Sebastian (The Billionaire Boyfriend #1) - Christina Benjamin
Chapter 1
Sebastian
When I close my eyes, I hear it—the sound of everything that I’ve built with my own fierce willpower, relentless charm, and encompassing intellect.
The cheery voice of my secretary floats through my closed office door, muffled by the heavy mahogany wood. No doubt it’s yet another investor eager to jump in on my substantial profits. Behind me, the skyline of New York City rises, the other skyscrapers dwarfed by the one that I had built for my company. Our popularity has been steadily rising, as has our stock value and clientele.
Most people assume that I've grown up with wealth or that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. They’re quick to believe that I had a rich father who passed along a huge bank account or trust fund accumulated from generation to generation, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My mother was a nurse and my father an alcoholic. Now my mother is retired on the huge estate I purchased for her and God only knows where my father wound up.
I'm not angry at him for the life he never provided for me or my sister, not anymore. If anything, I'm grateful.
Spurred on by the conviction to be nothing like my father and to provide for my family in a way that he never did, at only twenty-eight I'm the CEO of one of the most profitable and promising technology firms in existence. Companies all over the nation—all over the world, even—sit with our tech on their desks.
I worked myself to the bone to get where I am today. All throughout school, I studied and toiled away while my classmates goofed off. With their nuclear families and doting parents, they had no reason to dedicate themselves as heartily as I did to my schooling. Even as a child I knew that I had to get scholarships if I wanted to go anywhere in life. By the time I'd completed elementary school, winning science fairs and math leagues, I'd been granted a full ride scholarship to a renowned junior high school, which thrust me into an even more renowned high school, and finally to an ivy league college. I started my tech firm as a freshman in college, pairing with a local distributor and selling specialized calculators to my classmates. I've come a long way since then.
My modesty prevents me from saying that I'm rolling in dough, but I'm rolling in serious dough.
Abruptly, my cell vibrates in the breast pocket of my pressed black suit. With a sigh, I lean back and slide it out to inspect the bright LED screen.
Clara, it announces. A photo of my little sister’s beaming face gazes up at me. She’d set the picture herself last summer when I took her and our mother on a cruise to the Caribbean. She said it was too impersonal for me not to have a photo of her as the caller ID.
When I answer the call, I can hardly hear her over the commotion going on behind her.
“—have to have a vegetarian option tonight, Mom. Graham’s whole family is vegetarian. We’ll just have to tell the caterer to figure something out.”
“Clara?” I ask lightly, scooting my leather chair back to prop my freshly shined shoes up on the corner of my uncluttered desk. “What’s going on?”
“Huh?” she mumbles, like she’s forgotten she was on the phone. “Oh! Hey, Bash! You’re coming tonight, aren’t you?”
“Miss my baby sister’s rehearsal dinner? Are you crazy?” I tease, shrewd business heart melting at the sound of her delighted laugh.
My whole life, all I've ever wanted is to make my mother and sister proud. They’re the only ones who mean anything to me, other than my tech firm.
“I just know how hard you work. I'd understand if something came up. I heard on the news that you have some big merger going on?”
“Not a chance. I can’t wait to celebrate with you and Graham.”
I still can’t believe my little sister is getting married. When I close my eyes, I still see her with bobbing pigtails and a chocolate milk mustache.
“And you know I can’t wait until I'm celebrating your wedding, too!” She laughs though her tone is deliberate.
She’s been gunning for the day I’ll find a nice girl and settle down, but we both know that’s not my style. I'm married to my career. I don’t have time for anything else, though a one-night stand here and there is certainly not off limits. Besides, marrying or getting serious about