“You have me in the palm of your hand.” Turning her hand palm up, he rubbed his thumb along her lifeline until her entire body began to tingle. “This would be a great time to tell me what would make you happy.”
She shook her head, her heart in her throat. “You really do suck at negotiating.”
“I like to think of myself as direct.”
“I don’t want anything more than what I have right here and now.” To expect anything more would only lead to heartbreak. “The rest of the week together and then we go our separate ways.”
“Unacceptable.”
Before she could protest, her purse began to ring. Like Pavlov’s dog, she was conditioned to react to a familiar sound, only instead of drooling, she sat up.
“Leave it,” Sebastian commanded, tugging her back down.
She squirmed out of his grasp. “It’s not you calling so it must be important.”
“Very funny.” He rolled onto his side and watched her cross the room to the dresser.
The phone had stopped ringing by the time she fished it out of her purse. “Whoever it was, I missed the call.”
“Come back to bed.”
“Just a second, let me check my messages.” Something about the late-night call gnawed at her nerves. No one except Sebastian would call her at such an hour. That meant something was wrong. When her brother’s voice sounded in her ear, she knew she was right.
“Missy, when you get this, call me. Dad’s been hurt. We’re heading to the hospital now.” Heart twisting in fear, she ended the message and turned to face Sebastian.
He came off the bed in time to catch her as she swayed. “What’s wrong?”
“Sam left me a message. He said my dad’s been hurt. They’re heading to the hospital.”
“Call him back and see what happened.”
Her hands shook so badly, it took her three tries before she keyed up her address book and found her brother’s cell phone number. Not until the phone started ringing did it occur to her that she could have just found his missed call and hit send. Sebastian wrapped her in a robe and rubbed her arms while she waited for her brother to pick up.
“Missy, it’s bad,” Sam said.
“What happened?”
“He was stabbed.”
“Stabbed?” Her gaze found Sebastian’s. She caught concern reflected there. His fingers tightened. “How did that happen?”
“I don’t have a lot of details. There’ll probably be more once we get to the hospital and talk to the cops.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“He’s a tough old bird.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and counted to five. “I’m going to catch the first plane out of here.”
“Aren’t you in Vegas at that thing for your company?”
“Yes, but Sebastian will understand that I have to leave.”
He leaned forward and kissed her on the temple. The tender caress brought a lump to her throat. She sank into his strength, letting him absorb some of her trembling.
“I’ll keep you informed as we get news.”
The hand holding the phone dropped to her side. “My dad’s been hurt. I have to go home.”