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8
After dinner, Anh went to take a nap (that girl can not handle her alcohol, even a couple glasses of wine), and Johnny and Connor retired to the ‘dojo’ on the floor below the penthouse.
Ever since the assassination attempt last year, Connor has been obsessed with my safety. He still blames himself for endangering me, which is ridiculous; Connor risked his own life to keep me safe. I think what it really is, is that he felt exposed and at the mercy of the hitman, and he never wants to feel that way again.
Anyway, he’s got some kind of a macho stick up his butt about it, so he dragooned Johnny into being his Mr. Miyagi. Every night Connor’s in Manhattan, he makes Johnny teach him a bunch of ninjutsu and Special Forces stuff.
I’m not kidding. We’re talking hand-to-hand combat, guns, knives. There’s a private, sound-proofed gun range two floors down where they shoot pistols and assault rifles. In the Olympic-sized pool next to the gun range, Connor got certified in scuba. Just in case. It’s like he’s expecting he’ll have to invade a small, third-world nation at some point.
I can’t bag on his new hobby too much, though, since he’s in almost Olympic-athlete-level shape… and his already great body is bordering on obscenely hot…
He’s even pulled me into his obsession, getting Johnny to teach me basic self-defense and stuff like lock-picking – even when Connor wasn’t around. Remember, Johnny’s my bodyguard now, so we’re talking a year of training. It was annoying as hell in the beginning, but Connor basically guilted me into it. Said it was the only gift he ever wanted from me, even when we’re 79 with grandkids. So I basically became a female James Bond. Well… not really. But I can pick locks now, which is kind of cool.
I drew the line at guns, though. Connor relented on that, as long as I learned how to kick the shit out of anybody trying to attack me.
My fiancé had been out of town and hadn’t trained in a while, so he and Johnny went downstairs alone. Enjoying my well-deserved break, I poured a couple glasses of wine and went out to talk to Sebastian on the patio.
He was looking out over the twinkling lights of Central Park and all the lit-up skyscrapers surrounding it.
I held out a glass of wine with a questioning look on my face. Want it?
“Thank you,” he said, taking the glass.
“You alright? You seem a little tense.”
“Do not use that word again, Lily, or I swear – ”
“Alright, alright, jeeeez,” I said, laughing. “But seriously, you’re kind of making my point.”
He took a long sip and stared out morosely at the bright lights of the city. “Javier and I broke up.”
“Oh, Sebastian… I’m sorry.”
Javier was a sweet guy Sebastian had been dating for the last year. In fact, Javier was the ‘hairstylist to the stars’ who had helped me look like a supermodel the night I got Connor back.
“What happened?” I asked.
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know… he says I spend too much time travelling, I’m too focused on work – ”
“Um, well, he kind of has a point.”
Sebastian shot me an irritated look. “Don’t you start in on me, too.”
“Sebastian… come on. You know I’m on your side.”
He sighed, and looked back out into the darkness. “I know.”
“Have you talked to Connor about this?”
Sebastian got a panicked expression on his face. “No, and you have to promise not to tell him.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Because I don’t want him replacing me, or – ”
“He’s not going to replace you, Sebastian!”
“Mm,” Sebastian said dourly.
