Sebastian frowned. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that doesn’t sound particularly promising. I mean, he’s easy to talk to? He’s trying hard? He makes you remember why you loved him?” Sebastian sat back in his chair, exhaling long and hard. “Ari, the guy is crazy about you. That’s clear to anyone who spends more than a millisecond with him. If you aren’t crazyabout him too, well, then, giving him hope like this is just plain cruel.”
Ari sat back, stung. “Of course I’m crazy about him,” she whispered back. “How could you think I’m not?”
“Because of wishy-washy statements like ‘he makes me smile’.”
Ari took a deep breath. “When I’m with him, I feel like my body is on fire,” she said, her voice warm. “When I’m with him, I want the moment to last forever. When I’m with him, all I can think about are his hands on my body and his mouth over mine.”
“I didn’t want wishy-washy but I’m still your brother. I don’t need to hear things like that.” Sebastian grimaced, then pointed his thumb behind him. “And Tom’s mother is in the next room.”
“I don’t care,” Ari replied. “When I’m with Tom, I feel happy. When I’m with him, I want him to be happy too. I think about him all the time, and I mean him, Tom Somerset, not Tom Miller.”
“They’re the same person, love.”
“No and yes.” Ari shook her head, clutching her coffee tightly. “They are and they aren’t. Yes, Tom called himself Tom Miller once upon a time, and lived in this made-up character’s persona. But they’re different too. Tom Miller lied to me, and I don’t think Tom Somerset is capable of that. Tom Miller had no direction, other than running from who he was. My Tom knows exactly what he wants and he’s working hard to achieve it. Tom Miller never came back for me.” Ari stopped, swallowing painfully, remembering once again how she’d been abandoned. “But I think... I think Tom Somerset would come for me. I really do.”
Sebastian blinked twice, staring at her. “I don’t understand.”
“I know, it’s hard to wrap your head around it,” Ari said. “I think what I mean is that Tom seems quite sincere.”
“No, I—” Sebastian began, but he was interrupted by Luis, who came stumbling into the room, wrapped in a blanket, his eyes bloodshot and red.
“Who said something about cashmere?” Luis blurted out, looking momentarily panicked, and Ari laughed, shaking her head.
“I saidsincere,” she told him. “Not cashmere. You need more sleep.”
“I can sleep in Iceland,” Luis replied. “What I need right now is coffee. What time is it?”
“Twenty past six,” Sebastian replied. “Ari and I were just having a chat.”
“Right.” Luis nodded, picking up a croissant from the table. “It’s really early for a chat though. And will you look at my fingers? Red raw from sewing all night. Honestly, if that robe had been for anyone but Reine...”
“Ari slept with Tom last night,” Sebastian said.
Ari watched as the croissant fell from Luis’s hand to the floor. He turned to her rapidly, his eyes and mouth wide open.
“You what!”
“She slept with Tom,” Sebastian said again, frowning at the pastry flakes. “They had sex.”
“No me digas,” Luis breathed. “Did you really? Was it good?” He slapped a hand to his chest. “Were youcareful?”
“Luis,” Ari said, blushing red, but Sebastian shook his head.
“Actually, he has a good point. Were you careful?”
“Yes, were you?” Luis asked again. “And, if by chance you weren’t, can the next one be a boy?”
“Luis! We were careful,” Ari replied, staring into her coffee. “Just.”
“Ooh, so it was good then?” Luis carried on, dumping the croissant on the table and smiling gratefully at Sebastian, who pushed a steaming mug of coffee towards him.
“Yes, it was, and yes, we were careful, and—”
“No, no, no,” Sebastian interrupted. “Tell us that part later. Go back to the earlier bit. Before this one woke up.”
“The earlier bit?” Ari frowned.
“Yes, the bit where you were saying you thought Tom would come back for you?”
