Enchanting Sebastian (Big Sky Royal 1)

A few seconds feels like years.

Where are they?

Where is my husband?

My God, if I lose him now, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t. I can’t lose him!

“There,” Ellie yells, pointing as Liam and Nick surface with Sebastian, but he’s unconscious. Callum’s security pulls Sebastian into the other boat, and before anyone can tell me not to, I jump from my craft to the other one and ignore the look of horror Nick sends me.

I don’t care.

Liam’s doing chest compressions on Sebastian, and finally, Sebastian starts to cough. They turn him on his side and pound on his back, and when he sits up, his eyes find mine in the rain, which has slowed down.

But there’s still thunder and lightning.

This is the wrong place to be in a storm.

But all I can think about is how I almost lost the love of my life.

“You jerk!” I fall on my knees next to him and pound my fists on his chest. “You said you’d never leave me! You promised. And then you almost drowned on me.”

He tugs me down into his arms, hugging me close as the boat starts to move, and people yell around us, but I can’t hear them. All I can focus on is Sebastian murmuring in my ear, and then his heart pounding fast against my ear as he holds me close.

“I’m here,” he says, rocking us back and forth. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’ve never been so scared.”

“That makes two of us,” he says. I can hear the edge in his voice. He’s mad, too. But as long as he’s alive, I don’t care if he’s angry. I can apologize. I can make it right.

We arrive at the house, and we’re rushed inside where Jenna and Christian and Brad and Hannah are waiting with blankets, towels, and hot drinks for everyone.

How did they get here so quickly?

Harrison speaks rapidly into his phone. I assume he’s talking to the palace.

“You’re practically naked,” Christian says in disgust as he wraps me in a towel and then jerks me into his arms. “You fucking scared ten years off my life.”

“There was no storm in sight when we left.” My teeth are chattering. I can’t stop looking for Sebastian, and I find him standing in the living room, a blanket wrapped around him, facing the windows and watching the storm rage.

Ellie and Nick must have pulled in right behind us because they’re here, too, wrapped up and glassy-eyed.

Nick glares at me.

“I’m sorry,” I say to him. “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“You’re damn right, it won’t happen again.” Liam rushes into the room, pushing away the offer of a towel. “Now that I have search and rescue on stand-down, and I’ve briefed Brad and the motherfucking king, you’re going to tell me what, exactly, the two of you were thinking.”

Ellie speaks first. “It was my idea.”

“No.” I shake my head. “It’s my boat. My responsibility. Ellie and I decided to go out on the lake for a while.”

“Then you tell Nick, and we send a team with you,” Liam says. I’ve never seen his handsome face so hard, his expression so damn angry.

“That’s the point,” Ellie says, raising her chin. “We didn’t want a whole group of people. We just wanted some time alone.”

“That’s not how this works, princess,” Liam sneers. “And you, of all people, should know better. You have a security detail to keep you alive. If we hadn’t installed the tracking device in Nina’s boat, you would be dead right now.”

Ellie pales but keeps her chin firm. “I’m not a bloody child! I can decide if I want to go out on a stupid boat and who I want to go with. You may be the head of security, but you’re not my boss, don’t forget that.”

Sebastian steps in.

“That’s enough,” he says.

“I’ve just started,” Liam argues, but Sebastian shakes his head and lays his hand on Liam’s shoulder.

“I know it scared you. It scared all of us. And pissed us off, as well. But yelling and belittling them isn’t going to solve it.”

“I resign,” Liam says, shocking all of us. “I can’t work like this, not if you’re working against me. I can’t keep you alive.”

And with that, he turns on his heel and walks out.

“I’ll talk to him,” Nick says.

“Let him cool off first,” Callum suggests. “I’ve never seen a man as scared as he was. And not just because his job may have been on the line, but because of the whole situation. You cocked this up, girls.”

God, did we ever.

“Nina,” Sebastian says. “I’d like a word privately, please.”

And this is it. This is where he tells me that he just can’t deal with my shit and that it’s over.

I wouldn’t blame him.

I almost killed both him and his sister today.

But what will I do without him?