Page 22 of A Reluctant Boy Toy
I gave a disgusted huff. “Here it comes.”
“Apparently, this past of yours has led him to believe you’d go to any lengths to get what you want. Frankly, what he said troubles me, considering what happened to change today’s shooting schedule.”
“Keep the food. I’m not hungry anymore.” I turned back the way I came.
“Sebastian, I said hold on.” The words came like a whip crack. “I can’t see you as the kind of guy who’d purposely hurt someone, but—”
“You seriously think I’d throw some girls into poison oak so I could have the night off?”
“Christ.” He flinched. “I didn’t need to hear you say the words out loud.”
“Hear this: I wouldneverhurt someone selfishly like that.”
“Right.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Right. God, who’d do something that drastic just to have dinner with me?”
Oh Christ. “Look. Ask anyone. It’s no secret I’m super antisocial on set, but I was really disappointed we had to cancel our plans. I enjoyed talking with you, and I wanted more time with Hades and Persephone.” I admitted all this freely. It felt dangerous to be vulnerable with anyone, not just Stone, but I wanted him to hear it. “Would I knowinglycontractpoison oak to get out of work? Maybe. But I wouldn’t give it to someone else. Not ever.”
“So, you’re not a monster, you’re an idiot?” A small smile gave a grim twist to his lips.
“Okay, well.” I stood and patted the picnic basket on the table. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Come back here,” he growled the words.
It still felt safer to go. Did he really believe I’d be capable of hurting my cast mates?
“I gather you were making this video?” He picked up his phone and gestured me over to play the TikTok we’d shot earlier. He enlarged a part of the image. “That plant there? Take a good look. Leaves of three—”
“I know what poison oak looks like.” I took a seat opposite him. “Honestly, I should have spotted it right away. Thing is, Maddie and her friends normally pretend I don’t exist. So when she and her minions wanted me to drop what I was doing and join in, I expected some prank and—”
“That happen often?” He narrowed his startling blue eye.
“Not often. But it’s hard to know what’s coming with them.” Hazing, I knew, occurred in organizations all over the world. If I was bullied more because of my past, that was life.
Stone held a highball glass of amber liquid in one hand and scrolled through his phone with the other. A bottle of Maker’s Mark sat on the table.
“Did you get started without me?” I pointed out the booze.
He glanced up guiltily. “I was having a celebratory drink. Ariel had her baby, and I was looking at pictures.”
“She’s your sister-in-law?”
“Yup. I’m a brand-new uncle. Taggart’s alternating between overwhelmed and hopeful.”
“Tell me about that.” Most people wanted to talk if I stayed out of the way.
“Oh God. Well.” He took a sip. “Imagine you’ve spent your entire life gaining competence in your field. You’ve fought in a war. You feel pretty good about yourself. Then, you suddenly become responsible for a tiny, fragile, hopelessly inarticulate bundle of skin and bones and ganglia and for some reason you can’t fathom, the second you see this weak, droopy little body it becomes the most important thing in your life.”
I breathed in awe. “You’re talking about you.”
He glanced up, surprised, as though maybe he’d said more than he intended. “Look. Her name is Artemis. Isn’t she sweet?”
I looked at the angry red creature and knew I’d probably never be able to understand. “What’s it like the first few nights? What’s your brother doing right now?”
“Not sleeping. That’s for fucking sure.” He stared into the distance, but I knew if I turned, I wouldn’t find whatever it was he saw. He drained his glass. “Fatherhood is truly the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced.”
I studied Stone’s strong, capable hands. Let my gaze drift upward, past the corded muscles of his forearms and the breadth of his wide shoulders. Then I came to his face. Half his face was objectively gorgeous, and the other half carried those horrible scars…
Ababywas the most frightening thing this man had ever experienced?
