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With a smile flashed in her direction, Sebastian left them and headed towards the decking area, stopping at the top of the stairs and waiting until everyone naturally grew silent.
‘There is one thing that I like to do before the opening of every one of my hotels. It started with my first and has continued on from there. I like to bring the most important people together. You,’ he said, offering his hands to the guests, and as she looked around the beaming faces she saw more than just happiness. She saw pride.
‘You have worked beside me on this endeavour—contractors, suppliers, staff. This night is to say a huge and deeply heartfelt thank you for everything that you have done and have achieved. Tonight, I have brought in staff from other hotels around the world, not only to serve you, but for them to see what incredible things you’ve done. Tonight, you are the guests, the first guests of this hotel. So eat, drink, enjoy the cabins and the entertainment. I don’t want to see any of you before at least midday tomorrow!’
A huge round of applause, a wave of laughter and a cheer rippled out across the small crowd, but Sia only had eyes for Sebastian. The most important people, indeed. Ajay cast her a knowing smile and led her to where delicious plates of food were being served while Sebastian stopped to shake hands and give thanks to some of the guests.
As Sebastian looked around he felt pleasure in their success, a thrill in seeing all the changes to the designs he’d made to ensure the buildings worked harmoniously with the backdrop. He remembered wrestling with the first architect—a very intelligent and experienced man, but his heart had been in chrome and steel, not in working sympathetically with the setting, local materials or even local experts. When Ajay had introduced his cousin, Sebastian knew he’d found the right man for the job.
The hotel had been done right and perfectly. But—Sebastian managed to stop himself from shaking his head—he thought he’d feel more... Just more. Here he was, with everything he’d ever wanted. Revenge had been taken against the Sheikh, his sister was happily married with a child on the way. His father and Valeria were safely in Rimini doing their own thing. But from the age of eighteen he’d done everything he had to. Then, in the last three or so years, anything he could do. But as he looked out to where the sea stretched beneath the stars, dark shapes twisting in the moonlight, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was what he really wanted to do.
Instinctively, he was drawn back to the gathering, the cascade of laughter he recognised as Sia’s and was suddenly, and completely irrationally, jealous of Ajay, who was a very happily married man and father of two.
She would make an incredible mother.
The thought popped into his head and caught there. He could see it in his mind’s eye—her gently casting circles over a baby bump, a little more pink to her cheeks, the be
autiful red-gold hair flowing down her back. The image was so pure, so true, it was as if he knew it was in her future—something she not only wanted but deserved. But, just as strongly, Sebastian knew it would not be in his. He’d experienced that heavy weight of responsibility, knew what it took to protect and safeguard that family and three years ago had decided he was done.
At eighteen, he’d been a teenager who’d sold his family belongings to keep the roof over his and his sister’s heads. While his father and Valeria had sailed around Greece for months on end, Sebastian had gone to school plays, parent teacher conferences and spent every spare minute ensuring his first hotel was a success. And then the second. And the third. In the first five years of their exile he’d barely slept more than four hours a night. And not just because of the fact he worked all the hours God sent, but because of the fear. The fear that it could all be taken away again in the blink of an eye. The fear that nothing in this world was really lasting.
The sound of a glass breaking drew him back to the present, as highly efficient staff descended to resolve the situation. His mind refocused and he looked back to where Sia stood, taking a canapé from a silver tray on the table at the side and smiling up at Ajay with pure joy. No pregnancy bump, no thoughts of future family or responsibilities.
There was only now, only this moment and Sebastian couldn’t resist the urge to show her just how much fun that could be.
‘I hope you didn’t mind Sebastian’s joke,’ Ajay said, pouring a little more champagne into her glass.
‘I don’t think it was a joke. These clearly are very important people to the hotel and to the island,’ she said with a smile, unable to stop herself from swaying to the beat of a song played by an unobtrusive DJ. Because that was the thing about Sebastian—he seemed to play on expectations, both living up to and undercutting them at any given moment so that she never really knew where she stood with him. Never know what was real and what was not. She’d told him that she was good at spotting fakes, but she was beginning to doubt it when it came to him.
‘We were so thankful to hear that Mr Rohan de Luen had closed the deal on the island. The first prospective buyer had plans to develop almost every inch of it. Our island isn’t as big as some of the others, so the sale could have meant the loss of jobs as well as housing. But Sebastian found a way to make it work for all of us.’
‘I’m surprised. For someone who generally seems very happy to brag, he’s been particularly tight-lipped about all this,’ she said, casting an eye over the large courtyard.
‘Men don’t brag about what’s important to them,’ Ajay leaned into confide.
‘Which is why you’ll never hear about his incredibly beautiful wife and two delightfully perfect daughters,’ Sebastian leaned in to interrupt. ‘May I?’
He held his hand out to Sia and she was genuinely concerned he was asking her to dance.
‘I don’t—’
‘No one will start until I do and I’m not dancing with Ajay.’
‘Yes, but I can’t.’
‘I don’t believe that for a second. When was the last time you danced?’
‘When I was seven?’
‘Well, that’s just plain stupid.’
‘Stupid?’ she asked, half laughing. ‘You are trying to get me to dance with you by calling me stupid?’
‘Is it working?’ he asked, charm sparkling in his eyes and a smile that was horrifyingly irresistible. ‘Please?’
She’d have liked to blame it on the gentle buzz in her veins from the two glasses of champagne, or the way the natural heat from the Caribbean had already sunk into her body, easing what felt like years of tension, but as she placed her hand in his, allowed him to lead her to a small flat area squared above by large bright bulbs, she knew it wasn’t any of those things.
‘You’ve been swaying to the beat of the last two songs, so I know you have rhythm,’ he said, looking at her in a way that she turned away from. A blush rose to her cheeks at the thought he’d been watching her for that long. ‘But if you’re happy for me to take the lead?’
