Rush and Restraint

Chapter Fifteen

"So is Max."

"Max is at least charming and considerate to the ladies, no matter how many of them he's currently seeing," I debated. "Sebastian just cycles through them like he cycles through all his white dress shirts. They look all the same to him and as long as they function like they're supposed to, he doesn't give a fuck. Oh, wait, he does but that's all he gives them—a fuck. Nothing more of him, nothing less."

"That's harsh, Viv, even from you. Even about Sebastian."

"It's my baby sister we're talking about here, Oliver!"

"She's twenty-two so she's not a baby anymore," he argued back. "And she already has history with Sebastian. She's the same Cassandra he's been trying to shake off from his memory years ago."

I halted. "You've known they've been involved this whole time and you didn't tell me?"

"I just knew the woman's name was Cassandra. Not that she's the Cassandra who happens to be your sister! Sebastian didn't make the connection either."

I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to sort out my wild, spinning emotions and trying to find the sense that was in there somewhere.

"Are you sure he's not going to hurt her?" I finally, reluctantly and resentfully, asked.

"I can't promise you that because even people with the best of intentions can still fuck up," Oliver said gently. "But what I can tell you is that I have a very good feeling the Sebastian you're going to see when you get back here isn't quite the same Sebastian you know. And that counts for something."

"He could just be a sulkier Sebastian," I grumbled. "God knows if there's another level to that attitude, he'd be the first to discover it."

"Oh, he's still moody," Oliver agreed, amusement in his voice. "But he's going to move heaven and earth for her if he has to. I'm familiar with the feeling. I know what it looks like when you see it in someone's eyes. I've seen it in mine for years."

My heart squeezed and I smiled, finally plopping down a leather trunk where the accessories of the wedding gown—veil, gloves and garters—were safely and luxuriously stored. "That does make me feel better about it. But Sebastian better not be selfish and keep her all to himself considering how accessible he's been to us lately. If I have to fight him for her, I will."

Oliver chuckled. "Your father and Stellan will get to him first."

I sighed out loud, slowly resigning myself to the fact that my sister was alive and well and probably well-versed in the art of loving a complicated man no one could protect her from.

I know it all too well.

"Do you think now is the right time to tell them then?" I asked quietly.

There was no pause on Oliver's side. "We can tell them whenever you want us to tell them. All I care about is that we're together and we're happy. And we are, aren't we?"

I smiled. "Yes, we are."

"Maybe let's wait until you and your family have recovered from this shock," he continued. "It's a lot to take in, especially for your sister who apparently didn't seem to have a clue about her real history."

"History makes a big difference."

"It does," Oliver agreed and I could imagine him smiling. "It redefines the present you're looking at now and the kind of future that could come out of it."

"Just like our history weighed in on us in our years apart," I added. "Just like it allowed us to hang on for a just a little bit longer when others would've hightailed at our situation."