Liam is sure as hell not ready for that.
Marriage and kids don’t go with my career choice.
“How’s it going with your new roommate?” He sets the large menu down in front of him on the table. “Did you apologize for flashing your dick in her direction?”
“I did.” I pat my hand on the wooden table. “She accepted my apology and we’ve moved on.”
He narrows his eyes. “Moved on? What exactly does that mean?”
I tell the truth as Matilda and I established it last night. “We’re friends.”
“Friends?” He draws the word out. “With benefits?”
I shake my head. “Just friends.”
“You’re good with that?” He looks over at the blonde server who hasn’t taken her eyes off of him since we walked in.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I doubt like hell I could live with a beautiful woman and not let my mind drift to all the what-ifs.” He drinks from the water glass in front of him.
“I didn’t say my mind hasn’t wandered.” I laugh. “The dynamic is complicated. She’s Julian’s family. I’m his best friend. There’s a line there that’s becoming blurrier by the day.”
“You’re all adults, Sebastian. You don’t need Julian’s approval to do anything. If you’re interested in this woman, tell her.”
I would if it wasn’t for the guilt that gnaws at my gut when I think about the inevitable conversation between Julian and me when Matilda realizes I’m not the Prince Charming she’s looking for.
I know I’m a great fuck, but beyond that, I can’t offer her what Julian’s giving to Maya.
She deserves better than a man who is married to his job.
He steals another glance at the server. “I’m about to order. You ready?”
“You’re about to ask for her number.”
He laughs as he shakes his head. “I have it. Our relationship is professional.”
“I take it she’s not a colleague, so she’s a patient?”
“I can’t answer that.”
I look over at the young woman. She must be a patient. I sense the sadness that’s surrounding her.
“I’m proud of you,” I say in a low voice. “You’re making a difference in the world, Wolf.”
He smiles at the nickname I gifted him with when he was a kid. “I’m proud of you too. Don’t tell Nicholas but you’re my favorite brother.”
I shake my head. “When’s the last time you said the same thing to him?”
“Yesterday,” he says as he raises his hand to beckon the server to our table.
I chuckle under my breath. “Why am I not surprised?”
Chapter 25
Tilly
I zip up the white sweater I pulled off the floor of my closet after I slipped into a pair of faded jeans. I kick a pair of sneakers aside to reveal black leather boots I haven’t worn in more than a year.
They’ll have to do. I step into those before I tie my hair into a ponytail and twist it into a messy knot on the top of my head.
Done.
I wouldn’t say that was a record-breaking change of clothes, but it’s fast enough to guarantee that I’ll make it to Carolyn’s apartment before her date arrives.
I worked an hour late tonight and just as I pushed the key into the lock of my apartment door, my cell phone rang.
It was Carolyn in a panic.
Her nanny had misread the schedule and made plans of her own on the one night this year that Carolyn has a date.
The lucky guy is a sales rep from one of the dog food brands that we stock at the clinic. He caught Carolyn’s eye a few weeks ago and when he invited her to dinner and a movie, she happily accepted.
I thumb out a message telling her that I’m on my way before I grab my purse from where I threw it on my bed when I got home from work just minutes ago.
The entire ride home on the subway I imagined walking into the apartment to the smell of a home cooked meal and the sight of Sebastian waiting by the dining room table with two glasses of red wine in his hands and that same look in his eye that I saw last night.
The only thing waiting for me when I did get home was a note taped to the apartment door asking me to keep my music to an acceptable level after midnight.
Apparently, I have at least one neighbor who doesn’t appreciate pop music the way I do.
I flick the switch to turn off my bedroom light before I race down the hallway to the apartment door.
A chime from my cell pulls my eyes to the screen. It’s a reply from Carolyn saying that she appreciates me filling in at the last minute.
I start typing out a message telling her how much I love hanging out with Cooper as I swing the apartment door open. I take a step forward and crash into the hard chest of my roommate.
I look up and into those brilliant blue eyes. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.” Sebastian smiles down at me. “Where are you rushing off to?”
How can he look this good after working all day?
“I need to go watch Cooper.” I move to let him into the foyer. “His mom has a date and the nanny bailed.”
“Cooper? Is that the kid who loves the solar system almost as much as I do?”
I nod. “I’m going to research more moon facts on my phone on the subway so I can dazzle him with my knowledge.”
“Or I could tag along and feed you those facts firsthand.” He tugs on the lapel of his gray suit jacket. “Do you think he’d mind?”
I look down at his belt and the badge attached to it. “He’ll want to touch your badge.”
His gaze drops. “I’ll let him hold it.”
My heart sings in my chest at the idea of spending an entire evening with Sebastian, even if a six-year-old will steal most of his attention away.
“Cooper is going to love meeting you. I’m pretty sure you’re already his hero.”
He laughs. “I need to lock something in the safe in my room and then I’ll be set.”
It’s his gun. I catch a glimpse of it in the holster he’s wearing under his suit jacket when he moves.
As he walks away, I’m hit with the sudden realization that he puts his life on the line every day.
An unexpected wave of fear washes over me. I’ve known him for less than a month, but if something happened to him, I know instinctively that my life would never be the same again.
***
“You make the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the entire world,” Cooper exclaims as he stands on one of the dining room chairs. “Tilly usually gives me an apple before bed and some licorice. This was way better.”
A hint of a smile touches Sebastian’s mouth. “My mom taught my brothers, my sister and me how to make grilled cheese when we were a little older than you are.”
“What are their names?” Cooper asks as he eyes me.
I’m motioning for him to sit back down in his chair, but he’s still on his feet, bouncing in place.
“I have two brothers, Nicholas and Liam.”
“What’s your sister’s name?” He rests his small palms against the table as he stomps his feet on the chair.
“Nikita, but we call her Nyx,” Sebastian answers.
I’ve heard bits and pieces about all of them from Maya. She hasn’t met his sister yet, but she had dinner with his two brothers and Nicholas’s wife, Sophia, a few months ago.
“I don’t have any brothers or sisters.” Cooper reaches into the pocket of his sweatpants to pull out Sebastian’s badge. “Are any of them policemen like you?”
Sebastian gets up from his chair and goes to where the little boy is standing. He scoops him up effortlessly and tosses him over his shoulder.
Coop lets out a playful squeal.
“My brother, Nicholas, writes books,” he says as he walks toward the living room. “My brother, Liam, helps people when they’re sad and Nyx owns a candy store.”
“A candy store?” Cooper’s eyes widen when Sebastian places him down on the sofa.
“The best one in the city.” Sebastian takes a seat next to him. “If your mom says it’s okay maybe Tilly and I can take you there the next time we come over to hang-out with you.”
The next time.
I smile inwardly at the promise of another evening like this.
I’ve been on my own since we arrived two hours ago. Coop took to Sebastian immediately and they spent most of the evening looking at books and websites devoted to the moon.
I didn’t mind at all. I watched in wonder as Sebastian shed his suit jacket, rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt and got on the floor so he could read to Cooper.
“I can’t wait.” Coop pats Sebastian on his knee. “Why aren’t any of them policemen like you?”
Sebastian steals a glance back at me before he turns his attention to the inquisitive little boy. “It wasn’t what they wanted to do.”
“Did you always want to do it?” He looks at Sebastian’s face. “Sometimes I think I want to be a pet doctor, but today I think I want to be a detective like you.”
I see Sebastian’s shoulders tighten. “For a very long time I wanted to be a lawyer.”
“What’s that?”
Sebastian bows his head. “A lawyer helps the police to make sure that the bad guys go to jail and stay there.”
A lawyer? His admission surprises me.
“That sounds cool.” Cooper slides into his lap. “Why didn’t you do that?”
Sebastian runs his hand over Coop’s forehead. “I almost did, but I changed my mind. My dad was a policeman and his dad was too. It made them happy when I went to the police academy.”
Cooper looks down at the badge in his hand. “If you were a lawyer you wouldn’t have one of these. You can take it back now.”
Sebastian reaches toward it, his hand hesitating before he picks it up. “You’re right. I wouldn’t.”
“It’s time to get ready for bed,” I call from where I’m standing. Something has shifted in Sebastian’s demeanor and now is the perfect time to get Cooper tucked in between his sheets. “Say goodnight to Sebastian.”
Cooper slides off Sebastian’s lap and faces him. “Are we friends now?”
“You bet.” Sebastian musses his hair.
“I’m going to tell the kids at school that my best friend is a policeman.”
“Hey,” I say as I approach where they’re sitting. “I thought we were best friends.”
Cooper blows out a breath. “You’re my second best friend.”
I laugh. “I’ll take it.”
We start toward his bedroom when he stops in place and turns around to look at Sebastian. “I sometimes ask Tilly to marry me, but she always says no. She might say yes if you ask her.”
“Cooper,” I say his name in a rush. “Sebastian and I are just friends.”
He grabs my hand and pulls it toward his bedroom. “Come on. I want you to read me the book about the astronaut.”
I glance back at Sebastian. We lock eyes and he smiles softly.
I turn away when Cooper yanks on my hand again. I can’t wait to get him into bed so I can spend time alone with the man I think I might be falling for.
Chapter 26
Tilly
“He fell asleep before I got to the third page of the book,” I say as I walk back into the main living area of Carolyn’s apartment. I reach to pick up toys as I make my way to the sofa where Sebastian is still sitting.
He slides to his feet to help. “He’s a great kid, Matilda. He might actually know more about the moon than I do.”
I laugh as I pile the toys into a bin in the corner. “Do you want something to drink? Carolyn usually keeps a few cans of soda in the fridge, or I can get you a glass of water.”
He dumps the toys he’s collected into the bin. “Nothing for me.”
“I’ll grab something for myself.” I start the walk toward the kitchen. “Cooper is going to talk about meeting you for days.”
I hear Sebastian chuckle as I round the corner and grab a soda from the fridge. I pour it into a glass. I take a large sip before I head back out toward the living room.
Sebastian is still on his feet, but he’s grabbed his cell phone from where he put it on the coffee table earlier.
All evening it’s been chiming signals of incoming text messages. I expected him to announce that he had to get back to work, but instead he read the messages without replying.
His fingers are rapidly typing something on the screen now. I don’t interrupt. Instead, I cross over to the dining room table, place the glass down, and tidy the books and laptop so it’s one less thing Carolyn will have to deal with tomorrow.
I raise my head when I hear Sebastian curse under his breath.
“Is something wrong?” I twist my lips wondering if he’s about to walk out because of work.
He looks over at me. I see the hesitation in his expression before he answers. “It’s Wendy. She wants to meet for a drink.”
I didn’t see that coming. I look down to hide the disappointment I know is on my face.
“My mom taught me to be a gentleman at all costs.” He lets out a measured breath. “It’s not easy to do that when you’re trying to end a … when you’re trying to tell a woman that the arrangement you had with her is over.”
“It’s over?” My voice takes on a higher pitch.
Dammit. Why the hell did I ask that question?
A look of satisfaction flashes across his face. “Yes.”
My heart does a happy dance inside my chest. I have no idea if Wendy is the only woman he has an arrangement like that with, but she’s the one I know he fucked in our apartment.
I’m relieved to know that it won’t happen again.
Just as I’m about to invite him to sit with me on the sofa, the apartment door opens and Carolyn walks in.
We both turn to look at her.
The broad grin on her face says it all, but I ask anyway. “How was your date?”
She closes the door softly behind her. “Good, I think. We’ll see if he calls for a second date. Thank you both again for taking care of Coop.”
“It was our pleasure,” Sebastian responds evenly. “You have an amazing son.”
“I think so too,” she says happily as she pushes her blonde hair back from her forehead. “I hope he behaved.”
“He was an angel,” I interject. “Hanging out with him is the best.”
“You two can take off.” She gestures toward the foyer. “The night is still young. Why don’t you head to the bar across the street and have a drink?”
I turn on my heel, so I’m facing her. Raising a brow, I tilt my head. “We’ve both had a long day. I think we’ll head home.”
“I could use a drink.” Sebastian walks across the apartment toward the door. “It was good to meet you, Carolyn.”
“You too, Sebastian.” She winks at me when I look back at her. “I hope you both have fun tonight.”
I shake my head. When we first arrived hours ago, she eagerly shook Sebastian’s hand before pulling me aside to ask me why the hell I wasn’t sneaking into his bed at night. I laughed it off, but obviously, she’s trying to set us up now. “Goodnight, Carolyn.”
She leans closer to tug me into an embrace, whispering into my ear, “I really hope you have a sheet-clawing, screaming-at-the-top-of-your-lungs night.”
I laugh softly as I pull back. “I’ve never had one of those.”
She looks past my shoulder to where Sebastian is standing. “I think tonight may be the night you do.”
Chapter 27
Sebastian
I head back to the table after picking up two bottles of beer from the bar. Matilda is sitting in the chair nearest the corner staring out the window at the traffic that’s passing by.
We were lucky to find a secluded table in this bar. It’s packed. Most of the people here are looking for the same thing; a warm and willing body to spend the night with.
I know the drill. It was how I lived my life fo
r many years.
Have a drink, pick up a random woman, and screw her senseless. There was never an exchange of numbers, often not even names.
It served its purpose when I needed it to.
My hookups the last few years have been anchored in casual friendships, like the one I had with Wendy. She was pushing for more time tonight and I realized that seeing her again isn’t something I want.
I set one of the beers down in front of Matilda and take the seat next to her. “We should toast to finding an open table.”
She laughs as she picks up the bottle and taps it against mine. “Here’s to luck and fate.”
I take a pull of the beer and place it down. “Tonight was fun. Cooper’s a blast.”
She sips from her bottle. “It was great. Thanks for tagging along.”
I’d follow her just about anywhere at this point. I want her to know that, but I can’t read what’s running through her mind, so I keep the conversation generic. “So you work with Carolyn?”
“She’s a vet.” She cups her hand around the bottle. “I’m not always paired up with her during exams or procedures, but we hang out in the break room sometimes.”
“Do you like what you do?”
She grins. “I do. The clinic I work at is one of the best in the city. The staff is friendly. We’re like a family.”
I sense a but sitting on the tip of her tongue, so I push. “Is it your dream job?”
She sighs as she takes another swallow of beer. “Are you asking if I want to be a veterinarian?”
Her shoulders tense enough that I can tell it’s an unwelcome question that she’s been asked too many times in the past.
“I’m asking if you could have any job in the world, would this be it?”
Her eyes widen as she studies my face. “I could ask you the same after hearing you tell Coop that you wanted to be a lawyer.”
She’s deflecting, but I won’t push. “I did want to be a lawyer.”
“A prosecutor,” she says as she leans closer to look into my eyes. “Eventually the sign on your office door would read Sebastian Wolf, Manhattan District Attorney.”
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