Sebastian’s jaw flexes, his eyes cutting to me for the briefest second before flicking away again, and my heart does this traitorous flutter that has no business existing. I cross the spacebetween us anyway, because the rain is still pouring, lightning is cracking somewhere too close, and the noise gives me cover. It’s a flimsy excuse, but fuck it.
Sebastian lifts a brow. “Scared of a little thunder, Trouble?”
“Please.” My voice is breathy, defiant, but I can hear the way it shakes. “I’ve faced worse. Your changing moods, for one.”
That earns me a grin. Barely there, crooked, unfairly effective, and yet, I feel it everywhere. He watches me like I’m some riddle he hasn’t figured out yet, and it’s driving him insane. I step closer until I’m standing between his legs. So close, I can feel the heat radiating off his skin, steam rising between us in the cool, storm-wet air. He’s still seated on the hay bales, towering even from there. His throat moves with a swallow, and mine follows suit. His eyes drop to my mouth. Mine falls to his.
“Olivia.”
The way he says my name—low, rough, and strained—sounds like it’s caught somewhere between a warning and a goddamn prayer. I move before I can think. Leaning in slowly, holding his stare, I press the softest kiss to the corner of his mouth. He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak. He just breathes and stays exactly where he is, jaw tight, letting me choose what happens next. Every rational thought blares in my head: This is reckless. This is stupid. This isoff-limits.
But my fingers are already curling into his shirt, and he’s already grabbing the back of my neck, his palm firm and steady, thumb sliding across the racing pulse at my throat.
“Tell me you want this too,” I whisper, voice shaking under the weight of it all. “Tell me you feel it.”
Sebastian doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to. Instead, his hands move to my waist in the next breath, dragging me into his lap until I can feel the hardness of him even through the denim—and it’s a whole new kind of truth. Heat unravels low in my stomach.
Hewantsthis.
Me.
Sebastian’s eyes flutter shut for a single, broken second. When they open, the storm in them has nothing to do with the one outside. Before I can process what is happening, his mouth is on mine, and it’snothinglike I expected.
Christ, it’s everything and more.
I gasp against him, and he takes advantage of the sound—his tongue sweeping in, his hands tightening at my waist as I shift, knees bracketing his thighs, climbing into his lap. Hay scratches through my jeans, rain hammers overhead, but I couldn’t care less. Sebastian’s hands slip beneath the hem of my singlet, rough and calloused against my cold skin, and I arch into the contact, chasing that feeling that’s been simmering for weeks.
His teeth catch onto my bottom lip in a bite that makes me whimper, that makes my hips roll against him without permission. This is the line I swore I wouldn’t cross. Now, I’m sprinting across it in wet jeans and no sense of self-preservation. Every rule, every whispered reminder of how stupid this is, crumbles the second his thumb drags along my waist under my shirt.
I grind down harder, just once more, needing the feel of his cock against my heated centre again. He grabs my hips in response, dragging me against him with a rough pull that knocks a breathy, wrecked sound out of me, one I definitely don’t recognise as my own. Sebastian stills. Our mouths break apart on a shared gasp.
“Fuck.” The word scrapes out of his throat. “We can’t.”
The rain drums on, loud and constant, but all I can hear is him; every sharp inhale, every ragged exhale. Reality slams back into focus. Open walls. The sound of thunder. The risk of someone,anyone, walking by and catching us like this. My heart stumbles in my chest.He’s right.
God, he’s so painfully right. This can’t happen.
Shame creeps in, burning under my skin, but then his gaze meets mine, and it dies fast. He’s not backing away like I’m a mistake. He’s not even breathing steady. He’s sitting there, still gripping my hips, jaw clenched so tight, it’s a miracle his teeth haven’t cracked. He’s barely holding it together.
“I know,” I whisper, the words scraping out of me. I stay straddling his lap for one heartbeat longer, just long enough to feel the weight of what almost was. What stillcouldbe, if the world outside this tin roof would just fall away. I slide off him, and he stands, grabbing his flannel from the ground, shaking it out.
“I should head home,” he says, voice rough.
“Yeah,” I manage, even though my chest is a mess.
He gives me a small nod, the corner of his mouth twitching in what might almost pass for a smile, then steps out into the soft rain. I remain rooted in place, watching as his broad frame disappears into the blur of grey and mist, as the sound of his ute rumbles down the road and fades out like a song cut short.
By the time I make it back to the house, the storm has given up. The air smells like wet grass, and the drizzle barely clings to my skin. The place is quiet, eerily so. The only sound is my boots squelching against the wooden deck. I’m halfway through the door when Mum’s voice startles me.
“Jesus, Mum!” I yelp, clutching my chest as she appears in the laundry doorway, tea towel in hand and that signature smirk on her face. “Where is everyone?”
“The boys headed out right before the rain,” she says, folding the towel with too much focus. “Xavier sent them home early.”
Relief slides through me like cool water. “Great. That’s… good.”
She lifts her chin, angling it toward the window, the one that overlooks the gravel driveway. “Was that Teddy’s dad leaving just now?”
My stomach tightens. “Uh… yeah. I was just showing him around. You know, the lay of the land. Before the rain hit.”
