An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

‘I’ll hardly be here, if that’s what you’re worried about.’

She managed to stop herself from pointing out that he was here now.

‘I just don’t think it’s right.’ And then, before she could stop her runaway mouth, she was asking, ‘Why buy a property like this if you’re hardly ever here?’

Sebastio tensed. No one ever questioned him. And her question cut far too close to the bone. There were myriad reasons why he’d bought this place—chief of which were to do with its privacy and space, which appealed to his need to hide from the world and his ever-present guilt. However, he’d also bought it for its potential for entertaining. And its exclusivity.

But those aren’t the only reasons, whispered a mocking voice.

No. They weren’t. And he hated to admit it—even to himself. Hated to admit that in spite of the fact that he’d never felt as if he’d had a home, he wanted to create one. Some place where he might feel some measure of peace or atonement. When he didn’t deserve atonement. At all.

Not when he’d mocked Victor and Maya for their happy domestic idyll just moments before he’d been intrumental in wrecking that idyll for ever.

‘That’s none of your business,’ he said now, with more bite than he’d intended.

Edie was immediately contrite. She’d overstepped the boundaries, unsettled by this man. ‘I’m sorry. Of course it’s none of my business.’

‘Look, it’s far more practical for you to stay here for the next couple of weeks. There’s really no need for you to do that commute every day.’

Edie knew he was talking sense. He sounded eminently reasonable. If she insisted on protesting she’d look silly. And he might wonder why she was so reluctant.

‘Okay,’ she conceded finally. ‘You’re right—it does make sense.’

Sebastio said, ‘Good. I’ll have my driver take you home now and he’ll bring you back with your things.’

Edie’s heart thumped. ‘Today? But there’s no need—’

Sebastio cut her off smoothly. ‘Why not move in today? At least then you’ll have the weekend to fully recuperate. There’s a gym here, and a swimming pool. You might as well avail yourself of those amenities while you can.’

She closed her mouth. She’d heard some of the other staff mention the gym and the pool in awestruck voices, but she’d had no time to explore.

She saw the obdurate look on Sebastio’s face. There was no point arguing. ‘Fine.’

Now a look of amusement came over his starkly handsome features, elevating him from gorgeous to devastating.

‘No need to sound so gratified.’

Edie flushed. Again. This man seemed to bring out the worst in her.

‘Of course I’m grateful. It’s incredibly generous of you.’

* * *

A few hours later Edie was standing in the middle of her new bedroom, absorbing the fact that she was really doing this. Sharing Sebastio’s house. She grimaced. Except it wasn’t really a house when there was enough room for a dozen football teams and their fans.

The bedroom was sumptuous and understated, decorated in tones of light blue and grey. A massive bed dominated the room, which had a luxurious ensuite bathroom and also a dressing room.

Edie had unpacked and hung up her few clothes, but the expanse of the dressing room only made them look more boring and pathetic. It was a room for shimmering gowns and hundreds of jewel-coloured shoes.

She didn’t need the uncomfortable reminder that her encounter with Sebastio four years previously had affected her on many more levels than she liked to admit. Namely, her sense of femininity and her attractiveness to men. Maybe that was what always drew her up short on dates? She clammed up as much because of her own self-consciousness as anything they were doing or weren’t doing.

Or maybe, said a mischievous voice, they just hadn’t been Sebastio.

Edie rejected that utterly. It was too terrifying to contemplate. She couldn’t have been in thrall to a man she’d met for mere minutes all this time. But even as she rejected it the knowledge settled in her gut like a lead weight.

The night she’d met Sebastio she’d felt like a fish out of water in that club, in spite of her happiness at the clear bill of health she’d been given. She’d been full of so many mixed emotions, and the throbbing music and heat of the club had compounded that turmoil inside her. Her friends had meant well, wanting to make it up to her because she’d missed out on her prom night... But really Edie hadn’t been ready for a scene like that yet.

That was one of the reasons she’d connected so instantly with Sebastio. He too had looked as if he was set apart from his peers. A little lost. Except it had been a mirage. She’d projected her own feelings onto him.