It's Only Make-Believe Page 5
"Whites. You think getting it on with a black girl will be exciting. Something different. Exotic even. Been happening since the master slept with the slaves."
"Mr. Jenks—"
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"But my daughter's a real person with real feelings and a family who doesn't want her to get hurt."
"I'm not out to hurt her," Sebastian protested.
"Look, you're probably a nice guy. You're educated, well-off, got a good job as a lawyer. No offense. But my daughter's been in love with Luther Winthrop for a long time, and we'd all kind of like to see that happen between them."
"I see."
Mr. Jenks stood up. "I hope you do. Enjoy the party."
* * * *
Melody finally extricated herself from her mother and her friends to catch up with Sebastian. She'd left him to her family for too long and she was feeling guilty. She found him standing over the fish pond her father had put in the side yard and filled with koi a couple of years ago when he retired.
He had his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants.
She slipped her hand into his arm. "Hi."
He smiled. "Hey there."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave you like that for so long."
"Quite all right. I can handle myself."
Melody stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. "I saw Daddy talking to you."
Sebastian nodded.
"And then Al."
He nodded again.
"Mama, too."
"Right. They all wanted to give me advice."
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Melody froze in the middle of stroking his arm. "Oh, no.
They didn't."
Sebastian grinned. "They did."
"What did they say?" Melody's stomach twisted. She knew her family. They meant well, but whatever they'd said to Sebastian wasn't what she wanted him to hear.
The truth was she was becoming very fond of Sebastian.
Since the first time they had sex they'd seen each other every night. In fact, other than that first night where he hadn't had his contacts, they'd spent their nights together. They hadn't repeated the desk sex, both agreeing that while it was incredible and exciting it wasn't appropriate and definitely wasn't a good idea. But their sex life was on fire.
She had barely given a thought to Luther, which she felt pretty bad about. He'd called once to ask her to go to dinner, and she'd turned him down saying she had to work. Mel hadn't admitted she preferred to see Sebastian.
"Well?" she prodded when he didn't answer.
"Basically they all said while I seemed like a nice enough white guy, they wanted to see you with a nice black guy, preferably named Luther."
"Shit. I'm sorry."
"It's all right. Like I said, I can handle myself."
She shouldn't be surprised, Mel figured. They'd bombarded her with talk of Luther, too. And it wasn't as though she could really blame them. As far as they knew she'd always wanted Luther and wasn't into white men. Only now she definitely was into Sebastian.
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She threw her arms around him and embraced him. "Well, I'm sorry they gave you a hard time just the same." She searched his face. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course."
"Do you still think about that woman you wanted? You know from the restaurant?"
He smiled and shook his head. "Mel, want to know something?"
"Hmm?"
"There never was a waitress at Paolo's who I had the hots for."
Melody blinked. She was incredibly glad. Hell, her heart raced with happiness at the news, but ... "Really? Then why did you say there was?"
Sebastian kissed the tip of her nose. "It was stupid.
Anyway, it no longer matters. There never was such a woman."
She kissed him hard and deeply, suddenly feeling great.
"Want to get out of here?"
"Are you ready to leave?"
Mel nodded. "Sure. I already said goodbye to Daddy and gave him a birthday kiss."
"Okay. Your place or mine?"
"Yours this time."
* * * *
Sebastian was dog-tired Monday morning when he pulled his car into the parking garage of the law firm. He and Melody had spent all Saturday night having sex and well into Sunday 58
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morning. They hadn't spent Sunday night together as she'd had a wedding shower to attend that afternoon. She called him when it was over, but both of them admitted to being pretty exhausted, so they spent their Sunday night at their own places.
He parked in his assigned space, got out, and reached for his briefcase. Melody's space was a few spaces from his, but it was still empty.
A big gold sedan pulled up behind him and the passenger side window lowered.
Luther Winthrop smiled out at him. His hands on the steering wheel were covered with several large silver rings.
"Hey, man, Sebastian, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you know when Melody's going to be here? I need to talk to her," Luther said.
Sebastian shrugged. "Not sure. Any time though. Anything wrong?"
Luther grinned. "No. No, nothing wrong. Hey, man, you two aren't serious or anything, are you? I mean, I know you guys went to the club the other night, but that wasn't anything serious, was it?"
Sebastian didn't know how to answer that or even if he wanted to answer it. "Why?"
Luther tapped his hands on the steering wheel. "This is going to sound crazy, but I can't stop thinking about Mel.
We've known each other almost all our lives and I've always kind of thought of her as a sister. But not lately. Anyway, I 59
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want to talk to her about it. I don't want to cut in or whatever on you."
"No, it's ... it's fine," Sebastian said, finding it hard to get the words out. This is what Melody wanted. This man. It was why she'd bothered with him in the first place. And her family wanted it, too. "Well, good luck. I have to go into the office now for a call."
He walked toward the elevators that would take him up from the parking garage and to the level where the building was, trying to ignore the bitter disappointment threatening to choke him.
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CHAPTER 8
Melody was surprised to see Luther's sedan near her parking space when she pulled down the aisle. She quickly noted Sebastian's car already in his space. Now, she was sorry she hadn't insisted they spend the night together. She'd missed him terribly. She would have willingly just slept if he was too tired for anything else. But now that she was anxious to see him, here was Luther.
She got out of her car. "Good morning, Luther."
He stepped out of the sedan, which he'd left running, and came to give her a fast hug. "Morning, beautiful."
Melody realized he'd called her a couple of times and she hadn't returned his call. Now she really felt bad. She cleared her throat. "I'm glad to see you, but you didn't have to come to the office."
He grinned. "Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, since you didn't call me back, I thought I'd catch you and see if you wanted to have breakfast. I'll bring you back here when we're done."
Melody mentally went over her schedule for the day. She didn't have any meetings or calls until the afternoon. "Sure, that sounds great." She grabbed her purse and followed him to his car.
Getting into the passenger seat, she speed dialed the office on her cell phone to tell them she would be out.
"Peyton, Wallace, and Jenks."
"Ming, what are you doing answering the phone? Where's Sally?"
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"Called in sick. Anyway, Julie's covering, but I was walking by the desk so I thought I'd just answer. What's up?"
"Listen, I'm not going to be in for a couple of hours. I'm having breakfast with Luther."
There was a slight pause, then a definite chuckle. "Oh, Luther, huh? I knew it! So the plan worked. I'm so happy for you."
"What? No, Ming, it's not that."
"Yeah, sure, sure. Breakfast? Come on. Anyway, it's very cool. I'm glad. I'll let Julie know you won't be in until later."
Melody bit her lip, wanting to explain to Ming she hadn't spent the night with Luther. Didn't intend to, either. Ever. But she couldn't talk about it in front of Luther. "Um. Okay, I'll see you later."
Luther glanced over at her as he pulled out of the parking lot. "Everything okay?"
"Sure, no problem. Where are we going?"
"I figured Kenny's Diner over on Figueroa will work. They usually have a booth in the corner that's pretty private."
Melody drummed her nails on the door. "Private?"
"Yeah, I'd like to talk to you, Mel. I've been thinking a lot about things ... about us." He shook his head. "Let's wait until we get to the restaurant.
* * * *
"Hey, Sebastian," Ming said from his office doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes?"
"Success!"
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"Pardon?"
She hurried in and raised her hand in a high-five gesture.
Sebastian merely looked at her hand and raised an eyebrow.
Ming sighed. "Okay, whatever. But I just talked with Mel and guess what?"
Sebastian frowned. He hoped she wasn't sick or having car troubles. But Ming sounded way too happy for that. "You got a raise?"
Ming snorted. "I wish. No. She called on her way to breakfast with Luther."
Was that his heart plummeting. "Oh?" he asked, making his voice casual.
"Do you know what that means?" Ming sat on the edge of his desk. The same edge where he'd had Melody.
"Don't sit there," he said, waving her off the desk.
She grimaced, but stood up. "It means, Einstein, that she spent the night with him last night. The plan to make him jealous and realize his true feelings worked."
Sebastian feared that was exactly what it meant. And he wanted to scream and rail against it. Of course he wouldn't. It was what Mel had wanted all along. He'd swallow his own pain and squash his own hopes.
"It appears you're right, Ming. Great news," he said. He was proud of how smooth and casual he sounded.
The ringing desk phone saved him from further false celebration
"I probably ought to get that."
Ming headed for the door. "Okay, okay. I know when I'm not wanted." She slipped through the door.
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He pressed the button on his speaker phone. "Sebastian Kincaid."
"Sebastian, this is Ernie Phillips."
Sebastian remembered Ernie from a previous law firm they'd both worked at after passing the California Bar. "Ernie, how are you?"
"Good. I wondered if I could convince you to come to San Diego."
* * * *
It was difficult to concentrate on eating her California omelet with Luther sitting across from her wanting to talk.
Once upon a time she would have been thrilled to hear him tell her he wanted to talk about them. But she had someone else she'd rather have that conversation with now.
The fact was, if she'd been honest with herself, she'd been attracted to Sebastian for a while. She'd always sought him out to talk about nothing in his office or to go to lunch. She'd tried to keep it business. Tried to tell herself that he was just a co-worker or a friend. But she didn't find herself traipsing down to other lawyers' offices in her firm. Just Sebastian's.
She also knew it hadn't been mere coincidence when she asked him to be her date in her bid to make Luther jealous.
Mel adored Luther. She always would, but now she realized it was a schoolgirl's crush she'd actually outgrown.
Luther had taken several bites of his pancakes, then set down the fork. He held out his hand, palm up. Mel placed her hand in his.
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"Mel, you know I've always cared a lot about you. You've always been there for me when we were growing up and my parents split. And when my business took off and the magazine came around wanting to make a big deal out of my being an eligible bachelor. I knew I could count on you."
"You can always count on me, Luther. We'll always be friends."
"The thing is, I don't want to be friends anymore." He grinned. "I mean I don't want to be just friends. I want to take our relationship to the next level."
Mel's eyes filled with tears, and for a moment she struggled to speak. She stared at her plate, unable to meet his searching dark gaze.
"Mel?"
She finally raised her gaze to his. "You don't know how long I wished you'd say that. I've had a crush on you since we were teenagers."
He nodded. "I always knew that. But I thought of you as a sister. Or I thought I did."
Mel smiled through her tears. A drop had fallen onto her cheek. "I know you did. I used to have these daydreams where you'd fall to your knees and tell me how blind you'd been all along and you loved me and wanted to spend the rest of your life with me."
Luther squeezed her hand. "I could get on my knees, if you want me to."
Her breath hitched. "That's what I'm trying to say, Luther, and not very well. I love you, really I do, but I'm not in love with you."
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He stared at her for a long time without saying anything, then eventually lowered his gaze. "I'm too late, aren't I?
There's someone else."
"Yes," she whispered. "It kind of snuck up on me. I didn't want it to happen and I even tried to pretend it wasn't, but I know now."
"Who is it?"
"Remember the guy I went to the jazz club with?
Sebastian?"
"That white dude? Really?" Luther frowned. "Are you sure?"
She tugged her hand out of his grasp and wiped away her tear. "Of course, I'm sure."
He nodded. "Well, okay. It's just that I saw him this morning when I was looking for you and I asked him if the two of you were serious. He should have told me you were in love. I would have backed off."
Mel fished in her purse for a tissue. "I haven't told him how I feel yet. We've been getting to know each other, and I just haven't had a chance. When I first brought him to the club, I was trying to make you jealous."
Luther whistled. "So you were trying to make me jealous. I kind of thought that, which is what got me thinking."
"Yeah, that was the plan, but life can be kind of funny sometimes," Mel said as she wiped her eyes.
He snatched her hand back. "Mel, let me give you a piece of advice."
"Okay."
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"Tell him. If you love this Sebastian, tell him. Don't make him wonder. Don't play any games. Tell him what's in your heart."
* * * *
"Shelly, have you seen Sebastian this afternoon?" Melody asked his secretary. When she first came back from breakfast he hadn't been in his office. Then she'd had meetings and calls and hadn't had a chance to seek him out. Now it was nearly five and he wasn't in his office.
Shelly gave her a sad face. "He left a few hours ago."
"Left? For the day?"
Shelly sighed. "No. He quit."
Melody's heart dropped. "He ... he what?"
Shelly switched off her computer and stood up to collect her purse. "He went into see Mr. Wallace to give his resignation. He said he got a really gre
at offer from an old friend to join a firm in San Diego. Said he'd give his two weeks, but Mr. Wallace said he knew Sebastian would need time to move so it was okay with him if he left right away."
She sniffed. "And he did."
Mel's stomach twisted and gave a sickening lurch. She walked away without a word, already reaching for her cell to call him.
"Mel!" Ming called to her from down the other end of the hall. She rushed at her. "Tell me all about it! Was it everything you wanted it to be? How was he in bed? When's the wedding?"
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Mel shook her head, placing her hands on her friend's shoulders to stop her excited monologue. "Sorry, Ming. I don't have time to talk. I have to get in touch with Sebastian."
"Oh, yeah, I already told him all about it. What a great thing he did by helping you land Luther."
Mel stared at her. "You ... you what?"
"I told Sebastian about you having breakfast with Luther."
Ming winked. "And what that meant about where you spent last night, of course."
She placed her hand on her stomach and shook her head frantically. "No, no, no. Oh, no." Mel pushed Ming aside and went into her office and closed the door, ignoring Ming's
"Hey" of protest.
Sebastian's cell just went straight to voice mail. Next she dialed his home phone, but it just rang and rang. She'd have to go to his condo and hope he was there.
* * * *
Melody noticed immediately that Sebastian's car was in his personal parking space at the condo complex. Breathing a sigh of relief, she rushed upstairs to number ten, rang the bell, and pounded on the door.
"Sebastian? Open the door, please."
Mel twisted the knob and was surprised to find it turned.
She walked into the condo. Sebastian came down the hallway from his bedroom. She closed the door.
"Why did you leave?" she demanded.
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Sebastian stared. She saw his Adam's apple when he swallowed.
"Well? Where do you think you're going? What's this about San Diego?"