Lacey had to admit that even without the prospect of spending the day in the company of the sexiest man on the planet, the man she would swear whose heart she'd glimpsed last night, she would've been thrilled to go to the ancestral home of the Bernal family. That was one place that was strictly off-limits to media scrutiny. Of course, that never had stopped photographers from taking airborne pictures of it over the years, especially recently with the invention of drones. Although she heard that those tended to mysteriously disappear every time they got over the estate. Sebastian always said that if people wanted to know about his family and his cultural legacy, they could go to Bernal Center. That was what it was for. His ancestral home was not open to the public scrutiny. End of story.
From both a professional and personal standpoint, Lacey was elated at the thought of getting to see the stunning place in person.
A small commotion at the front of the plane drew her eyes. Sebastian appeared in the doorway, nodding at the captain and flight attendant who stood at the front of the plane, before striding down the open expanse toward Lacey.
Holy…
She swallowed. She'd last seen the man less than twelve hours before, had come on command just from his voice alone through the phone no fewer than three times last night, and talked to him again this morning. Even so, she wasn't prepared for the huge rush of both emotions and physical sensations that torpedoed through her as she saw his stunning self in the flesh again.
"Good morning, Lacey. Thank you for joining me."
The rich darkness of his voice floated around Lacey, seeming to fill the very air with the sheer magnitude of his presence. He stepped up to her and bent down to brush her lips with his. Just the thrill of that little touch blasted through her, reigniting the nerve endings that had been thoroughly played with and satiated the night before.
Clearly, she was ready to go again.
All her usual calm control shot to hell, she blushed for about the millionth time since last night. Sebastian noted it, chuckling as he dropped into the seat across from her with the elegant ease of a lifetime born of wealth, power, and the obvious certainty that he knew his place and his worth in the world. Lacey stared at him for a long moment, almost unaware of the rumble of the plane as it started to taxi for take off, ignoring the pilot's voice over the intercom.
"So," Sebastian said, settling back into his seat as the plane took off, “There is a room full of personal family antiquities at the hacienda that I particularly wish to show you."
Lacey made herself smile at him. "I really can't wait," she said, meaning it.
This was Sebastian Bernal seated across from her. Sebastian, who had touched her more intimately than any man had since her first year in grad school, who was known to millions worldwide, who was more than her boss a few times removed. Looking at him in the morning light coming into the windows on either side of the plane, the reality of the situation hit her yet again. One of the world's richest men was about to whisk her off to his family's estate, a place it was well known no one was allowed to see. No women, in particular.
She swallowed hard again. She was doing what here, exactly?
Because clearly the man was a mind reader, Sebastian smiled at her, reaching out his hand to stroke her just above one knee. The tingles that shot up from that place to land straight on the most aroused bundle of nerve endings in her entire body tucked between her legs made Lacey jump a little. A lazy half grin tugged up Sebastian's mouth as he watched her.
"You look stunning this morning." His expression left no doubt that his words were sincere. "I very much look forward to you seeing the hacienda. All my favorite treasures are there."
That last sentence seemed to amuse him more than it should have, confusing her yet again. He was such a gorgeous enigma. The world knew him, yet it didn't. She felt like she knew him, she'd gotten fairly close to him in the past year, and last night had been a stunning explosion of the simmering tension between them.
But at the same time there was so much about him she didn't know. He smiled easily for the cameras, awing just about everyone he came into contact with from the magnificence of his presence alone. Yet she'd always known all that glitz and glamour hid a darkness. Or some sort of loss. The fact that he was letting her in, even just a little bit, was overwhelming.
It was also, she sternly reminded herself even as his fingers began to stroke little circles on the skin of her thighs, sending more thrilling chills shooting up her legs, par for the course. She couldn't let herself believe it was anything otherwise. Sebastian liked women. He enjoyed the chase, and while he knew that she enjoyed the history of his family and legacy as much as he did, she couldn't let herself believe it was anything more than that. Lacey was determined that she was going to enjoy this for what it was, and not read too much into it, intense moment last night notwithstanding.
Right? Yes. Dammit, yes. Smiling back at him, she relaxed as much as she could for the flight carrying her to Sebastian's home.
Nothing in Lacey's wildest dreams could've prepared her for the reality of Sebastian's hacienda. First, there was the private airstrip. Second, there was the luxuriously decked out SUV waiting for them when they landed, the driver of which was standing beside the vehicle as the plane touched down and they exited. He went straight to Sebastian, nodding and smiling and saying a greeting in Spanish. Turning to Lacey, the man started to greet her in English. Smiling, she responded in Spanish, much to his surprised delight. He introduced himself as Ricardo, an enormous grin splitting his face. Glancing at Sebastian, he raised his eyebrows in some sort of signal that Lacey didn't bother to try deciphering. She was too busy staring open-mouthed at the gorgeous setting around them.
Sebastian had told her some details about the hacienda on the short flight down. Set in the middle of over one thousand acres, which he said was but a small fraction of what the family had owned when they first settled the area in the 1700s, it was filled with rolling hills, views of the ocean to the west, and a sense of secure privacy that one almost could never find in crowded Southern California. The quick ride up to the hacienda barely gave her time to prepare for it, either.
As she stepped out of the car, eyes fastened on the sprawling, gorgeous building in front of her, Lacey knew she must look like a little kid meeting Santa Claus for the first time. It was a hacienda in the same way that wealthy people would refer to their mansion as a cottage, she thought in a daze as Sebastian took her arm and gently escorted her up the walkway.
"Do you like it?" He paused as Ricardo opened the huge, beautiful wooden doors that led to a courtyard encircling the outside of the actual home.
Literally unable to speak, Lacey nodded. Okay. Her head was officially spinning. Her life had undergone a complete three-sixty in about half a day. If she said anything else right now, she would sound like a total idiot.
Much better to just nod, follow the man, and see what would happen next.
His hands gently pressing on the small of her back, sending warmth there as if they were heated brands, Sebastian gently guided her along the walkway of beautiful flagstones that led up to the actual doors to the house. The door had already opened, and a smiling woman about the same age as Ricardo waited to greet them. Her smile was so infectious, and so genuinely filled with love as she looked at Sebastian, Lacey immediately sensed that these employees were perhaps the closest thing to family that Sebastian actually had.
And that second, her heart melted a little bit more.
No. No, no no. She couldn't let that happen.
Right?
Hanging plant holders drooped colorful, fully blooming spring flowers at varied intervals around the spacious courtyard, which in this most authentic of haciendas should really be called a placita. A large center fountain, featuring a stone dragon that spat water in a graceful arc out of his mouth as his wings unfurled to either side with more water streams coming out of the tips, was inviting and cool in the warm morning air. The entire setting was graceful, open, breezy, quietly screaming wealth and elegance from every corner. The windows up on the second floor of the hacienda, bracketed by flung open shutters on either side, were recessed deep into the adobe walls.
“Sebastian,” she breathed as she looked around, “it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.”
Lacey knew the main hacienda, and in fact the entire rancho, was constructed of the original building that first had been erected in the late 18th century. Obviously there would be modern updates. All the best that billions of dollars could buy. Although she was reasonably familiar with the trappings of wealth after having worked at the Center for a year now, and having been in Sebastian's presence so often for nearly as long, the sight here was wildly thrilling in a way she hadn't expected.
This place was genuine. It wasn't just something that she had created an exhibit for at the museum, or seen in the pages of a history book, or in glossy photos splashed across the magazines that she sometimes furtively glanced at when in line at the grocery store, every time she saw one boasting Sebastian on its cover. No, this was real because it was Sebastian's actual home. She knew he didn't get to spend as much time in it as he'd prefer. Yet she also knew from everything she'd ever read, from every casual mention he'd made in her presence, that it was what he considered his most personal, protected sanctuary against the sometimes prying world.
It was only when Sebastian's appreciative laughter whispered through the heavy, fragrant air that she realized she had stopped in the middle of the
placita,
simply astounded by its graceful beauty.
"I'm glad you like it," he said. His eyes were still hidden behind sunglasses, but she knew he was looking right at her because she could feel the delicious prickles tiptoeing up and down her body. "It fits you."
Before she could even open her mouth to ask what that meant, he gestured toward the door and the small, older woman standing there, whose face still crinkled up with smiles as she waved them both inside. "If I know Maria, she spent all morning baking some exquisite delicacies for us.” Sebastian stretched out his hand toward Lacey. “Come inside. You'll need a midmorning snack to fortify yourself for the things in there that I want to show you."
Feeling still dazed, Lacey made her feet move again. She entered the hacienda, smiling as the woman, Maria, greeted her in enthusiastic, accented English. Once again, Lacey spoke Spanish in return, inviting yet another startled expression as well as that odd glance towards Sebastian.
To Lacey's even greater surprise, the woman then suddenly stepped forward to throw her arms around Lacey, welcoming her even more effusively. It felt natural to hug her back, catching Sebastian's momentarily unguarded expression as she glanced at him. His own surprise, mingled with satisfaction and a clear sense of ease at being in his ancestral home, played along the edges of something deeper.
Something that again felt like she was a deeply cherished possession. Although it should have made her feel strange, like she was an object, it didn't at all. Instead, the sensation of being utterly protected, totally safe, wrapped itself around her.
"Yes, I have many delicacies prepared for your arrival," Maria said in Spanish, urging Lacey inside the beautiful building. She immediately led them both to a side room, upon which a small table was indeed piled high with baked goods and cool drinks.
"Eat. Eat, eat, eat. Señor Sebastian has told us he will be sharing some of the family's most beautiful treasures with you today." If possible, Maria's smile widened more at that. "He tells us you are a historian. I know that means you will take hours looking at it all. You'll need your strength."
The positively maternal smile Maria awarded first Sebastian, then Lacey, reinforced Lacey's thought that this woman had been an important part of Sebastian's life growing up. Like everyone, Lacey knew that his parents had died from some sort of mysterious wasting disease when he was young. She guessed Maria and Ricardo had assisted in raising him.
Her heart thumped hard in sympathy as she abruptly pictured a young, orphaned Sebastian.
Hungrier than she thought she would be because of the excited butterflies that had insisted on fluttering around inside her since last night, Lacey enjoyed the outstandingly good snacks and the tall, cool raspberry lemonades that Maria brought out to them as well. Delicate little lemon cakes, almond tarts, sweet cinnamon-dusted churros, and more were all prettily displayed on small trays and plates on the table.
Maria's kindness, Sebastian's evident relaxation inside this house, and the high of the pheromones from her multiple incredible releases the night before all served to put Lacey at ease even within the grandeur of this stunning home.
When they finally had their fill, both assuring Maria how tasty everything had been, Sebastian stood up and again reached his hand out to Lacey. She took it, unable to stop the burble of delighted laughter as he gently tugged her up from her chair and pulled her toward the hallway. Seeing him so wondrously excited to be showing off his home to her was delightfully infectious.
"Get ready to be dazzled," he said. His smile was alight with a mixture of anticipation, excitement, and that wild, strange something she could never put her finger on. The indefinable mystery that always seemed to surround him, calling to her like the most tantalizing scent in the world. "Come. Follow me."
With that, he led her toward the beautiful, tall set of double wooden doors at the end of the long hallway. Stopping to fiddle with the security panel on the side, he opened the doors and gestured her in, watching her face the entire time.
~~~
Sebastian felt intertwined thoughts and emotions racing around inside him as he opened the doors to his family's treasure room for Lacey to see. As little as twenty-four hours ago, the thought of doing this would have been an impossibility for him.