Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (17 page)

“I wanted to be close to you and this seemed like the best alternative at the time. Besides, this way we can kill two birds with one stone,” I chuckled devilishly.

“Oh yeah, how’s that?”

“We can walk and kiss at the same time.”

“I like your thinking,” she smiled before pressing her lips to mine. We walked the rest of the way home, well, I walked while she sat in my hands, her nose nuzzled against my neck, giggling the whole way. What should have been a ten-minute walk turned into something much longer, and when we finally walked through the front door we were both exhausted and covered in sand.

Brooke~

Sebastian seemed to have a thing for carrying me, not that I was complaining mind you, he just managed to take advantage of every opportunity to literally sweep me off my feet. Our walk on the beach, like most of our time alone lately, had taken a turn for the romantic. I had never kissed another man as much as I had kissed Sebastian, not even when Devon and I were dating. Looking back, I am now able to see that not only had I been naïve, but afraid of getting too close to another human being, maybe that was why it had been so hard for me to accept his proposal. After Devon’s accident, I spent some time in therapy, trying to process what had happened but also to try and come to terms with why I hadn’t been able to allow myself to fully give and receive love. I made a promise to myself that if I were ever to be presented with the opportunity to fall in love again, I would embrace it with both arms and hold on for dear life. The scariest part of that was knowing how to gage the other person’s level of commitment to the relationship, and knowing when to let go if they didn’t feel the same way.

Later that evening we were hanging out and listening to music, neither of us saying a whole lot. The fact that tomorrow was our last full day together loomed over us
like a heavy cloud, the topic of how we were going to make a long distance relationship work hadn’t even been brought up. It was almost as if we were trying to remain in our bubble as if any mention of reality might suddenly cause it to burst. Regardless of that unspoken fear, I knew that we had to have that discussion at some point in time, seeing as how I am not a patient person I chose to tackle it head on.

“Sebastian, we need to talk about something.” We were on the floor of the man cave, head to head, but our bodies were reversed so that our feet were on opposite ends. I clasped a hand over his, threading our fingers together.

“Uh oh, this sounds serious,” his grip on my hand grew tighter.

“I don’t know, I guess it is serious, but we’ve been avoiding it all week, and we need to discuss it.” He sighed heavily, draping an arm over his eyes.

“This is about you leaving isn’t it?”

“We have to discuss it at some point, I mean, it’s not like I can stay here forever, I have a life waiting for me back at home.” I felt his body stiffen at the mention of me having a life outside of these four walls. “You do realize that, right?” I asked softly.

“I know,” he groaned, “it’s just easier to stay right here in our little bubble. I knew from the moment I sat at the foot of that guest bed that you had to go home, I guess that if you had left a week ago it might have been easier for me. Now,” he shrugged, “it just hurts too much to think about it. The thought of dropping you off at the airport, watching you walk away from me, not knowing if I will ever see you again, that scares the hell out of me.”

“Well, let’s talk about it, get it out in the open,” I offered. “You say it scares you, thinking that you won’t
see me, I think we can try to figure out a way to give a long distance relationship a trial run.”

“What do you mean?” His fingers played up and down my forearm, in a nervous pattern. “Like Skype and stuff?”

“Yeah, we can use technology to our advantage; people like us make it work all the time. I mean, if you want to make it work that is,” I stammered.

“Brooke, of course I want this to work. I’m not ready to give up on this just because of the amount of miles between us. But, don’t you worry that it will be too hard?” I sat up and spun around on my rear so that we were now parallel, and snuggled against him.

“I think it will be hard, but it would be harder to imagine my life without you, even if you are far away. Just knowing you are there to listen to me when I am sad, or happy, and that I get to hear about how your day went, and be there for you when you need support, all of that fills me with hope.”

He lowered his chin and placed a quick kiss on top of my head, then pulled me tighter against him. “We’ll see each other again, right? Somehow we’ll find a way to make time for visits, that wouldn’t be too far fetched would it? I mean, I don’t know about you but I’ve already thought about what it would be like to see where you work and where you live.”

“Well, I can guarantee it doesn’t come close to how you live,” I snorted, “but I would love for you to see my restaurant, it really is a fabulous place to eat and work.”

“I don’t care that your apartment isn’t anything like my home, it’s special because you live there, it’s the place you call home. I want to see it because it’s special to you. Everything that you care about, I want to care about, don’t you see that? I’m so caught up in you I don’t know which end is up, all I know is that I’ve never been
happier. That’s all because of you baby.”

My heart swelled momentarily, and I found myself grateful that he couldn’t see the tears forming in the corners of my eyes, he had already seen me crying enough for one week, but these weren’t tears of sadness, these were tears of joy and the expectation of great things to come. For the first time in a very long time, I had someone to share my life with, and the thought of that made my heart smile.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Brooke~

“My flight gets in at eight-thirty, are you still picking me up?”

“Of course I am girl, I can’t wait to see you, I’ve missed you so much. Marmalade misses you too,” Jade cooed. I could hear her feline companion purring into the microphone, almost as if he were trying to convey to me how much he had missed me too, I couldn’t help but laugh. “How are you feeling about leaving?”

“I’m feeling very conflicted. I want to be home, to see you and Donnie, and get back to work, man I miss being in the kitchen. But at the same time, it’s going to be hard saying goodbye. We talked about it last night, and we both want to try to make it work long distance, we’re going to give it a try,” I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see me. “I love him Jade. Can you believe that? After only a week?”

“Whoa, that’s really…” she stopped herself for a moment, choosing her words carefully, “that’s wonderful
Brooke. I’m really happy for you. Have you told him?”

“Of course I’ve told him, why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because he is the lead singer of our favorite band, maybe because he lives more than a thousand miles away. And, maybe because you’ve always been afraid of rejection. Take your pick,” she replied, sounding exasperated.

“He said it first Jade,” I stated sarcastically. Honestly, why was it that my best friend doubted that someone famous might fall in love with me. Seriously, was that so hard to believe?

“No way! Get out of here! Sebastian Miles confessed to our Brooke that he loved her.” She let out a low whistle and clicked her tongue smartly. “This is a cause for celebration my friend. When you get home, you and me, we are definitely going clubbing in your honor. I can’t believe it. You and Sebastian Miles, in love. I’ve got to tell you, you’ve totally just given me hope my friend.

“Stop it!” I giggled into the phone, never once hearing Sebastian sneak up behind me and tickle me as I sat on one of the lounge chairs on the patio. “Oh my gosh! You scared me,” I squeaked, causing him to chuckle and plant a few well-placed kisses on my lips and cheek.

“Who’s that? Is that him?” Jade shrieked.

“Yes, it’s him. He just snuck up on me and scared me half to death.” I stuck my tongue out at as he plopped into the chair across from me.

“Who’s that?” he jutted his chin at the phone. “Is that Jade? Give me the phone,” he said, reaching over and pulling it from my grasp. “Hey there Jade, how’s life in the lower half of the mitten?” I heard Jade screaming on the other end of the phone; he held it far from his ear, laughing hysterically. “Yes, Brooke has told me how much you both love our music.” He paused to listen to
her speak. “Well, thank you very much, that means a lot. We do it all for the fans, if not for you guys we wouldn’t have any reason to keep performing. We’ll have to get you tickets to a show during our next tour.” I heard more shrieking, and then Sebastian’s expression turned serious. “I know she’s pretty special to me as well,” his eyes locked with mine. “I plan on taking very good care of her, for a very long time. I know, I promise. Oh, Jade, one more thing, thank you for being such a great friend to her. Take care of her for me when she gets back home. Okay, it was nice talking to you too. Bye.” He handed the phone back to me.

“Oh my gosh, he sounds incredibly hot,” Jade gushed into the phone.

“He is,” I beamed, like a lovesick girl. “Listen, I’ll call you later. Love you!”

“Love you too, Brooklyn. Have fun with your hottie!”

Sebastian removed the phone from my hand, placing it on the side table, before pulling me into his lap. “She sounds like a wonderful girl. She loves you an awful lot, which makes her a winner in my book already.”

“You’ll love Jade; she is definitely the best girlfriend I’ve ever had. I’m very lucky to have her in my life. Thank you for talking to her, I’m sure you made her day.”

“You don’t have to thank me for taking an interest in your friends Brooke; I want to be a part of your life, all of it.” I buried my face in his neck, settling into the warmth that I had grown so accustomed to this past week. “Hey, what do you say we get out of the house for the day. I have something that I want to show you.”

“Oh? What is it?”

“It’s a surprise. Just throw on something comfortable and you’ll be fine,” he said vaguely.

“You’re very sneaky Mr. Miles,” I scrunched up my
nose and thought about what he could be planning. “Just give me a few minutes.” I ran upstairs to change into shorts and a tank top. I pulled my hair up in a high ponytail, and grabbed my sunglasses, before heading back to find him waiting by the door. He smiled when he saw me and slipped an arm around my waist, pulling lightly on the ponytail.

“Cute,” he smiled, leaning down to kiss me. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t know where he was taking me, but he sure was being secretive about it. The drive only took ten minutes, and when we pulled into the marina I turned to him, a smile spreading across my face, as we pulled into a space near the dock. The display of yachts and sailboats was impressive, far surpassing the size of the vessels docked in most of the harbors on Lake Michigan, though they had never been anything to scoff at. We got out of the car, and Sebastian came around to take my hand as he led me down the dock, an obvious destination in mind. Before long, we came to stop in front of a large sailboat that must have been forty feet long.

“You feel like going for a sail?” he smiled, pulling me toward the plank that led to the deck.

“Seriously? Do you know the owner of this boat?” I asked, suddenly very excited.

“Not really, but I made a few calls, and it turns out that my manager has a friend with a sailboat that just happened to be docked here. So, what do you say?”

“Lead the way sailor,” I laughed heartily. Just then, the captain walked out, looked over the side of the boat, and called down at us.

“Come aboard, it looks like a beautiful day for a sail.” We walked a few steps and then crossed over a small plank. Once aboard, I turned in a slow circle, taking it all
in, and looked over at Sebastian, giving him a toothy grin.

“This is great!” I walked to the other side of the deck and grasped the railing, peering over the side. He came up beside me, his shoulder brushing mine, and I reached over, slipping my hand in his.

“If I forget to tell you later, thank you for bringing me here. This is an amazing surprise. I’m looking forward to spending the day with you Sebastian.”

He turned me to face him, placing one hand on my waist, as the other reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to thank me honey, the smile on your face is all the thanks I need. I want you to look back on our time together and have the same sparkle in your eyes that I saw when you talked about sailing with Jade. I want you to love everything about our time together.”

“I love you,” I whispered, tilting my head into his open palm.

“I love you too,” he whispered back.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Sebastian~

“That was amazing!” she delighted, as a dolphin jumped high in the air next to the boat. I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Brooke squealing with delight whenever she would see a dolphin or humpback whale break through the surface of the water. Her response was classic newbie, almost bordering on childlike, and I loved it. When I first caught her staring longingly at the sailboats from my living room window, I knew that I had to bring her here so that we could experience this together. I grew up here, so this was not my first time getting up close and personal with the aquatic life, but watching it through Brooke’s eyes somehow made it feel different, like this was my first time truly experiencing the actual beauty before me. Even though I had witnessed it before, I realized today that I had never fully appreciated it for what it was, which was amazing.

“Are you hungry?” We had been out on the water for nearly two hours, and I had just started feeling a rumbling in my stomach. I had hired a caterer to stock the galley with a spread of fresh fruits, breads, and smoked fish.

“Maybe a little, do you want to head back?” She turned to me, and her expression did little to mask the disappointment that lay beneath the surface.

“No, we don’t have to go anywhere; there’s food down below. I’ll get it and bring it back up for us.” I kissed her on the nose and headed down to the galley.

“Wait, let me help you,” she insisted, following closely behind me. “When did you find time to organize all of this?” She asked, taking in the spread placed before us. She grabbed an end off a baguette and stuffed it into her dainty mouth. “You’re like, the best boyfriend ever,” she declared, through a mouthful of bread. “You do know that you’ve ruined any other man’s chances of competing.”