“Carla,” he whispers, “look at me.”
Shaking my head, I reply, “No. I can’t.” My voice breaks as my hand goes to my mouth. I feel so close to tears with Sebastian standing behind me, mere inches separating us. The heat coming from his body beckoning me, I can always feel him.
“Please just look at me – turn around and look at me – please,” he whispers, his voice pleading.
A tear escapes and trickles down my cheek, hearing the man behind me practically begging me to turn and look at him is turning my insides to mush.
Taking a deep breath, I turn and face the object of my desire. My eyes travel up his torso and linger around his whisker covered jaw and sensual mouth before meeting his eyes.
I want to take that one step into his arms, but force my feet to stay firmly in place.
“We can’t stay in here,” I croak, unable to get my vocal chords working properly.
“Carla, what’s going on with my brother?”
Sebastian reaches out and places his palm against the side of my face in a soft caress, wiping the lone tear away with his thumb. I lean into the caress without breaking eye contact with him as he brings his other hand up to the other side of my face, bringing me in closer to his body.
His touch makes me shiver, which runs through me, if the slight shake to his hands is any indication, he’s just as affected by our touch. Why is something that feels so right, so wrong?
Sebastian rests his forehead against mine with my face still in his hands. He traces a line over my eyebrows, down along my cheekbones ending on my lips with his thumbs.
I need just one taste of him before I leave the pantry, the thought whispers through me as I swipe the tip of his thumb with my tongue.
He sucks in his breath with his eyes alight with passion.
Shit, I shouldn’t have done that.
I pull away from him and make my way to the door, where I stop and turn around to look back at a stunned Sebastian. “I’m sorry. I can’t be close to you because it hurts too much.” I push through the door and let it close on him.
What have I done?
Not only do I have an ache in my chest the size of Mount Everest, I also have a throbbing between my thighs.
It’s been well over twelve months since I’ve had sex, if that’s what it can be called. A night of drunken pawing as my ex-boyfriend tried to maneuver out of his jeans and ended up falling off the bed into a heap on the floor. He hadn’t even managed to get it up before passing out.
I’d known then and there that we were through, a decision I’d gradually arrived at the week before his ‘little’ incident. There had been no love lost between us and until he’d shown up drunk and used his fists on me, I’d thought he’d forgotten all about me.
“Carla, are you alright?”
Lost in the past, I hadn’t realized I’d walked back into the living room. “I’m fine Pippa, just a bit distracted.”
I smile at the small woman overseeing the shower. Sebastian’s mom is a delight and deserves a medal for bringing up five difficult boys, because I’d bet that’s what they’d have been, and still are
. Pippa is intelligent, funny and too shrewd for most people. She doesn’t miss anything and her eyes bore into me as her gaze flicks between Sebastian and me as he enters the room behind. I try to ignore him and Pippa’s look. With a blush starting to work its way up my neck, I smile and nod towards Lily whose being hugged fiercely by a friend that’s just arrived.
I need to escape before I do something stupid, like grab hold of Sebastian’s hand now that he’s moved to stand beside me, with his mom on the other side. The heat from his body is slowly seeping into my skin. My brain is telling me to move away and my heart and body are telling me to grab his hand and never let go.
“Carla, come and meet Sabrina. She’s Lily’s friend from England.” Ramon takes hold of my hand to lead me away. “Think she’s opened Lucien’s eyes,” he smirks.
As he pulls me towards Lily and her friend, Ramon leans in and wraps an arm around my waist. “Are you okay? You look pale.”
“I wish everyone would stop asking me that. I’m fine, just tired.” I try to pull slightly away from him, but his arm tightens and prevents me from moving.
“Carla, I was wondering where you’d disappeared to,” Lily says, as she pulls back from hugging Sabrina, with Michael and Lucien standing like sentries in the background.
“I went to get more lemonade.” Which I’ve forgotten to grab in the pantry with Sebastian distracting me.
Lily takes hold of Sabrina’s arm and turns her around to face Ramon and me. “You’ve already met Ramon, so this is his girlfriend Carla. Carla this is Sabrina.”