A/N: Hello, everyone! Seriously, thank you for following this story closely. The votes have been amazing. This is #85 in Non-Fiction while TMMM is at #52. It's crazy especially since I didn't  post  this story until recently. Anyway... I decided to post this since people are pulling their hair out from last chapter's cliffhanger. LOL!

Ch. 14 is going to offer a lot of insight into the past four years. As to whether you guys agree with what you find out or not, well, that's just how it rolls. The characters don't always make the best choices, and sometimes they compound their mistakes, but their hearts are usually in the right place.

Hope you enjoy this one! =) 

***Dedicating this one to inkzerospace for gifting us with Beloved Beast. I love fairytales and this is one of my favorites ever in WP. The whole book has a dreamlike quality to it and both blind beauty and the beast are so endearing you just root for them from start to finish. =)***

***

I temporarily lost my mind.

I mean, that must be the only explanation to why I found my arms surging up to lock around Sebastian’s neck as he nearly lifted me off my feet, kissing me with torrid intent that I matched without pause.

His mouth was hot, moist and demanding, his tongue coaxing mine into a sensual mating.

My brain short-circuited, my heart sent a rush of fevered blood through every vein in my body.

Oh, God. How I’ve wanted this for so long.

It was true. I’ve learned to admit to a lot less in the last four years but one thing I wouldn’t, couldn’t deny was that Sebastian still stirred me with the same power that enraptured and crushed me that one unforgettable summer.

My heart ached with his nearness, with memories of the days when we held each other this close, kissed with tenderness and passion and promised each other love forever.

And he broke that promise.

The pain, dulled by the years, slashed me anew, and with a low cry, I tore myself away from Sebastian, stumbling back unsteadily.

He caught me by the elbows, allowing some distance between us without completely releasing me.

His hair was a tousled mess, his eyes bright with emotion, his breathing uneven.

“Cassandra,” he rasped. “I... I’m... I’ve missed you so much.”

His raw confession worsened the turmoil inside me and I closed my eyes briefly, waiting for the tears to abate. The last thing I wanted was to break down in front of him after four years of reining in my feelings.

“What do you want, Sebastian?” I asked weakly. “What are we doing here?”

His grip loosened on my arms, his thumbs gently rubbing my skin. 

I pressed my lips together to fight the shiver that ran up my spine. 

“We have to talk. This isn’t the best place and time to do it. We can go out for dinner tonight and talk then.”

“No.” I took another step back, shaking his hold loose. This time, he let me go.

“We’re not doing anything else other than be civil together at work. I think, despite the past or maybe because of it, we can at least grant each other that.”

His face darkened. “I have something more than civility in mind. I’ll pick you up at seven, Cassandra.”

“I’m not going out to dinner with you, Sebastian!” I insisted, my tone rigid with indignation. “You and I are no longer anything more than just boss and employee.”

“You very well know we are a hell lot more than that!” he growled, leaping to his feet and pacing briskly.

I stood defiantly in the face of his rising temper. “No, we’re not. You made sure of that.”

He stopped and turned to me, his jaw clenched, his eyes stormy. “You still hate me. You’re still angry.”

I sighed and turned away, staring out into the bright, clear day outside. “No, I’m not angry. Not anymore. And I never hated you.”

“You cast me out of your life. It couldn’t have been anything else but hate.”

I glanced at him and almost smiled. “It was self-preservation. And it was a long time ago, Sebastian. We’ve both moved on. Just leave me in peace.”

He perched on his desk, watching me intently. “You’re the one who decided to work here.”

I sighed. “I know. I’m not as wise as I thought I’d become.”

“It’s been four long years, Cassandra, but I don’t think either of us is anywhere near forgetting or moving on.”

I scoffed. “Are you serious? You’re the one who’d been toting women around left and right. Did you even notice the last four years, Sebastian?”

He scowled. “I noticed every single day, Cassandra. But I know a good, important investment needs time.”

He got up on his feet and stood in front of me, his hand reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “You’re lovelier than I remember, Cassandra. You look more grown up, your figure more defined, your confidence more sensual. I knew time would only do you good.”

“Yes, time taught me to be less foolish and fanciful,” I snapped, extremely annoyed at his casual reference to me as if I were an item on his investment portfolio he’d patiently waited to yield over the years. “I thought I grew up a long time ago. But you gave me an entirely different kind of education I will never forget.”

He flinched as if I’d slapped him and a part of me secretly regretted my outburst.

That summer was a catastrophe of both our making.

He stepped back, his jaw clenching in an effort to restrain his temper. “And so did you, sweet. I laid my heart out to you and you flung it back in my face. I can’t say that the experience had been pleasant.”

“Would it have made a difference, Sebastian, whether I agreed to marry you or not?” I demanded bitterly. “How do I know that you weren’t just going to sleep with another woman anyway days after we get shackled together?”

“Because I didn’t sleep with Natalie, dammit!”

I stood absolutely still, staring at him blankly.

He raked a hand through his hair as a string of curses ripped from his mouth, his eyes squinting close briefly, his lips clamping together. 

“I hadn’t slept with her when you walked in on us,” he said slowly, his bright green eyes gazing down into mine. “She came that afternoon to apologize for turning you away. I needed someone to talk to so I asked her to stay for coffee. When I blurted out that I proposed to you, she dropped her cup and spilled coffee all over herself. Percy had to throw her dress into the washer so I lent her a shirt.”

I swallowed with great difficulty, my heart pounding like a crazed drum inside my chest.

I opened my mouth to speak but no voice came out.

I forced the lump down my throat and tried again. “Then why the hell did you let me think that you slept with her?”

Sebastian’s face hardened like granite. “Because you hurt me so damned much I wanted to hurt you back. First, you didn’t love me enough to marry me. Next, you were ready to believe the worst of me before I could even get a chance to explain. Then you taunted me with my sins. I lashed out. I didn’t want to be the only one hurting.”

I bit the inside of my cheek as I perched on the thick, sturdy arm rest of a leather armchair, groping for some internal balance. “She stayed the night, Sebastian, and I don’t think it’s because of the laundry.”

Guilt became plain on his face. “Yes, she did. And that’s when my lies became the truth. I wanted to prove to myself that I didn’t need you. That I was still in control. That you haven’t broken me. Natalie never forgave me for crying out your name over and over again as I used her to vent out my suffering. So you see, you weren’t wrong in hating me. I still hate myself.”

His confession didn’t make the pain hurt less but it consoled me somehow that Sebastian didn’t cheat on me. Very minor technicalities, I know, but I’d already marched out of his life when he let his demons win him over.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this when you came to see me at school?” I asked quietly.

“Because it didn’t matter,” he said harshly. “What good is a truth about a lie I made good on anyway?”

I looked away. “It would’ve mattered to me.”

“I don’t even know why I came then,” he continued gruffly. “Maybe because I was going out of my mind without you. But even then, coming to see you, I knew I already lost you to the life you wanted.”

The life I wanted was the one I’d have with you.

But I didn’t say any of that.

I took a deep breath and got up on my feet, turning towards the door. “Well, I guess no matter what really happened, we’re back to where we are now—apart. I have to go, Sebastian.”

“Not a chance in hell.” His expression was fierce when he reached out and grabbed me by the waist, pressing me against him. “I didn’t wait four years just to let you walk away again, Cassandra. You’ve got what you wanted. Now it’s my turn.”

I glared up at him. “What do you mean you waited four years? What, did you pencil me in on your calendar? Check back in four years?”

His eyes glittered. “I never once stopped you from coming back. You stayed away and I let you. You wanted an independent life—a chance at being regular Cassandra Collins—and I gave it to you hoping that it’d be enough. Well, four years has been a blasted eternity. I’m done waiting.”

Sebastian lowered his head and sought my lips with another bruising kiss, his fingers tangling into my unbound hair. I could feel his desperation with every stroke, every touch, every breath we shared and my defenses crumbled like they were made of sand.

I slipped my own hands through his hair, cradling his face with my other, kissing him back for all I was worth.

How easy it would be to shed the pain and hurt of the last four years—to step back into the arms where I found happiness and solace, to lose myself once again in a tumultuous love affair with this man who craved and needed me like I were his soul. 

“I’ve waited so long to kiss you like this again,” Sebastian murmured as he trailed kisses along my jaw. “I thought I would go crazy counting the days until you reappeared in my life. I thought you would never get here. I worried you’d get scared in the last minute and decide to go work somewhere else.”

I stilled.

His words replayed in my head, a cold fist of dread tightening in my stomach.

I abruptly shoved him off of me. “What do you mean you thought I’d never get here? That I might get scared and decide to work somewhere else? Did you know I was going to work here?”

His face tightened with frustration, his green eyes flickering warily.

He took a moment before answering. “Yes. I knew.”

My eyes narrowed. “When did you know?”

“The second you signed your name on the dotted line,” he replied, sighing loudly as he staggered back several steps. “I know the exact time you walked in through the door on your first day. I know what you did and who you talked to every single day since you started.”

I sucked in a breath but refused to let my gaze waver. “And pray tell how you became privy to all of that information. Were you having me monitored, Sebastian?”

His expression darkened in annoyance. “I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly. I didn’t want you to be unhappy and decide to leave. I worked hard to get you here. There’s no way I’m going to let you slip through my fingers just like that.”

“You worked hard to get me here?” I echoed in incredulity. “I daresay I worked hard to get me—”

My words came to an abrupt halt just as the truth dawned on me.

Sebastian was watching me and something on my face must’ve registered on him because he suddenly paled and straightened, reaching for me. I instinctively stepped back.

“Just what the hell did you do, Sebastian?” I suddenly yelled, exploding in glorious fury.

He hesitated. “Cassandra—”

“A handful of lies cost us everything last time, Sebastian,” I warned, seething. “Are we going to start with them now too? Because this time this may cost you plenty more than what you thought you lost four years ago.”

“I did what I needed to do, alright?” he snapped, now furious as well. “I made sure college happened. I made sure you were comfortable. I made sure you got to do everything you wanted to do. I made sure you were happy. I made sure—”

I clenched my fists. “Did you have anything to do with the generous bursary I received? Because it felt like a fairy godmother dropped that one in.” 

He pursed his lips in a deliberate attempt at delaying. “Elliot St. Claire was my grandfather on my mother’s side. He believed in everyone’s right to education. He wouldn’t have  minded that I created the foundation with his name.”

My eyes almost bugged out. “You created the foundation? But Burkett said—I mean, there were other students...”

“Kevin Burkett was happy to start the project,” Sebastian answered irritably. “You wouldn’t take anything from me willingly so I had to make it happen some other way. I decided to expand it. It’s now a full-fledged scholarship program. You just happened to be its first beneficiary. You won’t be the last.”

Part of me was relieved while another was flabbergasted at how far Sebastian went.

Flabbergasted and appalled.

“So you funded most of my college expenses. Did you also decree that I receive three job offers upon graduation?”

“Of course not,” he returned quickly, scowling, before he saw my glare and relaxed. “The offer to work for my company was a given from day one. The other job offers you earned purely because of your academic merit. We had to compete to make sure you didn’t choose any of the other ones.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “That would explain my excellent employment package—the outrageous salary, the all-expense-paid move to Cobalt Bay, the apartment. How the hell did they even know what colors I liked?”

Sebastian shifted uncomfortably. “I picked them out. I personally selected your apartment. I wanted something that would suit you perfectly—something you’d like.”

If I weren’t so angry, I’d smile.

Dealing with Sebastian Vice was like trying to defend one’s self against a double-edged sword. 

“Did you paint my walls?”

He flushed. “Yes.”

I took a deep breath and looked away before I lost control and rushed into Sebastian’s arms.

“How about the promotion?” I asked. “Did you instruct Tamara to promote me to a senior business analyst on my first day at work?”

“No,” he answered, his voice lilting slightly with some humor now. “I told Tamara you would make a good fit in her team. She wasn’t happy that I was pulling strings. She was ready to risk my wrath and refuse but she looked at your credentials and told me that she gets to claim credit for your success because she’s taking you on, not because I demanded her to do it but because she sees your potential. The promotion is all hers. And yours.”

I grimaced. “Glad to know I was able to accomplish some of it on my own. Because it’s starting to become very clear that the last four years of my life had been very much a farce—all that I thought I accomplished for myself is cheapened by the fact that you made them all happen. I thought I was finally getting my shot at independence but you cheated me out of it.”

“I simply paved the way; you had to walk the road. You would’ve made it on your own, Cassandra. I don’t doubt that.”

His eyes raked over me, glinting from the play of frustration, longing and guilt in his expression. “I’m sorry for intervening. You wouldn’t have accepted anything if you knew it was from me. I thought it was a good compromise to give you your taste of independence but also make sure that you are taken care of. I didn’t want you to have any reason to turn to your bastard cousin or anyone else for that matter, for anything. I would’ve never abandoned you completely to fate. I provisioned for you in my will in case something happened to me in those four years. You would’ve never needed for anything. I wouldn’t have lasted this long if I didn’t know you were in a good place and I certainly couldn’t die in peace without you being looked after.”

Dear God.

How do you stay angry with a man so obsessed with your comfort and welfare he would cross every line to see to it?

“I know you’re not happy about it but it’s all in the past now,” he continued, getting back up on his feet and starting to pace again. “I want to make things right this time. You can work, open your bookstore, do whatever you need to do for yourself. We don’t have to get married right away. If you don’t want to get married at all, that’s fine. We can be happy together without the paperwork.”

My jaw dropped open.

“You still want me?” I asked in a barely audible whisper. “You still want to marry me?”

He glared at me as if my confusion was irritating him. “What? Did you think I stopped? Of course, I still want you. That was the whole point of waiting four years—I was waiting until you were ready.”

Suddenly, he stilled, wariness and doubt creeping into his eyes.

“Why? Is it you who don’t want me?” he asked, paling. Then his brows furrowed, his expression that of renewed determination. “Because the kisses we just had don’t lie. You want it. You want me. You want us. There’s never been anyone else for you the past four years.”

I didn’t care that he was right. He didn’t need to rub it in my face. 

“I can’t say it’s been the same for you, has it, Sebastian?” I shot back tartly. “Because while you were waiting, you were fucking other women to pass the time.”

He flinched, guilt sweeping across his face. “I’m a man. I have needs.”

I threw my hands up, completely appalled. “What an absolute chauvinist you are.”

“The women didn’t mean anything. You know they never have!”

I narrowed my eyes. “Something needs to change about your attitude towards women, Sebastian. You have to stop using them for sex.”

“Why, when they use me just the same?” he snapped. “They were just distractions, Cassandra. Do you think in four years, I haven’t once been tempted to just show up at your door and claim you back, your independent life be damned?”

“And what if I tell you that no, it hasn’t been a lonely four years for me?” I demanded hotly. “I could’ve been with a number of other men.”

“Of course, not,” he snorted, rolling his eyes. “I made sure of it.”

My palms smacked the surface of his desk hard but I didn’t even really notice the pain. “You made sure of it? Did you manipulate my relationships too?”

He suddenly looked very uncomfortable. “I just made sure they realized it wasn’t in their best interest to become romantically involved with you.” 

I groaned and threw my hands up in the air. “Oh, my God! What is this, The Truman Show? Just who the hell do you think you are to play God with my life, Sebastian?”

He now looked affronted. “I’m not playing God, Cassandra. To be perfectly honest, I’m just desperate. Yes, Sebastian Vice—desperate.”

He rounded his desk to stand in front of me, his face strained with nothing else I could describe more accurately but pain. 

“Desperate for you to come back, desperate to finally put things back together, desperate to go back to a time when I was happy. I’m worse off now than I was before I met you. Because you gave me a taste of what it was like and took it away!”

I thrust my chin up at him defiantly. “I didn’t take it away, Sebastian.  I showed a little fear and you freaked out and plunged right into your usual defense—hurting people back. You drove me away! I came to tell you that night that yes, despite all my fears and reservations, I was going to marry you because I loved you and that was more important. And what did I find? A tryst with one of the women you keep saying didn’t mean anything to you. It wasn’t a real one then but with what you told me, you went ahead and made it into the truth anyway. So don’t blame me for your being unhappy in the last four years, Sebastian, because it was also your own goddamned fault that we were both miserable.”

His eyes were wide with shock and for a long moment, he said nothing.

Then he blinked and gasped. “You came that night to tell me you wanted to marry me?”

I sighed. “Yes. And now I’m glad once again that I didn’t. I’m not sure I can spend the rest of my life with a man who thinks he can exert his will on others without invitation or consent.”

I turned away and walked towards the glass walls, my arms wrapped around my midsection in an effort to hold myself together.

Tears burned my eyes.

It hurt to know what we lost and how much we wounded each other.

Worst of all, it hurt to realize that despite my pain and anger, I was still foolishly in love with Sebastian Vice. That I never stopped.

I haven’t felt this much in four years.

I lived a half-life, content to be a shell, either empty or too numb to feel much.

Now it was all coming back and the intensity of my feelings were frightening.

Because now I know he wanted me as much as I wanted him.

But what if he wanted me, not because he loved me, but because he just hated to lose? 

And did I just feel this way because I truly loved him or because I simply never found anyone else in the last four years who might make me feel the same way?

But I’ll never know now for sure, will I? I have Sebastian to thank for that.

I felt him move behind me, his warmth inviting, his arms sliding around me as he pulled me close and pressed his cheek against my left temple. “We can begin again, Cassandra. It’s not too late. It can never be too late. Give us a chance.”

My eyes closed for a second as I fought the urge to melt in his embrace. 

Could we really do it?

Things will never be the same—the scars we’ll wear forever—and Sebastian has to open his eyes to that fact. 

As much as I loved him, I was no longer the naive girl who recklessly gave up her heart four years ago—I now guarded the broken and bruised remains of it with vigilance. 

And as much as he wanted to make me happy, he was going to slowly kill me with his oppressive control—his instinct to rule over others so they would never do anything that would hurt him. 

We made each other into the cowards we were now.

It was going to take a lot to learn to trust each other again.

“We need time. You’re looking for the girl you met four years ago, Sebastian,” I said slowly and without heat. “Before you decide that this is what you really want, you may want to get to know the grown-up Cassandra, despite your machinations to get her to where she’s at now. She’s no longer the dreamy-eyed eighteen-year-old you obsessed with so much you designed her world exactly the way you liked it.”

He tensed but he didn’t let go. “If I really had my way, we wouldn’t be in here now negotiating. You’d be in my bed and in my life. As I said, I never once stopped you from coming back to me, Cassandra. That was your own decision.”

I smiled wryly and turned within his embrace. “One of the few I managed. And that’s another thing I want you to learn on the first day of our relationship together, Sebastian—it’s a relationship and not a dictatorship which means you don’t always get your way. We compromise. You can manipulate circumstances but you will never be able to manipulate my mind and my heart and right now, both agree that I’m crazy for even considering going down this road again with you. So tread carefully. Respect my intelligence and independence.”

I put a hand on his chest, reveling in his warm, solid strength. “Until you do, this will never work out. You could win my body but you will never have me completely. Worse, you’ll destroy any ability I have left to love and accept you, cunning and ruthless tyrant that you are.”

“Alright,” he relented with a deep sigh, pulling away and setting himself back against his desk. “What do you want?”

“We need to set some rules. First one, no dating each other while I still work for you.”

His jaw bunched up tightly. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course—”

“I’m in contract for a year,” I interrupted gently, holding up a hand to stay him. “If you’re willing to shorten it to six months, I’m okay with that. I need to stay on for at least six months if I want to avoid too many questions on my next job. I will not work for you and date you at the same time. I don’t want to be the woman sleeping with the boss.”

Oh, Sebastian was not happy about that.

His green eyes flashed but he pressed his lips together with effort. “The contract will be amended accordingly. Go on.”

I was impressed with his restraint. “I think six months will give us some time to figure out if this is what we really want. Four years is a long time and we’re not the same people. I want you to be very sure.”

He raised a brow. “I never indicated I was uncertain. I’m wondering though how we’ll accomplish discovering what we have if we’re going to spend six months apart.”

“We’ll work together for six months,” I answered with a shrug. “I’m sure I’ll run into you every now and then if you ever grace us with your presence.”

He frowned. “Don’t be patronizing, Cassandra.”

I smiled. “I’m not totally opposed to going out together on a group date but that’s about it.”

“A group date?” he echoed in disbelief. “Do you think we’re in high school?”

“A group date is safe,” I replied crossly. “I don’t trust you to not try to seduce me if it’s just the two of us.”

A slow smile curved on his lips. “Don’t think a handful of people is going to stop me.”

I ignored the warmth in my belly and leveled him an even gaze, readying myself for the words that were about to come out of my mouth, momentarily thinking myself completely insane for ever thinking them. “Also, we’re going to keep seeing other people.”

Fury flared in his eyes. “What?”

I took a deep breath. “We need to give ourselves a chance to find out if we can be happier with someone else. That we’re not just simply caught up in the past.”

“I don’t consider you my past, Cassandra,” he bit out savagely, his long fingers wrapping around the edges of his desk in an effort at control. “You’re my start to finish. There’s no before or after you. The only life I’ll live is the one with you in it. You can write a book of rules all you want but you are not telling me how I feel about you.”

A slow, sweet mass gathered in my chest at his words and it took every bit of my will power to stand firm with my demands. 

It was so hard, so hard, to simply hand my heart over to Sebastian.

“Lastly,” I said, clearing my throat when my voice caught. “I want you to pull your spies out of my life. I can’t live my life under surveillance, Sebastian. It’ll be hard for you but I need you to trust me to stand on my own two feet. I don’t want a damned security detail, I don’t want a bookstore, I don’t want any kind of special treatment.”

I raised my eyes to meet his directly. “Are we clear?”

His face had now become inscrutable but knowing Sebastian the way I did, I knew the gears in his mind were turning.

“I know you think you’re going to change my mind about this,” I said coolly. “That you’re going to play along long enough for me to let my guard down so you can move in and use every dirty trick up your sleeve to change my mind.”

He flashed me a wolfish smile. “Absolutely.”

I glowered at him. “Sebastian, you have to take this ser—”

“You’re fighting for what you think you want,” he interrupted softly, suddenly on his feet and in front of me, his hand cupping my cheek. “I think it’s only fair that I get to do the same.”

My skin warmed where he touched me and I dragged in a breath. “This is not a game, Sebastian.”

“No, it’s not,” he agreed before he lowered his lips to brush lightly against mine. “It’s the fight of my life and I intend to win.”

My eyes automatically drifted close as I anticipated his next kiss but I suddenly lost the warmth and fortress of his body.

He had stepped away and walked towards the door, holding it open.

I raised a brow at him.

“Thank you for your time today, Ms. Collins,” he said in a mild, business-like tone, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

I slowly headed for the door, scooping up the folder along my way.

I eyed him warily.

“Brilliant ideas, as always,” he went on as I stopped by the doorway in front of him. “I look forward to see what results they yield.”

I glanced at Dean who was watching us discreetly from behind his monitor. 

“Time will tell, Mr. Vice,” I answered breezily, flashing him my sunniest smile, secretly relishing the flicker of hunger in his gaze before he cleared his throat and pulled himself straight. “Good day.”

I walked away and down the hall, heading for the elevator.

The moment I stepped into its protective space, I released a deep, shaky breath, willing my heart to slow down.

I was still reeling from the revelations of the last four years but it wasn’t the shock or fury that had me trembling.

It was the realization that despite the rules I set, I was desperate for Sebastian to win.

***

“You don’t seem as angry as you say you are.”

I looked away from the dark blue dress I pulled out of the rack and glanced at Emma.

She was sipping her coffee and trying on a red beret and she eyed me meaningfully. “The man manipulated your life in the last four years in some misguided notion of protecting you and providing for you and you say you’re really upset about it but you sound like you’re talking about some boy who got into a fistfight for you.”

I smirked. “I’ve never had a boy who got into a fistfight for me. I wouldn’t know how I would sound like talking about it.”

Emma grinned. “You’d sound a bit annoyed that he roughed up someone and caused an embarrassing scene but you’re secretly thrilling in the fact that he went a little crazy because of you—that you have that much power over him.”

“Oh, please,” I scoffed, turning away and intentionally ignoring the truth of Emma’s statement. “No one has any kind of power over Sebastian Vice.”

Emma put the beret back on the rack and sifted through a row of scarves. “You know, you’ve got to stop this habit of thinking of Sebastian like he was a god descended from the heavens. Like you can’t believe he’s so besotted with a mere mortal like you. You often forget he’s just a guy who’s crazy about you.”

I sighed and went through a few more dresses.

I sometimes regret sharing my feelings with Emma because she has this annoying tendency to be perfectly blunt about things I do wrong. I called her up for a quick meet-up-slash-shopping-trip after work to pick out a dress for my date with Marcus. I had debated with myself whether to tell her about my epic day of revelations, knowing she wasn’t always a big fan of Sebastian but in the end, I decided I needed to tell someone or I would go mental.

And as much as I’d like to be indignant and insist that I was furious, I really wasn’t.

Oh, I was stewing for most of the day as the ramifications of Sebastian’s confession hit me but in the end, I took some comfort in the fact that I wasn’t the only one living in torment in the last four years.

“That’s what worries me, Em,” I admitted, plucking out a wine-colored shift dress and holding it up before me in front of a mirror. “I’m worried that that’s all this is—an obsession to have me because he lost me four years ago.”

“That looks pretty,” Emma commented as she stood behind me, considering my reflection. “Sebastian is a shrewd businessman and I’m sure he knows when to cut his losses. It makes you wonder, if he’s so obsessed to have you, why did he wait four years? Sounds more like delayed gratification to me. What the reward is for such sacrifice, I think you know.”

I scowled. “Whose side are you on?”

She shrugged. “Yours, of course. I’m just asking questions. Without an argument, Sebastian definitely has control issues. He’s not exactly conventional in his idea of courtship, for a lack of a better term. He’s also contrary—telling you he cheated on you when he didn’t and then going off to sub-fuck another woman. He needs finesse lessons in sweeping a girl off his feet but I can’t fault him for feeling the way he does about you.”

Emma smiled at me on the mirror. “Love isn’t always the slow-sweet-falling-romantic-comedy kind or the love-at-first-sight-let’s-get-married-in-Vegas kind. Sometimes it can be the crazy-world-shifting-we’re-in-love-but-doomed-anyway-beautiful-disaster kind. The important thing is, whichever kind it may be, it’s worth it for the both of you.”

I remained standing there looking at the mirror while Emma drifted off to another aisle.

Of course, she had a point. She often did.

This love affair with Sebastian had been wrought with complications since the day we met. 

It began on a dreamlike summer, spanned four years of heartache and was now culminating in what could be the miserable end or the start of the rest of our lives.

If I didn’t have some grain of faith that we could find our way back together again, if I didn’t have some love left for the man who was both the bane and bliss of my life, I wouldn’t have bothered with six months, considering the lies, new and old, that were always lying in wait to tear us apart once again.

There were some things about Sebastian that I hated, as much as I understood them, while there were many things about him that I loved, no matter how unwise.

The time I’d asked for was as much for me as it was for him. 

While he has to learn to let go of his unhealthy need for control and start having faith in me, I have to learn to be less afraid if I wanted to be able to take risks again.

The last four years was a time in my life that I wouldn’t regret, for all that things that I did for myself, but it was my own form of distraction—to keep from remembering what it was that I truly wanted and could no longer have. I didn’t need a reminder to know that, in all that time, I took all sorts of risks except those for my heart, and that it was time I faced the past that wouldn’t stay behind and discover if I would find my future in it.

It sounded easy in theory but reality was a ruthless and unforgiving test you couldn’t always afford to fail.

Not at the price it would cost us both.

An hour and a half later, Emma and I arrived at Pietro’s, an upscale Italian restaurant downtown where Ty was meeting us after his business meeting. It was only Thursday so we didn’t need reservations. 

We followed the waitress towards a cluster of the cozy, wood-paneled booths in the back but Emma and I skidded to a halt when the waitress bumped into a woman who suddenly slinked out from behind the tall and curved wall of one of the booths. 

“This is a Dolce and Gabbana dress, you idiot!” the woman shrieked, glancing down at her short, velvety brown dress that hugged a well-toned physique. “Your entire year’s salary won’t pay for this.”

And before neither I nor Emma could react to the woman’s outburst, she threw the rest of her red wine across the stunned waitress’s face.

I snapped. “Hey, there—”

“Krista, control yourself!”

I froze, Emma tensed in front of me as she glanced back into the booth, and the waitress sputtered from the wine while the hysterical woman pulled herself up haughtily, glaring at us. 

“It’s you.”

Sebastian’s voice was unmistakable. The harshness from when he chided the woman was gone, and its husky timbre was warm and familiar.

Emma yanked the waitress aside and asked if she was alright, accepting the neatly folded handkerchief Sebastian handed to her as he rose from the booth.

“You seem to be a generous sponsor of handkerchiefs lately,” I grumbled irritably, meeting his eyes.

“Mind who you’re talking to, twat.” The woman narrowed her eyes at me but they suddenly widened in alarm when Sebastian seized her by the shoulder. 

“If I hear one more filthy word come out of your mouth, Krista, you’ll find yourself eating dinner alone,” he said softly in a voice that was now all coldness and steel. “Apologize.”

Krista sent him a mutinous glare. “It’s not my fault she’s staring at us as if she’s dumbstruck.”

I finally recovered at her statement and I leveled her a cool glance. “It’s not often I’m audience to such despicably poor manners.”

Krista’s lovely, if not overly made up face, exploded with anger. “Why, you—”

“Stop being a spectacle.” Sebastian cut her off with a withering stare.

The waitress, the poor, trembling woman, stepped forward with an imploring look on her tear and wine-stained face. “I’m so so—”

“Please don’t apologize for a mistake that isn’t yours,” Sebastian gently interrupted. “You may attend to yourself and send someone else to escort these ladies to their table.”

The woman chanted a dozen thank-yous to us and Sebastian before scurrying to the back.

“Still giving orders, I see,” I mused dryly. I glanced at Krista again before turning back to him. “And it looks like you can follow them too. I can see you’re eagerly playing by the rules.”

“Who is this girl, Sebastian?” Krista demanded frantically as she glanced back and forth between the two of us. “Why is she talking to you as if you know each other?”

Emma snorted. “Maybe because they do, genius.”

Sebastian smiled slightly and turned to Emma. “Ms. Carston, I assume. A pleasure to meet you. I apologize I didn’t get to introduce myself the last time we saw each other. I’m Sebastian.”

Emma beamed and shook his hand. “No worries, Sebastian. Please call me Emma. It’s nice to see you again.”

Of course he knew Emma. They may have never been formally introduced but with the depth of his secret involvement in my life, I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew the name of Emma’s pet goldfish.

I gave my friend a sideways glance. “Loyalties, Em.”

Sebastian’s brow arched slightly, his smile deepening, as if he enjoyed my annoyance. “Hello, Cassandra.”

Krista’s mouth fell open before she flung herself against Sebastian’s side, clinging to his arm like a pesky vine.  “It’s a bit crass, don’t you think, to interrupt your ex’s date?”

I smirked despite my annoyance because really, getting riled up about a ditz like Krista was just silly. “The only thing that’s crass around here is your attitude, Krista.”

“She’s right and it would serve you well to apologize,” Sebastian agreed smoothly, giving his date a hard, meaningful look.

She huffed and puffed in annoyance but she turned to us, begrudgingly, and muttered a short, insincere apology.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about us. We weren’t the one you splashed with wine. I’d apologize to the waitress if I were you but I don’t think you will, given your overwhelming kindness.”

Krista pouted like pretty raisin. “Sebastian! How could you let this girl talk to—”

“Enjoy your dinner together,” I chirped brightly, cutting off the nearly apoplectic Krista. “Try not to choke on your scintillating conversation.”

And before Sebastian could say anything else, I looped my arm through Emma’s and turned us towards the aisle even though I had no idea where we were headed.

“Ems, Cassie! Look who I brought!”

We stopped and turned to see Ty striding in with a broad smile on his face and a grinning Marcus trailing behind him.

“Hey, babe!” was Emma’s bubbly greeting as she detached herself from my hold and went to meet up with Ty in a quick hug and a kiss on the lips. 

“Marcus wanted to join us,” Ty was saying as Emma turned to also hug her cousin. “I think he couldn’t wait until Saturday to see Cassie.”

I caught Marcus’s eye and instinctively returned his sunny smile before I saw him glance to the side and suddenly sober up.

I risked a glance at Sebastian whose face lost all traces of his earlier amusement and was eyeing us coldly.

Ty noticed the silence and surveyed our small cluster, his eyes widening slightly when he spotted Sebastian. Understanding dawned quickly on him. 

To break the awkward silence, I stepped forward and put on my most dazzling smile. “Ty, you remember Sebastian. This is his date, Krista. Sebastian, I’m certain you remember Ty and Marcus, of course.”

Recovering from his initial discomfort, Marcus laughed a little and shrugged. “Hey, Vice. Haven’t run to you in a while. I didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”

“Clearly not if you’re here with her,” was Sebastian’s instant reply, his expression darkening.

Ty cleared his throat and glanced at me but I refused to explain myself to a man who was on a date with some conceited, ill-mannered bimbo after spending the better part of his day explaining to me just how much he wanted to be with me.

Krista, who probably didn’t have enough functioning brain cells to notice the undercurrents, stepped forward and grabbed Marcus’s hand in an eager handshake, her smile sugary sweet and inviting. “Oh, my God, Marcus Aldridge! I’m such a big fan! It’s so nice to finally meet you. I loooove how you ride.”

I raised my eyes to heaven wondering if the divine could waste an intervention here before I throttled the woman who was a walking punchline but I quickly sank back to reality when I felt Marcus sidle up next to me, more in an attempt to extricate himself from Krista’s claws than to stake his claim on me.

But of course, based on the way Sebastian’s smoldering green eyes flared with quiet fury, he didn’t see it quite the same way.

When he turned to me, I briefly saw the flash of betrayal in his expression but it quickly disappeared.

Something heavy and unpleasant grew in my gut, as if I’d hurt him.

He was the first one to play the field, wasn’t he? Why should you feel bad?

It was a good point but no matter whose fault it was, a part of me always suffered when Sebastian was in pain.

“We should probably find our table,” Emma said, grabbing Ty’s arm and forging on forward. “It’s nice to meet you, Sebastian.”

Then she quirked her lips at Krista. “If I were you, I’d better hurry to get that stain out. Who knows when you’ll find your next benefactor.”

I suppressed a smile as I took the arm Marcus offered, briefly nodding in acknowledgement at the quietly seething statue that was Sebastian, before following Ty and Emma to a table a newly-arrived waitress was leading us to.

“See you around, Vice,” was Marcus’s subdued parting shot as if he was undoubtedly aware of the sticky situation he’d just stepped into.

I held back a sigh.

Now that he knew Sebastian was unhappy with our new friendship, he might leave me alone and I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about seeing other people if they all scurried away in fright.

Damn you, Sebastian. 

“Hey, it’s alright,” Marcus murmured to me with humor in his tone and I found him smiling at me knowingly as if he just read my mind. “He just likes to intimidate. He’ll get over it.”

I almost snorted that I highly doubted he would.

No one really knew of Sebastian’s possessiveness but Marcus didn’t need to know that—not if Sebastian was going to play by the rules and let me date other men. 

Our group settled in easily for dinner.

It was full of conversation and light-hearted humor. 

I didn’t once dare risk a glance at Sebastian’s booth. I couldn’t see it very well from where I was which made it easier although I was burning with curiosity.

I’d just put in my choice of lemon ricotta cake when they were rounding up for dessert before I excused myself to the washroom.

I was drying my hands when the heavy door swung open and Sebastian came striding in.

I glanced around, realizing the room was empty, and frowned at him as he grabbed the cushioned wooden bench in one corner and dragged it behind the door to hold it close.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” I demanded, angrily throwing a balled up damp paper towel into a trash bin. “Get out of here before they throw you out, Sebastian.”

“Are you dating Marcus Aldridge?” he growled, reaching forward and catching me by the waist as I tried to walk around him. “Tell me, dammit.”

He pressed me flush against him, his breath warm on my cheek as his forehead touched the crown of head. 

My breath quickened and my reply was not as steady as I would’ve liked. “Why should I tell you anything when you’re keeping tabs on me anyway?”

“Not since this afternoon, remember? When you asked to be left alone?” he grumbled sulkily, the hands on my back shifting up to slide through my hair. “If I’d known you’d be out on a date with Aldridge, I would’ve made other plans.”

“And ditch dear, lovely Krista?” I retorted, unable to keep the contempt out of my voice. “She’s a total class act, Sebastian.”

Sebastian smiled. “I actually already ditched her two days ago when I thought I’d be having dinner with you tonight. I’d forgotten all about it until she showed up in my office insisting we go out and since you practically pushed me to see other women, I thought I would.”

“Of course,” I muttered bitterly. “I always seem very successful in giving you the excuse to go screw other women. Must be one of my many blasted gifts.”

His expression darkened. “You’re welcome to take back that rule anytime.”

It was tempting and I could see the hope flickering in Sebastian’s eyes. 

“No,” I bit out stubbornly. “I actually have genuine intention in finding someone I might possibly like enough to date, not just to add to my tally.”

“Well, Aldridge isn’t certainly going to be that.”

His anger snapped and he crushed me against him as he walked us over to the wall, trapping me between it and his arms. 

As always, I didn’t have the willpower to fight Sebastian when he was kissing and touching me like this.

We were frantic and clumsy almost, my fingers gripping his thick, wavy hair, his hands slipping under the hem of my turtleneck shirt and sliding up to cup my breasts under my t-shirt bra.

I moaned as he sucked on my lower lip, his fingers dipping behind my bra and grazing my hardened nipples.

A series of raps sounded against the door, snapping me back to reality and with a horrified gasp, I shoved him away from me. Of course, I didn’t get away until he actually released me, taking a step back and smiling as he studied me.

“There,” he said with pure male satisfaction. “You look perfectly mussed and kissed swollen.”

I glowered at him angrily as I reached up to tame my hair back down. “Did you purposefully kiss me to make me look like this and ward off Marcus?”

“I don’t need an agenda to kiss you, Cassandra, but if it helps my cause, I would certainly apply myself,” he answered smugly before turning away to remove the bench barring the door.

Emma stood there waiting outside, staring at a smirking Sebastian and then at me, her brows raising delicately as she took in my appearance. I flushed in embarrassment and guilt, especially since my skin still tingled from his touch.

“Get lost, Sebastian,” I hissed at him, turning away to face the mirror and fix what I could of my appearance.

He chuckled softly. “I’ll see you around, Cassandra. Emma, good evening.”

When he was gone, I muttered a string of curses as I dampened a paper towel and rubbed it around my lips, trying to rid myself of his feel and taste.

“Did he force himself on you?” Emma asked as she came in to stand next to me, watching me in the mirror.

I pursed my lips, hating the answer. “No. Sebastian never has to force me to give in to him. I sabotage my resolutions all on my own. It’s like a disease.”

She smiled. “I think you might have been enjoying it before I interrupted you.”

“Emma!” I protested, glaring at her. “Did you know that he followed me? Did you give him time to accost me in here?”

“No,” she returned sternly, frowning. “I saw him get up and walk towards the washroom but I didn’t think he knew you’d gone in as he wouldn’t have been able to see our booth from where he was. But when neither of you came out, I kind of put it together.”

I groaned. “I can’t believe he kissed me senseless and made sure Marcus and everyone else could tell while he’s walking back to join that witch Krista for dessert.”

Emma’s mouth quirked in amusement. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. I saw her escorted out earlier just after you left. She was fussing so loudly as one of Sebastian’s bodyguards, I’m assuming, led her to the door. I don’t think he was happy with her.”

“I would hope not because if that’s the kind of woman that amuses him these days, he’s wasting his time with me,” I muttered as I reapplied some of my lip balm and finger-combed my hair back in place. “He’s going to drive me up the wall before this is through.”

“I have a feeling he was already doing that before I interrupted,” Emma giggled and despite the scowl I was unsuccessfully trying to give her, I couldn’t help but laugh, some of my agitation ebbing away.

“I think it’s going to be real interesting to see which one of you gives in first,” she said as she took out a compact from her purse and touched up on her make up. “Pity those who are going to get trampled along the way.”

My mood grew serious. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, Ems. Especially not Marcus.”

She smirked. “I think Marcus can handle himself just fine. He’ll go for what he wants but I don’t think he’ll get in the way of true love.”

I scoffed as we both headed towards the door. “There won’t be any of that if Sebastian doesn’t play fair.”

“Doesn’t that just show how badly he wants to win?” Emma asked with a wink. 

I rolled my eyes. “Since when did you sign up to be Sebastian’s cheerleader?”
“Since I saw his face the moment he looked at you earlier,” Emma answered. “He never struck me as a man given to tenderness but the way he gazed at you left no doubt in my mind as to how precious you are to him.”
I snorted. “Like a man viewing his prized collection?”

“No. It’s more like a man gazing down at the love of his life that the rest of the world didn’t matter,” Emma said softly, looping an arm through mine and nudging me with her shoulder. “I’m not telling you this to push you two together. I’m saying it so you can stop ignoring what’s so obvious just because you’re afraid of what you’ll do about it.”

“Stop romanticizing his actions, Ems,” I said with a sigh. “I do enough of that on my own.”

Emma just smiled and said nothing else as we returned to our table.

If the guys noticed anything about me, they didn’t say.

Sebastian was long gone by the time we left the restaurant. 

Marcus drove me home but I didn’t immediately make a move to get out of the car.

“Cassie, what is between you and Sebastian Vice?” he asked softly, his expression patient. “I could feign nonchalance but we both know something’s going on here.”

My first instinct was to deny everything but Marcus was being more forthcoming than I was and I couldn’t find it in myself to lie. Now that our worlds have blended into one again, there would very little use for denial about what we once meant to each other.

I sighed. “We broke up four years ago—quite bitterly, I might add. We’re trying to decide where we fit in each other’s lives this time.”

Marcus’s blue eyes widened at first as he put all the pieces together. Then they finally shone with understanding. “I see. Am I supposed to help you decide?”

My cheeks flushed. “I wouldn’t ask you to. Not if you don’t want to.”

He smiled. “You’re a great girl, Cassie. I knew that even from the first time we met. I like you and I’m here if you want to spend time together but I won’t tread where I’m not wanted.”

“That’s the problem,” I said with a heavy intake of breath. “I don’t really know what I want.”

He reached out and put his hand over mine, squeezing gently.

His touch was nice and warm but I noticed right away that it lacked that crackle of energy even Sebastian’s faintest brushes could evoke.

“No one needs you to decide tomorrow, Cassie,” Marcus said, smiling. “Personally, I’ve never seen Sebastian react the way he does about you and for that alone, I’m almost looking forward to watch you make him grovel on his feet for a little bit.”

I smiled back. “I don’t fault him for how he feels but I’ll be the first to point out that he could use better tactics.”

Marcus chuckled softly. “When you looked up at me with those dark brown eyes that day of the fourth of July party, I had a feeling you were dangerous to a man. Apparently, I’m right.”

I squeezed his hand. “Thank you for understanding, Marcus.”

He just grinned and slipped out of the car to open the door on my side. He helped me out and walked me to the front door.

“Goodnight, Cassie.”

“Will we still go out for dinner on Saturday night?” I asked warily.

He grinned. “Absolutely. I may not be trying to date you but I sure as hell enjoy your company. It’s a dinner between friends.”

I grinned back. “Deal. Goodnight, Marcus.”

“Sweet dreams, Cass.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek, very much like a good friend would, and winked at me before he turned to go.

I was still smiling as I rode the elevator up.

That smile disappeared the moment I stepped inside my apartment and found Sebastian standing by the window, his back to me, still dressed in the charcoal gray three-piece suit he wore to dinner except for the jacket he’d discarded into one of the armchairs.

I tensed as he slowly turned to face me, his face inscrutable.

“Cassandra.”

I sighed wearily, wondering why I was even shocked for a minute. 

Sebastian made no secret of his intent to invade every part of my life and I should’ve expected he would be as relentless as I’d feared.

I slipped off my shoes and dumped my purse on top of one of the bar stools that lined up one side of the kitchen counter. “First stalking, then playing God with my life, then accosting me in public washrooms and now breaking and entering. What else are you capable of, Sebastian?”

“I didn’t break in,” he answered, unperturbed by my moody greeting. “I have a key.”

“Of course, you do. You did pick out and paint this place, didn’t you?”

Saying that out loud made me take in the backdrop that surrounded Sebastian’s magnificent and imposing build and something warmed inside my heart at the reminder that he’d rolled up his sleeves in here once, fastidiously painting murals on my wall knowing I’ll love them.

Damn him and his dirty tricks to wear my guard down.

“What do you want, Sebastian?” 

His eyes lowered to my bare feet and I felt my flush all the way to my toes.

He swept his gaze back up at me. “I wanted to make sure Aldridge didn’t follow you all the way up here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What I do or don’t do with Marcus is my own damn business.”

“You’re my business, like it or not,” he countered stiffly and for a few seconds we stood face to face, very much in battle. 

Then he sighed and lowered himself into one of the armchairs. He looked exhausted. 

“You should know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t invite him up here,” was my reluctant admission as I padded to the kitchen to fill the kettle with some water. 

“I know,” he said softly, picking up a book I’d left on the coffee table. He studied it and looked up at me with amused eyes. “Rumi?”

I blushed again at being caught off guard. 

Since that summer when Sebastian immersed me in the beautiful, lyrical world of poetry, I’d been hooked.

I watched him flip through the pages as I waited for the water to boil, two mugs set on the kitchen counter.

“The minute I heard my first love story

I started looking for you, not knowing

how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.”

Our gazes met and in the silence that followed, we found something we’ve always had apart from the love and lust and the heartaches and lies—a kinship between two lost old souls.

I smiled and turned the stove off as the water started boiling. 

It may have been four years but it felt instinctive to get two bags of tea and drop it into the mugs before splashing them with hot water. It was something we often did before bed that summer. The habit stuck with me—one of the many related to Sebastian that I just couldn’t kick.

I added the milk and sugar Sebastian liked in his and left mine as is before walking back to the living room and handing him his mug.

“Thank you.” He set down the book and held the mug with both hands. 

I sat down on one end of the couch across from him. “You can take off your shoes, you know?” 

He smiled and glanced down at his leather dress shoes. “Is that first of the many garments you’ll ask me to take off tonight?”

I rolled my eyes. “You wish. I just wanted you to be comfortable.”

He pushed his shoes off and let them heap clumsily on the hardwood floor. 

Something about this domestic setting and the familiarity of seeing the Sebastian the world didn’t often get a glimpse of tugged in my heart. 

Despite his many faults, I loved this man and there was something comforting about having him here in my cozy little apartment with details reflecting just how much he cared to please me.

But he didn’t have to know that.

“Is there any other reason you’re here tonight, Sebastian?” I asked wryly.

He shrugged. “I thought we could spend time together... and talk. Just talk.”

I raised a brow, now amused. “We’ve talked quite a bit today, don’t you think?”

He glanced down at his tea and I could see his slight discomfort. “I know. I just wanted to end my day with you.”

I couldn’t say anything to that.

Not when I felt the same way.

We had an epic day of revelations fraught with anger, pain and longing, a battle of wills and a scorching attraction that added fuel to the fire.

Finding myself curled on my couch sipping tea with Sebastian sitting across me, the physical and emotional exhaustion ebbed away.

“How was your day, apart from the big chunk of it that you spent charging into my life?”

I was smiling with that question which eased Sebastian’s expression after he looked up, bracing himself for another argument.

He smiled reluctantly and took a long sip of his tea. “It was a boring morning. Two conference calls, three appointments with people from Ruthgard, a lunch meeting and a lot of paperwork signing.”

“Running the world is no piece of cake,” I teased with a smirk. “But I’m happy we got Ruthgard. I think they’ll grow immensely in the next few years especially with the synergy your network of companies could offer it.”

He nodded. “You did good work on that project and that’s not a biased compliment. I read all of your materials. It helped sell the others into the acquisition. You pointed out many other prospects in the company that one normally wouldn’t automatically think could bring in revenue.”

I felt sincerely pleased with that. “Thank you.”

An hour passed in comfortable conversation about work and our day. 

It was a conversation I never thought I’d find myself having with Sebastian—not after all that we’ve been through.

When we were done with our tea and our conversation slowed, Sebastian glanced at his wristwatch and sighed, pulling himself forward in the armchair. 

“It’s late and we both have work tomorrow,” he said, reaching for his shoes and sliding his long, black-socked feet into them. There was something very intimate about the act.

“How will you get home?” I asked, setting down my cup. 

“Jennison will pick me up,” he said, taking out his phone and punching in a message in it. “He can be here in five minutes. This is only six blocks away from Rockford.”

“I know,” I said as I got up on my feet and reached for his jacket.

I spread it out and held it up for him and he caught my eye before turning around to slip his arms through the sleeves and shrug it on. I couldn’t resist sliding a hand down the curve of his back, smoothing the jacket.

“Thank you for the tea and for letting me stay, Cassandra,” he said softly, turning around and reaching for my hand. He raised it to his lips and brushed a light kiss on the back of my fingers. 

“You’re welcome,” I said, my fingers squeezing his hand lightly. “It was nice to just sit down and... talk.”

He grinned. “I think that’s an open invitation.”

I rolled my eyes but I couldn’t suppress a smile. “Goodnight, Sebastian. Take care on your way home.”

I followed him to the door. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said as he reached for the door knob. 

I took a deep breath and gazed up at him. “The rules still apply.”

“I know,” he answered before leaning down to press a warm kiss on my forehead. “Goodnight, Cassandra.”

I stood by the doorway, watching him walk down the hallway towards the elevator. 

He glanced at me as he stood there waiting, his face breaking into a breath-taking smile.

Then suddenly the elevator doors opened and he was gone.

I released a slightly shaky breath as I stepped back into my apartment.

God help me but I don’t know how to guard my heart.

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Soooooo... What do you guys think of Sebastian's revelations? And how do you think Cassandra handled that? 

Please vote and comment! They do keep the chapters coming! =)

XOXO! - Ninya

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