The Billionaire’s Burden(9)

“You should have seen Buckingham Palace.” Alissa sighed dreamily, leaning against her palm towards Karina, “It was a dream, and the weather was lovely.”

“I’m sure it was miraculous, dear.” The woman answered boredly, smile painted on her face.

I always jealous of that painstakingly fake contentment on Karina’s face towards Alissa, all I ever got was snotty smugness.

“Oh it was, Karina, we all wished you were there to join us.” Alissa purred, sipping her merlot.

George finally tore his eyes from the woman’s cleavage to wave over a waiter.

I glanced sideways at Sebastian as he let out a long yawn, stifling it with his tan hand.

“Hanging in there?” I asked quietly, leaning slightly towards my husband to whisper in his ear.

A grim smile twitched faintly on his lips as he nodded, “I am, but I’m ready to bail on this dinner.” He added under his breath, “I’m not hungry.”

I shook my head quickly, perhaps even more eager to escape the hellish depths of his family than he was, “Me neither.”

“Good.” He nodded, his arm withdrawing from behind my shoulders as he leaned forward across the table.

“Well, this has been lovely, but I really must be getting my sleep now.” Sebastian announced, standing up as he reached out to take my hand and help me up, “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow, Father.”

“Do you really have to go, Bast?” Karina asked, red lips almost pouting if she could have shown that much emotion, “Really?”

“I do, Mother.” Sebastian said as he walked around the table to press his lips against her cheek, “But I’ll call you tomorrow for lunch.”

“You better.” Karina sighed, not acknowledging me as I gathered my things, not that I expected her to really.

Sebastian shook hands with his father and moved to kiss Alissa’s cheek as he’d done with his mother when the redhead snatched his tie in her hands, holding his face close to hers.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bast.” She murmured with a wink, before allowing the tie slip from her hand as Sebastian straightened.

He cleared his throat, avoiding my wide eyed stare as we waved a final goodbye and headed out the doors towards his car.

The questions piled within me, burning my tongue as I bit back the urge to interrogate him. What was that about? Why did Alissa think it was okay to be so intimate with another woman’s husband, especially when that woman was right in front of her?

Had anything happened in London?

As we slid into his fancy vehicle, I watched him carefully from the corner of my eye.

“Did anything…interesting happen while you were overseas?” I asked, struggling to keep my tone as cool as possible. I didn’t want him to think I was a jealous freak or anything.

“Nope.” He replied, tone just calm and collected. He offered no further details than that.

“I was pretty surprised I didn’t hear from you.” I offered, unsure exactly where I was taking this conversation. I could feel it spinning out of my control already.

“Did you want to hear from me?” He asked, turning his head just slightly my way, his eyes glancing towards me for just a second off the road.

Outside my window, the lights flashed by one by one, illuminating his strong, square jaw with golden light. Even in the darkness of evening, I could see the blue steely glint of his beautiful eyes.

“No,” I responded hurriedly, embarrassment flushing my cheeks with a pink he couldn’t see, “I was just surprised.”

“Ah.” He hummed, once again going quiet.

Were we ever going to be less awkward with each other?

While I contributed the heavy, tense silence to the both of us being exhausted, I could feel there was more to it lurking below the surface, boiling away. At some point, it was going to explode.

“Listen,” I began awkwardly, holding up my hands helplessly, “I went and saw the bakery and…and it’s doing really well but I want to change some things.” I began, stumbling over my words as though they were boulders falling in my path.

Why was I talking about this now, when he was clearly exhausted and slightly cranky? I had been planning on waiting longer to spring this one him.

My mouth however, would not stop the piles of word vomit that kept spewing forth. So much for patience.

“I just want to change some things, maybe spend more time out there. I miss being behind the counter. I miss the customers.” Not that I’d had many customers, that is, “You know how it is, it just feels like I’m not involved at all anymore and-“

“Macy.” Sebastian interrupted, not looking my way, “Just do what you want.”