He was leaving themagazine.
My phone pinged with a text from Sebastian. The timing was too fortuitous for him not to have sent the magazine. I just didn’t know what he was trying to tell me. With unsteady fingers, I opened a message that said “watch me” with a video. In full makeup, and wrapped in the same red robe from the cover, Aliana’s high cheekbones, full lips, and almond-shaped eyes filled the screen. “Happy early Valentine’s Day from the February cover shoot, Georgina,” she said in her Polish accent, waving emphatically. “Sebastian tells me I was his dream girl until you came along and knocked me off the list completely. And, well, he’s going to ask you for a second chance. I think you should give it to him.” She winked. “It’s not every day a woman not only tops the list but totally obliteratesit.”
She flipped the camera and Sebastian’s even more beautiful face appeared. “Hey, buns,” he said, his eyes crinkling in the corners with his smile. “Just wanted to warn you that I’m coming for you, so put down your phone and lookup.”
I frowned, confused when the video ended. I lowered my cell, and in my doorway stood the most handsome, most intriguing, most infuriating man Iknew.
In a peacock-blue pullover that brought out his eyes and his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, Sebastian sighed as if relieved. “You’re a sight for soreeyes.”
I knew the feeling. Just his presence drained tension from my shoulders I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying. “What’s going on?” I asked, standing. “Are you reallyhere? InBoston?”
“All of what you just read is true.” He took a step and warned, “So if you ask me whether I wrote it for any other reason than as a declaration to you, I will come over and kiss you in a way that leaves no question as to myintentions.”
My chest rose and fell as I tried to think of one reasonnotto question him if it meant getting that response. Where did I even begin? I picked the easiest of his revelations to tackle first. “You’re leaving yourjob?”
“Left. Once it was in print, there was no turningback.”
“But why?” I asked. “What’ll you doinstead?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Vance to decide my value. I didn’t want to be there without you anyway. As for what’s next, I have ideas, but I’m a free agent at themoment.”
He’d gone and quit without a backup plan? It didn’t sound like Sebastian to flip his perfectly curated life on its side, but I couldn’t help but hope that was a good sign. He himself had admitted to feeling complacent. “How does itfeel?”
“Weird. Overwhelming. But I can breathe for the first time in a while.” He glanced around my bare office, just a desk, computer, and some chairs for now. “It wasn’t a shock. Honestly, as soon as you said you were leaving New York, I was already coming up with ideas to make us work so I could eventually follow you—until you saidBoston.”
I realized it was hope that’d eased my body because it left me again. I’d come here knowing he wouldn’t chase me, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t tempted to go to him now. I held up the issue. “I’m proud of you. It makes for a good story, but what does it mean? Why are youhere?”
“You know why. You know what I’ve wanted for a while, even though there were times I would’ve jumped off a cliff before admitting it.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “You said it yourself—I can’t do this withoutyou.”
My palm sweat against the glossy cover. I still wanted this—him. Enough that in darker moments, I’d questioned whether coming to Boston was the right choice. “Can’t do what?” Iasked.
“Any of it. Now that I know what it’s like to be with someone like you, I don’t want anything else. Just you. You make me mad, and for better or worse, I refuse to live without thatmadness.”
Madness, I supposed, was him putting my interests before his so I’d enjoy a pretend date. Showing up for me and Bruno at the vet when I’d tried to run scared. Facing his own fears by coming here. I realized my mind had latched onto something otherthan “someone like you” for the first time in months. In his eyes, I was a prize, not aconsolation.
I inhaled. “You don’t have to live withoutit.”
“Good, because I’m here for you, and I’m not going anywhere. If you need time, I’ll give it to you. But I won’t give youup.”
“But Sebastian . . .” I glanced at my desk, willing myself to keep a clear mind as my heart called for him. When he and I had last been together, my fear of the past had thrown me into overdrive, thinking I had to come first or not at all. Sebastian and I had to learn the art of compromise—but I no longer had that to give. “Are you saying you want to try this for real? Long-distance? I’m not ready to leave Boston. I just gothere.”
“And? How isit?”
I hesitated, because I didn’t want to hurt him. Didn’t want to lose him now that I had him back. “I wish I could say I hate it,” I admitted, “but Idon’t.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Thatso?”
“It’s something new. And it reminds me of you.” My cheeks warmed. “I won’t uproot Bruno again, and I won’t let Dionne or my team down. This is the job I want to be doing rightnow.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “How is the bruteanyway?”
“Good.” I smiled a little. “Bull in a china shop asalways.”
“Opal misses him. Turns out, she likes a little bull in herlife.”
“I know the feeling.” I was still wary but unable to keep from giving in to the ease of our interactions or the comfort of having himthere.
“You were right at the vet,” hesaid.
