Page 35 of Little Do You Know

He’s wearing a thin white T-shirt and shorts with apparent bedhead. It’s annoying how sexy he looks, having just woken up.Bash yawns and stretches. His shirt pulls, giving me a glimpse of his Michaelangelo-sculpted abdomen. Seriously? How is it fair he gets to look like that?

“You look like you just woke up,” I reply as Sebastian pulls a glass from one of the cabinets.This angle shows me the ink on his lower back.

“That’s because I did. For your sake, I made sure I put a shirt on. I’d hate to make you feel uncomfortable.” I wish Bash hadn’t put a shirt on.

His dark eyes shine with amusement, and I roll my eyes. “Sure, dude. Whatever you want to tell yourself.”

“Dude? Wow, I’ve made an upgrade since agreeing. Maybe we should have done this a while ago, and we could have avoided you calling me an asshole so many times,” he teases me, and I can’t help but genuinely laugh.

“Maybe. I’m sure you would have given me a reason at some point.”

Bash fills his glass with water, and I refocus on the photographs, trying to nail it down to a few specific ones. I’m not sure what they’re looking for, so I have a few picked out from when I was in Europe that I never sold and one from that night.

I can feel him staring at me. “Is there something you need?” I ask, not looking at where he’s leaning against the counter.

“I’m just watching. You’re very focused. What are you working on?”

I turn my laptop toward Bash so he can look at the ones I’ve selected. “One of the magazines I worked with last year reached out to me about a project. She told me to send whatever I had, and they’d buy what they liked. So now I have to pick a few out, make a few edits, and then send them off.”

I look at Sebastian hesitantly, only to find him looking at them with genuine interest. You can’t fake that. “I don’t know how they’ll pick just one. They’re all incredible. You have an eye for it.”

It’s weird having him praise me. Unnatural is another way it could be described. “Nature is easy. Well, not easy because it has to cooperate, but I prefer it to people.”

“What do you mean?” Bash asks curiously.

“Almost everyone has a face they like to wear for whatever reason, but the camera can see past it. It captures people for who they really are, and sometimes it’s not for the better. I don’t enjoy it as much.” I admit slowly. I’ve seen some convincing people, but a picture can’t lie. “Is Owen mad at Brooks?”

“For what?” Sebastian asks, looking at me with a neutral expression. It’s so different from his facial expression a moment ago that I feel bad for even asking him about this.

“For what he said about me being the perfect girl. Chris looked worriedly at Owen. Do…” I don’t know how to word this without sounding conceited. “The guys on the team don’t talk about me, right?”

He rubs his hands over his face, groaning. “Thalia, you don’t want to know the answer.”

“Please just tell me. I’m so tired of not knowing who is actually my friend and who is faking it to get something from me.”

Sebastian looks uncomfortable as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Look, I know that Brooks mentioned being interested in you. He was out of line today, but Brooks is harmless. Most guys on the team use common sense to know that you’re off limits, so not much is said about you. That’s a good thing. I’d probably never see the field with how many fights Owen would get himself into if you were a regular topic of conversation,” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t think Owen is wrong to worry. You never know what people are capable of, so if I were you, I wouldn’t accept a drink from anyone. Stick to making them yourself; it’s safer that way.”

“Thanks.” I already make my own drinks, but Sebastian doesn’t need to know that story.

“Don’t thank me,” he says quickly, looking conflicted. “I agreed to have sex with you to get this out of our systems, but I’m no better than Brooks. I’m smarter than him by not saying anything in front of Owen, but I’m no better than him.” What? Does he really think that about himself?

“You shouldn’t think like that.” Surprised, I look at him. “Bash, I know we don’t always get along, but I don’t think it’s comparable.”

Bash takes a few steps back, looking nervously at the hallway Owen could potentially come down. I highly doubt it because he always sleeps through everything. “Why shouldn’t I? I can’t say that I haven’t used a girl purely for her body to suit my own needs. I mean, look at what the hell we’re doing. This isn’t fair to you.”

“Fair to me? I’m the one that asked you, so if anyone is doing the using here, it’s me. Are you backing out?” I’m almost afraid he’s going to say he is.

He braces his hands behind his head, turning away from me. “I fucking should, but I can’t. Lia, you are the worst kind of distraction for me right now. You were right. I do need to get whatever this is out of my system.”

I’ve never had to plan out sex before. It’s weird and different. “Tomorrow. Owen is going with Blake to check out a potential internship. I have class until eleven and am free the rest of the afternoon. Let’s get it over with,” I say bluntly because he has been driving me absolutely crazy. The anticipation is killing me, and I’m terrified by how much I want him.

Sebastian sighs before smiling faintly. “I don’t have anything tomorrow. Works for me.”

I close the lid of my computer. “If you don’t want to do this, we don’t have to. I don’t want to make you feel pressured to have sex with me.”

“You have this so off base. I want this so badly. This is a line I don’t know if we can come back from. I think I’m going to miss you calling me an asshole,” he admits, stepping close to me. Sebastian cups my face in his large hands. “Don’t think for a second that you’re pressuring me into this.”

“I can still call you an asshole. Sebastian est un connard.” Sebastian lets out a soft laugh, and just when I think Bash will kiss me, he presses his lips softly against my forehead. I’d give anything for him to kiss me on the lips right now.That’s all I’ve been thinking about the past few days.

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