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The question was what to do about it.
“He’s very sweet. And he takes good care of me. He moved the furniture and set up my easel so I could catch the early morning light. Lately he’s taken over breakfast because he realized I work best in the mornings. He’ll put a cup of coffee in my hand and shove me toward the easel and I’ll paint while he cooks breakfast. I love our mornings. We won’t have those mornings if we don’t live together.”
“But Tiff, this relationship is pretty young,” Deena pointed out. “Don’t you think it’s too soon to live together?”
Probably, but she worried if she wasn’t right there, poking into his business and making herself a part of his life, he would distance again. “I think he needs me more than he knows. But yes, it’s probably too early. You’re right.”
Deena walked around the table and gave her a long hug. “It’s going to be okay. He’s already come so far. When you go back to Dallas, you start simple. Have him drive you to and from work. Synch your work schedules. Convince him to go out with the crew for drinks. I’ll bet he won’t be able to stay away and before that man knows it, he’ll be asking you to marry him because he’s not stupid.”
She pulled back and gave Deena a grateful smile. “I hope so because I’m not sure I can handle this kind of relationship forever. He does so much for me and he won’t let me help him. Not at all. He gets nasty when I suggest helping him in the shower. Even when I was trying to be sexy about it.”
“Nasty?”
She waved that thought off. “As nasty as Sebastian ever gets. His voice gets deeper and he frowns fiercely and tells me to mind my own business. I’m not good at that. I’m not good at that at all.”
Deena’s eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
She winced. Deena always was able to see through her. “I might have located his sister in Georgia.”
A gasp came from Deena’s mouth. “Tell me you didn’t. You know how private he is.”
Tiffany shrugged. “I told you I wasn’t good at keeping my nose out of things when it comes to people I care about. I wanted to figure out why he doesn’t talk to his sister anymore. So I left her a message. She totally texted me and told me to never contact her again.”
Deena’s eyes rolled as though she knew what was coming next. “But you did, didn’t you?”
“I texted. That’s way less stalkery than calling. That was the mistake I made the first time. I texted her back and explained that I was Sebastian’s girlfriend and that he missed her and was working as a sommelier at a high-end restaurant in Dallas and he would simply like to know that she’s okay. She texted back that he knew why she wouldn’t talk to him and not to contact her again. She was big on that. So I hit a dead end there. I need another way to figure out the story.”
“He’s going to be so mad if he finds out,” Deena chided. “Did you ask him about it?”
There was no point to asking him. “The man won’t show me the bottom half of his body. Do you honestly think he’s going to open his soul and tell me why his family collapsed?”
“Probably not, but then I have to admit I’m more like Sebastian than you in this situation,” Deena admitted. “I would have been upset if I found out Eric had gone behind my back and contacted my mom.”
She flushed with embarrassment. “Then I guess I should be glad he doesn’t talk to her anymore. I’m not trying to hurt him. I’m trying to understand him.”
“And if he doesn’t want to be understood?”
“Everyone wants to be understood. What you’re asking is what do I do if he doesn’t want me to understand him. Everyone ends up opening up to the right person. What if I’m not the right person?” The question had been haunting her for the last several days.
“Then he’s the unluckiest person in the world because you’re pretty awesome.” Deena turned back to the table. “I think you need to relax and let this play out. He’s bending for you, right? He’s not hiding the relationship at all. In fact, he gave Javi’s brother a long talk about what he would do to him if he kept flirting with you.”
Javi’s younger brother, Gabriel, was one of the busboys. The kid was barely eighteen, but he was already following in big brother’s footsteps. He was a flirt of the highest order, which was exactly why Tiffany took nothing the kid said seriously.
Had it upset Sebastian that Gabriel routinely told her how nice she looked—even when she knew damn well she didn’t? Not that Sebastian didn’t. He would stop and smooth back her hair and proclaim her to be the prettiest woman in the world.
Gabriel would tell her how nice her butt looked in her jeans.
“They’re not even in the same league. Gabriel is a boy and Sebastian is an amazing man. I don’t see anyone but Sebastian.” That was the problem. She was in so deep with that man that she couldn’t imagine her life with anyone else. Living with him had done nothing to quench her thirst. She wanted more and she wasn’t sure how to go about getting it.
She wasn’t sure love was going to be enough with Sebastian. No matter how much he needed it.
She had to find a way to make him understand it was all right to be vulnerable with her.
But in order to figure out how to do that she needed to know what had really started the problem. She thought it had something to do with what had happened to him when he’d gotten back home.
The door to the kitchen opened and Eric stepped out. He smiled at his wife, but it was a pained thing. “Are you sure we have to hire new people? Why can’t we steal Sean’s staff?”
Deena shook her head. “Because the Taggart brothers are excellent at revenge, or so I’ve heard. They’ll get better.”
