Page 63 of Head Over Wheels

But if Seb noticed, he didn’t react, following Rôsine out to help and leaving me alone with my out-of-control libido. When I recovered my breath, I noticed Albertine and Denise eyeing me.

‘I don’t— I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,’ I blurted out.

Albertine just blinked at me, but Denise juggled her sleepy son on her lap until she could snake her free hand across the table to squeeze my arm. ‘It’s okay.’

‘What trouble?’ Albertine said indignantly. ‘You’re the best thing that’s happened to him in years. You have to feel something in life.’

I froze, needing to contradict her for my peace of mind, but unwilling to. ‘But we just explained it’s not a real relationship.’

She shrugged. ‘The feelings are real.’

My churning stomach proved her point – for attraction, at least. ‘It doesn’t mean we’ll ride off into the sunset one day. I’m— We’re—’

‘Do you think I don’t understand that? A bit of heartbreak might do him good.’

Goosebumps skittered along my skin. I didn’t want to be the one to break his heart and I certainly didn’t want hisgrandma inviting me to. Plus, I didn’t even know if he wanted to sleep together again.

Denise said something to Albertine in muted French, which made the older woman humph again and stand to clear the remaining plates. A moment later, I was alone with Seb’s sister and her children and Denise’s quiet contemplation of my expression scared me almost as much as Albertine’s predictions of heartbreak.

‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to give you advice or judgement,’ she began. ‘But the way he looks at you…’

The way he touches me…

Seb’s voice cut through the restless moment. ‘I think Lori’s had enough guilt-tripping tonight.’

I turned to find him in the doorway, his arms crossed, leaning on the frame and giving his sister a dark, warning look. I’d preferred it when he was defending me to his prickly mother, but that easy posture, his lanky form set off all my endorphins again.

Denise sighed and rose gingerly to her feet, propping up her sleeping son. ‘I can take a hint.’

‘Don’t leave on my—’ I tried.

‘I’m more than happy to take the kids home and leave you two to… work things out,’ she said with a twitch of a smile that Seb either ignored or didn’t see.

He sighed. ‘Take your progeniture home before they fall asleep. Let me put this one in the car for you.’

She handed over a floppy Maël, who settled onto his shoulder contentedly, pacifier working in his mouth.

‘Oh, tu pars?’ Rôsine said a quick goodbye to Denise, pressing kisses to her cheeks, Albertine repeating the gesture a moment later, and then I followed her onto the porch to see Seb dropping a soft kiss onto his nephew’s head before easing him into a car seat.

‘The two men in our family,’ Denise said with a soft sigh. ‘He never forgave me for having kids that he couldn’t help but love.’

That strange statement made a lot more sense to me after our conversations today, but it didn’t help me untangle whatIwanted.

With another squeeze of my arm, Denise pressed a kiss to my cheek, pausing to whisper, ‘If anyone can knock some sense into him, it’s you.’ Without waiting for my reaction, she headed for her car, trailed by the sleepy Alice, who turned back to stare at me as though she were seeing rings and bouquets.

Seb dawdled back from the car, waving with one hand as he kept his other in his pocket. He was wearing his socks and Birkenstocks again, like the dorky European he was, but my eyes enjoyed a long, slow study of his form, from the hint of muscle under his jeans to the hard, lean lines of his torso. I made a show of yawning and stretching as well as I could with my stiff shoulder.

I was relieved his family kept country hours. If we’d been staying with my Italian relatives, we’d never have got to bed before mid-morning the next day and I was hoping we could… clear a few things up tonight.

Rushing my shower because I could barely stand the sensitive state of my skin, I dumped my clothes in Seb’s room and then hesitated, the door still open. Could I stay in this bed and not make a move on him, if that’s what he wanted?

The light in the little sitting room was on and muted voices reached my ears. I couldn’t just pounce on Seb in his bedroom when he emerged semi-naked after his shower.

I grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and lingered awkwardly in the corridor in indecision, hoping neither his mum nor grandma would appear, because I couldn’t come up with a reason why I wasn’t sure if I should go into his room.

When he did appear, he was in a comfy pair of tracksuit bottoms and a soft T-shirt and he stopped up short when he saw me. Perhaps my thoughts were visible, because he peered at me quizzically as he approached, taking my chin between his thumb and fingers. For a considerate fake boyfriend, sometimes he touched me in the most divinely assertive way.

‘I’m, uh… tired,’ was all I managed to say.

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