“Dash had to leave already,” she said, keeping her voice calm. If she didn’t say something, Sebastien was likely to push the issue. “I’ll give him a call once I’m on my way back to the hotel. You don’t need to drive me. There are still cars going to the hotel. I’ll catch one of them.”
“Maybe you should let Sebastien drive you,” Sojo suggested. Before Marin could even sputter out a response, Sojo took a step forward. Voice low, she added, “People are going to get curious if you keep this up, Marin. Just take the fucking ride already.”
She gave both of them a silencing look, and then turned back to the others. “I heard there was going to be pizza and beer tonight. Is there a reason I wasn’t invited?”
Marin looked over at Sebastien and huffed out a breath. “Fine.”
She’d better go, otherwise tomorrow, Sojo would never let her live it down. The other woman never went out with the crew. It wasn’t that she didn’t like to hang out with the others, but she wasn’t much on socializing on a large scale. If she was doing it, it was to draw attention away from Marin.
Sebastien gave her a look that told her he knew exactly why she’d given in, but he was courteous enough—today—not to call on her on it.
When he laid a hand at her back, she had to fight not to jump away.
Not because she didn’t like his touch—she did.
Oh, did she like it.
The feel of his fingers, the warmth of his palm was something she wanted to just sink back against. Part of her wanted to turn to him and just melt against him. The other part of her wanted to smack him, because why in the hell couldn’t he see what was obvious?
Sojo had already figured it out.
She’d bluntly asked Marin, “Why is Sebastien always pushing you toward Dash? He’s the daddy, isn’t he?”
Dash hadn’t made that connection yet, but he would.
And if she wasn’t careful about things like . . . oh, say passing out in front half the crew, others would put two and two together and realize she was pregnant, then others would start making stabs in the dark. Sooner or later, one of them would hit the target.
The rumor mill would spin nonetheless and by the time she got home, the tabloids would be spouting off shit like maybe a Martian had impregnated her.
“Maybe they’ll be decent and at least make it Matt Damon,” she grumbled as she trailed along next to Sebastien.
“What?”
She could have kicked herself. The problem with being an only child is that sometimes you just talk to yourself. It was a habit she’d developed in childhood and when she was tired or stressed, she lapsed back into it. Tonight, she was tired and stressed and now she was irritated to boot.
Feeling his eyes on her, she managed a shrug. “The way things are going, people are going to figure out what’s going on and when the news hits the tabloids, I’ll be lucky if they don’t have a Martian pegged as the father.”
“Ah . . . and you’re hoping they go with Matt Damon.” He crooked a grin at her. “Well, he’s better than the Looney Toons version. Although, you and Marvin would have made an interesting couple.”
It startled a laugh out of her. As they stopped by his car, she glanced over at him.
He was staring at her.
Her heart skipped a few beats and she hurriedly looked away. He had the door open for her and she ducked inside but instead of closing the door, he knelt down, staring in at her. “Are you feeling okay now?”
His voice was soft and the darkness wrapped around them, creating the illusion of intimacy where there was none.
She managed to hide the shiver, but if she kept looking at him, she was going to lean toward him. Touch him. Kiss him. Her body was humming now that he was near again. Acting out scenes when she was wearing little more than a pair of underwear was never what she could call intimate, even with Sebastien.
At least before.
Now, though . . .
Today had been an exercise in erotic torture and patience. She’d had to think about things like nursing bras and whether she’d like a girl or a boy and whether she’d keep working once the baby was born—while still keeping her brain on the task at hand. Enough to keep tuned in, yet not enough to let her body get too into it. It was a fine line to walk but she’d managed to keep all the need trapped down inside her body.
Now that he was here . . .
Averting her gaze, she focused on the darkness spreading out in front of the window. “I’m fine, Sebastien. I’m just tired. It’s hard to sleep sometimes and it’s catching up to me, that’s all.”
His hand brushed hers.
“You ever going to look at me in the eye again, Marin? Ever going to talk to me?”
The emotion throbbing in his voice had a knot swelling in her throat.
Talk to him . . . look at him . . .
She needed to talk to him. She had to tell him.
She opened her mouth to do just that when he continued. “I mean, I get that it’s not going to happen. I know you don’t . . . Hell, we’re not going to happen. You’re with Dash, you’re carrying his baby, but we used to be friends. You’re probably the best friend I’ve got. Did I totally destroy that?”
“Sebastien . . .” Closing her eyes, she floundered for how to tell him what she needed to say.