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Chapter Fourteen
- Sebastian -
She needed to rest. I’d been busy working on Darion’s situation and hadn’t paid as much attention to Lilly as I should have. I felt a twinge of guilt about that—especially when Jared revealed he’d been following her for hours as she toured the perimeter of the property. At first, I was angry that she’d been so stubborn, but I didn’t have time to coddle her. If she wanted to wear herself out trying to find a way to get away from me, so be it.
But when it got dark, and she showed no signs of turning around, I ordered Jared to redirect her. Walking back along the fence line would have taken her half a day or longer, considering how long she’d been gone and how much more tired she would be on the return trip. She wasn’t far from the road, but she’d never find it on her own. I told Jared to use the drone to get her to the road, and I’d meet her there.
I expected to have to duck flying objects and suffer the sharp side of her tongue as Lilly yelled at me upon my arrival, but her reaction was more relief than anger. Even in the dark, it was clear how tired she was—too tired to give me grief, though I had given her exactly what I told her I would—the opportunity to escape. I kept my part of the bargain; I told her she wouldn’t be able to, and she didn’t accomplish her mission. I knew what she was doing—saving face. If she felt she was being held captive, she could do a hell of a lot more to make my life miserable than just wander around my land and throw a knick-knack at me. But this way, we both—all of us—could say yes, she tried. Escape was futile, but...she tried. To the point of exhaustion, she tried.
No, I didn’t feel an ounce of regret about not accepting Lilly’s offer to take a shower with her. To avoid the temptation, I sent someone else to tell her dinner was being served in the dining room.
And then she walked into the dining room wearing a simple red shift dress that accentuated her every curve. My relaxed spirit roared to life again. I couldn’t help admiring her from the topknot of her shiny black hair to her...bare feet?
I pulled out her chair for her. “Did you forget something?” I nodded toward her feet as she sat down.
Immediately, she shook her head. “No.” A soft sigh left her lips. “Truthfully, my feet hurt. The idea of shoes right now...” She shivered, as if the very thought caused her pain.
I felt for her and the stubborn pride that made her attempt the ridiculous. I removed the cloche from her plate.
“Eat. You’ll feel better.”
It was a lame ass thing to say. How the hell would food make her feet feel better? I wasn’t used to sharing such...pleasantries? To being nice? I was worried about her. I just didn’t know how to express that without coming right out and saying it.
It was my own damnable pride that kept the words behind stubborn lips.
Lilly appreciated the absurdity of the notion as well; she laughed softly.
“Well, I’m not sure what Beef Wellington and asparagus will do for my feet, but my stomach will appreciate them. Thank you.”
“Eat, smart ass.”
I sat down and watched as Lilly started eating. It felt too easy, too natural. I couldn’t let it alone.
“You didn’t have to do it, you know.”
She looked up at me with raised eyebrows.
“Spend the day wandering like that. I would have told you anything you wanted to know. You didn’t have to wear yourself out.”
She put her fork down and leaned on the table with her elbows. “Yes. I did. You know I did. I have to at least try, Sebastian.”
We stared at each other across the table, hearing the unspoken words between us.
“Alright,” I relented as I cut into my Wellington. “I said you were free to try. I won’t go back on that.”
“Thank you. I know it’s not fair.”
“Fair?” She was fucking with me, wasn’t she? “I don’t expect fair. I never have. Life’s not fair. It’s not fucking fair to you that I’ve put you in this position. It’s not fair that your shop sits unattended when you have a grand opening in three weeks. It’s not fair that your last name is Calegari and you’re the one woman on this fucking planet I can’t stay away from.”
Her fork clattered to the plate. “Where is this coming from? Trust me, Sebastian, no one is more of an expert on how unfair life is more than I am. It isn’t fair that the way I live my life has been predetermined by choices made by men who don’t think about how their decisions affect others. It isn’t fair that my father was taken from me before I really got to know him. And it’s not fucking fair that I... that you... that we can’t... That we’re holed up in this compound of yours instead of going out to dinner in a restaurant, in public, like normal fucking people do!”
Her voice stammered through the last few words. “I am well aware,” she said through clenched teeth, “howunfairour relationship is.” She looked defeated. The air crackled between us as we went from tired and complacent to our emotions boiling over.
We were lying to each other, living our predictably cryptic lives, talking in circles and saying absolutely nothing.
Yet, we understood every word.
“I’m sorry.”
