An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

by Abby Green

  She was so weak in the aftermath that he had to lift her up into his arms and take her straight into his bedroom, where he laid her down on the bed. He undressed with swift, graceful movements, and when he came down beside her on the bed Edie was already aching for him again.

  She wondered with a mounting sense of desperation as he joined their bodies with a powerful thrust if she’d ever not want him with this insatiable hunger...

  * * *

  When Sebastio woke the following morning he put his hand out and frowned when it didn’t touch Edie’s warm sleeping body. He lifted his head and saw the room was empty. He felt a spurt of frustration as he got up and went to the adjoining door. He shouldn’t have offered her another room.

  But she wasn’t there either.

  He pulled on sweats and a top and went into the apartment. Dawn was coming up over the city, and when he saw Edie he felt a little breathless for a moment. She was sitting in one of his chairs, wearing a robe—his robe—and he could see that it drowned her.

  She had her knees pulled up to her chin, her arms wrapped around them, and she was looking out of the window with a faint smile on her face. Her hair was messy and his hands itched to grab her up and carry her straight back to bed. For some reason he felt piqued that something private was making her smile.

  But then she must have heard him because she looked around. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

  He shook his head, coming into the room. ‘You didn’t.’

  He was unable not to touch her, so he went over and plucked her up from the chair before sitting down and putting her on his lap.

  She let out a surprised squeak and a chuckle. ‘I was quite comfortable there, you know.’

  ‘Now I bet you’re even more comfortable.’

  She blushed and Sebastio shook his head, tracing her jaw with a knuckle. ‘Amazing how you can blush so easily after what we’ve just spent all night doing.’

  She blushed even harder.

  ‘What are you doing out here anyway?’

  She shrugged. ‘Just watching the city wake up. Christmas morning always feels magical to me. Like some kind of miracle has taken place overnight.’ She ducked her head against his shoulder. ‘You’ll think I’m daft.’

  He shook his head slowly. She’d put on the Christmas tree lights and they sent out a low golden glow. It was the first time he’d ever had his own private space decorated for Christmas, and it reminded him of the Christmases he’d spent with his grandmother. For the first time since he’d bought this place it felt as if it had a little soul.

  He said, ‘I have a present for you.’

  She tensed. ‘But that’s not fair. I had no time to do anything.’

  Sebastio marvelled. Any other woman he’d ever been intimate with would be licking her lips and trying to hide the greedy gleam in her eyes.

  He stood up, pulling Edie up with him, and took her over to the tree. He said ruefully, ‘I’m afraid most of these boxes are empty—just dressing—but this one is for you.’

  He handed her a small wrapped box and felt ridiculously self-conscious when she took it. He was very aware that she was naked under the robe. He could see the tantalising slope of one breast, the start of a dusky nipple...

  She looked at him, biting her lip. ‘You didn’t have to do this.’

  ‘Just open it, Edie,’ he growled, not sure if he could control himself until she opened it.

  Edie was all fingers and thumbs on the package. Her heart was tripping. She felt awful. Why hadn’t she thought of getting Sebastio something? Even though she’d had no idea she’d be here? Once again he was surprising her.

  The paper fell away to reveal a long rectangular black box. She opened it and sucked in a shaky breath. It was a stunning silver necklace with a perfectly formed teardrop diamond encased in platinum.

  She looked up at Sebastio, darkly dangerous with his tousled hair and stubbled jaw. His actions had sent her into a spin, but she knew she shouldn’t make anything of it because he must have done this a million times with other women. She desperately tried not to imbue it with any significance beyond a thoughtful gesure.

  ‘I can’t accept this—it’s too much.’

  He plucked the necklace out of the box and had it secured around her neck before she could stop him. For a man with big hands he was surprisingly dextrous. She put up a hand to feel it. The diamond nestled perfectly in the spot just below the little hollow at the centre of her collarbone.

  ‘But I have nothing for you...’

  He took her hand. ‘You can come back to bed and show me your appreciation.’ He smiled wickedly.

  * * *

  Much later that day, Sebastio revealed to Edie the Christmas feast that had been delivered and prepared by Fortnum & Mason staff. They dined on a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, and drank wine, still decadently dressed in their robes.

  And as dusk fell over London once more Edie knew she’d just experienced a Christmas that would be etched into her memory for ever. The kind of Christmas she’d never imagined could be possible. She was deeply and irrevocably under Sebastio’s magic spell. And she feared that it was way too late to try and save herself.

  No matter what happened now, she would emerge from this experience emotionally bruised. More than bruised. But she knew she wouldn’t have swapped it for anything. When the pain came—as it inevitably would—she would deal with it.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘I WANT YOU to come to Argentina with me.’

  Edie turned around from where she’d been looking out over the view of London. It was a view she thought she’d never get enough of. And it was a view that reminded her that while she was here in this glass cocoon high in the clouds with Sebastio it wasn’t really her life. Her life was back on street level. Not up here. Even if during the past few idyllic, heady days she’d managed to block out the fact that reality was waiting in the wings.

  Except maybe not just yet...

  ‘Argentina?’

  He nodded and pushed himself off the doorframe, where he’d been leaning nonchalantly. He was dressed in worn jeans and a loose shirt. How long had he been there? Watching her?

  He came towards her with that effortless athletic grace, and predictably Edie’s body responded. It was still sensitive after a night of passion that had left her feeling as weak as a kitten. She’d only just managed to drag herself out of bed, wash and eat something. More leftovers from their Christmas feast.

  Sebastio had been on the phone in his office so she’d not disturbed him.

  ‘I have to go to Buenos Aires for some meetings at the bank and I’ve been invited to a New Year’s party. Afterwards I could take you to my island for a couple of days.’

  She remembered him mentioning it before. Santa Azul. It sounded impossibly exotic and out of her league. And it was, she told herself a little desperately.

  She folded her arms, as if that could help block out Sebastio’s intensely seductive pull. ‘I would love to... But I can’t just pick up and leave at a moment’s notice.’

  ‘Why not?’

  His carefree attitude rubbed up against all the edgy bits inside her that told her she was a fool to have indulged herself like this here with him. ‘Because life isn’t that simple for all of us, Sebastio.’

  He went still. ‘I know very well that life isn’t simple, Edie. I’m not suggesting it is. However, I won’t apologise for the fact that I have resources available to me that can make things somewhat...easier.’

  Edie felt chastened. He’d been nothing but generous. The necklace he’d given her nestled against her skin. She adored it, and hadn’t taken it off since he’d put it around her neck. Even though she knew one of his assistants had probably picked it out.

  ‘I’m sorry... I just don’t think it would be a good idea.’

  S
he dreaded him asking why, because in the fragile mood she was in right now she might blurt out the real reason. Because she was fathoms deep in love with him and struggling to stay afloat in a sea of emotions.

  But he said, ‘When are your parents due back from their cruise?’

  She looked at him. ‘Not till the third week in January.’

  ‘And when are you due to return to work?’

  ‘Helen hasn’t contacted me yet with a return date.’

  ‘So effectively you have no commitments at the moment?’

  She shook her head, feeling her will to resist slipping away.

  As if sensing her vacillation, Sebastio stepped closer. And then closer. She had no defence against him when he came within touching distance. And less than none when he touched her, sliding his hand around her neck, tugging her towards him. Bringing their bodies into contact.

  ‘Come with me, Edie... I want to show you Buenos Aires and you’ll love my island. We’re not done, you and I. Not yet.’

  But we will be soon.

  He didn’t have to say it.

  The weak part of Edie reasoned logically that she was in so deep now, what could a few more days hurt? Sebastio made her feel vital and alive. Things she’d longed for so desperately at one time. Things she’d been afraid she’d never feel again. How could she turn her back on what he was offering?

  * * *

  Edie was curled into her seat, staring out of the plane’s small window as they flew over the eastern coastline of Argentina and south to Buenos Aires. Sebastio’s gaze ran over her figure. She was dressed in light trousers and a bright silk shirt with a bow at the neck that made his hands itch to undo it and slip the buttons out of their holes so he could—

  He cursed silently.

  What was it about this woman that still held him in her thrall? It was as if the more he got of her, the more insatiable he became. Her effect on him was growing, not waning. This had never happened to him with a woman before.

  It was the only thing that was stopping him from dragging her to the back of the plane to make love to her. This clawing need to have her. It made him feel out of control. And yet it hadn’t stopped him from bringing her with him.

  She turned her head to look at him, as if she could hear his riotous thoughts. ‘Why did you cut your hair so short?’ he asked. ‘It used to be longer.’

  Edie immediately touched her hair self-consciously and she avoided his eye. He’d noticed she did that sometimes, and it made him want to tip her face to his so she couldn’t hide from him.

  ‘I just... It was more practical for work.’

  Something niggled at Sebastio. He realised that for the first time since he’d met her he thought she was lying. Why would she lie about her hair, though?

  She bent down and picked up a newspaper she’d been looking at earlier. She handed it over to Sebastio with a wary look on her face. ‘Isn’t this your friend who was in the car with you that night of the accident? It looks like he got married.’

  Sebastio took the paper from Edie, frowning. He looked down and his breath caught in his throat.

  It was a picture of Victor Sanchez. He was in his wheelchair and holding the hand of a woman who stood beside him, looking down at him and smiling broadly. She was very pretty, with dark hair in a fancy topknot, and a voluminous veil flowing behind her. She wore a white dress and held flowers in her other hand. Victor was wearing a suit with a flower in his buttonhole.

  Married.

  ‘They look very happy.’

  Sebastio barely heard Edie’s words above the roaring sound in his head. He skimmed the article...

  Miranda, who had been nursing Victor after the accident...fell in love...second chance of happiness after the horrific tragedy that claimed his wife and...

  Sebastio dropped the paper from his hand. All he could see was Victor’s features, bruised and twisted with hatred and anger.

  ‘Damn you, Sebastio. You killed Maya and my baby. You ruined my life. You didn’t deserve to survive. You’re incapable of loving anyone... We had love. We had it all ahead of us and you took it away...’

  Sebastio was locked in the past and he only slowly became aware of Edie crouched next to him, her hand on his arm, while she put something small and cool in his other hand. He looked down stupidly to see a tumbler full of golden liquid. He lifted it and drank, allowing the alcohol to spread its warmth and restore his equilibrium.

  ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shown it to you... But I thought it might be a good thing.’

  Sebastio curled his hand into a fist on his thigh. He needed to reach for Edie so badly right now that it scared him.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he gritted out.

  He’d never been less fine.

  She moved back and sat in her own seat. Sebastio took another sip of whisky. He could sense the question reverberating in her head. He could feel the weight of it.

  Without her even asking, he said, ‘It was my fault. The crash.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘We were on our way home from a match. Maya was in the back of the car. We were happy—we’d won. I took my attention off the road for a split-second and that was all it took. A drunk driver was on the wrong side of the road, coming straight for us. By the time I noticed, it was too late to swerve or do anything. It was a head-on collision. And yet I walked away with barely a scratch.

  ‘Victor was paralysed from the waist down. He’d been one of the world’s best rugby full-backs and had just signed a contract with one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Maya was half-French—they were due to go to Paris, to live there for a few years.’

  Sebastio’s voice was toneless, but Edie could hear the underlying emotion. She bitterly regretted showing him the article now. She’d only been trying to distract him from asking her about her hair. When he’d gone so pale she’d acted on instinct to get him something for shock...

  ‘Maya was thrown from the car. She and her baby died almost instantly.’

  The bleakness in Sebastio’s voice scored at Edie’s heart. ‘I can’t imagine what that must have been like...to experience such a tragedy.’

  Except she could.

  She’d watched people she’d become close to die while she’d survived. So she did know how Sebastio felt on some level.

  He said, ‘They had everything going for them. They’d only been married a year and they were about to have a baby, a whole new life in France...’

  ‘But it wasn’t your fault. The other driver had been drinking—’

  Sebastio’s focus snapped back to her. ‘If I hadn’t been distracted I would have seen him coming... I could have swerved, or done something... Victor was right to blame me.’

  At that moment an air steward appeared and informed them they’d be landing shortly. Edie secured her belt and glanced at Sebastio, who was looking out of his window broodingly.

  She wanted to say more but she bit her lip. The weight of Sebastio’s guilt hung heavy in the space between them. No wonder it was so acute if his own friend had blamed him. The worst of it was how badly she wanted to be able to do something to assuage his pain. Reassure him it hadn’t been his fault. But he seemed determined to blame himself.

  She forced herself to look away, out of her own window. Sebastio’s pain wasn’t her responsibility. She couldn’t afford to let herself get any more invested.

  But as the plane touched down with a screech of tyres she knew it was futile. She was already invested. Beyond all hope.

  * * *

  By the time they were driving through the city in a chauffeur-driven Jeep Edie was already transfixed by the majesty and beauty of Buenos Aires.

  She looked at Sebastio as she buzzed her window down. ‘Do you mind?’

  He shrugged and smiled and she was relieved to see that intense brooding expression replaced by something
else. He might have had a tragic experience here, and a not-so-happy childhood, but it was clear he loved this city. He looked relaxed in a way she’d never seen before, his dark good looks complemented by the vibrant surroundings.

  Edie’s eyes couldn’t take it all in fast enough as they drove down wide boulevards and she looked up at the soaring elegant buildings. They were entering an area with wide leafy streets and even more elegant buildings now. Edie didn’t know much about archictecture, but some of the houses reminded her of pictures she’d seen of Paris.

  There were manicured parks, with children playing by fountains and old men sitting in groups talking. It was refined and exotic and a world away from grey and cold London.

  They drew to a stop on a quiet street that bordered one of the parks. Sebastio helped her out and immediately she felt overdressed and too hot in the silk shirt and trousers. Summer in the southern hemisphere was intense, even in the late afternoon.

  A very beautiful woman walked past with a perfectly groomed poodle and Edie felt a bubble of pure joy rise up. She’d never in a million years have experienced this if it wasn’t for Sebastio.

  She turned to him impulsively before they walked into the building. ‘Thank you for this... I love it.’

  His mouth quirked. ‘We’ve only just arrived.’

  She refused to feel embarrassed at her own gaucheness. ‘I know...but still, thank you.’

  Sebastio watched Edie walk into the foyer of his apartment building—he owned the entire building—and saw the effect of her smile on the concierge. He scowled at the man and led Edie into the lift, and up to his floor. The top floor.

  Her words came back to him. ‘You really couldn’t care less, could you?’ But the problem was that he did care. He’d just made an art out of pretending not to.

  But seeing Victor’s picture in that paper earlier... His friend’s happiness had impacted Sebastio deeply—the man had lost everything and yet he obviously still had the capacity to love and seek joy.