“Sunday was licking Tommy’s face that night and didn’t like that he was still hung up on you rejecting him.”
“Seb—” I started. My throat felt like it was closing. I didn’t know what to do with this information. It couldn’t be true. I had spent my entire adult life believing that I was the laughingstock of Calla Bay High. The poor punk girl with no mother to teach her when she was being played by the sexy, charming boy with a too-good smile and golden-brown eyes. I had been pitied for far too long. I couldn’t handle it again.
The light in his eyes dimmed, his features pinched in disappointment. “You could have talked to me, Lydia. You could have asked, and I would have told you then what I just told you now. That night was ours, and I had no intention of sharing it with anyone.”
He walked away, leaving me staring at his back, full sleeves of tattoos covering his arms under his taut T-shirt as they swayed with his steps. A knot twisted my insides. I didn’t like being responsible for that look on his face. It shouldn’t bother me, but it did.
“Hey, everyone,” Maeve tried to call over the crowd. “Guys… Everyone…”
“Fuckers, shut the hell up,” Wyatt yelled. Everyone quieted down, but that didn’t stop the death glares being sent his way by my brothers or Seb. “Go ahead, doll. Floor is yours.”He winked at her.
“Thank you. Um, Scarlett and Luke are ready to do the reveal. We have the nesting doll set up on the kitchen island if everyone wants to gather round.”
Luke and Scarlett moved into the kitchen, and everyone else followed, crowding around me. Claire stood beside me on the right, Reid coming up and slipping behind her so he could wrap his arms around her.
He kicked my foot, so I kicked him back harder. My younger brother was just as annoying now as he was when we were kids.
He elbowed me in the ribs, so I elbowed him back harder. He was married, for Christ’s sake, and he still acted like he was twelve sometimes.
He laughed and used the combined momentum of him and Claire to shoulder check me, knocking me off-balance and careening to the left.
Strong arms caught me around the waist, hauling me to my feet whether I wanted to or not. I caught Seb’s eye, and for some stupid reason, my heart beat faster. My first thought was “oh good, he’s still looking at me after our last conversation.” I had to remind myself that I didn’t care if Seb ever looked at me again.
I broke the eye contact first, looking back to Reid to give him my best death glare. He raised his brow, gesturing between me and Seb with his eyes. Claire smiled at me like we were in on some secret. What that secret was, I had no idea.
Scarlett pulled the first half-pink, half-blue egg apart, revealing a blue one resting within. Luke pulled that one apart, finding a pink one inside. They took turns, and eachtime, they looked at each other with giddy excitement. I hadn’t been around much, but I knew from the times I had come home that Luke had never seemed as happy as he did with Scarlett. He reminded me of the old Luke. The Luke who fell head over heels for a girl and poured himself into relationships, until they inevitably broke his heart. Judging by the look on Scarlett’s face, I had a feeling she was here for the long haul. What they had was real and deep, and I was excited for Luke that he got to have that again.
The nesting doll was getting smaller and smaller with each pass. Every time one of them opened it and found another egg they needed to open, the entire group groaned and laughed.
Scarlett passed the small egg back to Luke after her turn.
“You do this one, baby,” he said.
“No, it’s your turn.”
“I’d rather be able to watch you.” He grinned. “I think this is the one.”
Scarlett gripped his face and brought him to her lips.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Then she sucked in a breath and popped the egg apart.
A small wooden doll stood in the center of it, hand-painted in a blue blanket, a little blue hat on his head.
Scarlett’s hands covered her mouth, and she spun to Luke as everyone around us clapped and cheered.
“It’s a boy.” She wrapped her arms around Luke, and he held her tightly. Probably too tightly—let the girl breathe.
“We’re having a boy,” he said.
Seb lowered his head, his warm breath tickling my ear, making my nerve endings tingle with awareness. “Love looks good on him.”
I turned my head and found his face awfully close to mine.My eyes darted to his mouth on impulse. It was just because it was the closest part of him in my line of sight. Where else was I supposed to look? The hook of his lips told me he noticed, but I caught his gaze bouncing to mine as well.
“Not interested in that for yourself?” Everyone knew that Sebastian Devereux was a playboy at heart—always had been.
Even if he was telling the truth earlier, if he didn’t tell anyone else about us, he still didn’t hook up with me that night because he liked me. He just liked getting laid, and I was there.
