Page 45 of Overnight Inheritance

“Sebastian, what changed between us today? I know it was wrong to show up like that, and I wish I could take it back, that we could start today again. You were right that it turned into a test, but you have to believe that’s not what I meant it to be.”

He turned to look out over the expansive views and twinkling lights, but she had a feeling he wasn’t seeing any of it. A slight breeze rumpled his hair, and she yearned to reach over and smooth it.

“You told me once,” he finally said, turning back to her, “that you’d never had a committed relationship before, and I thought at the time that it would be me. I’d be the one you’d fall in love with and commit to.” A deep groove appeared between his brows. “But I don’t think it will be. Maybe it’s the way you grew up, always keeping people on the outside of your core family. Not trusting anyone completely except Heath, and maybe now Sarah, and having to keep your guard up around everyone else. I wish it weren’t this way, but I think I’ll always be part of ‘everyone else.’”

“How can you possibly think that?” she said, dumbfounded by the direction of his thoughts.Thisis what was troubling him? “I’ve let you in so much.”

He pinned her with an intense stare. “Do you love me, Mae?”

She hesitated. How did you even know if you were in love? She had feelings for him, absolutely, but he was right that she’d never formed a deep attachment to anyone outside her family—they moved around far too often when she was growing up for that. So if she’d never loved before, how could she even recognize it now?

Sebastian nodded. “There’s my answer. I’ve said from early on that I’d give you anything.Everything. But it hasn’t been a two-way street, has it? You’ve wanted to keep things light between us, and I don’t mind going slow if that’s what you need, but, Mae, I don’t get a sense that you truly believe we’re going somewhere. You’ve been testing me in a range of ways since we met. Always asking if I’m conning you, or trying to trip me up, or bringing your brother to my office to demand to see an old document. I can’t build a life with someone who’s always expecting the worst of me. I’ve had two parents who saw me that way. It would destroy me to spend my life with someone else who did.”

Her stomach turned. “I don’t think the worst of you. I think you’re amazing.”

“Can you really deny it?” he challenged. “Deny that every time something happened between us, that your first thought was you couldn’t trust me for some reason? That I was trying to con you or manipulate you in some way?”

She ran back through the time they’d been together, and her doubts, and her fears about trusting him, and she had to admit that it was true—every time something had happened, she’d questioned his motivations, either in her head or by asking him directly. And, looking at it from his perspective, that had been grossly unfair. He was a good man, and he’d shown her over and over that he could be trusted.

“I’ll do better.” She leaned forward and reached for his hand across the table. He took it and squeezed her fingers, holding tight. “I can change.”

“I have Alfie, Mae,” he said and released her hand. “Taking on a serious relationship based on a promise that the other person can change is a risk I can’t take. He’s already lost his mother. I don’t want to be casual with you for a couple of years, have Alfie come to love you and then find that I don’t pass some test you’ve given me, and you leave. Alfie would be devastated all over again.”

Panic was rising from her toes all the way up through her body, and she swallowed hard, trying to contain it. Was he really saying that it was over? Thattheywere over?

“Where does that leave us?” she asked and bit down on her lip to stop it from trembling. “Do you still love me?”

He sighed, and it was a bone-deep, sad and weary sound. “I can’t turn it off like a faucet, so yes, I still love you. But this relationship isn’t going to work for me. We need to end things here, tonight.”

Her chest started to crumble in on itself, folding into blackness, disappearing, threatening to suck down and destroy her.

Sebastian’s cell sounded from his jacket pocket. He never ignored a call when Alfie wasn’t with him, so she wasn’t surprised when he drew it out and looked at the screen.

“It’s my father’s number,” he said, frowning, but he didn’t move to take the call.

“Are you going to answer it?”

“Can’t see the point,” he said, and his finger moved to dismiss the call.

“Answer,” she said quickly. “Don’t get caught in regret later. If he acts like a jerk, then disconnect, but at least answer.” Sebastian had already lost so much today. If there was a chance that his father had realized what he’d done and wanted to make amends, then she didn’t want Sebastian to miss the opportunity to lose one less thing.

He frowned at her, looked down at his screen, and then answered.

Mae tried to give him some privacy by looking at the panoramic view, but his voice, unusually staccato, broke through. He was already standing as he disconnected.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“The hospital found my number on my father’s phone when they were looking for a next of kin. He’s had a heart attack. He’s not conscious but they’re working on him.”

“Oh, God.”

“Look, I have to go.” He moved around to her chair and bent to press a kiss to her cheek. “If you need me, you know where to reach me.”

“It’s not like we won’t ever see each other—you have a house next door to my aunt’s,” she said lightly, unable to bear the tension surrounding them.

He gave her a tight smile. “Be happy, Mae.”

And then he left, taking a part of her with him.

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