THE CEO

My heart

There is another knock on the bathroom door, "I'll be out soon. Just give me a few minutes." I can hear Sebastian walking away from the door and sitting down on the bed. A few tears have broken free and I decide to wash my face before I leave the bathroom. After I dry my face, I take a deep breath and open the bathroom door. Sebastian immediately gets up off the bed and walks over to me, "You were crying, my love?" I stand in the door and nod, "I'll get over it." He sighs and pulls me toward the bed, and places me on his lap, "Please tell me what happened? One moment we were having fun, and the next you were upset. I know Veronica can be a bit much, but you shouldn't let her get to you." The mere mention of her name reignites the rage inside me, "A bit much! The woman is fucking disrespectful! Oh, and don't get me started on how you completely avoided mentioning that I was yours like you did with Darian! What? You don't want her to know?" Tears are streaming down my face, and without realizing I've grabbed the front of Sebastian's shirt. He looks at me with soft eyes and strokes my leg, listening to me rant, patiently.

"Say something!" My words come out in a broken sob. Sebastian lifts his hand to my cheek, "Becca. I've known her my whole life. We dated in high school. She's always been a little bit crazy." My heart feels like it's beating out of my chest. I don't dare speak as I wait for him to continue. " We dated for about two months in high school. She started telling everyone that I was the love of her life and that I proposed to her. I didn't." It's like Sebastian could read my mind, "I never told her that I loved her, Becca. Not once. Yes, we fooled around, but I never slept with her. She told everyone that we did. That's when I realized that if I didn't cut this relationship short, I would be stuck with her forever." I can feel myself calming down slightly as he continues, "I didn't call you any pet names in front of her, because she would have reacted badly. She already had a poor reaction to seeing you, and I honestly didn't want to make it worse." We both stare at each other and I realize how I overreacted, "I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did. I feel silly." Sebastian smiles at me, "I love you, Rebecca Vanguard, and no other woman would ever hold a place in my heart." I lean in and kiss Sebastian, "I love you too, Sebastian Harrington. Sorry, I'm such a pain." He laughs against my lips, "You're the good kind of pain, my love." We spend the rest of our week away swimming in the ocean and sightseeing.

It's our last night at the beach house. The air is very cold, and Sebastian decides to light a fire. We lay on the couch together, in front of the fire. Sebastian kisses my shoulder, "I could lay like this forever." I turn to face him and stroke his cheek, "I don't want anyone else, Sebastian." He leans in and kisses me. The kiss quickly turns passionate. Tangled in each other's arms, and breathing heavily. Suddenly, I slide off the couch, and drop to the floor with a loud thud, taking Sebastian with me. We both laugh. Our activities caused us to slip off the couch. Sebastian smiles as he watches me giggle beneath him. My giggles subside as Sebastian kisses me again, his body pressing against me. I love this man. We spend the rest of the evening making love, laughing, and talking about our future. We head to bed after midnight and fall asleep immediately.

The next morning, Marvin is waiting outside as we lock up the house, "Good morning you two." We both greet Marvin and load our bags in the back. "Sir, we must hurry home. John arrived a short while ago looking for the both of you." I look at Sebastian, all the joy I had from the past week, drains from my body. He wraps his arm around me and pulls me into a hug, "Thank you, Marvin. We better be off then."

Once we get home, we see John having a cup of coffee in the living room, "Ah! There you are. We have a lot to discuss." Sebastian and I take a seat next to each other and I immediately grab hold of his hand. I'm terrified. John takes another sip of his coffee and starts, "As you both know, we have all our suspects in custody and enough evidence to bury them alive. It would seem that Harry's father is trying to avoid a public scandal and has hired one of the best lawyers in town to defend his son. As I know you make a lot of money, I'm assuming you can afford one better? Maybe the best lawyer in the country?" Sebastian chuckles at John's remark, " I already contacted my lawyer and he's briefed a friend of his on our case. Rebecca will have the best lawyer money can buy. I made sure of that." I didn't know that Sebastian had done this, and I look over at him, "Thank you." Sebastian kisses the top of my hand, "Anything for you." John laughs, "You two make me sick. Oh to be young and in love!" We all laugh and talk for the next few minutes before John's face becomes serious again, "Becca, I need you to understand, that this case is going to trial. Lawyers are nasty creatures, and they will do anything to discredit your character. People who don't know you are going to form opinions about you, and not all of those opinions will be good." I nod, "I know. All I want is for this nightmare to be over." John looks at me for a few seconds before speaking, "The judge has moved the court date to begin first thing Monday morning. Your case has drawn a lot of publicity and they would rather get it over with as soon as possible. Because of all the publicity, the judge has decided that there will be no jury present at the trial. He will be the one to make the final decision."