Scandal (Tainted #1) (11 page)

‘There’s someone else I want us to speak with,’ she said, then took a step away from him.

Sebastian caught her around the waist and pulled her close. It felt so natural, so easy, and not at all like he was putting on a show. Alicia’s spine stiffened and she kept as much distance as she could when their hips were pressed together. He wondered what it would take to melt the ice surrounding her and be reintroduced to the woman who straddled his hips last night.

She pulled away, walking into the crowd, but he took her hand and kept up with her fast pace for a few steps. Then he slowed their footsteps as they made their way around groups of people enthralled in what Sebastian assumed were boast-fests. ‘If I have to meet one more guy bragging about how big his yacht is I can’t be held responsible for asking him if he’s overcompensating for something.’

‘Will you keep your voice down?’ she whispered, but her lips twitched like she was holding back a smile.

He stopped them and leaned closer, sliding his hands to her hips, and whispered back, ‘Will you bust us out of here if I agree?’

Alicia’s face flushed and her eyes glazed over a little. Whether she wanted to call it a misbehaving libido, passion, or lust, it was all the same damn thing in his opinion. This resistance was like a long, slow session of foreplay without the release – which only made him wonder how great it would be when she faced the fact they were inevitably going to end up in bed together.

It was only a matter of when. Shit, he could be patient. After all good things came to those who waited.

‘We need to do an interview I scheduled then meet the last few guests.’

‘Then we’re free?’ he checked.

Alicia nodded.

‘So who’s next?’ he asked.

She pointed across the room to a woman he knew and loathed. The magazine had done a piece on his break-up and if he remembered correctly, she’d taken every word he’d said and made him look ten times worse. ‘No way.’

Alicia sighed. ‘Sebastian, she knows you’re changing and wants to be first to get the full scoop of what you have planned. She promised there’d be no funny business.’

She could make all the promises in the world, he still wouldn’t trust her. But Alicia was staring at him with wide, pleading eyes and the blunt and final refusal died somewhere between his throat and his mouth. He groaned. ‘You owe me for this.’

Alicia smirked. ‘You’ll owe me when you see the society pages tomorrow.’

He shook his head. ‘That won’t cut it.’

‘Excuse me?’

Her frown told him she’d jumped to a conclusion that may involve burning off some of the chemistry between them. But that’s not what he wanted. This time. ‘Relax, Blondie. I’m not talking about your virtue.’

Her face flamed scarlet. ‘I’m not –’

‘Good to know,’ he said, and meant it. At least now he could rule that out. ‘I’ll fill you in on what I want from you when we get out of here.’

Before she could protest, he took her hand and led her to the She-Bitch who’d been the first person to stick the knife in when his life fell into the shitter. If he looked closely, he could almost see the horns hidden beneath her hair.

Sebastian didn’t release her as he led her through the crowds to meet the journalist from the
Independent
– which really didn’t help with her concentration. He looked even hotter in the tux, with his hair combed back from his face. His golden tan seemed more pronounced against his white shirt.

And then there was the touching. Now he hand his hand on her hip. Innocent enough, but his heat seemed to scorch through her light silk gown and her pulse went crazy with the contact. She didn’t think she’d get through the final meet and greets with his hands on her, but she didn’t think she’d be able to stand if he let her go.

When they reached the journalist, Claire, Alicia introduced Sebastian and prayed he didn’t say anything to screw up this meeting. The woman took her time giving him a once-over and Alicia didn’t like the way her eyes glinted – though she didn’t know whether it was because Claire was planning further sabotage or because she thought he was attractive. She offered a hand for Sebastian to shake, and when he brought it to his mouth for a kiss Alicia’s green-eyed monster bubbled to the surface.

It was crazy – she didn’t have a claim on him, and Sebastian didn’t even like the journalist. Alicia didn’t want a claim on him either, but when he unleashed his grin and Claire blushed, she couldn’t take it a second more. ‘You wanted to ask us a few questions.’

Claire continued to stare at him, ignoring her completely.

‘Claire,’ Alicia said in a harder tone. It wasn’t polite, but neither was the way the woman was flirting with her eyes. With a guy who, as far as Claire knew, was taken.

‘Yes, if that’s OK, Mr Collins.’ Now she fluttered her eyelashes.

Alicia’s hand fisted around the stem of her champagne glass. Sebastian noticed, and turned that grin on her. She tried to take a deep breath, calm down a little, but it was hard when he knew exactly how she felt now. So much for the cool, confident new Alicia who was supposed to deal with situations like this with more poise and less … claws.

Sebastian directed that killer smile to a woman who not thirty seconds ago, he didn’t want to speak with. Or had that been another lie? She couldn’t tell anymore.

‘Fine by me. I’ve been dying to tell the world about Alicia.’

Another lie delivered so convincingly that Alicia almost believed him. She had to remember that in the future, especially when he got her so hot she wanted to forget her rules and let him take her back to his place.

‘You do make a lovely couple,’ Claire said, but didn’t sound like she was convinced.

Sebastian said, ‘She’s perfect.’

If the room wasn’t full of people looking for the next scandal to take the attention away from their own, Alicia would have pulled away when he lowered his head. Instead she froze, her lungs cramped, and maybe even her heart skipped a beat. He dropped a light kiss on her lips, which was over in less than a second, but the connection hummed through her until she was starved for more.

The jealously twisted inside along with her hormones and it took every shred of restraint she had not to ditch the glass, thread her fingers through his hair, and kiss him again – the way she’d kissed him last night.

‘Let’s get on with the interview,’ Claire said in a dry tone, and pulled a small recording device from her handbag. ‘Where did you two meet?’

She shoved the thing right in Alicia’s face, but she couldn’t call the official plan. She could barely call up her own name. How on earth could one chaste kiss scramble her mind like this?

Sebastian had to answer for her. ‘We met through a mutual friend. I asked her out for coffee, and here we are.’

Alicia was glad he didn’t mention dates. She couldn’t face what her father would say if she was the focus of more gossip than necessary. And the media would definitely have tied-in the beginning of her relationship with the latest kiss-and-tell.

‘Was this before or after Melbourne?’ Claire asked.

‘A couple of weeks after,’ Alicia said. Heat crept up her neck. ‘Sebastian has made mistakes – don’t we all at some point? He wanted to take some time off to think about where he wanted to go from there.’

He didn’t speak his agreement, just gave a tight nod. She got the feeling he didn’t regret his behaviour, which could potentially make her job a nightmare, but at the same time, she was starting to see a different side of him despite not knowing when to believe him.

He still flirted when she’d asked him not to, he could drive her insane and turn her on at the same time, but he was focused on his career now. She reckoned the last few months must have been hard for him and she couldn’t begin to imagine the pressure he was under. So many different stories from women had popped up in the media after his public affair when he was with Mai.

How many of those stories could be true? He was a professional tennis player who spent most of the time training. To have several lovers a night was bordering on the ridiculous. Or was she just so hot for him that she wanted to believe a lie to make what she wanted to do with him acceptable? Stifling a groan, she decided this was not the time or place to be thinking about things like that.

‘Can we get a photo of the happy couple?’ Claire said, waving her photographer over.

Sebastian nodded, then tucked Alicia more securely to his side. This was what they needed, to prove they were an item and her standing there like a statue wouldn’t convince anyone. She set her champagne glass down and slid both arms around his waist. Though he must have been surprised, he didn’t show it. Instead, he dropped a kiss on her forehead before turning so they faced the photographer – which reminded her to call Sam, the guy Sarah had suggested.

Of course, there was no need to invite him to a function like this when the media were out in full force. But with her whole body humming and her libido roaring to life, she decided spending less time together one-on-one was definitely the safest way to get through this contract.

The camera flashed and she hoped her expression was more besotted than flushed and frustrated. With his hard abs and the muscles in his back beneath her arms, it took all her effort just to paste a smile on and act like hugging him was the most natural thing in the world. She was just glad there wasn’t a sign above her forehead to let them know what was running through her mind.

When they stopped taking pictures, she released him, but Sebastian took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. Her pulse thrummed as he rubbed his thumb over her wrist and his grin indicated he knew exactly how he affected her.

Chapter Eight

The front door opened and a gust of wind blew through the house. Jack muted the TV and decided to keep his mouth shut about the draft. After all, he was still shaken from what he did to Mai last night – no way was he going to give her a hard time when this morning she’d been walking like she was still in agony.

‘Hi,’ she said when she reached the sitting room.

She didn’t meet his eyes and he hoped it wasn’t because she was frightened of him. Fuck, what had he been thinking last night? He’d gone out for a few drinks with mates, which should have worked for them both. Sloshed was the only state he could have sex with her in and not have to fantasise it was someone else – after all, she was a bag of skin and bones with bleached hair. Not even a notch on the sexy brunette he’d been head-over-heels for, who’d crushed his heart and dropped him when Collins came along.

But he hadn’t meant to cause her pain. He wasn’t a complete bastard – he just wanted her heart as broken as his had been when she’d left him for that arsehole.

‘Hey. Do you want to go out for dinner? I thought we could go to that Italian you used to love.’ He didn’t fancy a stroll down memory lane with her. It would make taking everything she had and leaving her that much harder. But he’d been a shit and had a lot of making up to do.

‘No, I’m off carbs this month.’ Mai lowered herself into the farthest chair from him, wincing as she did.

A stab of guilt slammed into him, so much so he couldn’t even get pissed off about her starving herself. Hell, she was so thin that naked, she looked like a twelve-year-old girl with abnormally large boobs.

Instead, he changed the subject. ‘How did today go?’

‘OK, I think. I gave them enough to print a month-long feature on the deterioration of our engagement.’ She scowled, like something had pissed her off.

Jack didn’t ask what. He didn’t particularly want to know if her conscience was kicking in or whether she still loved Collins. He had enough reason to hate them both. Himself too, after last night.

‘I’m going to have a bath.’ She winced again as she got up and he couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room any longer.

It was hardly progressive to his plan if she started to loathe him. But not a conversation he’d wanted since, for the first time in over a year, he’d fallen asleep with Mai in his arms. That, coupled with what he did to her, was fucking with his head.

‘Mai, I’m sorry for last night. I shouldn’t have done it and I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ Not physically, anyway. That had never been his intention.

Tears made her eyes shiny before spilling down her cheeks. ‘I know, it’s OK. I’m just tired. Rehashing the past and being creative with the truth has taken it out of me.’

Great, so it was Collins she was crying for. Mai must have seen his mood change, because she came over to the sofa and reached out to him. He closed his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair, remembering how much he used to love it when she did that after they’d fucked. Now it was like he’d been ripped in two, one half of him craving the softness and comfort of her and the other revolting from any contact at all.

‘I love you, Jack. Just you,’ she said.

The opposing sides tugged at each other until he thought he’d rip in half. He patted her hand, then pulled away. ‘You too, babe. Enjoy your bath.’

She waited a second, probably to see if he’d join her, but he turned back to the TV and switched it on. Her footsteps drifted down the hall. When he heard the bathroom door close, he slammed his head into the back of the sofa and groaned.

Who knew how much longer he could live this fucked-up lie. The only question left was should he take what she had now and run, or wait it out a bit longer, hoping for some serious cash to come? Surely this feature would kick off a media frenzy with enough interviews to keep him going until he’d finished his script.

He’d just have to keep the intimacy between them to a minimum.

Despite Alicia’s protests, Sebastian wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Stuck in a party with him by her side was bad enough – at least there had been people around and she
had
to make sure things didn’t go any farther between them. Now, in his sleek sports car, there was only temptation. Temptation that was getting harder and harder to resist.

‘The tube will be faster,’ she said as he pulled out of his parking space. She wished he’d drop her at the station.

Sebastian shook his head. ‘If there are creepy guys lurking in shadows in Mayfair I don’t want you out by yourself at night. How would I find another half-decent publicist at such short notice?’