Reckless In Love (The Maverick Billionaires #2)(20)

“You took care of them, didn’t you? Even though you were just a kid.” She wished she could absorb the pain of his childhood and erase it, but for now, the stroke of her foot along his leg was a small connection he seemed to appreciate.

“I did my best.” He rubbed his cheek against the top of her head, obviously needing comfort. Comfort she so badly wanted to give him. “But when my parents couldn’t hold down jobs anymore, I moved in with my friend Daniel’s parents for good. I was about thirteen then.”

Thirteen. Just a child. Anyone else who had grown up in Sebastian’s shoes would have been filled with darkness. But even as he exposed his past to her, he was sweet, caressing, gentle.

“They must be wonderful people.”

“Bob and Susan have greatness in them. Kindness. Caring. They had it tough too, but they still shared everything they had with us. Everything and more.”

She recognized the love threaded through every word—not only when he spoke about Bob and Susan, but also about his parents. “What happened to your parents?” Something told her she should slide her hand into his before he answered.

“They fell off the wagon one too many times.” The pain of their passing expressed itself in the slight tightening of his fingers around hers. “I was a senior in high school when Mom had a bad fall. She never recovered and died a couple of weeks later.”

“Oh, Sebastian.” Even bracing herself hadn’t helped. She still felt the pain of his loss arcing through her...just as she knew he had to feel it himself.

“A few weeks later my dad died in a drunk-driving accident. Luckily he didn’t hurt anyone else.”

Heartache spread to her entire body. To have to use the word lucky while talking about his father’s death?

It speared her, all the way to the core.

She slid her hand from his to take his face in her hands. “I’m sorry.” Not that she’d asked, but that he’d had to live through it at all.

“I am too. They were good people. Good people who couldn’t beat their addiction.”

It was an amazingly kind way of looking at the situation. But even though kindness was great, so, Charlie knew from personal experience, was anger. At least in small doses, if only to purge it from your system.

Had Sebastian ever given his anger wings—or four wild horses to drag it on a chariot through the streets until the wind, and the rain, burned it out?

“How did you get from there to—” She paused and swept her hand in front of her to encompass the huge house and property. Even the helicopter now waiting for its next flight in the nearby hangar.

“I’m a big talker.” Now that he was no longer telling her about his parents and his childhood, the tension began to leave his body. “I didn’t go to college, but I always liked telling people what to do. I especially liked it when they listened.” He grinned. “And, of course, when their lives got better as a result. A talk-show host who liked my shtick gave me my first big break.”

“What you do isn’t a shtick.” She’d never seen him in action, but he couldn’t have achieved all this—he owned a Monet, for God’s sake—with mere magic tricks or smoke and mirrors.

“You’re right, I should erase that word from my vocabulary.” She swore she could see him silently do that. Erase erase erase. “I truly do believe every word I say, every piece of advice I give.” He smiled at her. “And the rest is history.”

“You make it sound so easy. As though anyone could build an empire and make billions.”

Pulling her hands down, he held them and locked his gaze on her eyes. “You can. Believe in yourself. Push for what you want and deserve. It will manifest.”

Her head spun at how quickly he’d twisted the focus around to her, making her feel slightly uncomfortable with the intensity of his gaze. Or maybe, if she was being totally honest with herself, she wasn’t uncomfortable with Sebastian, but with all of the big changes she could see coming down the pike. His words from the first day he’d come to her workshop replayed in her head: We won’t just unveil your work, we’ll unveil you to the world too.

Her roof might sag, but her life had been comfortable. Of course she wasn’t averse to being a big success, but was she ready for it?

“I’m already manifesting,” she quipped in an effort to relax a bit about it all. “You saw my dragon in Chinatown and now here I am, poised to create something amazing.”

“Definitely amazing,” he murmured as he pulled her into him, his arm deliciously warm across her shoulders. “Tell me more about yourself. From the way you speak of your parents, I can tell they were good ones.”

“They really were. My dad taught me everything about welding. My mom taught me everything about cooking.” She grinned at him. “Only one of them succeeded at getting through to me, though.”

Though he smiled back, by the way he slid his hand through hers as he asked, “Where’s your dad now?” it was obvious that he already suspected the answer.

The familiar ache bloomed in her chest. “He died of cancer seven years ago. With Hospice help, Mom and I took care of him to the end. We let him die at home the way he wanted to.”

Sebastian squeezed her hand and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You’ve very brave, Charlie.”