The Proviso

27: Standing on Higher Ground

A soft knock sounded on Giselle's bedroom door. "Hey, Giz," Sebastian called politely, "when you come up for air, I want to talk to you. Bring Kenard."

Giselle sighed and looked over at her clock. "It's one o'clock and I'm hungry."

"You always do what he says?" Bryce muttered from beside her, his face buried in the pillow and his arm in the curve of her waist.

"Absolutely not. Sebastian's all about wine, women, and song and thinks everybody else should be, too. He wouldn't interrupt if it weren't important to him. Plus, it's Saturday. He'll have Bryant's."

"That's the only thing I needed to hear."

"But," she sat up and announced, "I need to pee and brush my teeth. That is the first thing I do every single morning, without fail, and in that order."

"Fair warning: I'll follow you and fuck you in the shower."

Her eyes opened wide and she looked down at him, grinning like a child at the possibility that she would get exactly what she wanted on Christmas morning. "That would be sublime, thank you."

"Oh, now you're just making fun of me."

She arose with great care and groaned at every slow step she made toward the bathroom. "You have got to be kidding me," she breathed as she stopped, bent over, and massaged the muscles on the insides of her thighs. He growled, totally satisfied with his night's work. She looked back at him then and smirked. "I would never make fun of a man whose idea of sweet nothings is 'I want to fuck you, Giselle.'"

"I wouldn't be with a woman who didn't find that romantic."

Thirty minutes later, wrapped up in terrycloth from head to toe, she waddled out to the conference room holding hands with Bryce, who wore only a low-slung towel around his hips. He had taken her on a twelve-hour rollercoaster ride and she could feel every minute of it in muscles that hurt so badly she was groaning with every step.

She was so happy she thought she'd pop.

"I know you've met already. Sorta. Bryce, Sebastian. Sebastian, Bryce."

"Sorry about punching you at Fen's party."

"Eh, don't worry about it. It was worth it." Sebastian shot a glance at Giselle. "Having a little trouble walking this afternoon?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. How long has it been since you got laid?"

Sebastian curled his lip at her and she chuckled.

As soon as they'd settled themselves in with the barbecue, Sebastian's irritation with her gave way to a calculating smirk and her eyes narrowed. First Knox, then her. Sebastian was on a roll today.

He slid two white envelopes across the table at her and said, "Giz, I would like you and Kenard here to come to the Ford opening tonight."

She sucked in a deep breath. No. Not that. Anything but that. Sebastian grinned when she slouched down in her chair and glared at him, folding her arms over her chest.

"Something wrong? Is there some reason you don't want to go to an exclusive Ford showing tonight?"

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

She could sense Bryce's confusion, but she didn't care to explain and finally Sebastian got down to business.

"I'm actually glad-" He shook his head and let loose a chuckle, his eyebrows raised. "-although extremely surprised-that you're here. I was going to contact you next week."

That startled Bryce, distracted him. Yay.

"I need a trust," Sebastian explained. "I had heard you were especially good at those. And I'm curious. Why are you so good at this? You're a trial attorney."