoothly extending the hand of his uninjured arm, where it hangs in the air until Mom recovers her wi
ts enough to grip it. "It's good to meet you."
"Very good," Mom manages, looking at me like I've just thrown a priceless diamond into a mud puddle.
At school, Sebastian’s beautiful. Here, he glows.
"Tanner told me what happened." He talks gracefully and confidently, but plays with the edge of his bandage in a way that lets me know he's uncertain. "I thought I'd come up to offer my support."
That explains his sudden appearance. And his kindness stuns me.
"Oh, really. That's lovely of you. But I'm very much fine. May overreacted a little, you see."
"She does tend to panic when other people get hurt," he murmurs, and his gaze softens as he turns it on me. I'm going to melt into the floor. This is ridiculous.
"Shit!" I say suddenly. "I forgot to get the sauce ingredients!" And there's nothing in the house to offer Sebastian.
Mom waves this away, obviously still spellbound by Sebastian's presence. "We'll order a pizza."
"Can we?" says Sebastian immediately. When I glance at him, startled, I swear his skin tinges red. "I've never had pizza."
"Well then," Mom declares. "I was wanting to know if you had any flaws, and there it is. Never had pizza. We'll fix that for you."
The pizza comes half an hour later, and I've never seen Sebastian eat with so much enthusiasm.
He's so cautious with Mom, answering her questions with the kind of tone that tells me he's trying to fulfill her expectations, but he gets her water when she wants it and cleans up so she won't have to move. I can tell it's this that makes her like him.
"You two have my bed," Mom announces when the food's gone. "I'll sleep on the couch. May, I'm sorry, but your bed frame cracked and I haven't gotten around to repairing it yet."
"Absolutely not," says Sebastian before I can say the same thing. "I'll get a hotel."
"Then May, you go with him." Mom teeters upright, and Sebastian swoops to help her. "I don't want to make you sleep on that musty couch."
She winks at me. Lord.
But there's no way in hell I'm saying no to a night in a hotel with Sebastian.
I hug Mom, make sure she's comfortable, and get in a cab with vague ideas of grocery shopping enough tomorrow to last her the next two months. Sebastian wears a thoughtful expression, but when I ask him what's on his mind, he says only that he liked my place.
He gives the cab driver the name of a swanky hotel, and we're there within fifteen minutes. I could never afford to pay for a night here, but Sebastian swipes his card at the front desk and we're pointed toward the elevator.
Once the doors slide shut, he kisses me ferociously. I gasp, startled, but his lips cut me off. I realize very quickly that I don't mind.
"I'll have you all to myself tonight," he murmurs into my ear.
"And you just saw my mom too," I pant, joking, as soon as the door dings open and we have to part, though the people waiting for the elevator gaze at us suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be asking for her permission before you have me to yourself? Don't rich people do things like that?"
"Only in historical dramas." He catches my fingers and slides his hand into mine, lowering his voice. "And I don't think she'd give me permission for the things I'm going to do to you."
Suddenly, I'm very, very glad Sebastian came.
The hotel room is gorgeous. The bed is huge, draped in a luxurious pearl-white coverlet with matching cushions. My shoes sink into the plushy carpet. I fling myself onto the bed with a happy sigh. "So tell me more about those things you're going to do to me."
"They involve less talking. More..."
“More what?” I breathe.
He falls silent for a brief moment. Then he traces the outline of my ear, whispering, “Tell me your fantasy. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?”
His voice is almost mischievous. A flush spreads all the way up my neck. He notices and smiles. “What gets you off, May Young?”
Jesus.
I’m not going to lie. I’ve had a lot of fantasies. I mean, I’ve basically been a nun my whole life—I had to find some way to keep myself from going insane. But the idea that there is a real live man, right here, asking me what I want, is enough to make me hot with desire on its own.
I murmur a few things into his ear.
He taps a finger against my lips. “Stay here.”
“Stay here?” I catch my breath, disappointed, as he pulls away and heads for the door. “Where are you going?”
“Fifteen minutes.” He disappears out the door before I can order him to stay. Damn it. The urge to tear his clothes off is still overwhelming.
What the hell am I supposed to do for fifteen minutes?
I flick on the TV. America’s Next Top Model totally fails to distract me for the next quarter hour, but it does make me realize that I am—comparatively—a giant hag, and that I better flee before Sebastian returns and notices that fact. I’m halfway off the bed before he finally returns, a bag slung over his shoulder. The half-smile on his face is enough to make me completely forget any sudden self-consciousness.
God, he’s
sexy
.
He drops the bag by the foot of the bed. “Do you trust me?”
“Depends. What’s in there?” I gesture, trying to hide the fact that my heartbeat is going way over the speed limit.
“Nothing much.” He reaches for the bag, then turns to me. “Close your eyes.”
Though I definitely don’t want to stop looking at him, I obey. There’s some rustling, then I feel his breath on my neck. He slides his thumb down my neckline. “This would be easier if you weren’t quite so…covered up.”
“Maybe you could fix that,” I murmur, eyes still closed.
“Maybe I could.” Then, so fast, my clothes are off, my bra with them, and the silky sheets brush against my bare back. I’m dying to open my eyes, but I don’t, not yet. I hear the sound of a lighter clicking.
“It’s hot enough in here, don’t you think?” I say playfully.
“Not anywhere close to what it will be.” He glides his hand over my body, the barest touch that still makes me shiver, and I suddenly feel soft fabric against my wrists. He’s tying me to the bed. The knot is finished in an instant—firm but not uncomfortable.
“What if there’s a fire?” I tease.
“There already is.” His hands slide off my body and I open my eyes. Candles flicker on the bedside table, scented ones in metal cups.
“How romantic.”
He glances at the candles with slight surprise. “Hadn’t considered that.”
Before I can figure out what he means, he rips off his shirt, and all questions fly out of my head. “If I weren’t tied down right now, I’d tackle you.”
“Next time,” he reassures me. “Now roll over.”
At first I don’t know if the knot will let me, but the one he’s tied twists easily. I tip onto my stomach, exposing my back. And that’s how I find out that Sebastian Crane is really, really good at massages.
“You are just full of talents,” I gasp as his knuckles dig deep, relaxing circles into my shoulders. A heady relaxation spreads over my back.
“And soon you’ll be full of my…talents,” he whispers into my ear.
I mentally add “talking dirty” to the list of those talents.
“Mmmmm.” I settle into the bed
. He massages me for several more minutes before stopping. I almost protest.
Gently, he guides me so that I’m facing him again. I stretch, totally comfortable and enjoying the way his eyes move over my body before returning to mine. Keeping eye contact with him is kind of like catching on fire.
Slowly, he reaches for the candles, selecting one and picking it up. The sweet scent of lavender wafts over me. He moves his hand, holding the candle above my chest. I realize what he’s planning.
Uncertainty pricks me. “Sebastian, wait…”
He smirks at me and tips the candle. I flinch, expecting to be burned by liquid wax pouring onto my skin, but what drips over me doesn’t burn, though it’s hot enough to send a shudder through me. “What’s that?”
“Massage oil. It won’t burn you, don’t worry.” He rubs the oil into my skin. It’s still hot and feels startlingly good. He cups my breast, allowing a couple more drops of the oil to hit my nipple. I hiss, half with pain and half with pleasure. He tips the candle again, letting it drip in a slow line pointing between my legs.
He kisses me fiercely. I strain against the knot to press my lips harder against his. It should be illegal to be that good of a kisser. With one hand, he flicks one of my nipples, which is already swollen. A shot of pleasure races straight for my abdomen.
“Damn, Sebastian,” I gasp.
He chuckles. “I haven’t even done anything yet.”
“Oh, shut up.”
He gets off me and heads for the fridge, pulling out a bucket of ice meant for chilling drinks. He takes a piece, moves back to me, and presses it straight on my clit.
“Ahhh.” The bolt of cold is like being slapped. I try to squirm away, but the knot won’t let me. Sebastian tosses the piece of ice on the floor, pours some oil in the palm of his hand, and rubs it over my vagina. My skin switches immediately from freezing to tingling with the heat. It’s a lot of stimulation, and I moan without realizing.
“A little extra lubrication.” He gives me that infuriating smirk again. “Not that you need it.”
He’s right, of course. I’m soaking wet. How can he be so serious normally and yet so cocky in bed?
When he slides into me, I whimper involuntarily. His grin gets bigger and I glare at him—for the brief second before he starts genuinely fucking me. Then I don’t have the energy to pretend he’s not way too good at this. All I can do is groan.
Damn.
The pleasure builds in me, and right when I’m positive I’ll explode from the pressure, it all floods out in waves of ecstasy. I arch my body as Sebastian tosses back his head, a small grunt escaping him—I know his expression is the same as mine. I’ve always heard it can be hard for girls to come from sex alone. Maybe Sebastian just knows what he’s doing more than your average guy.
He’s definitely not an average guy, that’s for sure.
After he unties me, we order up some wine and chill it in the multi-use ice bucket, drinking and talking quietly for a couple hours until we decide to go again.
The next morning, I wake up half-buried in a heap of cushiony blankets, still tingling pleasantly from last night. The first thing I notice is that Sebastian's gone. His pillow's cold. He must have left a while ago. I scowl.
I don't have to wait for long, though. Ten minutes later, he comes through the door. When he sees that I'm still naked and only half covered, he lets out a low hiss.
"Let it be generally known that if I could, I would jump on top of you right now."
"You can." I hold the sheets open a little more, inviting. "You should."
"We'd miss our plane. As much as it might be worth it."
"Plane?" Not bothering to hold the sheet to me, I sit up, enjoying the way his eyes rivet to my chest. "You got plane tickets?"
"This way we won't miss evening classes."
Which is a very good point. I've been spending a little too much time daydreaming about Sebastian in class, and I doubt my professors will have a ton of patience for my excuses. "Let me give you money for mine."
He frowns slightly. "No need."
It's the same minor confusion I'd have if someone offered to pay me back for a tiny amount of money, like a quarter. I realize that to him, that's what the cost of a plane ticket is. "You know, Sebastian, most college students aren't used to guys buying them plane tickets like it's nothing."
For that matter, they're also probably not used to being kidnapped in a private jet and taken to a weekend ski resort.
"True." He slips to my side and cups my breast gently, leaning down to whisper into my ear, "I'm not most guys."
"I'm always seeing new sides of you," I manage through the wave of heat that shoots up my body.”
"I've been seeing new sides of you as well." He bites lightly at the nape of my neck. "Angles, in particular. Like last night."
A shiver takes me over the edge. "Maybe you should check to see if there are any more of those new...angles."
He smiles
and pulls off his shirt.
It's quick but excellent, and I'm mildly furious with college for preventing me from spending the rest of my life in a hotel bed with him. Only fifteen minutes later, he's zipping up his pants and checking his watch at the same time.
"Shit. Plane leaves in half an hour. I'll call a cab."
"That fast?" I pull out of my post-sex reverie. "Oh damn, I wanted to say goodbye to Mom. Buy her some groceries, make sure she's okay."