Page 61 of After Midnight

It draws a laugh out of me, one that feels both comforting and unfamiliar.

“I can make you a bagel,” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “Nope. I want yours. Tastes better that way.”

As he chews, a buzzing starts to sound from his pocket. Holding the bagel with his teeth, he fishes his cell out of his jeans. The moment his gaze lands on the screen, his smile falters, a furrow forming in his brow. He looks at it for a second, like trying to decide if he should take the call or not.

“I can give you some privacy,” I say, making to stand.

But he shakes his head and silences the call, then slips the cell back into his pocket. “No, it’s not that. It’s just my dad.”

His tone is different, like storm clouds just rolled in to cover his cheerful sun.

“Is . . . everything okay?” I ask, drawing my knees up to my chest and tucking my robe in around me.

Sebastian finishes the bagel and washes it down with a sip of coffee. “He probably wants something. That’s the only reason he ever calls.”

Now I feel my face falling, especially as I remember what he told me about his father that night in Caliber. “Oh. That’s shitty.”

His gaze meets mine, and in the bright sunlight, his brown eyes appear much lighter, shot through with caramel and gold. He regards me for a moment, then gets his smile back, and it immediately makes my chest feel lighter. “Yeah, it is.” He lets out a low laugh. “Super shitty. But I’d much rather talk to you.”

With a smile creeping onto my lips, I lean back in my armchair and say, “How much time do we have before your flight?”

His smile turns bashful. “Uh . . . I think I missed it already.”

My heart hits hard in my chest. “What?”

“Yeah.” He stretches his arms overhead and yawns, muscles flexing, and I realize I’m biting my lip as I watch him. “It was an early flight. I’ll have to catch a different one.”

A little spark of hope flares to life inside me. Maybe this means we could have more time together. “Are you . . . in a rush?”

He flicks a look at me. “To get back to LA?” He shakes his head. “No. I don’t have anything important to do until Friday.”

Friday. That’s three days from now. I go back to work tomorrow, but I have all of today off. Maybe—

“If you want me out of your hair,” he starts to say, “I can get goi—”

“No.” The word bursts out of me so fast, I think it surprises us both.

His smile slowly gets wider. “No?” Sebastian tips his head to one side, regarding me, pegging me with his gaze until I know he’s not going to let me get away with not saying anything.

So I draw myself up and take a steadying breath. Then I say, “No. I don’t want you to go.”

A low laugh rumbles from Sebastian’s chest, and he settles more comfortably into his chair. “All right, but if you get annoyed at me following you around, just know that I warned you.”

AFTER SEBASTIAN TAKES A SHOWER and changes into fresh clothes from the travel bag he left in my Jeep, we head into the city. I have an appointment at the nail salon, and I expect that he’ll want to wait in the car or go do something more interesting, but instead, he follows me right in, and he even helps me pick a new color from the array of polishes displayed on one wall.

When the nail tech is ready to take me back for my pedi, Sebastian asks, “Do you have room for one more?”

And the nail girls are way too pleased as Sebastian reclines back in the massage chair next to mine, his feet soaking and his eyes closed. He looks huge in it, which makes the girls giggle.

“Is this normal for you?” I ask.

He cracks an eye open to look at me. “Getting my feet done?”

I nod, trying to hold back a smile.

He shakes his head. “Nope. But I wanna go where you are.” He closes his eye again, and his lips curl up on one side. “I told you, you’re going to get tired of me following you around.”