by Rhonda James
“Whoa, that’s really…” she stopped herself for a moment, choosing her words carefully, “that’s wonderful Brooke. I’m really happy for you. Have you told him?”
“Of course I’ve told him, why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because he is the lead singer of our favorite band, maybe because he lives more than a thousand miles away. And, maybe because you’ve always been afraid of rejection. Take your pick,” she replied, sounding exasperated.
“He said it first Jade,” I stated sarcastically. Honestly, why was it that my best friend doubted that someone famous might fall in love with me. Seriously, was that so hard to believe?
“No way! Get out of here! Sebastian Miles confessed to our Brooke that he loved her.” She let out a low whistle and clicked her tongue smartly. “This is a cause for celebration my friend. When you get home, you and me, we are definitely going clubbing in your honor. I can’t believe it. You and Sebastian Miles, in love. I’ve got to tell you, you’ve totally just given me hope my friend.
“Stop it!” I giggled into the phone, never once hearing Sebastian sneak up behind me and tickle me as I sat on one of the lounge chairs on the patio. “Oh my gosh! You scared me,” I squeaked, causing him to chuckle and plant a few well-placed kisses on my lips and cheek.
“Who’s that? Is that him?” Jade shrieked.
“Yes, it’s him. He just snuck up on me and scared me half to death.” I stuck my tongue out at as he plopped into the chair across from me.
“Who’s that?” he jutted his chin at the phone. “Is that Jade? Give me the phone,” he said, reaching over and pulling it from my grasp. “Hey there Jade, how’s life in the lower half of the mitten?” I heard Jade screaming on the other end of the phone; he held it far from his ear, laughing hysterically. “Yes, Brooke has told me how much you both love our music.” He paused to listen to her speak. “Well, thank you very much, that means a lot. We do it all for the fans, if not for you guys we wouldn’t have any reason to keep performing. We’ll have to get you tickets to a show during our next tour.” I heard more shrieking, and then Sebastian’s expression turned serious. “I know she’s pretty special to me as well,” his eyes locked with mine. “I plan on taking very good care of her, for a very long time. I know, I promise. Oh, Jade, one more thing, thank you for being such a great friend to her. Take care of her for me when she gets back home. Okay, it was nice talking to you too. Bye.” He handed the phone back to me.
“Oh my gosh, he sounds incredibly hot,” Jade gushed into the phone.
“He is,” I beamed, like a lovesick girl. “Listen, I’ll call you later. Love you!”
“Love you too, Brooklyn. Have fun with your hottie!”
Sebastian removed the phone from my hand, placing it on the side table, before pulling me into his lap. “She sounds like a wonderful girl. She loves you an awful lot, which makes her a winner in my book already.”
“You’ll love Jade; she is definitely the best girlfriend I’ve ever had. I’m very lucky to have her in my life. Thank you for talking to her, I’m sure you made her day.”
“You don’t have to thank me for taking an interest in your friends Brooke; I want to be a part of your life, all of it.” I buried my face in his neck, settling into the warmth that I had grown so accustomed to this past week. “Hey, what do you say we get out of the house for the day. I have something that I want to show you.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It’s a surprise. Just throw on something comfortable and you’ll be fine,” he said vaguely.
“You’re very sneaky Mr. Miles,” I scrunched up my nose and thought about what he could be planning. “Just give me a few minutes.” I ran upstairs to change into shorts and a tank top. I pulled my hair up in a high ponytail, and grabbed my sunglasses, before heading back to find him waiting by the door. He smiled when he saw me and slipped an arm around my waist, pulling lightly on the ponytail.
“Cute,” he smiled, leaning down to kiss me. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t know where he was taking me, but he sure was being secretive about it. The drive only took ten minutes, and when we pulled into the marina I turned to him, a smile spreading across my face, as we pulled into a space near the dock. The display of yachts and sailboats was impressive, far surpassing the size of the vessels docked in most of the harbors on Lake Michigan, though they had never been anything to scoff at. We got out of the car, and Sebastian came around to take my hand as he led me down the dock, an obvious destination in mind. Before long, we came to stop in front of a large sailboat that must have been forty feet long.
“You feel like going for a sail?” he smiled, pulling me toward the plank that led to the deck.
“Seriously? Do you know the owner of this boat?” I asked, suddenly very excited.
“Not really, but I made a few calls, and it turns out that my manager has a friend with a sailboat that just happened to be docked here. So, what do you say?”
“Lead the way sailor,” I laughed heartily. Just then, the captain walked out, looked over the side of the boat, and called down at us.
“Come aboard, it looks like a beautiful day for a sail.” We walked a few steps and then crossed over a small plank. Once aboard, I turned in a slow circle, taking it all in, and looked over at Sebastian, giving him a toothy grin.
“This is great!” I walked to the other side of the deck and grasped the railing, peering over the side. He came up beside me, his shoulder brushing mine, and I reached over, slipping my hand in his.
“If I forget to tell you later, thank you for bringing me here. This is an amazing surprise. I’m looking forward to spending the day with you Sebastian.”
He turned me to face him, placing one hand on my waist, as the other reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to thank me honey, the smile on your face is all the thanks I need. I want you to look back on our time together and have the same sparkle in your eyes that I saw when you talked about sailing with Jade. I want you to love everything about our time together.”
“I love you,” I whispered, tilting my head into his open palm.
“I love you too,” he whispered back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sebastian~
“That was amazing!” she delighted, as a dolphin jumped high in the air next to the boat. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Brooke squealing with delight whenever she would see a dolphin or humpback whale break through the surface of the water. Her response was classic newbie, almost bordering on childlike, and I loved it. When I first caught her staring longingly at the sailboats from my living room window, I knew that I had to bring her here so that we could experience this together. I grew up here, so this was not my first time getting up close and personal with the aquatic life, but watching it through Brooke’s eyes somehow made it feel different, like this was my first time truly experiencing the actual beauty before me. Even though I had witnessed it before, I realized today that I had never fully appreciated it for what it was, which was amazing.
“Are you hungry?” We had been out on the water for nearly two hours, and I had just started feeling a rumbling in my stomach. I had hired a caterer to stock the galley with a spread of fresh fruits, breads, and smoked fish.
“Maybe a little, do you want to head back?” She turned to me, and her expression did little to mask the disappointment that lay beneath the surface.
“No, we don’t have to go anywhere; there’s food down below. I’ll get it and bring it back up for us.” I kissed her on the nose and headed down to the galley.
“Wait, let me help you,” she insisted, following closely behind me. “When did you find time to organize all of this?” She asked, taking in the spread placed before us. She grabbed an end off a baguette and stuffed it into her dainty mouth. “You’re like, the best boyfriend ever,” she declared, through a mouthful of bread. “You do know that you’ve ruined any other man’s chances of competing.”
&n
bsp; “That’s the goal sweetheart,” I growled, pulling her to me, bending down to wipe the remaining crumbs off her lips with the tip of my tongue. “Yum, that’s good bread,” I said, reaching for a piece of my own.
“Do you want to eat down here or on deck?” I could tell that she was eager to get back outside, but she also wanted to please me.
“I thought we could eat upstairs, come on, we’ll make a picnic on deck.” We carried a few items with us and sat down cross-legged, facing one another, and took turns feeding each other small bites of fruit. After she had fed me the last strawberry I twisted my body around and leaned back on my palms. Brooke wiped the berry juices on a napkin and moved a few things out of the way before settling in with her head on my lap, looking up at me as she spoke.
“I wish that I didn’t have to leave tomorrow, I’m not quite ready to go,” she sighed heavily and closed her eyes. I felt that familiar ache in my chest once again and fought the urge to rub my hand against it, as if trying to wipe it away.
“I know sweetie, I’m trying not to think about it. I know that you have to get back to your life, and your work, but if you were to tell me that you wanted to stay with me a bit longer I won’t lie, I would be a happy man. You do know that you could stay if you wanted to, don’t you?” I wound a length of her ponytail around my fingers, watching as the strands brushed over the FREE tattoo, knowing deep inside that the word would never again apply to my heart. This girl had stolen that with only one glance.
“So, when I get back home, and we both settle back into our old routines, how often do you see us talking to each other? I mean, I don’t want to call you too much or smother you or something crazy like that. I’ve never done this.” She turned on her side and ran a hand up and down my torso, an act that tickled, but felt too great to ask her to stop. “I just know that with my personality I can be a bit possessive, so I don’t want to scare you off or anything stupid like that.”
“Well, I highly doubt that would happen, I could never grow tired of you. But, you and I both know that once you get back home you are going to be busy with work, and you’ll have Jade to distract you. I’ll have things with the band, and the guys and I hang out quite a bit. We’re both going to get caught back up in the routine of everyday life. I just hope that through all of that we don’t forget to make time for each other, even from afar.” I highly doubted that I would get too busy to think about her, but I didn’t want to pressure her too much, I would rather have a little bit of her than none at all.
“I would never be too busy for you Sebastian, I know that’s what you are thinking. I want this to work. I’m in love with you, and I don’t say those words easily. I’ve known from the first moment I opened my eyes and saw you there with me, taking care of me, I knew that you were someone worth having in my life. I don’t want to lose you, ever.” She sat up and kissed my jaw, then made her way over to my ear and whispered, “I want to love you forever.” Then she pushed me gently back and covered my body with her own, kissing me passionately, showing me through her kisses just how much she meant every word. We lay there like that, kissing on the deck of that forty-foot sailboat, the colorful mast flew overhead and dolphins soared high in the air, squealing loudly, almost as if they were cheering for us.
Later that night, after a long day on the water, we made it home, and both went to change our clothes. We had just gotten settled on the sofa when the doorbell chimed, followed up by a series of loud thumping on the door. I knew immediately it was the guys. I opened the door to find them all standing there, with Natalie and Olivia in tow.
“Sorry guys, but Chris wanted to stop and say goodbye, and then we decided that we all wanted to see her once more before she left,” announced Travis, as they made their way through the front door. Travis wrapped her up in his strong arms, proving to me once again how well she fit in with my family.
“Oh, that’s okay, I’m glad you stopped by,” gushed Brooke, ever the sweetheart and kind soul. If I had spoken first, I might have let them all know that I wanted to be alone with her but her response had been the right one, she always seemed to know just what to say.
“Hey gorgeous,” Chris placed a small kiss on her cheek as he gave her a tight squeeze. “I’m going to miss this beautiful face.” He gripped either side of her mouth, causing her to make fish lips, and then gave her a quick peck. He slipped an arm around her petite shoulders, his large frame swallowing her up, and turned to me. “Now Sebastian, I know this is your lady, and you love her and all, but I just have to tell you,” he paused as his face took on a serious expression. “This little lady is already like a sister to me, and if you hurt her I’m going to have to do some serious damage, capiche?”
Four days ago, I probably would have gotten ticked off at his obvious affection for her, but knowing how they feel about each other, it doesn’t even faze me. “Got it dude, I promise not to hurt her.” I laughed with him, throwing out a question of my own.
“What happens if she hurts me?”
“Oh, if that happens you’re on your own dude. Brothers and sisters have to stick together, ain’t that right Brooke?” They gave one another a fist bump and laughed.
“You know it!” She made her way over to me and slipped an arm around my waist. “You know that will never happen, right?” she whispered.
“I’m just messing with him,” I assured her, although part of me was trying to convince myself that it was just a joke. The truth was, I was certain that if either of us were to do unintentional damage it would most likely be me.
Brooke~
“What happens if she hurts me?” Sebastian had asked Chris. Part of me knew that he was only joking, but there was another part of me that wondered if he saw something in me that led him to believe that I could do such a thing to him. It wasn’t in my nature to be harsh or cold by any means, in fact, I was quite the opposite most of the time. I suppose it was possible that even though we both went into this with the best of intentions, there’s always a chance that we could fall out of love, or we might find that we just weren’t compatible. Given the fact that we had only known each other a week, I suspected that could very well be a possibility. Sometimes, when you are in a situation like this, you can get caught up in all of the drama, and you develop feelings for that person without ever really knowing them well enough to discover if those feelings were real or just a result of being caught up in the moment. After rationalizing this in my head, I already knew the answer, my feelings were real, and if Sebastian’s actions over the course of the week were any indication then I felt strongly that his were equally real.
“So Brooke, when are you going to come visit us again? Have you two talked about that yet?” Travis asked as he sat down beside me, looking back and forth between Sebastian and me. “Well, if you two haven’t already made plans I hope you know that we would love to see you again real soon. You know we have our tour starting up in six months, it would be great if you could join us when it works with your schedule.”
“That sounds great, I guess we’ll see how things go” I looked over at Sebastian, who at this time had turned a faint shade of pink and was shaking his head. “But, I would love to be there.”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm brother, but don’t jinx the good thing we’ve got going,” Sebastian quipped as he plopped down on my lap and kissed me loudly on the cheek. “I don’t want to scare her off too soon.”
Travis chuckled and leaned over to ruffle his brother’s hair. “Don’t sweat it little brother, this one’s a keeper, she’s not going anywhere.”
“I hope not,” Sebastian muttered, mostly to himself, but I heard it, and I gave him a gentle squeeze just to let him know that I felt the same way.
“Hey Brooke, have you talked to your little friend lately?” Dek asked, squeezing in next to us on the sofa.
“Yes, I talked to her this morning; Sebastian talked to her as well.”
“What’d she sound like?” Dek asked, smiling broadly.
“She
sounded cute, I think you’d like her.”
“Maybe I need to follow this guy out to Michigan when he comes out to visit, which I know he will as fast as our schedule will allow. Does that sound okay, Brooke?”
“Absolutely! Jade would totally flip out if you showed up at our apartment. It might help get me out of the doghouse for meeting all of you without her. She still can’t believe that, not only did I meet all of you, but managed to trick this one into falling in love with me,” I quipped smartly, jerking my thumb in Sebastian’s direction.
“No tricks were needed baby, one look at you and I was hooked,” he winked.
“Hey guys, we probably should be heading out and leave these two lovebirds alone,” announced Natalie as she came over to give me a hug. I had to move Sebastian off my lap, but I finally managed to wriggle out from beneath him, and stood to give her a hug. “Please promise you will come back, we all love you girl. You’re family now, I hope you know that.”
“Thanks, Natalie, I had a great time with you. Please do me a favor and give Tracy a big hug and kiss for me, Thomas too. I will miss all of you.”
“Have a safe trip home kiddo. Don’t worry, we’ll see you again soon. I’m counting on it,” Travis said as he hugged me tightly.
“It was a pleasure to meet you Brooke, I promise I’ll take good care of him for you, and we’ll come see you and your cute little friend really soon,” Dek smiled and gave me a warm hug.
Then, I turned and saw Chris standing there waiting, arms open wide, and tears in his eyes. I walked into his arms and gave him my best rendition of the bone crusher, which was not an easy task considering the size of his muscles.
“There’s something about you that fills my heart with happiness. I’m gonna miss you, you know that right? Promise you’ll call me and let me know you’re home safe? Text me from time to time just to say hi, stuff like that. You know, things that a kid sister might do with her long lost brother. I love you.” His hug burned right through me, in a good way, leaving a lasting impression on my heart. I had never known what it was like to have a sibling, but you can bet I wasn’t going to let go of this one, even if we hadn’t been related by blood, we had something special.
