A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire (47 page)

Tobin took a deep breath, her eyes still shut. “Sebastian, I just want to go to sleep—do you really want to get into an argument about this right now?”

“We aren’t having an argument, we’re having a discussion. And I’m not doing anything else except for this. You need your sleep, I know that. I just want to hold you. I want you here, in my arms tonight, where I know you’re safe, and where I can protect you.” The words made her shiver. It was hard to reconcile this Sebastian with the man who had held a gun to her head. But when all was said and done, they were the same, weren’t they? “Do you really want me to let go, Tobin?”

For a long moment, she was silent, and then she sighed and pressed herself back against him. “No,” she admitted reluctantly. “No. I feel like this will be the first sleep I’ve gotten in weeks, since all of this started. No, I don’t want you to let go.”

He smiled. “Good. Then go to sleep, Tobin. You’re safe tonight. I promise you, you’re safe tonight, no matter what else might happen. You’re going to stay right here, in my arms, and I will protect you until my last breath.”

Her brow furrowed. “Stop saying stupid heroic things. They make me more nervous.”

Sebastian laughed. “As you wish.” He kissed her cheek, and then his head was lowering into the pillow beside her. His breath brushed against her hair now, as it evened out. For a long time, she just listened to it, not quite letting herself drift of—not until she was certain he had first. Then she smiled to herself a little bit and laced her fingers through his, where it was wrapped around her waist. Nestling deeper into her pillows, Tobin drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then started to fall asleep herself. Yeah, this was going to be the best sleep she’d had in a really, really long time. There was irony in that, somewhere. But she couldn’t care where.

Tobin squeezed her eyes tighter as she heard something in her apartment. She pressed her face deeper into the pillow beneath her head, some part of her aware that Sebastian’s arms were still around her. The sound became more insistent, and despite the lingering hazy sleep that she desperately wanted to cling to, her eyes were bolting open, and she realized her breath was quick. As she lifted her head from the pillow, though, she didn’t hear anything. Staring through the darkness, she pressed herself anxiously back against Sebastian’s chest, swallowing hard.

Her movement seemed to stir him in turn; he let out a grunt and nuzzled against her shoulder. “Mmph… Tobin? What’s wrong?” he mumbled against her, trying to pull her back into bed so he could go back to sleep.

“I heard something,” she whispered nervously, not willing to let herself be pulled down. Tobin turned her head to look over her shoulder at him uncertainly. His eyes were open now, still groggy, but more concerned when he looked up at her.

“it was probably nothing,” he murmured, but sat up a bit himself, grazing a kiss against her cheek as he did and reaching up to run his hand through his hair. As she’d predicted the night before, it was in absolute disarray. Once he had sat up, though, Sebastian was quiet and still for a long moment, listening. “I don’t hear anything now, Tobin.”

She didn’t hear anything either, and she bit her lower lip. “I know I heard something. I know I did. It woke me up.” Her throat tightened, and her fingers twisted into the sheets of her bed.

Then there was a sound again. A faint rattling, and Sebastian was immediately tossing aside the sheets and climbing out of bed. He moved to her bedroom door, listening to her apartment beyond it. She turned over, not noticing immediately how she pulled the sheets to her breast uneasily, her heart pounding. Please, don’t let this be happening. This couldn’t be happening.

Very slowly, very carefully, Sebastian was turning the handle of her door—she kept it closed at night to keep her cats out—and opening it. The hallway beyond was empty, and he started to move slowly toward her kitchen and living room. With the door open, when the rattling started again, it was a bit louder than it had been before. He stopped on the corner and peered around toward her front door—and she could see from here how his shoulders visibly eased, tension seeping out of his body.

“It’s the dog,” he called back to her, his voice exhausted from the sudden surge of adrenaline. “It’s Oliver. He wants to go out.” Tobin let out a long, slow breath and shut her eyes, then started to climb out of bed herself. “I’ll take him, Tobin. You go back to bed.”

“You’re not supposed to be here. The police outside know about Oliver, they’ve seen him. They’ll get concerned if they see a stranger with him,” she answered with a sigh, shaking her head as she grabbed a coat from her closet and slipped her feet into a pair of flats. As she started to pass him, she paused, then leaned over to kiss his cheek. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll be fine.”

He wasn’t pleased, she could tell, but he didn’t have a good argument to stop her from going outside without him. Oliver needed to go out, and the cops would definitely suspect something if they saw Sebastian. They might even recognize him, depending on how much the police knew about his involvement with the Family. That wouldn’t be good right now. “Alright,” he murmured reluctantly. “I’m going to take a shower, then, if you don’t mind.”

She smiled slightly. “Probably a good idea. Your hair’s a mess.”

“Take your keys with you. I’ll lock the door after you,” Sebastian continued, still in overprotective mode at the moment. She nodded and grabbed them off the table near the door, along with Oliver’s leash and collar. The Bichon’s tail was wagging as he saw his needs about to be met and whimpered at her, but he held still to be attached to the leash. As soon as she had unlocked the door, though, he was scrabbling out into the hall toward the stairs, his tiny claws trying to find a grip on the slick wood floor. Tobin laughed slightly and shook her head, but followed him downstairs. Behind her, she could hear the door lock.

With Oliver’s needy excitement, they were outside in barely seconds, and she winced as the cool morning air bit at her bare legs and cheeks. They had to cross the street to get to the nearest patch of grass, and she glanced toward where the police were parked. It was a different pair than ones who had escorted her home, with coffee, and she smiled at them slightly in acknowledgment. With the dog tugging on his leash, though, they were soon at the grass and he was relieving himself. Coffee sounded good, she thought to herself tiredly. Maybe Sebastian would have thought to start it before getting into the shower.

“Tobin?” The sudden voice startled her and she looked up quickly, a surge of panic as she looked around—her breath was ragged when she saw Kevin on the sidewalk near her, and he seemed startled at her reaction. “I… sorry—sorry, Tobin, I didn’t mean to startle you, I just—”

“Kevin,” she let out in a slight gasp, and forced herself to breathe. “No… no, it’s okay. I’m just kinda jumpy—I just woke up and this little guy needed to go out.” She gestured to Oliver, who was sniffing around in the grass, and Kevin smiled.

“Yeah—dogs are a pain in apartments. I didn’t think you had one.”

“I didn’t,” she answered quickly, quietly, and Kevin winced.

“Oh. Right.” Silence stretched out between them uncertainly, and the dog then noticed that someone else was there. He went over to investigate Kevin, and Tobin glanced over her shoulder toward the police. They seemed on edge themselves, but were apparently starting to relax as she talked to him without concern. She looked back again, and finally noticed that he was holding a bouquet of roses in his hand.

She blinked. “More flowers?”

Kevin looked down quickly. “Oh—yeah, yeah. I… on the news coverage of what happened I saw the other flowers I got you all over the sidewalk and I just… I was just going to leave these outside your apartment for you. I figured you were still asleep, but I’m glad I got a chance to see you.” He paused, looking at her expectantly, but she didn’t say anything. She was still staring at the roses, feeling her stomach twist into knots at the red petals and the memory of flowers. “How are you doing, Tobin?”

She took a deep breath and held in the several dozen responses that came to mind, quips that Kevin didn’t deserve to hear. “I am not good,” she told him, looking up again. “I am having the worst days of my life right now and there is pretty much nothing at all I can do to change any of it. I don’t feel safe, I lost my best friend, I lost my business partner. My entire life feels like it’s about to shatter around me, and all I can do… the only thing at all in this world I can do is wait for it to break into a million pieces so that I can’t pick up any of them without getting hurt all over again.” Building on her anger and fear, Tobin realized, her words were more impassioned than she had meant for them to be—and as she met Kevin’s gaze, she knew he saw it too. He was reaching out immediately and brushing at her cheek. That was when she realized that she was crying. She drew back, transferring Oliver’s leash to her other hand to wipe at the tears a bit.

“Tobin,” Kevin started, his voice clearly trying to be sympathetic, but he only really managed to make it sound full of pity. Of course he would pity her right now, even though he didn’t mean to. What else what he supposed to do when he had no idea what she was actually going through? When he didn’t even know the half of it. Why Kate had been killed in the first place. The fact that that bullet had been meant for her.

“I should go get dressed,” she told him, drawing further away and giving him a terse smile. “I’m not used to having a dog, and it’s pretty cold out here. I… it’s good to see you, Kevin. I will call you when… things are better.” She owed him that much, she decided quickly. He hadn’t done anything wrong; it had just been the absolute worst timing in the world for the both of them. And now, with Sebastian…

“Of course,” he said with a sigh, but then frowned and shook his head. “C’mon, though, let me help you get upstairs. Make you some coffee or breakfast or something? It’s my treat—I won’t take no for an answer.” Kevin reached out and nearly took her hand, only to notice the bandages wrapped around her palms. He hesitated a moment, and then more awkwardly wrapped his hand gently around her wrist; in his other hand, he still held the bouquet of roses, and he started to walk across the street.

“Kevin, that’s really not necessary,” Tobin tried to tell him, shaking her head. There were still tears slipping down her cheeks, though, and she knew that it wasn’t convincing at all.

He stopped, and looked at her again. “Please, Tobin? I know I can’t do much right now, I know that there’s very little I can say that would help, but please let me just make you breakfast.”

Tobin hesitated, her throat tightening. As usual, he was almost impossibly earnest—and it was so sweet when he knew that he’d probably make things worse before he made things better. But Sebastian was up in her apartment, taking a shower by now, concerned about everything he actually knew was going on, and…

“Alright,” she finally agreed with a sigh, because none of those reasons were ones she could tell Kevin. “I mean, just for a couple of minutes. I have some stuff I need to take care of, and… a bowl of cereal sounds good, at the moment.” A bowl of cereal sounded awful, but it would get him out of her apartment quicker. At least her front door was locked, so that if Sebastian was out of the shower in the living room, he would have some warning to hide.

Kevin perked up as much as was appropriate, in this situation, and nodded, holding her wrist a bit tighter. The three of them headed across the street; Oliver was much calmer now and seemed to be in a much better mood overall. Sebastian was apparently good with dogs. She handed the leash to Kevin while she unlocked the front door, and then headed upstairs to her apartment, brushing her hair out of her face nervously.

“Sorry it’s a bit of a mess,” she told him a little bit louder than she needed to, unable to hear from where she stood if Sebastian was in the shower or not. It wasn’t a lie, though; the pizza they’d had the night before, or what was left of it, was still sitting on top of her stove. They hadn’t bothered cleaning off the baking pan before going to bed, and she knew for a fact that her cats would leave frozen pizza alone. They had better taste than that.

“No worries,” he answered with a smile. For a few moments, she fumbled with the key and then got it in the lock, turning it and opening the door. Her blue eyes darted around, and she repressed a sigh of relief that Sebastian wasn’t anywhere in sight. That greatly increased her chances of being able to get Kevin in and out of her apartment without him knowing she had another guy here. And hopefully Sebastian would be able to hear them if he was still in the shower. From here, she still couldn’t hear if the shower was running, and she really hoped it was. She hadn’t been outside that long. Tobin glanced at the kitchen, and a smile twitched at her lips to see that he had in fact started coffee before showering.

“You have a really nice place, Tobin,” Kevin interrupted her thoughts as he stepped inside, setting Oliver down and gently unhooking his collar. The dog headed over to where his food bowl was, only to let out a whine when he saw that it was empty.

“Thanks,” she answered, starting to move around the counter so she could get the dog food out from under the sink. “I’ve lived here a few years. Got it for a steal when I first moved in. It could be a little closer to my office, but… you know, it gets the job done for such things.” Some part of her remembered that she still needed to get a new car, especially with her dad out of the hospital. She shook off the thoughts as she rounded the counter, only to freeze as she saw Sebastian kneeling on the floor.

He offered her a tight smirk and a shrug, his hair wet and still dripping a bit onto his shoulders. He was only wearing a towel wrapped around his hips. Fantastic. At least it was better than nothing. He had only too clearly been startled by the sound of her voice, and this had been his first thought. Not a great first thought.

“Uhm, go ahead and have a seat on the couch, Kevin,” Tobin told him quickly, trying to think on her feet, looking back. She wished she had been able to have the coffee before needing to think on her feet. “I’ll get you some coffee after I feed Oliver.”