The Broken One (Corisi Billionaires, #1)(50)

It was a strange question to ask in front of Rob, but I found the second lie came easier than the first. “Yes. Who knew you were such a romantic?”

Even before Sebastian reached into his jacket pocket, I knew what was coming. I saw it in his eyes.

“I’m so glad both pleased you, considering the flower shop called to say no one had picked up the bouquet. Oh, and I found this on the floor of my office.” He held a folded note in the air before stuffing it back into his pocket.

My temper rose.

He was totally ruining my fantasy.

“Stop, Sebastian,” I said, propping my hands on my hips, which banged my heavy purse against the side of one leg. “You’re scaring Rob.”

“He should be scared. I have no tolerance for incompetence.”

My chin rose. “He might do better at his job if you bothered to learn his name.”

Sebastian’s eyes flashed with irritation and something more.

I stepped closer, going nose to nose with him. “Before you tell me it’s none of my business, let me make something very clear . . . this house? I couldn’t care less about it. I love my home. I’m not awed by wealth. I love my life. I don’t need to be saved, and I’m not even sure I want to be retrieved. I came to see you because I like you, so don’t be a jerk.”

“A jerk? You just lied to me,” he said, still not looking happy.

He had a point, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but I didn’t want you to fire him. Can we move on, because I’m beginning to question if coming here was a good idea?”

Sebastian held my gaze. “Because I hold my employees accountable?”

“No, because you’re not kind while you do it. You can reprimand someone and leave them with their dignity.”

“What she said,” Rob chimed in, then flushed when we both turned to look at him. His hands went up. “My bad. I’ll be in the car.” He stopped before walking away and nodded to me. “I won’t leave until I see you go in the house. You know, in case you change your mind.”

“Thank you,” I mouthed. Unless I saw another side of Sebastian soon, there was a chance I might take Rob up on the offer to leave. I could picture this Sebastian refusing to help Rakesh Bhatt when he asked for a short reprieve. Amazing in bed or not, I would regret sleeping with such a man.

The man I wanted was the one who had bent down and let Ava hug him as long as she needed to. The man who had fallen asleep in the chair beside me because he didn’t want to leave while I was ill. Where was that man?

Alone, Sebastian and I stood there, glaring at each other. “This isn’t how I imagined today going,” I muttered.

“Me either,” Sebastian said, a wry smile curling one side of his mouth. “I’m an ass.”

“You are, but they say the journey back begins when you acknowledge it,” I joked to lighten the mood, then winked for good measure.

His expression sobered. “I’ve been angry for so long I don’t know if I’m capable of anything else.”

Goose bumps.

This was the connection I had sensed, the one that kept drawing me back to him. He wasn’t an arrogant man looking to control me; he was a man who’d lost his way and wanted to be the kinder person I’d glimpsed in him.

This wasn’t all about sex.

What he’d said about not being the man he was before finally made sense.

He’s afraid to care again. He’s not sure he can.

I knew that feeling. When a social worker had met with me at the hospital to ask me if I was willing to take on the responsibility of Ava—I’d said I was, but I’d been scared. Not of the legal process that followed, but of myself. My own mother had walked away from me. What if I was like her? What if I took Ava home and discovered I was incapable of truly loving her?

I’d learned, though, that as scary as it was . . . love always won if given the chance. I wasn’t my mother. My past, my pain, had not destroyed me—nor did it have the power to scare me anymore.

No matter what life threw my way, I now would always choose love.

I prayed Sebastian found his way to that same place.

Filled with compassion, I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a tight hug. Resting my forehead on his strong chest, I breathed in his pain.

His arms came around me, and I felt a shudder pass through them; then he kissed the top of my head. “Every time I think you can’t surprise me again, you do—in ways that make me wonder what the hell you see in me.”

I tipped my head back so I could look into those beautiful, tormented gray eyes of his. “You don’t have to wonder. I see me. We’ve walked different paths, but I know what it’s like to be angry about something I could do nothing about. I’ve asked myself the same questions you’re probably asking yourself.”

“And what conclusion did you come to?”

I caressed the side of his proud jaw. “That I am not a quitter. No matter what happens, I won’t let it change me. I won’t let it win.”

He nodded slowly. “Ava is one lucky little girl.”

I smiled. “I know.”

He chuckled. “So humble.”

Still tucked against him, I joked, “Why deny the obvious? I’m a catch.”