Page 37 of Overnight Inheritance

So all he said was, “You’re an ass,” and then pushed past him and out the door. Finding Mae was all he cared about. Any interaction with his father would have left her feeling awful, which meant he didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, as her note had suggested. He needed to check if she was okay today. Now. If she really didn’t want to talk, then he could wait, but only when he knew she was fine.

As he stepped out of the building onto the sidewalk, he tried her number again, and she still didn’t answer. So he did the unthinkable. He called Heath.

“Newport,” Heath said on answering, his tone dry. “What adelightfulsurprise.”

He didn’t bother with niceties. “Have you seen Mae today?”

There was silence on the line, and he was just starting to wonder if Heath had walked off without disconnecting to annoy him, when Mae’s voice came on. “Sebastian?”

“Thank goodness,” he said, his shoulders slumping in relief. “I’ve been trying to call.”

“My cell is turned off. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, and I thought you’d be busy for the rest of the day.”

It was so good to hear her voice again. “Where are you?”

She hesitated before admitting, “At Freya’s place in Queens.”

“Can I come over there and see you?”

“You’d better not.” Her voice had dropped to practically a whisper. “Everyone here is pretty anti-Newport at the moment.”

And that was fair. His father made enemies more easily than he made friends. But he still wanted to see her. Emily, the nanny, was having some friends over to his apartment while Alfie was away, so his options were limited. “I’m going back to the office,” he eventually said. “When you’re done at Freya’s, come and see me, no matter how late.”

“I don’t know, Sebastian.” Her voice wavered. “I wanted a bit of time to think it all through.”

“Alfie’s with Amanda and Barry, so I’ll wait the rest of the evening. Hell, I’ll wait all night, just in case you decide to come.”

“I’ll see,” she said and disconnected.

Seb dragged himself back up to his office and closed the door behind him. Mae’s desk was still sitting at the window. He couldn’t imagine his office without it now. What he wouldn’t give to see her there, smiling across at him.

When the rest of the staff left for the night, Seb ordered in dinner and worked through his backlog of paperwork, trying not to check the clock every five minutes.

Just before midnight, Mae arrived.

“Hello,” she said softly from the door. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here this late.”

“Hello,” he said, drinking her in. “I told you I’d wait until morning, if necessary.” She was so beautiful that his chest ached to look at her. “You want to come in?”

She wandered over to her desk and sat on its edge. “Your father said some things to me today,” she said without preamble.

“I heard.” He stayed in his chair, not wanting to spook her away now that she was so close. “I’m sorry about that. It was unforgivable. He’s a despicable human being.”

“No argument from me. He said he dated Sarah when they were younger, and he tried to manipulate the situation to get his hands on the Rutherfords’ half. Something that Heath has confirmed. Did you know about that?” she asked, her chin tipping up.

“I’ve heard the story a few hundred times, yes.”

“He also seemed to think you might be using the same playbook with me.” Her gaze on him was laser sharp as she watched for his reaction, testing his father’s theory against what she could see.

“Mae, after everything we’ve been through so far, you can’t still suspect me of running a long con?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “My mother taught us to be suspicious precisely because of our father, and people like your father.”

“I’m not him.” He speared his fingers through his hair. He didn’t just want to smooth this out so they could move on. He’d never really had anyone in his corner before, someone completely on his side, believing in him. To an extent, Ashley had been, but he kept her shielded from a lot of his family stuff, so she hadn’t needed to take a stand by his side. With Mae, it was as if his chest had been ripped open from the start, with his beating heart on offer to her, vulnerable to her. More than anything, he wanted her to see him for who he really was. To look into his heart and know. To believe him. Believe in him.

He stood and crossed the distance to her desk. Not wanting to touch her yet, to risk swaying her through their chemistry, he shoved his hands in his pockets and left a couple of feet between them.

“I realized today that I love you, Mae. The only other person in my life I’ve ever really loved this much is Alfie, and I thought that was different because it’s how you feel about your child. But, Mae, I love you with the same intensity. I’d die for you. I know you think we’ve been going too fast, and I’m not expecting you feel the same, because it’s too soon for you.” He paused, sucked in a breath and opened his heart to her. “All I want is for you to see me. Neither of my parents ever saw me, and I’d kept parts of myself hidden from Ashley, so she never had the chance to see me even if she’d wanted to. You’ve been different from the start, though. I’ve kept nothing hidden. I need you to see the real me and that I’m nothing like my father.”

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