Natalie snuggled into his tight embrace and pondered her options. After some hesitation, she decided it would be better to just ask him directly instead of repeatedly overthinking matters without reaching a conclusion.
“You and Brandon… Are you…” Her voice was so quiet that Sebastian had to lean close to hear her properly.
“Are we what?” he prompted.
Natalie took a deep, fortifying breath, then pulled back and looked Sebastian in the eye. “Are you sleeping together?”
Sebastian choked on air with shock. His hold on Natalie slacked as he covered his mouth and coughed violently. He was flushed and out of breath by the time he recovered, and even his ears were burning.
Sean was just as startled by Natalie’s question that he lost control of the steering wheel. The car swerved to the side of the road and almost ran into a tree before he finally got it back on trackSean thumped his fist against his chest and bit his lips in an effort to compose himself.
“Where in the world did you get that idea?” Sebastian asked, his face a mask of disbelief.
It was Natalie’s turn to blush. By all accounts, she was still a conservative and rather pure woman, and this topic was throwing her out of her comfort zone.She lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers nervously.
“When you said you were going to see Brandon, you made it sound like you two are very close. And remember the big fight we had over Christopher? Shortly after, he was transferred to Snape. I heard that Brandon was behind it, but what reason could he possibly have to do that all of a sudden?”
Sebastian let out a short, helpless sigh. “Have you ever considered that it might all be just coincidence?”
“Oh, please. There can’t be so many coincidences happening around me in such a short span of time. Brandon has also helped me numerous times in the company. I only told him a few words regarding that incident with Hannah, and he took care of it right away. Is that still a coincidence?” Natalie was turning frantic.
The more she said the words out loud, the more convinced she was of her presumptions. “Besides, you said so yourself that Brandon isn’t into women, so there’s no way he’s doing these things because he likes me. So why would he go to such lengths for my sake?”
When she put it this way, Sebastian had to admit that she made a lot of sense. He floundered for a moment, unable to come up with anything to refute her claims with. Sean glanced at them through the rearview mirror and snickered under his breath. He silently praised Natalie for her wild imagination.
“You’ve misunderstood everything. It’s not what you think.” Sebastian closed his eyes and rubbed his nose. He racked his brains for a reasonable explanation, all to no avail. Worse, Natalie thought he was being nonchalant about the matter.
“Well, why don’t you make it clear to me, then?” she demanded.
“Not to mention that you and Brandon were holed up in the men’s bathroom earlier. You were right there when he went inside, weren’t you? You stayed there for minutes on end!”
What the hell had they been doing?
Thoughts of the two men locked in an embrace had already been swirling in Natalie’s head, and she couldn’t bear to think any further into the possibilities. Sebastian blinked at her, both impressed and appalled at her creativity.
“I didn’t see Brandon,” he said, following it up with a silent curse at Garrett. He shouldn’t have gone along with the bastard’s plan in the first place. Sebastian had practically just shot his own foot with it.
Natalie heaved a deep sigh. She didn’t believe a single word he said. She fell back wearily against her seat and looked out the window again.They had arrived at their neighborhood at this point, and the car slowly came to a halt in front of their apartment building
Wasting no time, Natalie threw her door open and rushed outside, leaving Sebastian staring at her back. She burst into their home and angrily tossed her mask into the trash bin, feeling upset for some reason. Despite their intimacy and relative closeness, she felt as though she knew nothing about Sebastian at all.
He came through the door just a few moments later. He had taken off his suit jacket and draped it over his arm. Sebastian discarded
it to the side, then strode over to Natalie and pulled her into his arms. His face was serious, and his tone was firm when he said, “I promise you, it’s not what you think. I can’t give you a proper explanation right now,but I need you to trust me when I say that you are mistaken.”
Natalie made a feeble attempt to struggle against his grasp, but she could only look up at him in the end. He didn’t seem to be lying, but she couldn’t dispel her doubts just yet.
“How can I trust you?” she challenged.
Sebastian’s eyes immediately darkened at that, and he leaned close until their breaths mingled.
“I can prove it to you,” he whispered.
The burning lust in his eyes made Natalie swallow. Without warning, Sebastian picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.
The next thing Natalie knew, her back was on the mattress, and his hot, hard body was pressing on top of her.
Sebastian grabbed her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist before trapping her wrists above her head. He held them in place with one hand, while the other traveled down to her chest, squeezing her soft flesh as he sucked on her lower lip
“I can prove to you right here, right now, that I’m only interested in women,” he said, his voice dangerously low.
“I can prove it to you any time you want. I’m just not sure that you can handle it.”