One perk of having wealthy parents was my horse, Dakota. The most faithful man I know! He was a magnificent black thoroughbred and I'd had him in my life now for five years and in that time he'd never cheated on me, although I had let him go to stud three times now - he has his needs! It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and with only a couple of days left before I headed to Germany I was making the most of the time I could spend riding. I'd been every day since Tuesday, being out in the countryside with Dakota made me forget everything and everyone. After I'd saddled him up I checked my phone one last time before zipping it up in to my pocket, today my notifications were empty. I'd had a few texts from Seb virtually every day up until yesterday, it seemed that staying with him in that motorhome on Sunday night had not been my best move but I was now used to his sudden silences so thought nothing of not hearing from him. He would have been with Emilie to her twelve week scan by now so that would explain his silence. I mounted Dakota, grabbing the reins and we set off on a leisurely pace down a bridleway towards an open field. Once we reached that, we started to gather speed and I pelted across the large open space with a big smile on my face, my boy never failed to make me smile. About an hour later we headed back to the stables, we'd had a good hard ride and I was keen to give Dakota a rub down and let him chill out for the rest of the day in the paddock. My parents also paid for me to keep my boy at these stables where he would be well taken care off while I was away. I had a lot to thank them for. As we approached the bridleway my eyes were caught by a white SUV. My breath hitched in my throat, I knew that the car was an Infiniti, surely to god it wouldn't be Seb would it? I slowed Dakota down some more, taking the time to scan the area. There he was, leaning against the fence not far from my car, watching me come in. What the fuck was he doing here and more importantly how did he know where to find me? I got on to the bridleway and soon entered the yard, Seb came over to meet me.
"Hi Harper." He smiled.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, staying seated on Dakota. I could tell by Seb's face it wasn't quite the welcome he was expecting.
"Well I'm not here to see the horses." He looked up at me.
"But... but how did you find me?" I stammered, this had been my little sanctuary away from it all, until now.
"I kind of got your address from Jenny on reception." He looked very sheepish.
"What?! She just gave it to you?!" I raised my voice, causing Dakota to move a little.
"Well, she fancies me so it wasn't hard to do." He broke out in to a grin. "Are you going to come down from up there?" He gestured to my horse and I sighed before dismounting.
"How did you find me here though?" I asked, keeping hold of Dakota's reins as though they were of some comfort to me.
"I googled nearby stables after I'd got to your house." He admitted. "That and sat nav." He added.
"You know you're turning in to a stalker don't you." I raised a brow at him and began to lead Dakota to his stable, Seb followed me.
"So this is Dakota?" He asked, ignoring my stalker comment.
"Yes, this is my boy." I smiled as I looked up at my horse and gave him a pat as we walked.
"He's bigger than I expected, but he's an amazing looking horse." He followed me in to the stable which, thankfully, had been freshly mucked out.
"What was you expecting, a pony?" I started to remove Dakota's saddle, undoing the strap under his belly.
"No, not a pony but maybe something a bit smaller." He said. I noticed that he stood back, near the door. Was he frightened of horses? I removed the saddle and placed it over the bottom section of the stable door.
"Are you standing out there or in here?" I asked, I needed to close the door. Seb stepped inside and I swung the door shut with a click and then began removing Dakota's bridle to replace it with a fabric one I used to lead him out to the paddock with. I picked up the soft brush I'd left in here earlier and started to go over him with it. "So you flirted with the receptionist to get my address and then tracked me down to here?" I asked, confirming the details in my mind.
"Yeah, I flew back here yesterday from home." He replied. I looked at him, his face had dropped, he actually looked quite sad. Was that because I hadn't welcomed him here with open arms?
"I'm sorry, I was kind of a bitch to you when I got back." I mumbled as I concentrated on my horse.
"It's ok, I guess it was a shock me turning up here." He replied.
"Why are you here Seb?" I had to ask, it had been on my mind since I'd first laid eyes on him.
"I had to come and see you." He said as I turned to look at him. I turned back to Dakota and finished seeing to him in silence. Once I'd done I opened the stable door and led him back out in to the yard and we walked, with Seb following, to the paddock. I opened the gate and we entered. Seb helpfully closed the gate behind us and watched as I removed Dakota's bridle and let him go. He trotted away from us quite happily and began nibbling on the grass. "Harper, Emillie isn't pregnant." He suddenly blurted out. I looked at him, open mouthed.
"Oh Seb, has she lost the baby? I'm so sorry." I turned to face him. He shook his head at me.
"There was no baby." He looked crestfallen. "It was all a lie to try and get me back." He said, looking at me. I felt a wave of emotions flood through me, anger at her, sadness for him and..... I'm not sure what else I felt. I stepped past him and opened the gate and we left the paddock together. I stopped and looked at his sad face, he looked as though he was on the verge of tears. I pulled him in to my arms and held him tight, feeling him wrap his arms around me and hold me tight also. After a minute I heard him give in and begin to cry, it hit me then just how much he'd come to want that baby.
"Seb. I'm so sorry." I repeated my words and held him with one hand on his back and the other at the back of his neck. We stood like that for a few minutes until he'd calmed down, I felt my anger towards Emilie simmering in the pit of my stomach. How dare she break his heart like that. "Let's go back to my place." I said as he pulled away. I looked at him as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, my heart suddenly felt like it was going to burst with love for this man. He nodded his head.
"I'll follow you in my car." He said quietly. We both got in to our own cars and as I drove with him behind me I was constantly trying to evaluate how I felt. The butterflies inside had intensified, I felt a mixture of happiness that maybe we could get back together and then a mixture of sadness for him and guilt that I was already thinking about having him back while he was so clearly tormented over this nonexistent baby.
I unlocked my front door and we stepped inside my humble little abode, I was sure that Seb's place in Switzerland would be much much bigger than this. I removed my riding boots and then my jacket, hanging it up in the hall. Seb quietly followed me in to the lounge.
"Have a seat." I gave him a small smile and pointed to the sofa and then sat down with him. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked him, he was now looking better than he had when we'd left the stables.
"There's not much to say really, she was supposed to be having the scan on Friday and we had an argument. She'd tried to kiss me and I'd pushed her away, during the row she just came out with it." He looked around the room before looking back at me. "She admitted it was just to try and win me back." His gaze on me shifted from sorrow to intense.
"I'll get us a drink." I stood up. "Want a mug of tea?"
"Have you got anything stronger?" He asked.
"I don't think alcohol is going to do you any good Seb." I replied. Look at me getting all responsible! "I've got vodka?" Maybe not then.
"That'll do." He replied.
"Just have the one, we don't want you in the papers because you've been done for drink driving do we?" I smiled.
"I was kind of hoping I could stay here tonight?" He asked, looking at me, giving me the hopeful eyes look again. "I don't mind sleeping on here." He added, patting the sofa.
"It's ok, I've got a guest room upstairs." I said as I went in to the kitchen. I quickly located two glasses, two cans of Pepsi Max and the bottle of Smirnoff and bought them back through. "Here." I placed them down on the table in front of him. "Help yourself while I nip up and get changed." I needed to get out of my riding gear.
"Keep them on, I like that look on you." Seb gave me a cheeky grin. I just smiled and shook my head and left him to get changed. As I walked up the stairs I pinched myself, Sebastian Vettel was in my house! A few minutes later I came back down in my faithful sweatpants and a rather clingy t-shirt, Seb had me made me a drink too.
"Bit early for alcohol but oh well." I said as I flopped down next to him. "So, how are you feeling now?" I asked him.
"I don't know." He let out a breath. "Hurt?" He swirled his drink round in his glass. "You're the first person I've told, I got the first flight over that was available." He looked at me, he made my heart melt. I was the one he'd come to first! "I rang Britta when I landed and told her I was in the UK, she went nuts. I'm supposed to be in Germany now for an appearance for Braun." He gave me that cheeky grin again. "Plus she hates me travelling alone, she thinks I'll get lost!"
"Well you've proved her wrong coming here." I said taking a swig from my glass. I pulled a face, the drink was really strong. "Christ Seb, how much vodka did you use?!" I grabbed a can and topped it up with Pepsi.
"Britta thinks I'm at the factory." He said tasting his own drink and pulling the same face.
"I doubt it'll take her long to figure out your not there." I giggled.
"Emilie not being pregnant has made realise how much I want children." He suddenly said. Ah, back to babies again. "Once I'd got my head around it, I was looking forward to it."
"It'll all happen when the time is right Seb." I looked at him. I wasnt sure it'd happen with me though, babies is a road I don't plan on taking. "You're only 26, theres still lots of time yet for you have babies with someone." I couldn't believe how broody he seemed, he was the last person I expected to feel like that.
"I hope so, I'd love to settle down and have a family." He sighed. This got my mind racing. I wasn't ready to do the baby thing, was I ready to settle down? I was 27 and I knew of people I'd gone to school with that were already married with kids and my parents were always digging at me to 'find a nice man to settle down with'. To distract him I dug out some DVD's and we binge watched Little Britain, one of his favourite British comedies. Then we both got hungry, as I'd not got much in we ordered in a Chinese take away which Seb insisted on paying for only to find out the driver couldn't take card payments so I payed. After that we spent the evening watching 80's movies. As we relaxed in each others company we ended up finding ourselves cosied up on the sofa, with him sitting inbetween my legs and laying back against me. I couldn't resist running my fingers up and down his arms and then playing with his hair, it wasn't really a surprise to feel his body relax and his head lull back against me as he fell asleep. I glanced at the clock on my wall, it was only 9.20pm. I carried on watching the rest of Ferris Bueller's Day Off on my own with my arms loosely around Seb's front and then an hour later when the film had finished I gently woke him up.
"Come on sleepy head, let's head up to bed." I pressed a kiss to his head, kind of forgetting myself for a moment.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep." He mumbled as he moved and then turned to face me before getting himself up from the sofa. "I'll just get my bag from the car." He popped outside and soon returned with a holdall, locking the door for me. I got up too and turned the tv off and closed the curtains.
"Its fine Seb, you obviously needed the sleep." I smiled. "Let's head up." I took his hand and led the adorable sleepy German up my stairs, coming to a stop outside a door. I opened it and we stepped inside. "You can sleep in here." I switched the light on and then went to the window to shut the curtains. "I'll get changed and then come and check on you, ok?" I walked back to the door.
"Ok." He nodded and then yawned. I left him to it and went into my own room to get changed in a little dark grey satin chemise, then headed back to see how he was getting on. He was sat up in the bed with his phone.
"You ok?" I asked. He looked very tired.
"Will you stay with me?" He asked.
"Come in to my bed." I replied, I guessed it wouldn't do any harm sharing a bed with him and he looked too tired to try anything on with me. He smiled and got out of the bed, following me in to the room nextdoor. "Oh, the bathroom is that door there." I pointed to the door at the end.
"Thank you." He smiled again and we entered my room, he closed the door behind him and waited to see which side of the bed I was getting in to before getting in himself. "Your bed is quite small." He chuckled as he lay next to me. He was obviously used to sleeping in king sized beds from all his travels for races.
"You can always go back nextdoor." I giggled as he fidgeted next to me and I lay on my side for a moment watching him in the near darkness. I felt him put his arm out for me to cuddle up to him so I shuffled up against him and let him put his arm around me. I lay with my head on his chest, he felt warm against me and it felt perfect laying there with him. I quickly felt his arm relax as he fell asleep and I wasn't long before I joined him.