“We completed our missions,” Rachel said softly. “We did what we set out to do.”
“And had our hearts broken in the process.”
“Yes…”
Penny pulled Rachel closer and closed her eyes. Tears, those damn tears, were threatening again but she could not allow them to fall. She had to remember her own words. It was never going to happen. And she had to be strong for her sister, for all of them. “It’s all going to be okay,” she whispered. “It—”
Someone knocked on the door.
Penny shot up, her first thought that it was Lyra, but then Lyra would have used the key. So who? Not a neighbor because that was rare. Not a bill collector because they wouldn’t dare risk coming into this block. Who? She turned and shared a look with her sister and almost wept when she saw the hope outlined in her eyes. She wants it to be Rimeria.
And Penny wanted it to be Sebastian.
Never had she wanted anything as much. The suit of armor fell completely away, leaving her open and raw and bleeding. She missed him. She wanted him. It was not going to get better. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. Sebastian was the man she was supposed to be with. The man she was going to ache for forever. The man who she loved…fuck.
But it wasn’t going to be him she told herself. Not after you left him thinking you’d only ever wanted the money. That he was nothing more than a mark. Who would want anyone after that?
“Rachel,” she said, her breath hitching. “Maybe you should go in the bedroom.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know who it is.”
Rachel shook her head. “I’ll stay with you. Don’t treat me like I’m fragile. I’m not. Not anymore.”
“I know that but—”
“Just open the damn door, Pen.”
“You know it won’t be him,” she said. And it won’t be Sebastian.
Rachel nodded even as her eyes swam. “Yes.”
So Penny opened the door to their little flat and looked out. She gasped. Hope filled her; the breath left her body like someone had punched it out. Her heart seemed to stop and then race, and heat swamped her. It couldn’t be… She felt dizziness hit and had to steady herself on the doorframe.
Not Rimeria.
Not a neighbor.
Not even a bill collector.
Only the man it seemed she’d been waiting forever for. “Sebastian….”
Chapter Twenty-Six
She looked amazing. Like nothing had changed since the moment he’d stupidly thrown her out of his house and so just for a moment he drank the sight of her in. Drank it and savored it and even more amazingly he did so without thinking with his cock. It was his heart that the blood was flowing to as well as his dick.
But then he looked closer and saw that actually much had changed. She looked thinner, if possible even paler and her eyes weren’t the cat’s eyes he remembered. They weren’t spitting fire they were just…hooded, guarded.
She was sad. She was mad. She was beautiful and how he wanted her.
“Sebastian,” she breathed and heat flashed through him, hope filling him up. She said his name like a caress and it wound around him, making the hard weeks melt away.
“Angelos.”
Her eyes widened, she gripped the doorframe, and then it seemed she gave herself a little shake. She straightened, shot him a look he couldn’t quite decipher, and spoke. “Even I know what that one means. Quite a step from Kleftisa. From gold digging whore.”
“I never called you that.”
“You implied it.”
“Because that was what you wanted me to think!” Deep breath, he thought. Do not rise to the bait. He was here to win her back not to let her keep her barriers. Instead he smiled, the smile he knew melted her panties in a flash and stepped forward.
She frowned, took a step back, and shook her head. “What are you doing here, Sebastian?”
“May I come in?”
“I don’t—”
He sighed and pushed past her—did she really think she was going to get rid of him that easily—only to halt when he saw the blonde standing off to the side. It took him only a moment to realize exactly who she was. “Rachel?” he asked.
The blonde nodded slowly and the action drew attention to her amazing beauty. Nothing like his thief’s of course. It was a soft, gentle sort of beauty whilst Penny was fire and ice and more besides. She was his.
“And you are?” Rachel asked.
“Your sister’s boyfriend.”
A shocked gasp sounded behind him and Sebastian smiled. Progress.
“I see.” Rachel looked from one to the other, eyes wide, a smile teasing her lips. “I should leave you guys to it then. There’s stuff to be done at the centre. We’re serving roast chicken and Lyra will be down there trying to cook it, a fail in the making if ever there was one. I’ll let her know what’s going on.”