He squeezed his eyes closed, almost as if in pain. Then he let out a sigh of deep relief. “I love you too, Lily Sawyer.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
LILY
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I squeezed Sebastian’s hand.
As per usual, my boyfriend appeared way calmer than I was. He grinned. “Are you embarrassed by me, Sawyer?”
I glowered at him. “You know I’m not. But this”—I gestured to the beautiful townhouse on Dublin Street—“is bigger than meeting the parents.”
After the incident in the library, it seemed Mum wanted everyone to inspect Sebastian. Instead of having him over to our house, Mum had insisted I invite Sebastian to Uncle Braden and Aunt Joss’s anniversary party. Aunt Ellie, Uncle Braden’s half sister, was the mastermind behind the event. She was hosting at the Carmichaels’ townhouse and she’d invited all of their closest friends and family. All my aunts and uncles and cousins. Even Sara, who was back at Aberdeen Uni for the semester. She’d gotten a train to Longniddry last night to spend the weekend with her grandparents so she could attend the party.
While I was looking forward to seeing her after such a long time, I was extremely nervous about introducing Sebastian to everyone. For his sake.
We’d been dating for two weeks.
In those two weeks, he’d told his parents about our relationship. They were eager to meet me, even though I could read between the lines from Sebastian’s tenseness that his mum might not be all that happy about it. Juno and Leona were over their fight (Sebastian still had no idea what the root cause of it was) and had returned to London. Juno had promised to come home whenever Sebastian decided to take me there to meet his parents.
Our workload didn’t disappear overnight, so we were both extremely busy. However, we studied together whenever we could, slept together most nights, and we’d socialized with our friend group who were enjoying mocking us for our movie-worthy romantic saga over the last few months.
Everything was great between us. Sebastian was talking about pursuing his art for real after graduation. He’d even shared his secret social media profile with Harry, who told him in his very Harry-like way that Sebastian was a moron if he didn’t commit to his art. Whatever my boyfriend planned to do, he was staying in Edinburgh. Not only for me, he promised, but because he loved the city and it’s where he wanted to live.
Thankful that I didn’t have to worry about our impending separation (I was already dreading saying goodbye to Sierra and Maddie), I was enjoying the heady, passionate beginning of our new relationship. I’d had more sex in the last two weeks than I had my entire life. Fantastic sex. Mind-blowing, utterly addictive, phenomenal sex.
I wasn’t ready for our bubble to burst under the weighty reality of overprotective parents and aunts and uncles.
Sebastian squeezed my hand again. “Are we going in or are we just admiring the architecture?”
My smile trembled, but I nodded. “We’re going in.”
Mum, to my everlasting gratitude, was as lovely as ever to Sebastian, the incident in the study room completely forgotten. I was pretty certain she hadn’t told Dad about it. Nevertheless, he and my uncles surrounded Sebastian like a pack of velociraptors.
When Uncle Adam demanded to know when Sebastian’s last sexual health check was and Dad’s face turned purple at the implications, I intervened.
“Okay, we’re done here.” I glowered at each of my uncles and pinned my dad with a pleading look before I yanked Sebastian free from the circling predators.
Sebastian appeared a wee bit dazed as I guided him across the kitchen to my mum, sister, and female relatives. “I don’t understand.” My boyfriend shook his head. “Your father liked me before.”
My sister snorted and offered way too loudly, “Well, that was before he knew you were boffing his daughter.”
“Jan!” I protested.
She cocked her head in mock innocence. “No? Boinking? Banging?”
“Stop!”
“Plowing? Violat—” Mum clamped a hand over her youngest daughter’s mouth.
“Thank you.” Sebastian nodded gratefully at Mum. “A gentleman neverplows.”
Aunt Joss and Beth burst into laughter while Mum grimaced.
My sister freed herself from Mum’s hand and gave Sebastian a nod. “You’re going to survive here. I can tell.”
Groaning because I was stuck somewhere between mortification and laughter, I buried my face in Sebastian’sshoulder. He cuddled me close, his body shaking slightly with his own amusement. The chuckle vibrated through his chest. I enjoyed the feel and sound of it. Much to my relief, he’d put back on the weight and muscle he’d lost during our estrangement.
“Let’s stop torturing Lily and her mother with sex talk.” Beth turned to Sebastian. “My cousin tells me you’re a Caledonia United fan.”
