The Rebound - Stefanie London Page 0,63
serious—those dark eyes staring right into my soul.
“Why didn’t you sign? We’d already agreed to walk away. I wasn’t expecting anything from you.”
“I couldn’t do it.” He shakes his head. “The thought of never seeing you again, never speaking to you again, was so...final.”
My lip quivers as I feel the pain in his voice, a pain that’s been echoing in my heart all day. All week. Every moment since I walked away from him. “So you turned it down.”
“You were right—it’s not what I truly want for myself. I thought that preserving what my grandfather built was the most important thing I could do, but it doesn’t make me passionate. It doesn’t get me excited.” He takes my hand and I’m suddenly cold and hot at the same time. My body riots at his touch—stomach fluttering, eyes watering, heart beating. “Deep down, it’s not the life I want for myself. I guess I have to trust that he won’t be forgotten even if the company gets dismantled.”
“I’m happy for you,” I say, and I mean it. “I know it’s hard to hear someone else point out the flaws in your plan, but my sister did that for me and I wish I’d listened to her.”
“You did listen, Presley. You walked away and saved yourself.”
“For what?” I chew on the inside of my cheek. “I put you in an awful position with your dad and I know you wanted to make things better. Now you can’t, and I’m not sure what I want anymore and I’m supposed to be going to Paris but I just want to cry. Or scream... Maybe both.”
The words rush out and Sebastian sits quietly beside me. He waits for me to finish before slipping an arm around my shoulder. I snuggle against him, instinctively craving his comfort and warmth. I know this is too much, too soon, but...it feels right. For a few minutes, we stay like that, reflective. I let myself feel and try not to give in to the conflicting voices in my head.
“The thing with my dad will be what it will be, and I’m not giving up on repairing that relationship. I told him as much.” He leans his head against mine. “But I won’t do it under duress. And if he can’t accept that I want to be with you, then that’s his problem.”
I pull away and shake my head. “What do you mean?”
“I want to be with you, Presley. I want to see Paris with you, and find a place to make our own, and I want to learn everything about you and your family and your life.” He laughs and his eyes drop. “And maybe I’m hoping you have a few more things on that sexual fantasy list of yours.”
“But how could you possibly trust me? I’ve fled two weddings now. Two.” I shake my head. “I don’t make good decisions.”
“Did you have a reason to run?” he asks.
“Well...yeah.”
“So I’ll try really hard not to give you a reason.” The cocky grin is back and I all but melt on the spot. “I enjoy setting myself a challenge. Unless you think this was a rebound after all?”
I shake my head. “It’s not a rebound.”
“Good. Because I like you a hell of a lot, Presley. You’ve changed my view on things and you saved me from doing something terrible. The week I spent with you...fuck, it was the best week of my life. I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun.”
“Me, either.”
He holds out the business-class boarding pass with my name on it. “Let’s do Paris together. Then we can come back and do Melbourne together and then maybe Japan. Or New York. I want to see the world with you, Pres. This thing between us isn’t going to fade, I know it.”
My breath hitches and I grip the end of the ticket, sliding it out of his fingers. “I want to see the world with you, too.”
“And then?” His eyes are bright, hopeful. That hope is mirrored in my heart, like a tiny flame drawing oxygen and growing. Building.
“I want to create something with you—a life, a house, your dream mentoring business. All of it.” I shake my head. “I don’t know how this happened so fast and I kept telling myself it wasn’t possible because it had never worked out before...”
“But?”
“This is different. Special.” I swallow and there’s a lump in my throat. “I feel like every bad decision and wrong turn and mistake was