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Her snort ruffles the hair by my ear. “What a rager.”
She has no idea.
This has been my life. My whole childhood. And Felicity joked with my grandmother, but frankly I’m shocked that I’m not more repressed than I am.
If I was more normal, if I didn’t have all this family baggage… would I have kissed her by now? Would she have let me? I’m starting to think she might.
What a bittersweet thought.
It’s late afternoon, the sunshine buttery and warm. Guests drift over the rolling lawns, winding their way toward yet another polite gathering near the terrace. Strained laughter trills through the air.
The grass is soft beneath my feet. And duty has always come easily for me, has always been automatic, but as I carry my assistant toward the gathering—my pulse spikes, and I veer left.
“Um,” Felicity says, as I march toward the hedge maze. I’m moving faster now, gripping her tight against my chest. “Where are we going?” She sucks in a thrilled breath. “Are we playing hooky?”
“We are.”
“In a hedge maze?” The air is cooler in here, and everything is tinged blue where the sunshine can’t reach. I carry Felicity through the leafy corridors, my pulse calming.
It smells like soil and greenery, and the faint fruity scent of her shampoo. She’s so warm, so soft in my arms. A bird flutters in the hedge.
My steps slow. “I panicked. We can go back if you like.”
“No!” Her hold tightens on my neck. “No, I like it in here. What’s in the middle? What do we get if we solve it?”
“A fountain, I think. And a few moments alone.”
“Peeeerfect.”
And it warms me down to my bones to hear her say that. To feel how relaxed she is in my arms. By rights, Felicity should hate me by now, but if anything she burrows closer.
The tip of her nose is cool against my throat. “Are you cold?” I rasp, hitching her higher against my chest.
“A bit.” Her fingertips slide between my shirt buttons, coasting over my bare chest, and I nearly stagger into the hedge. Out of nowhere, I’m half hard. “You can warm me up at the fountain.”
“Oh?”
“If you want to.”
I would literally chop a limb off if it meant I could touch this woman. Clearing my throat, I pick up the pace again, solving the maze by memory. It’s been a few years, but the stakes have never been higher.
“You’re good at this,” Felicity says after several minutes.
“I’m suddenly very motivated.”
Her soft laughter trails us through the foliage.
Seven
Fliss
This maze feels like something out of a myth. You know: towering green hedges, roots twining through the packed dirt, birds rustling and a distant blue sky overhead. Though we’re not super far from the lawn games, we can’t hear a peep from the other guests.
It’s just me, my boss, and our rasping breaths.
He solves the maze almost on the first try. With the couple of wrong turns he takes, he curses like a sailor under his breath then backtracks, jaw clenched. It’s so unlike him—so uncontrolled.
Sebastian’s muscles are tense. His heartbeat slams against my side.
