“You don’t have a paper copy in your briefcase?”
She froze. Oh no, she forgot she told him she found the briefcase. “This is faster,” she blurted, although holding a heavy laptop with one hand while moving her finger on the trackpad was awkward. She was so flustered she couldn’t find her cursor, so she pressed harder on the pad, which made the laptop tip.
“Hey.” He took the computer from her and closed the lid. “I don’t want to talk about Harrington. I’ll listen to your pitch on Tuesday, like I said I would.”
Jade frowned, confused. “Then why are you here?”
He scooped his hand through his hair but didn’t respond right away.
Good thing, because the gesture seized any possible words out of her mouth. Sebastian had the casual, mussy-sexy look down. Emphasis on sexy. Once again she was struck by how much more attractive he was now than ten years ago. Even the faint crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes were fetching.
And here she was looking dumpy and frumpy in gray athletic shorts, a plain white oversize T-shirt, and hair piled on her head in a messy pony. A few minutes ago she didn’t care about herappearance when she was going to the car wash. Now she was acutely aware that she looked like she’d just woken up. What a fabulous impression.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, which didn’t help either. Her gaze followed his movement. He made those jeans looksogood—
“Lydia.”
Her eyes snapped to his. “What?”
“I’m here to talk about Lydia.”
Every cell in her body turned cold. “How do you know about her... Logan. You talked to Logan.”
Sebastian nodded. “He’s still at my cabin.”
“I don’t believe this.” She backed away. “What did he tell you?”
“That she’s your mother—”
“She was never my mother.” Not in the way it counted. Her chest hurt. “How could he do this to me?”
“He loves you, Jade.”
She shook her head. This didn’t feel like love. It felt like betrayal. Sebastian had no business knowing about her past—Lydia in particular. Logan and Lydia were cooking up something. She was sure of that now. “He put you up to this.”
“No, he didn’t.” Sebastian moved toward her. “I offered to help. I don’t know what’s going on with your mother, but it’s serious enough to have Logan worried, and not just about her. He doesn’t want you to have any regrets.”
“Too late for that.” She was regretting ever allowing Logan back in her life, even if it was just for a conversation. She regretted listening to him, believing he had truly changed. Most of all, she regretted letting Sebastian in her room. Her hands shook so hard she thought they’d fall off.
“Jade.”
His deep, comforting voice washed over her, and for a split second she allowed herself to feel its soothing effect. Then just as fast, she threw up her walls. “This is none of your business, Sebastian. You don’t have theright.”
He stilled. Nodded. Backed off. “I just...” He shook his head and moved past her. “Sorry.”
“Wait.” She couldn’t afford to be angry with him or let her personal life get in the way of business. It was one thing if she didn’t have the skills or tactics to convince him to talk to Miles and quite another if he refused because of Logan or Lydia.
She wasn’t sure how her professional brain kicked in through her pain. Then again, she had years, decades of practice shoving down her emotions until she didn’t feel them anymore. She turned and went to him. “I apologize,” she said, barely aware she’d straightened her posture as if she had on her suit and heels instead of gym wear. “Thank you for being so considerate. I will take your advice under consideration.”
His frown deepened. “I—” A ringing sound came from his jeans pocket.
“Go ahead,” she said. The interruption would give her time to collect what was left of her sanity.
Sebastian dug into his pocket and pulled out a simple black flip phone and lifted the lid.
“Hudson here. Where? How bad is it? Uh-huh. Oh... whoa.” His frown deepened. “I’ll head there now. Thanks.” He hung up and jammed the cell back into his pocket.
“What’s wrong?”
