Page 33 of Overnight Inheritance

“Fixes everything?” She tried to put all that together in her head, but it didn’t add up. She took a slug of coffee, set the cup on the side table, and said, “Okay, explain that to me.”

He twisted so he was completely facing her. “If we’re married, then there’s no question of motives anymore. We’d be on the same team. It won’t be the Rutherford-Dunstan family versus the Newport family, it would just be Mae and Seb, the dynamic duo.” His eyes filled with enthusiasm, and he tugged on her hand, inviting her to join his excitement. “When you split your inheritance with Heath, you could ask for Joseph’s shares of Bellavista, and once my father retires, the two of us would own the entire company. I’ll help you learn everything you need to know, and we can run it together. And Alfie and our future kids will inherit the combined company.”

Mae stared at him with growing horror. “Is this a proposal for a marriage or a proposal for a business merger?”

He shrugged that away, seemingly unconcerned. “Why can’t we have the best of both worlds?”

The coffee in her stomach turned sour. Was there a chance that she’d been right in her suspicions at the start? That he was playing a long con, and this was another step in his plan? “Sebastian,” she said slowly, “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

He stilled, the passion in his eyes ebbing. “You seemed to like being with me, though.”

“Sure, but that’s not really enough to be considering a lifelong commitment.” And it felt weird to even have to spell that out.

“It’s all relative. Ashley and I grew to love each other more once we were married, but if I compare my feelings at the time of making a commitment...” He shrugged one shoulder. “I already feel closer to you than when she and I got engaged.”

There was silence in the room for several beats as she wondered if this was what rich people were really like—very little about how rich people operated made sense to her—or if this was just a Sebastian thing. Either way, this conversation was getting surreal. He really was speaking as though he believed intimate relationships were transactional. She needed a moment to think, and this wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have while she was naked and he was dressed. Stepping from the bed, she slipped on her underwear and the lilac dress, then, taking his hand, drew him to the armchairs off to the side.

“I haven’t had a committed relationship before,” she said once they were seated. “It didn’t seem right when I couldn’t share the truth about who I was and knowing we might have to move with little notice again, so I kept things light when I was involved with someone. So, I’m definitely no expert, but, Sebastian, I don’t think this is how proposals are supposed to work.”

His gaze on her was unwavering. “Well, I’ve only ever done the one proposal before now, so I’m no expert either, but I think they should work however we want them to work. It’s just between us.”

So many thoughts were crowding her brain that it was difficult to separate them. She tucked her hair behind her ears. “You’ve raised a few different things here, and they seem to be all tangled together.” The only thing to do really was to address them one by one, and the easiest one to start with was the company. “Sebastian, I don’t want to work at Bellavista. Being a businessperson is who you are, but it’s not who I am.”

He tipped his chin. “You just asked to come back for another week,” he said, surprised. “I’ve seen you in the office, and you clearly love it. Plus, Rosario tells me that all the people you met so far only had great things to say about you. You’re a natural.”

Rosario was lovely to have passed nice feedback about her to Sebastian, but working in an office for the rest of her career, chasing profits instead of doing good, going to meetings with those smug, hungry lawyers and people like them, sounded awful. “A main reason is I wanted to follow up on Larry—I’m the sort of person who finishes what I start. And—” she glanced down, butterflies filling her stomach “—to be completely honest, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to you.”

It shouldn’t have been awkward to say, not after he’d just proposed, but his idea of marriage was about business, and she was admitting something deeper. But then he was there, kneeling in front of her, and he tipped up her chin with one finger. She looked into his deep blue eyes, and found herself trapped by the emotion there.

“Mae,” he said, his voice gentle, “I told you that you could ask for anything you wanted. You didn’t have to invent a story about coming into the office. Why not just ask to keep seeing me?”

“I thought that was just about...” She didn’t want to say aloud that she thought he’d only been talking about sex, in case she’d misjudged him.

“It’s about everything,” he said simply.

Unable to help herself, she leaned forward, and he met her halfway. The kiss was sweet and soft and full of tenderness and promises.

When they pulled apart, she laid her hand on the side of his face. “Here’s a counteroffer. What you and I have had so far has been hurried and clandestine. What I’d really like is for us to start dating. I appreciate that part of your reasoning for the marriage proposal was to protect me, but it’s been just over a week since we met, Sebastian. Regular people don’t get married that quickly.”

He huffed out a laugh. “You might be right. Okay, dating it is.” He leaned in and kissed her again and then murmured against her lips, “What time is checkout?”

“I arranged a late checkout when I booked the room last night.”

His eyes widened comically. “Miss Dunstan, were you planning on seducing me this morning?”

“You bet I am,” she said and let him lead her back to the bed.

Three weeks into their new dating arrangement, Mae decided to surprise Sebastian for lunch. They’d managed to spend some time together most days, getting to know each other more like a normal couple, and she’d spent some time with Alfie, too. She and Sebastian had managed to have lunch a couple of times a week, and dinner at his place after Alfie went to bed, and he’d left a few gaps in his daily schedule to meet up with her. She hadn’t stayed the night with him, though. After his proposal, she was wary of sending mixed signals, so she was trying to keep them firmly in the “just dating” territory. But the warm call of his body every day was making it harder to say no, and to leave his apartment and head home.

She’d spent the rest of her time with either Heath or Sarah, dealing with the rest of their inheritance. On Thursday, she’d passed the morning at the office of their charitable trust, which was easily her favorite of the offices, and had some free time before an afternoon meeting with Sarah.

There were options to fill her time, but she was always itching to see Sebastian nowadays...

In the past, if things were going this well, she would have split and run because she was raised to believe that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. She was trying to be optimistic, though. To believe in Sebastian. Believe in the two of them together.

So she drew in a breath and decided to drop in and see him in her free window of time.

When she reached Rosario’s desk, the other woman was on the phone. Mae put the cappuccino she’d brought in front of her, and when Rosario held up a finger, Mae nodded and stood back to wait. She put the call on hold. “It’s great to see you, Mae.”

---