I furrowed my brow. “Didn’t you know Sebastian before Teddy was born?”
She shrugged. “We were friends—but, first and foremost, neighbors. It wasn’t until a while after Axel split that Sebastian and I grew closer. He’s not that easy to get to know, to be honest. But if there’s one thing Sebastian can’t handle, it’s people abandoning others, so he must’ve lowered his guard for me when Teddy and I stood there without Axel one day.”
I remembered that. David had flown out for a week. Teddy had been two or three. I hadn’t been able to get off work, but she’d brought Teddy to see me shortly after David returned home. I’d been living in Savannah at the time, which I suspected was the only reason she’d agreed to stay with me for a few weeks. Things had been ice-cold between her and our folks at the time.
“Sebastian told me about his parents flakin’ out on him and his sister a lot growing up,” I mentioned quietly.
Soph nodded. “He’s a man with countless acquaintances and very few friends because of that.”
Sebastian had told me that too.
And then I had bailed on him.
“I have hope for you two, though,” Soph murmured. “You got under his skin in a way I haven’t seen anyone else do. But you gotta do damage control. He genuinely believes you tried to take Teddy—and me—away from him. Or them. Or Washington—you know what I mean. Because of the program. He doesn’t know you bought that land for us before you learned Teddy’s aid got cut. So I don’t care if he won’t listen to you. Shove the deed in his face and make him see the date or something. Show him that you had no intention of being a sneak and shipping us off to Georgia.”
That wasn’t bad advice. Hell, I had all the info on my phone. I could show him right now.
“When you say you have hope for us…” I trailed off.
She patted my arm. “This is where you grow up and admit you actually want something serious with Sebastian.”
I waited for the panic to tie a noose around my neck—any minute now. It was coming. Me? Getting serious with someone? With Sebastian…? Heh. I cleared my throat and shifted where I stood. A trickle of nerves definitely dropped to my stomach, but as I glanced into the kitchen and spotted Sebastian helping Teddy open the big jar of Nutella, I wasn’t sure I could count those nerves as a warning to find the nearest exit.
I wasn’t stupid. I’d skirted around the term for weeks, especially when thinking back on what he and I had shared. But now, my sister was forcing me to put it at the forefront of my mind. Something serious meant relationship.
“You can’t even look away from him,” Soph accused with glee in her eyes.
I threw her an annoyed look, because she had to hold her damn horses here. It was way too soon to discuss any type of future with Sebastian. For one, I didn’t think he’d ever be interested. For two, hope was a dangerous thing, and I’d never been in a real relationship before. I’d fuck that up in a day.
I shook my head, getting anxious at the mere thought. Once upon a time, I’d walked away from a football career because I couldn’t handle the pressure. I’d had people coming to watch me from across the East Coast. But no scholarship mattered when I spent two hours before every game on the shitter. If nothing came out on the lower end, there was always the upper. My senior year of high school, I could’ve been the poster child for Pepto.
On the other hand, Sebastian wasn’t a football game. I remembered nights and early mornings when we sought each other out in bed, half awake, half asleep, 100% constantly drawn to the other. And the feeling—that very feeling—when he snuck my leg between his and hitched his leg over my hip, or the other way around, and our arms fused us together, I’d been fucking blissful. Jesus Christ, I’d been so at ease. It’d felt so right.
I took a deep breath and felt how those memories released the tightness around my chest.
Maybe I wasn’t ready to think or hope for a relationship, but I knew one thing. I wanted more nights with him. I missed him—like fucking crazy. I missed his stupidly charming grins and how, with a single look, he could make me wanna drop to my knees.
“Momma!” Teddy yelled. “Dad and Sebastian say, stop whispering secrets—we’re gonna eat breakfast now!”
The birthday boy had spoken.
After breakfast, I was ready for Teddy to open gifts.
So was he.
Sebastian said the boy had ants in his pants, and that was an apt description.
“Let’s get ours out of the way before Blake outshines us all,” Soph joked.