Authors: Alexa Sinclaire
“Maybe you should join me to make sure I don’t.” Eden teased him back, letting her eyes run over his beautiful muscles. She missed his touch. He hadn’t done more than hold her hand and softly kiss her in the hospital, and now that they were home, she wanted to feel his hands on her.
“I would love to, but I think you’re turning into a raisin.” He walked in, holding up a large, soft white towel. “Let me take you to bed, darling.”
Eden rose out of the water, taking his hand as he helped her out. She looked up at him, her skin pink and glowing from the bath. She expected him to lean in and touch her, but instead, he slowly started to dry her with the towel, moving over every inch of her, taking care to move softly over her remaining bruises. It was sensual and sweet, but it wasn’t what she wanted from him. Why was he holding back from her? She wasn’t used to instigating
sex
with him. Usually, Sebastian couldn’t keep his hands off her and now he was treating her once again like a doll that might break.
When she was fully dried, he took her hand and
led
her to the bed, still naked. He moved the soft sheets and helped her in before walking to other side of the bed, dimming the lights before he took off his pants and slid in next to her. Eden couldn’t ignore his semi-hard erection and she smiled to herself as he reached for her and pulled her against him, spooning his body against hers. She wriggled her ass against his erection, desperate for him to touch her more, to take her the way he usually did.
“Eden. Wait, stop, love.”
She turned to face him, pressing her body against him. “I’m okay, Seb, we can do this. It’s just a few bruises. You won’t hurt me.” She leaned in to kiss him, but stopped. The look in his eyes was painful. She couldn’t find the dark pools of lust that were usually there when he looked at her.
“I just need to hold you, Eden. Nothing else. I thought I’d lost you. When I saw you lifeless on that couch with his hands on your neck and blood all over you, I thought you were gone and I didn’t know how I was going to survive without you. And then they sedated you and I just had to sit and wait for you to open your eyes and let me know if you were okay. It was more than I could handle. Just let me hold you now.”
Eden reached up and gently stroked his face. He closed his eyes under her touch and she
realized
that he had been through something too, something more than sleep deprivation and horrible hospital coffee. He had watched his mother violently die and, for a moment, he thought he had lost Eden too in another violent attack. She couldn’t even begin to think about how it would feel if something happened to Sebastian. Just seeing his bruised knuckles made her wince. This beautiful man who drove her wild with lust and frustration, who overpowered her and made her feel like there was nothing she couldn’t do in this world, she was his Achilles’ heel and he thought she had been taken from him.
“Seb, I’m here,” she whispered as she closed her eyes and nestled into him.
****
They had fallen asleep together, but she was awake now and she sat up slowly, wanting to let him rest. At some point, Sebastian had turned off the bedside lights and the room was dark. She knew how tired he had been and she hated Joachim more than ever for putting Sebastian through hell. Eden knew that Sebastian was still worried about how to deal with Joachim and she wished he would share his concerns with her. She was reluctant to press charges, knowing her past would be dragged through the courts, and Sebastian was supportive, but still wanted some sort of revenge.
He was also concerned about her general safety. Joachim had cracked once, having been
harboring
emotions far stronger than Eden could have ever guessed. She knew Joachim had always been more invested in their relationship than her, but she had never imagined that he had been in love with her all these years. Although she knew it wasn’t really love, it was obsession. A sick obsession that had almost caused her death.
Eden felt Sebastian shift behind her and she knew he was awake before he spoke.
“You alright, love?”
She stayed sitting up with her back to him, relaxing as his fingers ran gently up and down her spine, as he so often did.
“I wish I knew what made him do it. I can’t really explain why I let him in the
apartment
, other than, even in my worst nightmares, I never imagined that Joachim would physically hurt me. Until you came into my life, he was the only man that had ever protected me—sort of. Even my father had let me down when I needed him. I wanted Joachim to explain himself to me. The man wanted to marry me. I wanted to know how he could live with himself after all he had done to me. But I saw he was drunk and then he started to hurt me. I was so scared and really tried to fight this time, Sebastian. But he was so mad. The look on his face when he saw your ring, it was pure hatred. But you came for me. I was scared and I wished you were there to save me, to stop him, and you were.” Eden didn’t expect an answer, but she wanted to talk, to let it out.
Finally, Sebastian spoke.
“I told Rick to call me if he ever saw Joachim again in your building. I told him he was an obsessed ex-boyfriend and not to be trusted. He tried to stop Joachim, but when you told him to let him up, there wasn’t much he could do besides call me. He never thought he needed to call the cops on Joachim, just that he was annoying you. You weren’t answering your phone—I just knew something wasn’t right. It took me longer than I thought to get to you. I can’t even bear to think what would have happened if I had been any later.”
“Then don’t. Don’t think about it. Think about me and how I’m here now, safe with you.” Eden leaned back her elbow now, tracing her fingers across his chest, down to his navel. She slowly trailed over the v-shaped muscles on either side of his torso. She pushed her hand down under the sheet, taking him in her hand. “Just think about me, Sebastian.” She looked up at him, pleased to feel him growing hard as her fingers wrapped around his girth. She didn’t think she would ever get over how he responded to her.
Eden’s eyes adjusted to the dark, and the
city
lights illuminated the room enough so she could
make out
his face. Sebastian was still and calm and she met his gaze as she moved the sheet off him, sliding across his body to straddle him.
“Because that’s all I do, Sebastian. You are all I think about. You fill my vision until there is nothing else. You’re all I see. All I feel.” She pushed her hands against his chest, running them back and forth slowly,
reveling
in his strength. As much as the violence of what had happened repulsed her, she couldn’t help but be turned on by how strong his reaction had been, how she knew he wouldn’t have stopped hitting Joachim had she not caught his attention. He would have killed for her. She rose up slowly and reached down to position him against her folds, letting him feel how wet she was for him.
“Eden,” he softly murmured, raising his hands to cup her breasts gently.
“Just think of me and how I’m yours, Seb.” She slowly lowered herself on to him, moaning as she pushed him all the way to the hilt, filling her until her ass pressed against his balls. She began to rock her hips back and forth, letting her body guide her. She had never been in this position. She pushed him deeper inside her and closed her eyes, leaning her head back as she moved against him,
reveling
in how much she loved to feel him in her.
“You have to help me, Sebastian. We’ve never done it like this. I don’t know what to do to make it good for you.”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing, baby. I’ll guide you, but you’re so fucking hot right now, Eden. Just seeing you ride me, your breasts bouncing around and your tight pussy squeezing me…you’re perfect.” Sebastian moved his hands to her hips, gently helping her find a rhythm as he began to move his hips up to meet her movements. But he let her be in control. Eden knew he was showing her what he had been telling her for weeks—that she just needed to trust her body and let go. And
suddenly,
the words seemed to
finally
make sense to her.
With Sebastian, she could let go, she could trust herself with him around her, she could push herself to limits that she hadn’t even dared to think about until now. Sebastian moved his hand to her clit, slowly rubbing it softly with his thumb. She quickened her pace when she felt his touch, and she felt him push against her harder as she moaned his name. All she could feel was Sebastian’s touch, between her legs, on her clit, touching her thighs. All she could feel was what Sebastian did to her and she arched her back as her orgasm built, wanting to push him as far into her as she could, wanting their connection to never end. She remembered his words,
“you have nothing to fear,”
and as she heard him murmur her name—“Eden, baby, come for me”—it pushed her over the edge. She felt the explosion pulse through her, convulsing her for what felt like minutes. She was hardly aware of her surroundings, but she felt him thrusting into her again and again and then he was coming too, pulling her down toward his chest, wrapping his arms around her as his own orgasm rocked through him. In that moment, Eden knew he was right—she had nothing to fear with Sebastian by her side.
Epilogue
Six months later
Eden hung up the phone with a huff. As much as she was happy to be having a wedding in the highlands of Scotland, it added that extra level of complication that she supposed all brides had to deal with in some way or another. Add Mara to the equation, who had not only turned into a bridezilla
organizing
her own wedding, but also managed to turn into the maid of
honor
from hell. Both Sebastian and Eden wanted a small wedding and Eden spent most of her time trying to explain to Mara why a small wedding could still be a good wedding. As far as Mara was concerned, why get married at all if it wasn’t going to be a huge event? She sighed and glanced across the office to Sebastian’s desk, where he was on the phone while staring at his computer screen.
In just a few short weeks, she would be Mrs. Stone, sharing a life with the man of her dreams. Since the attack, the walls that Sebastian had kept so firmly around his life had dropped for Eden. In the days she’d spent in the hospital, he’d sat by her bed recounting stories of his childhood, his boarding school days, how he’d started his company with the funds he’d managed to save from underground boxing events in London. When they came home to his—now their—
apartment
, he’d kept the office as a surprise until the next day. Her desk and computer were set up ready and he had explained how much he wanted to share his life with her, in all aspects. Hence the shared office.
He still struggled at times to let her in, as did she. Especially when it came to subjects that he thought he needed to protect her from. Like Joachim Benedict. Despite the pile of evidence the police would have against Joachim, should she decide to press charges, both Sebastian and Eden knew he would find a way out of it. With Eden’s past, it would have been easy to tear her apart in court. Add to that the fact that Joachim had threatened to press charges against both Eden and Sebastian for attacking him, despite the fact that it was a flat out lie, made the use of traditional forms of judicial punishment unappealing to her.
Sebastian had taken the news well, much too well for Eden. She’d barely been able to convince him not to go out and
pummel
Joachim to a pulp while she was still in the hospital. Then a few weeks after she’d been home, Sebastian had received a phone call that he took into another room, something he rarely did anymore. After that, he’d
reassured
her that Joachim would be dealt with and she had nothing to fear. All she could get from him was that it was all legal, technically, and nothing would reflect back onto them.
Sebastian had also revealed the full truth about Simona, that she was currently in rehab somewhere on the outskirts of London and, for once, it wasn’t him who had put her there. He was no longer bailing her out and her brother had taken over that role once Sebastian made it clear to him how far Simona’s obsession with him had gone. That was good enough for Eden and she wasn’t so spiteful that she didn’t feel bad for Simona. The girl simply had latched on to Sebastian in a way she thought might bring her happiness one way or another.
The buzzer sounded and Eden gestured to Sebastian to sit back down as she made her way out of the office. “
Center
piece samples that Mara wants me to look at again,” she explained when he still insisted and stood up to go with her.
Appeased, he sat back down and she made a face at him. Despite everything they had gone through, Sebastian still remained a controlling alpha male, a side of him that Eden adored as much as she fought against him at times.
“I have a Mrs. Maxwell down here. She says you’ll know what it’s about?” The doorman’s voice came clearly through the intercom.
What was her mother doing here?
“Yes, let her up, please.” Eden clutched her stomach, desperately running through reasons why her mother would be here. What other Machiavellian moves had her parents been up to? They knew about Joachim’s attack, yet hadn’t been in
contact
with her at all, despite a text from her mother asking her to put an end to “all this ridiculous nonsense with the
rumors
about a marriage to Sebastian.”
That had been five months ago.
Eden ran down the hall, waving at Sebastian to end the phone call. Responding to the panic on her face, Sebastian came around the desk.
“My mother’s here. She’s on her way up.”
“Fuck!” Sebastian ran his hands through his hair. “I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
“Come to what? What do you think she wants? She hasn’t been in
contact
with me for five months and
suddenly
she’s on our doorstep.”
“That’s not entirely true. Your father’s been in
contact
with me several times. Well, his lawyer has, more specifically.”
“What?” Eden screeched at him. “Why is his lawyer contacting you and why the hell haven’t you told me?”
“He’s been in
contact
because they’re desperate. The indictments against your father have started and he’s been trying to me sue for various things. Obviously unsuccessfully. Your mother turning up must mean things have gotten pretty bad.”
“Shit, shit, shit, shit!”
Sebastian raised his eyebrows at Eden. She rarely swore and the words fell awkwardly out of her mouth. The doorbell rang and their time was up.
“Eden, whatever she’s here for, it doesn’t matter. They’ve got nothing they can hurt you with anymore. I’ve made sure of that, love.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Eden hadn’t seen her mother since their upsetting brunch all those months ago. She was saddened to see how haggard the older woman looked, standing in the doorway of the
apartment
.
“I know you probably don’t want to see me, but please, hear me out.”
Eden stepped back, gesturing for her mother to come in. Her emotions were all over the place. On the one hand, she wanted to rant at her mother for being nothing but unsupportive for most of her life, culminating in trying to force her to marry a man who ultimately put her in the hospital and might have killed her had Sebastian not arrived, but on the other hand, the woman standing in front of Eden was still her mother and her heart stuck in her throat to think of her suffering.
“What do you want, Mother?” Eden kept her voice calm as she addressed her.
“I…I’ve come to ask for your help. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but things are really quite difficult at the moment, financially and otherwise.”
Sebastian scoffed, his cold glare piercing through his future mother-in-law.
“That’s putting it mildly!” Mrs. Maxwell glared at him. “Does he need to be here? This is really a family matter.”
Eden’s temper began to flare. “Well, from what I’ve learned, you and Daddy have had no qualms about trying to squeeze money out of him in the past few months, so yes, he needs to be here. He’s my fiancé and hence my family. So why are you here? You don’t really expect Sebastian to bail you out, do you?” Is this really what her mother had been resorted to? Simply begging, even to those she had hurt so badly?
“We’ve had to sell all the properties, we’re
sharing
a car, and we’ve had to scale down to a Volvo. I’ve even sold my diamonds. You have no idea how desperate we are.”
Sebastian moved from the kitchen, where he had been leaning on the island, to come to Eden’s side. “Actually, I’m pretty clear how desperate you are. After you started trying to sue me, I did some looking into your finances. And yes, you are really in trouble, my dear. I also found out that you tried to renege Eden’s trust by attempting to have her involuntarily committed due to her, how did you phrase it in your application?—ah yes—diminished mental capacity and erratic harmful
behavior
. Good thing Dr. Shepherd can’t be bought so easily.”
Mrs. Maxwell’s face went white at Sebastian’s words.
“You tried to have me committed?” Eden’s voice came out shakier than she had hoped.
“Please, Eden, your
behavior
has been out of control—your accusations against Joachim, this ridiculous engagement with that man, and yes, we needed your trust money. What did you expect us to do?”
Eden couldn’t control it any longer. She had hoped her mother would show contrition, even regret at how she had treated Eden and Sebastian, but instead, she was once again seeing her parents’ true
colors
.
“What do I expect you to do? I expect you to treat me like your daughter, to love me, to care for me, with no strings attached, no requirements to be met in order for me to deserve your love. My whole life you’ve treated me as an investment, one to be monitored to ensure maximum yield. And now when I don’t comply, you try to get me committed—you literally are trying to pull your money out of an investment gone wrong! I expect you to leave, to disappear from my life and never
contact
me again. That’s what I expect you to do.” With those final words, Eden opened the
apartment
door and stared at her mother, daring her to respond.
Mrs. Maxwell stopped in the doorframe, obviously willing to give one last attempt to pull on Eden’s heartstrings. “Eden, I’m begging you, please help us. We’ve got nothing left, no one to turn to. No one else will help us. We have no one who will help us.” The older woman’s eyes were brimming with tears as she clutched her purse to her chest.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Eden smirked at her mother.
“W…what’s funny?” Her mother stepped back, disturbed by the look on Eden’s face.
“I imagine those are very similar words to the ones Eliza Stone must have said to you all those years ago, right before you slammed the door on her and her son. Karma’s a bitch, Mother.” Eden stared at the closed door. She felt Sebastian come behind her but still didn’t turn around.
“Darling, I didn’t tell you because I knew nothing would come of them meddling with us, with you. I didn’t want to upset you unnecessarily. They didn’t
contact
you, they never asked about you. I wanted to protect you from them. That’s my job, always. To keep you safe. I messed up with Joachim and I told you I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.” Sebastian grasped her shoulders and made to turn her around. “Eden, stop ignoring me.”
“I’m not ignoring you. I’m trying to figure out how easy it will be to take time off work so we can fly to Vegas today.”
“Vegas?”
“Yes, for our wedding.”
“I thought we were getting married in Scotland. In four weeks.”
“No, we’re getting married in Vegas, tonight. Change of plans.”
Sebastian threw back his head and laughed. Eden grinned up at him, pleased to see that he wasn’t disappointed he wasn’t going to have to wear a kilt.
“Is that really what you want, love?”
“Well, I don’t really want to have to call Mara and tell her that all her hard work was for nothing, and she’ll never forgive me for eloping, but yes, Vegas is really what I want.” She reached up and held Sebastian’s face in her hands. “I’ve been trying for over two years to follow a dream, to start a life where I was living for myself, and I
realized
that I’m there. I’ve got everything that I want—the man of my dreams, a family, a home, a job I enjoy that hasn’t been chosen for me. I’m not waiting another day just so I can have an elaborately expensive party that neither of us is going to particularly enjoy because we’ll both just be waiting to get on the plane for our honeymoon. I want to become your wife tonight, as soon as possible. So, Vegas it is.”
****
Sebastian looked down at Eden as she tightened her hand on his arm. Her other hand was holding the bouquet of white roses they had bought from the Marilyn Monroe at the front desk. They had also opted for the bubble machine for when they walked out as a married couple. The bouquet was actually pretty elegant, considering there had been the option to have
LED
flashing lights inserted between the flowers, but Eden had laughed and suggested that perhaps
that
was a bit too much.