AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Hope that I can fix this. If you’ll let me try.’
God, she’d never been able to resist him when he looked like that. Not when he focused all his attention on her so completely, determined to do whatever it took to please her.
If only he’d looked like that more often, she’d probably never have left.
‘Okay,’ she said, the word coming out raspy. She took a sip of wine to soothe her throat and her nerves. It was only until Christmas. On Boxing Day she and Frankie would leave, unless something fundamental shifted in her relationship with Seb. She could give him until Christmas, couldn’t she? Call it his Christmas present. ‘We can try.’
CHAPTER FIVE
SEBASTIAN WAS UP early the next morning—not for work reasons for once but because he was eager to start a new, even more important project.
Project Win Back Wife and Child.
Maybe it needed a better name than that, he mused as he stepped into the shower, hoping the warm water would wake him up a bit. He hadn’t slept as well as he normally did. For some reason, after a year of getting used to not having Maria in his bed beside him, last night had thrown him straight back to those first, lonely days after she’d left. Rather than sprawling across the bed as he’d taken to doing over the last twelve months to make it feel less empty, he’d spent the night hours reaching for someone who hadn’t been there, and waking himself up when he’d realised he’d been alone.
Clearly, he needed this project more than ever.
Maybe Project Family was the name he was looking for. He had a feeling that Noemi would approve.
He hoped so, anyway, because he was going to need her help to pull it off.
By the time Seb was showered and dressed, there was still no sign of the door to Maria and Frankie’s room opening. He loitered outside for a few moments, listening, but all was quiet.
Deciding to let them sleep in, Seb headed downstairs to find his sister.
Noemi was, as he’d expected, brewing coffee in the kitchen—decaf, in her case, it seemed, but fortunately she had some full-strength stuff on the go, too.
‘Can I steal a cup of that?’ he asked, settling himself on one of the counter stools to watch her work. Now he knew about her pregnancy, it was impossible to miss the slight curve of her usually slender body, or the way her clothes skimmed over it. Not to mention the glow of happiness that surrounded her.
‘I was making it for Max.’ She scowled at him, rather ruining the pregnancy goddess image.
‘Please? I assure you, my need is greater. I need energy for my plans today.’ He was wheedling, he knew, but Noemi was a soft touch sometimes, so if it worked it was worth it.
‘Plans?’ She poured a cup of the coffee and pushed it towards him, one eyebrow elegantly arched. ‘Are these Maria plans?’
Seb nodded, taking a sip of the steaming hot drink. ‘That’s the idea.’
Noemi leaned forward against the counter between them, her elbows on the wooden surface. ‘Then how can I help?’
Seb grinned. ‘I was hoping you would ask that.’
‘Because you have no idea how to win a woman over?’ Noemi asked.
‘Hey! She married me in the first place, didn’t she?’ Seb pointed out.
Noemi rolled her eyes. ‘That was a business deal. No one ever denied that you were good at those.’
Well, it was the closest thing to a compliment that he was likely to get from his sister these days, so Seb decided to take it.
‘It wasn’t just business,’ he argued, almost for the sake of it. Everyone knew that if it hadn’t been for Maria’s father’s business troubles, she never would have married him. And he’d probably never have got around to getting married at all, too busy with the company. But business wasn’t all there had ever been between them—especially after the vows had been made and he’d discovered how much he adored making love to his wife... But that wasn’t the point. ‘We were friends. Partners, even. And we’re parents. That doesn’t count for nothing, you know.’
‘Hey, I’m all for you two crazy kids working things out between you,’ Noemi said, lifting her coffee cup in a mock toast. ‘I just think you need to figure out exactly why she left, and how you can stop screwing up so badly.’
‘I’m way ahead of you.’ Seb tried not to sound too smug. ‘And I’ve always known why she left—she told me as much when we argued the night before.’
‘And you listened?’ Noemi asked, sounding amazed.
Seb ignored her. ‘She felt ignored. Neglected. She said I didn’t see her.’
‘Right,’ Noemi said slowly, as if there needed to be more.
‘So I’m going to prove to her that I do see her. That if she comes home I won’t ignore her. That there can be romance and that stuff in our marriage, even if it’s not why we married.’
‘“Romance and that stuff”,’ Noemi echoed, faintly. ‘Right.’
‘See! It’s all going to be great.’ Seb felt a lot better about his plan, having talked it through. All he needed to do was show Maria how much he wanted her there. Which was easy, because it was the truth.
‘So what do you need me to do?’ Noemi asked, sounding far too sceptical about the whole thing for Seb’s liking. Still, he’d show her. He just needed the time to do it—and he only had until Christmas. Which meant pulling out the romance big guns from the off.
‘Could you and Max watch Frankie for me today? As much as I want to spend time with the little guy, I figure that romancing Maria comes first.’ After all, if that part of the plan worked, then Frankie would be around for him to spend time with every day. If it didn’t...
Well. He just wasn’t going to think about that.
‘Will you do it?’
‘Of course,’ Noemi said automatically. ‘But what are you and Maria going to be doing?’
Seb grinned broadly. ‘We’re going on a date.’
* * *
‘I’m so sorry—we slept in!’ Maria bustled into the kitchen, Frankie holding her hand, to find Sebastian and Noemi sipping coffee together at the counter. ‘I guess we must have been more tired than I thought after travelling yesterday.’ At least, Maria assumed that was why Frankie—who was always an early-morning kid—had slept in way past his normal wake-up time. Travelling and a late night, plus lots of new people, had had him zonked out for twelve straight hours.
She, on the other hand, had spent most of the night listening to Frankie breathing and thinking about her husband in the next room, and what she’d agreed to. She’d finally passed out around three in the morning, and had apparently made up for the lack of rest by oversleeping until closer to lunch than breakfast.
Frankie, dressed in his warmest clothes, bounced on his toes beside her, still excited by being at the chalet. He’d woken up perfectly rested and had bounded onto her bed to wake her up, too, keen to start his day in the snow.
‘Don’t worry! You haven’t missed anything yet,’ Noemi said, beaming.
‘In fact, we were just discussing plans for the day,’ Seb added. Maria couldn’t help but notice that Sebastian, at least, looked relaxed, happy and as gorgeous as ever. While she felt like a nervous wreck. How was that fair?
At least she’d have Frankie as a buffer between them today. Seb couldn’t possibly want to continue last night’s conversation with their son around. So all she needed to do was keep things friendly and polite—and not let him get under her skin again like last night.
Easy. Right?
But then Noemi crouched down in front of Frankie, a mischievous grin on her face. ‘How would you like to spend the day with Aunt Noemi and Uncle Max, munchkin?’
Maria’s gaze flew to Sebastian’s face, but he was smiling serenely. This was his plan, then. He wanted to get her alone.
Damn him.
‘Noemi, you really don’t have to—’
‘I’d l
ove to!’ Noemi broke in. ‘And so would Max. Or he will when I tell him. I mean, it’s great practice for us both.’
‘Right. I know. It’s just... I’m not sure that Frankie is—’ Maria started again, trying to find a good enough excuse that wouldn’t offend Noemi, but this time Frankie interrupted her.
‘We have ice cream?’ he asked, in his sweet, high voice.
