“That’s too bad.” I shrugged, standing before him to deliver the harsh reality of the situation.
He threw a boot on the area rug next to his side of the bed. “I don’t trust him.”
I raised a brow. “Franlow?”
“Sawyer.”
I nodded in understanding and took a few steps back, pressing my spine into the dresser behind me. “Well, you trust me, don’t you?”
He nodded, chucking his other boot and then moving his fingers to unbutton his jacket.
“So then what’s the problem?”
He raised his eyes to me, the skeptical hue of them drilling into me. “You know the problem, Maeve.”
I understood his apprehension, but steaming over it wouldn’t change anything.
“I know things areawkwardbetween us all right now, but at the end of the day, Sawyer is still my friend. My best friend. And I know he would never do anything that I wasn’t comfortable with, and I also know that he would never put me in harm's way.” When Sebastian didn’t respond, I added with a slight attitude, “Would you feel more comfortable if Kade stayed with me?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes before dropping his gaze to his lap. “No,” he scoffed under his breath.
I bent down to remove my own shoes then climbed onto the bed, kneeling behind him. My fingers glided over his shoulders, grappling at his jacket before dragging it down his arms and dropping it off the edge of the bed near his boots.
“Despite how you feel about him at the moment, is there really any question about Sawyer being the safest option—beside yourself—to stay with me?” I dug my fingertips into his shoulders, massaging the obvious tension in his muscles. “Seb?”
With a hefty sigh, he rotated his torso towards me. “I know. I know,” he groaned, the admittance sounding like it absolutely killed him. “Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”
“I’m not happy about it, either. Do you really think I want to be away from you for five days?” Maybe longer depending on how everything played out.
Sebastian reached around to my back, using his fingertips to grasp the zipper of my gown. “I don’t want to be away from you for a single second, let alone nearly a week,” he answered, pulling the zipper down and setting me free from the confines of the fabric.
I shimmied the puffed sleeves down my shoulders, letting them rest in the crook of my arm. “Everything will be fine. If you are going to worry about anything, it should be leaving me here with Samara.” She had been insufferable since we arrived, making flirtatious comments at Sebastian every chance she got.
“Pft. You can handle her. I have no doubt about that.”
My dress fell to the floor in a puddle of shimmering cloth when I rose to my feet. I started for the dresser, rummaging through it to find some loungewear.
“Don’t bother.”
My hands stilled in the drawer. I turned back to Sebastian. “What?”
He stood, unbuttoning the collar of his cream-colored dress shirt as he prowled towards me. “Don’t bother putting clothes on. You won’t need them for what I’m going to do to you.”
My lungs sucked in a dry breath. “And what might that be?” The words slipped off of my tongue as I silently closed the dresser drawer behind me, leaning back against it and crossing one leg over the other.
“Since I won’t be seeing you for a week, I have big plans for us tonight. Some of which may involve you, me, and that washbasin.” With one hand still working his buttons, the other gestured to the door that led to our washroom. The partially visible muscles of his abdomen went rigid with his motion.
“That bath has already seen enough,” I giggled, my body shivering in remembrance of bubbles, heat, and desire.
“Then perhaps we should try something I mentioned the other night. Turn fantasy into reality.” He slipped one arm out of his sleeve, pulling the other off painfully slowly to reveal his full upper body.
My fingers searched for the lace strap of my bra, toying with it as I raked my eyes over his perfectly toned figure. “What did you have in mind?”
Sebastian’s lust vanished for all of a second, leaving him with pure solemnity. “Do you trust me?”
My head tilted. “In what sense?”
“All of them, but right now I want to know if you trust me with your body?”
