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"Rebecca, I don’t want you to go through with this if you’re going to be kicking and screaming the entire time! I don’t get it. You’ve never had to want anything in your life. We paid for your every whim. We paid for school, your apartment, and your horses when you were a child. Now, we ask you to do one thing for this family, and all of a sudden, it’s the absolute worst thing to happen on planet Earth. You're a grown woman. If you don’t want to marry Sebastian, if he’s really as lecherous as you seem to think he is, don’t marry him! You can choose to live your life as you wish."
Hope bubbled within me.
"You have to live with the consequences of your choices." She leveled me with an icy glare. “Rebecca, darling. There’s no way you could survive in the real world. We both know you’ve become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. I’ve let your father coddle you. He’s turned you soft, filling your head with all these silly dreams. But I don’t think you have it in you to make these dreams come true. You would hate a regular apartment and a job with a shift. You don’t like people being in charge of you. You tend to romanticize working in the restaurant industry but would hate someone barking orders at you while you rushed around to prepare delicacies for other people. Think about it this way: if you marry Sebastian, none of us will have to work for the rest of our lives. Sebastian’s marriage isn’t a prison, dear. It’s your ticket to freedom. You can bake a cake and fly to Mykonos on the same day. When you have children, you will have all the help you could ever need. There will be no struggling, no yowling babies in the middle of the night. Everything you could ever want will be handed to you on a silver platter.”
I nodded and swallowed. “Well, when you put it that way,” I faltered.
“So, Rebecca, what is it that you want?”
"I want to marry Sebastian."
Her expression softened. "It's not all that bad, darling. When his father insisted his son would agree, I was ready for him to be some sort of hunchbacked shut-in. But he’s quite easy on the eyes."
My cheeks flushed. I remembered how he sounded as he came all over my hand and how he looked at me through hooded eyes.
"Are you okay?" She points to my face. "You're going all red."
"I'm a little hot." I sipped my water.
"Get that under control."
She looked around the restaurant. "Red is not a good color on you."
"Thanks," I said sarcastically.
Either my mother didn't pick up on the sarcasm, or she didn't care.
"As I was saying, it's not a bad deal for any of us. When you look back at this next year, it’ll be a laugh. You’ll wonder why you even bothered worrying in the first place.”
My mind drifted as my mother perused the menu. I didn’t bother looking because I knew she would order for me. Instead, I wondered what else I would be willing to sacrifice for my family.
My phone buzzed, and my heart dropped when I saw his name on my phone.
Sebastian: Dinner tonight at the Arms Rooftop. 7:30 sharp.
I started to respond, but another message appeared.
Sebastian: I won't take no for an answer. Be ready at seven-thirty.
Becca: I wasn’t even going to protest. Dinner sounds nice. I’m stuck at lunch with my mother.
Sebastian: Good. It’s a date. What are you going to wear?
Rebecca: No idea. You told me about this five minutes ago. Do you plan all your outfits in advance?
Sebastian: Not necessarily. Anyway, whatever you wear, ditch your panties.
My face flushed as I shoved my phone into my bag.
Everyone was right. Sebastian and I needed to hang out more if this marriage would look remotely believable. Still, there was a war inside my mind. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand whatever condescending vitriol he spewed, and I knew I wouldn’t mind observing his gorgeous body. He was perfect until he opened his mouth.
Even worse, he was sexy as hell, and he knew it.
Chapter 5
Sebastian
Idrovedownherblock at precisely seven twenty-five. I parked in front of the building and started to get out of the car when my phone rang.
