Ignoring how fast my heart is beating, I plaster a sociable smile on my face and turn to face the guy I still love with my entire being. Seb bristles beside me, curving his hand around my shoulder and keeping me close as we face Caleb.
“Hi.” I peer deep into his eyes even though every instinct warns me not to look at him.
Fuck. He looks good enough to eat in a black suit jacket with a gold trim. His fitted black shirt is open at the top, revealing a hint of hard, smooth, tan skin. Matching pants and glossy black dress shoes complete his look. His facial hair is trimmed, and his hair is artfully messy.
He steals all the air from my lungs even though I’ve sworn to forget him. It’s hard when I still love him so much. I think I always will. Caleb has this inexplicable power over me, and I hate it. I need to find a way of setting my feelings aside and accepting there will never be an us. I have accepted the latter, but I still need to work on the former.
I cling to Seb’s side and draw strength from his body heat. Tension oozes from his every pore. Watching Caleb drag his gaze leisurely up and down my body more than explains it. “You are fucking stunning, Elisa. The most beautiful woman in the room by a mile, present company excluded,” he adds, tipping his head toward the birthday girl.
“She’s taken,” Seb snarls, hooking his arm around me tighter.
“We need to talk,” Caleb says, blatantly ignoring my boyfriend.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“I have plenty.”
“Tough.” Seb grips my hand tight. “We were just leaving for the dance floor.” He pulls me away from Caleb. “You’ll have to excuse us.”
Caleb fixes him with a smug grin, easily stepping back. “Be my guest.” He sweeps his arm out in dramatic fashion. “Enjoy it.” He loses the grin and sharpens his gaze on Sebastien. “She might be yours for now, but she’s always been mine. That will never change.” He puts his face all up in Seb’s. “Your time is running out, preppy boy.”
I glare at Caleb as I drag Seb away, pushing through the busy dance floor until we are hidden in the center of the dancing crowd. A slow number starts, and I wind my hands around Seb’s neck feeling the tension cording his muscles. “Do you regret coming?”
“Of course not,” he says through clenched teeth. “I just can’t stand that guy.” His hands press firmly on my lower back, drawing my body into his.
“Ignore him,” I say, feeling eyeballs drilling a hole in the back of my head.
“It’s hard when he’s fucking everywhere.” His hard expression pins me in place. “You need to tell him to fuck off, Elisa. He can’t keep sending you flowers and cupcakes and making it clear he wants you. It’s disrespectful to me. He needs to back off.”
“I blocked his number, remember?” Seb was furious when Caleb kept texting, calling, and leaving messages, so I blocked him to smooth things over. It’s just as well he doesn’t know Caleb has also been sending me love letters, and yesterday a box full of art supplies was delivered.
Caleb is making it hard to hold on to my resolve. A part of me is reveling in being wooed like this. My teenager self is jumping cartwheels and repeatedly writing his name in love hearts all over my journal.
“You need to get rid of the flowers,” Seb adds, moving us back farther. “It makes me sick every time I’m at your place. Imagine it in reverse. How would you feel if my ex was sending me gifts all the time?”
“He isn’t my ex.” I feel the need to clarify even though Seb already knows this. I might have downplayed my feelings for Caleb, but that was purely self-preservation. What guy wants to date a girl who foolishly spent years pining after a guy who didn’t want her? It screams pathetic with a capital P, so I gave Seb the censored version—Caleb and I were friends, but I’d been hoping for more, and now I’ve moved on.
“He acts like he is.” A muscle pops in his jaw as he glowers over my head, and I turn rigid in his arms.
“I’ll remove the flowers,” I rush to reassure him, willing the murderous glint in his eye to disappear. Perhaps it was a mistake to invite him tonight. All it has done is piss him off and served to highlight all the ways he doesn’t fit into my world. “I can’t bear to throw them out though. The flowers are innocent. I’ll donate them to the hospital,” I decide as the idea comes to me.
Caleb appears on our right, dancing with his mother, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to irritate my boyfriend.
“Hi again,” Nat smiles at me and Seb as his grip tightens on my back. His fingers are digging into my bare skin, and it’s starting to hurt a little.
“Mind if I cut in?” Caleb fakes a smile as he challenges Seb with a caustic stare.
“Actually, I do.” Seb squeezes me flush against his body, pressing even harder on my back in a way that is now definitely painful.
“You’re hurting her.” Caleb’s nostrils flare, and he stares at Seb’s hands like he wishes he could incinerate them with his eyes.
“You gonna pull a gun on me again?” Seb asks, loosening his tight grip on my back a little.
A shocked gasp escapes my lips. I can’t believe he just said that! Has he no sense of self-preservation?
“Need I remind you it’s Gia’s birthday?” Natalia says, her warning gaze skating between both men. “Whatever this is, you need to end it now.”
“It’s fine, Mom.Sebastienwon’t prevent me from dancing with Lili.” Caleb drills him with a deadly look. “It wouldn’t make a good first impression.” Caleb squares up to him. “Now, would it?”
