embarrassed and confused. “I’m her brother,” he said very matter-of-factly, then he turned to Serenity. “What’s this woman talking about? I thought you were single?”
Oh, dear. Serenity must have bought some pieces in here the other day. Though the thought of her selecting some things to wear for me made me feel excited, I also knew that the situation had to be diffused.
“It must just be a misunderstanding,” I said, making the clerk look at me strangely. “We’re here to help him find a gift for his girlfriend, do you have any suggestions?” I gestured towards Sebastian, hoping that that would be enough to take the attention off of Serenity.
The clerk clapped her hands together, clearly glad to have something to do besides stand there. “Of course, why don’t you follow me this way?”
With a backwards glance over his shoulder at the two of us, Sebastian followed the shop clerk to look at some pieces for his girlfriend.
“That was a close one,” Serenity said with a sigh. “I would have stopped him, but he was going so fast and that would have probably seemed suspicious.”
“Agreed, you handled the situation fine,” I said. “Like I said, I promise that I’ll talk to him soon, before things get too messy.”
“That would be good. Do you think you can do it tonight?”
“I was going to aim for tomorrow. I figure tonight is too soon after his arrival. But I’ll get this fixed soon, I promise.”
After Sebastian selected a beautiful dressing gown and had it gift-wrapped, the three of us went to dinner at one of the nearby restaurants before heading back to my house.
I had made up my mind; tomorrow I would find some way to break things to Sebastian. In the meantime, I just had to hope that nothing blew up prematurely.
Chapter Seventeen
Serenity
I knew that the cat was out of the bag now. There was no way that Grayson was going to be surprised now that I had bought lingerie, and after being unable to touch him all day, I was craving him.
So, after I was sure that Sebastian was in his room preparing to go to bed and wouldn’t be coming out for the rest of the night, I grabbed the bag of lingerie and snuck over to Grayson’s room.
“Come in,” he said when I knocked, and I did, closing the door behind me. “What is it?” he asked, looking me up and down.
He was currently sitting on his bed, leaned back against the headboard, a book in his hands. He looked so handsome like this, reading and examining me from afar.
“Well, the surprise has already been spoiled,” I said, presenting the bag.
“Is that from the boutique?” he asked.
I nodded, smiling. “I did buy some sets. I was planning on showing them off for you as an early Christmas gift, but now that you know I figured there was no point in waiting any longer.”
Grayson set aside his book and stood, coming over to stand before me. “Serenity, you know that’s not a good idea right now.”
“But Sebastian’s in bed by now, and you know that he tends to go to sleep early,” I said, desperately trying to convince Grayson. “Besides, don’t you want to know what I got?” I began to open the bag but Grayson put a hand on mine, stopping me.
“There will be time for that later,” he said. “I promise.”
“But I want you now!”
“Don’t be so childish, Serenity.”
I flinched at the words; they stung deep. Of course he still saw me as a child, unable to understand what the consequences of my actions might be.
“You don’t get to call me childish; you haven’t even talked to Sebastian yet.”
“Because I told you I was planning on doing that tomorrow, you know that. Now come on, you should go back to your room before something happens that we’ll both regret.”
“Oh, is that how it is? Do you regret being with me?” I could feel the tears starting to form, even though I knew they were unfounded. It was just difficult to feel stable about things when I was being kept a secret from those closest to me by him.
“No, Serenity, you know you’re taking things out of proportion.” He took the bag from me, setting it down, and swept the tears away from my face with his thumb. I leaned into his hand as he rested it on my cheek. “I do want to be with you, and I don’t regret even a minute of it. I just want