"No! Don't touch me!"
She sliced at him with the scalpel, but he moved away just in time.
"If you cut me with that, you will know what it's like to have me angry with you." She sliced at him again. "Stop that." On her third pass, he caught her wrist and wrenched the weapon from her grasp as the body guard stepped out of the bathroom. "Where did you get this anyway?"
She only shrugged. Sebastian gave the guard an exasperated look. He reached for her again, but she jerked her hips from his reach.
"No!" She sounded like a spoiled brat.
With a
snap
, the whole contraption came crashing down. Mariss' body dropped against the bed. The cry of pain she let loose jarred Sebastian to his core. That she was in pain was unacceptable.
Because she was still tangled in the swing, when the thing crashed to the floor, it pulled her off the bed. Sebastian leapt over in one long stride and landed on the other side. He knelt beside Mariss as the guard caught up.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
She shook her head. Quiet tears slipped from her eyes. "I'm gonna be sick, Bassy."
He laughed. As awful as the nickname was, he liked it when it came out of her mouth.
Sebastian lifted her and the guard moved out of the way so he could carry her to the bathroom. He set her on the floor in front of the toilet.
"False alarm."
She smiled up at him just before she bent over the toilet and threw up. She didn't have anything in her stomach but the liquor.
"Mariss, how did you get like this?"
"I drank too much," she said matter-of-factly before she heaved again.
Sebastian pulled her hair from her face and expertly twisted it into a knot at the nape of her neck. "Do you always do this when your husband leaves?"
"No. Well, kinda." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Bassy?"
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"I'm tired."
He nodded. Mariss leaned her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. One hand reached up to stroke his cheek and Sebastian leaned into her warm, gentle touch.
"You're kind of beautiful," she said softly.
"In a gruff, manly sort of way."
Her hand dropped. Sebastian caught her as her body went slack.
"So are you, sweetheart."
Minus the gruff and manly part.
He laid her on the bed that the guard had cleared of debris. "Where did she get the liquor?"
"I don't know. I stepped out so they could say their goodbyes, and when I came
back ,she
was chugging away."
Sebastian shook his head as he covered her with the sheet. "I'm going to stay for a little while. In case she needs anything."
As the light faded, leaving the room cast in shadows, Sebastian watched Mariss' sleeping form. He knew he was in danger of losing himself to a married woman. Once again, he thought of fleeing, but he couldn't keep a straight thought in his head when she wasn't around. And that was the danger. Just the thought of losing her could send him into a tailspin. He was fine as long as he knew she was there. She didn't have to be close or even in the same country, but knowing that she was thinking of him meant more than anything else.
He watched her all night. When the sun came up, he gathered his jacket and her empty whisky bottle and left.
"There was an accident in Mariss Red's room," he told the woman at the front desk. "Her traction contraption fell last night."
"I'll send someone in right away."
"Oh, it's no hurry. She's sleeping." He shook the empty bottle and the liquor left in the bottom sloshed around. "She had a bit too much to drink. I assure you I did not provide this." Sebastian slipped the bottle back inside his jacket. He didn't know what kind of mood Mariss would be in when she woke up, so he left his number at the front desk. "Please call me if anything…changes."
The woman nodded. Her eyes roved his body suggestively. Out of pure cruelty, Sebastian grinned and winked and strode to the door.
Fuck You
Mariss walked out of her office as Sebastian stepped off the elevator with Hellena on his arm. The corset she wore today was black leather with silver hook-and-eyes. It had little cap sleeves, but still didn't cover much. The red jeans accentuated her thick hips.
Mariss stopped in front of them. She was smiling, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Her black pencil skirt had a red and black frill that ran down the right side from her waist to the hem. The white silk blouse showed her curves and she wore similar shiny red heels to the ones she'd worn the last time he was here.
"Good morning, Mrs. Red," Sebastian greeted her.
"Hello, Sebastian.
Hellena, right?"
He was impressed she remembered her from the club.
Hellena gave a bright smile and said something in German. Mariss' polite smile was replaced with one of pure malice.
"Don't come into my business and offer veiled threats in a language you don't think I can understand." The sweet tone never left her voice, but she turned on her heel and marched down the hall.
"What did you say to her?" Sebastian demanded.
"I told her to stay away from you. Why didn't you tell me she knew German?"
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. "She is German, Hellena, and I only just recently found out." He dug his phone out and checked the screen. Mariss had text messaged him.
:What
.
The.
Fuck
?!:
Sebastian suppressed a chuckle.
:I'm
sorry. I didn't think she'd be so
rude.:
:Anymore
of that bullshit and I'll have security escort her out.:
:Yes
, ma'am.:
Sebastian turned to Hellena and kissed the side of her head. "Behave yourself." She followed him down the hall to the studio where Mariss and her team waited.
"Hey!" Eloisa marched across the room to him, her fists planted on her hips. "You bailed."
"I'm sorry, Eloisa." Sebastian gave her his most charming smile.
"Don't give me that." She wagged her finger in his face. "I spent the whole night setting this place up for you. I think you owe me a little more than 'I'm sorry'."
Sebastian let his amused smile turn seductive and watched her melt when he touched her cheek. "I'm sorry, Eloisa. Let me make it up to you," he purred.
She stared at him dumbly for a moment, then her smile brightened, but she didn't quite snap all the way out of it. "That's what I'm talking about. I'll let you know when and where."
Sebastian chuckled.
"You're very self-aware today, Mr. Boa." Mariss popped up beside him.
"It is a photo shoot, Mrs. Red. I have to be on top of my game." He looked around, but didn't see Hellena anywhere.
"I suppose that's true. Your friend went to the restroom."
"Ah." Sebastian looked down at her. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. The bruise is still all kinds of pretty colors, but I'm okay. Still hurts to laugh."
He smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."
"Shall we get started? We're all ready for you.
Oh, um, no iPads."
Sebastian smirked.
"Hm.
That was a natural reaction. It looks good on you."
He watched her walk away. The sway of her hips kept his attention longer than he should have stared. He looked away and straight into the amused eyes of Brit who laughed silently.
"We're waiting on you."
"Your face hair grew back in," Mariss said from across the room. "Good. I don't want you clean shaven."
"Ah, but you do want me."
Instead of ducking her head to hide her blush, Mariss gave him the most devious, seductive smile he'd yet to see on her. His heart stopped for a moment and he had to blink to be sure he'd actually seen it. She was less inhibited around her friends and coworkers.
"That's very self-aware of you, Mrs. Red."
Her
smiled softened into one more genuine. "I don't want your hair like that."
"Then how do you want it?"
"Come here and I'll fix it."
Sebastian sat in the chair she'd set up across from her. Next to it was a table with hair products and some makeup.
"I should have had you bring your own hair stylist. I didn't think about it."
"This is fine."
Mariss rubbed some product into her palm and ran her fingers through his hair. "Morris, the guard from the hospital, told me what you did the night of my bender." She chuckled. "I wanted to thank you."
"You could have texted me."
"I wanted to do it in person. You didn't have to come all the way to the hospital just to watch me crash and burn."
"Have you heard anything about who pushed you yet?"
Mariss shook her head as her hands molded his hair into the style she wanted. He had people with their hands in his hair all the time, but this was strangely more intimate. "The cops aren't doing much about it. I've been home for three days now."
"Is that all? What are you doing this evening?"
"Drinking?"
"Alone?" He shook his head, but stopped when she grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged to keep him in place. "Join me for dinner. You're reckless when you drink."
Mariss snorted. "Reckless. Morris said I was swinging from the traction machine."
"You were. You broke it. You also told me I was beautiful." A secret smile played on his lips.
"Did I?" she asked passively.
"Mm hm.
I think that was the first compliment you've given me."
"Well, how many times a day do people tell you that you have gorgeous eyes?"
"Doesn't matter," he said, blinking up at her. "Coming from the right person, it sounds like the first time."
Mariss eyes widened some. She stared at him, unblinking for a long moment.
"So are you going to tell me?" he grinned.
She frowned, her pretty face wrinkling across her brow. "Tell you what?"
"How gorgeous my eyes are."
"Didn't I just tell you that?"
Sebastian shook his head and gave her a very self-aware smile.
"You have gorgeous blue eyes, Sebastian."
"Why, thank you, Mrs. Red. Don't let your husband hear you say that." He winked and she rolled her eyes.
"Your arrogance is unbecoming."
"Your smile is lovely."
Mariss sighed and gave him a smile that said she liked his compliments, even if she begrudged them.
Sebastian's eye was drawn to the other side of the room when a stack of books fell over.
"Oh, my god!"
Eloisa shouted. "I'm so sorry, Mare!"
"She's so dramatic." Mariss chuckled. "Leave it, Wheeza."
"What?"
"Just leave it. It's fine there. I like it kind of messy."
"Oh." Eloisa motioned across the room with one arm. "Do you want me to knock the rest of it over too?"
"No, that's fine." Mariss shook her head and went back to styling his hair.
"The women you work with are very animated." Sebastian reached up to stroke her arm. She pulled away and frowned at him.
"Why do you do that? You just touch people and say the most inappropriate things. Why?"
"Because I want to.
I wouldn't touch you inappropriately unless I knew you wanted it." He winked.
"Do you always do what you want?"
Sebastian felt his eyes smolder, a natural reaction that made Mariss stop what she was doing to stare. "Not always." He knew she caught his meaning.
"Bash."
Hellena called his name.
Mariss started, pulled from his unintentionally woven spell. Sebastian tore his eyes from Mariss' startled ones as she went back to styling his hair.
"I don't like that look for you," Hellena pouted with her arms crossed over her chest, making her breasts more obvious - as if they could be missed - and her weight balanced on one foot.
"It's Mariss' shoot," he admonished. "It's not about what you want." Even though he wasn't looking at her, he saw Mariss' eyes widen at his tone.
"You always do what Mariss wants?"
"When it's for her shoot, yes, I will do what Mariss wants."
"Well, I don't like the hair."
Mariss handed him a mirror. "Do you like the hair?"
Sebastian
turned
his head left and right, trying to see it from every angle. She'd styled it into a loose fauxhawk that he actually found flattering.
"I do."
She smiled, and anything Hellena had to dish out with the temper tantrum that he knew was inevitable was worth seeing the proud satisfaction on her face.
"I've got this." Eloisa appeared with a powder brush in her hand. "Brit needs you in the office for a few minutes.
Sebastian watched Mariss leave. The way her hips hit from side to side might possibly be his new favorite thing.
"She's got an ass on her, that's for damn sure." Hellena took an empty seat.
"Be careful with her." Eloisa's voice was soft and disinterested, but the warning undertone could not be mistaken. She brushed some powder over his face and gave Hellena a sharp, sideways glance. "You don't know what she's capable of."
Sebastian gave her a questioning glance. "Is that so?"
Eloisa smiled and dusted his forehead. "Mariss is a different kind of woman. Okay, I think you're good. Just don't sweat it off."
Eloisa practically skipped away and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"She's a weird one," Hellena frowned.
"She's amusing."
"She wants to fuck you."
Sebastian gave Hellena a bored look. "Who doesn't?"
"Mariss Red."
He gave in to the overwhelming desire to squelch the smugness in her eyes. "Oh, she wants to fuck me. She's just fighting it for the sake of her marriage." He probably should have kept the thought to himself. The look that filled Hellena's eyes was murderous.
"We're ready for you!" Eloisa called.
Sebastian sauntered over to the set. For the next half hour he posed with books in every way he could think. Mariss was mysteriously not in attendance until they were about to wrap up. She appeared in the doorway, twirling something in her right hand. Sebastian crooked a finger and beckoned her over. Mariss walked past the cameras and onto the set. As she stepped up to him, she caught the silver object in her palm and dropped it to her side.
"What's that in your hand?" he asked. Mariss held her hand open for him to see. "Is that a knife?"
She nodded.
"My butterfly knife."
Mariss flipped it open, baring the blade.
"What are you doing with a knife?"
"I always have it on me." She smirked. "I'm always armed. Are you afraid to mess with me now?"
She flipped the knife closed, then back open, spinning it around her finger and back into her palm.
"That's impressive." Sebastian wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close until her body was flush against his. Her breath escaped in a
whoosh
and she batted her eyelashes at him. "Are you flirting with me, Red?"
Mariss shook her head and stuck the butterfly knife in his inside pocket. "Hold on to that for me, Bash." She emphasized the nickname and fluttered her eyelashes again.
"Hm."
Mariss motioned to the photographer to start shooting again. Sebastian grinned, wrapped his other arm around her, and dipped her low. She giggled. He wanted badly to kiss her senseless, but there were too many people watching. He knew she wouldn't allow it. Not with it this public.
Her hand came up to grip his shoulder for support.
"I won't drop you."
"I believe you," she said matter-of-factly.
Sebastian righted her, but as he did, her knife slipped out of his pocket and landed on the floor. When she turned and knelt to get it, her hair snagged on his watch. Mariss' momentum and the angle of her descent made it impossible to stop before a chunk of hair was ripped out of her scalp.
Mariss uttered something just short of a scream and dropped to her knees with one hand pressed to the back of her head. Sebastian practically fell on top of her in his attempt to make sure she was okay.
"Mariss, bloody hell!
Are you alright?" A shuddered rippled through her body. He pulled her to him and she came without resistance. "Move your hand," he commanded gently. "Let me see." Sebastian pulled her hand away and moved her hair to the side. He only found a red spot on her scalp, glad there was no bleeding.