My eyes hold his, and he raises a brow. I know this is it. If I want a real future with Sebastian, which I do, I need to fix things with his son. I can’t hold a grudge for the pain he caused me. I have to let it go.
No ifs or buts about it.
I take the phone from him. “Hello, Brandon,” I say, hopeful.
“Hi… April.”
I close my eyes at the sound of his familiar voice. I hold my finger up to the girls and walk out into the backyard for some privacy.
“How are you?”
“I’m good,” he replies. “Long time, no speak.”
I close my eyes and smile as hope runs through me. It feels like things are finally falling into place.
It’s just gone midnight when we finally get up to the bedroom. The night has been filled with cheers and happiness. Sebastian must have received at least thirty phone calls from people congratulating him.
Seb puts his phone on charge on the beside, and his eyes find mine across the room.
“You look tired.” I smile.
“Delirious.” He sighs, taking his jacket off. “Shower and bed.”
He walks into the bathroom and turns the shower on.
“Come on, babe,” he calls.
I smile as I undress. What is it with us two? We never shower alone anymore.
Always together.
I walk in and get under the hot water. Sebastian takes me into his arms. I close my eyes against his warm shoulder, his big arms wrapped around me.
“I could go to sleep right here.” I smile sleepily.
“Same.” We both lean on each other, warm, safe and relaxed. Alone for the first time today.
“I like your family.” I smile up at him.
He soaps up his hands and begins to rub them over my body. “They like you.”
“It was a good day, huh?”
He kisses my lips. “The best.”
The phone lights up the darkened room from the bedside. It vibrates on silent with an incoming call.
The sound of April and Sebastian chatting in the shower echoes throughout the room.
The phone rings and then stops.
It begins to vibrate again, the name lighting up the screen:
Helena
Three months later
Mathew holds the back door of the black Mercedes wagon open for me, and he gives me a kind smile as I walk out of my building.
“Hello, Mathew.” I smile.
“Good evening, Miss Bennet.” He closes the door behind me after I slide into the backseat.
He gets into the driver seat wearing his black customary suit and earpiece. He looks every bit of the handsome bodyguard.
We pull out into the traffic, and I glance behind me to see the second security car following us.
My life has changed dramatically.
I’m dating the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
My beloved Sebastian Garcia.
Security guards are ever present, his work schedule is ridiculous, and we live between two houses. Staying at my place is completely out of the question now. Security risks are things I can no longer ignore. Not that I can actually call it my place anymore. It’s more like an empty apartment with furniture in it. I haven’t slept there in three months. Depending on our schedule, sometimes I go weeks without even calling in. My pot plants live at Sebastian’s place, along with all of my clothes and personal belongings. He keeps asking me to end my lease and fully move in with him, but I just want to wait a little bit.
We’ve only been together for a few months, and even though I know that this is forever for us, I want to try and at least act a little cool.
Not that I can.
I’m completely and irrevocably in love.
The traffic whizzes by as I stare out of the window, and I smile to myself. If only I knew back then what I know now.
My marriage breakdown…
The darkest and most horrible days of my life when I thought that dying would be easier to get through than live another day in pain…
They were all just stepping stones to him.
He was always my grand plan-the man I was supposed to find.
I’ve never known a love like this. So pure in all its essence.
This man owns my body and soul. He’s my best friend, my confidant, my protector.
The love of my life.
And we’re not perfect. Far from it.
To the outside world, I’m sure we appear to be.
The Prime Minister who dates the lawyer… both madly in love.
On paper, the perfect duo.
But we have deep psychological flaws, both damaged in our own way. He’s insanely jealous of any man who looks my way, and he’s so innately sexual with me that it borders on being a sex addiction.
And I… well, I have nightmares where he goes back to his ex-wife.
Horrible dreams where I wake up drenched with perspiration and gasping for air.
Because, damn, if that ever happened, I wouldn’t survive it. I’ve been through a lot of things in my life but that I couldn’t cope with.
Some nights my insecurities get so bad that I dread going to sleep. I can’t handle the thought of seeing them making love in our bed.
It feels so real.
I think that’s a huge part of my problem: that they make love, not fuck.
I hate that he loved her first.
It kills me.
But I’ll never tell him. I would never admit any of it because I know this isn’t about her or anything he’s done. I have no reason to be insecure.
It’s about me and the damage my ex-husband caused when I found him in my bed with another woman.
The way he looked up at me while he was still inside of her.
My heart constricts.
I close my eyes to try and block out the memory but the pain still lingers.
The cut is so deep, I don’t know if it will ever heal. My breath quivers on the inhale as I stare out into the night. I hate that it still affects me after all this time.
Every text Sebastian receives, I wonder if it’s from her.
Every time he’s late home, I wonder if he’s been with her.
And it’s just ridiculous because I know Sebastian would never do that to me, and I know that she hasn’t contacted him at all, but my gut won’t lose this feeling that the shoe is about to drop.
I don’t trust Helena, and to know that she wants him back just adds salt to my wound.
I’m not an insecure person-I never have been-but I think I just love Sebastian so much that my vision is clouded. My sister Eliza says this is totally normal after coming out of a divorce and that, in time, I will get over it.
I will not let my fears poison our love. So, for now, I’ll hold it all in and keep it to myself.
I’ll act brave.
Because Sebastian Garcia’s love is worth being brave for.
The car pulls up to our destination at 10 Downing Street. The Prime Minister’s official residence. We don’t live here full time, choosing only to stay here when a function is on. That usually turns out to be around four nights a week, and Bentley stays here with us. The security team ferry him from place to place.