Page 54 of Mr. Aster
I sighed and bit my bottom lip. “You’re not budging on this, are you?”
“Nope, and welcome to our fake relationship,” he smirked, then spun on his heel and went through the breezeway to his renovated corner of the villa.
I stood there, watching him walk away, really trying to appreciate that I was getting a free vacation out of this.
I decided to call Avery. She’d understand how badly this was going to suck for me, and she’d probably laugh?—
Shit. You can’t call Avery. You’re lying to her about loving this guy.
Knowing I couldn’t vent this out to anyone, I simply just walked up to my room to pack pretty much all the same clothes I’d just worn on Jake’s yacht in order to be hauled off to some vacation destination.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Avery said with a laugh. “Shit, I’m so sad I can’t be there.”
“Right?” I answered with an eye roll.
I was torn about not having Avery and Ash come along on Sebastian’s last-minute excursion to the tropics or wherever he was taking me. Part of me was relieved not to have to lie to them, but I also needed their support.
“Well, don’t count all of us out just yet. Jim and I are working on a few things. Spencer and Nat are a great time, though. You just need to be warned since you haven’t met Natalia yet.”
“Warned?” I questioned with a laugh. “I’ve met her, I just don’t know her.”
“That’s what I meant. Meeting Nat is one thing andknowing heris quite another. She’s a blast, but she’ll pull your ass rightout of your comfort zone. The next thing you know, you’ll be talking about orgasms and waxing, possibly in that order. Or, since it’s Nat we’re talking about, it might even be orgasmswhilewaxing.”
“Now I know how Spencer got pulled off the billionaire playboy market,” I teased. “I wanted to write an article about that guy after I heard stories about what a huge prick he was.”
“Nat snatched his ass off the market without even trying. In fact, he was the last guy she ever wanted to date. She only hooked up with him again after—” she paused.
“What?”
“Never mind. It’s her story to tell, so if you and Sebastian get bored—or drunk—ask Nat and Spence to give you the wild details of their love story when you’re in Mexico. From the way it sounds, we still might be able to go. We’ll just be a little bit behind you guys. Jim’s working on it because it’s been too long since the gang’s been together on a Mexican vacation.”
“Mexico?” I said, somewhat surprised.
“Oh, shit. Sebastian was making these plans to surprise you. Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m sorry I blew it.”
“It’s okay,” I said with a laugh. “Mexico, huh? That’s cute. I wonder why he thought of Mexico.”
My family loved visiting Mexico, and we took trips often. We’d venture up and down the Mexican Riviera whenever we could.
Sebastian wasn’t doing this for me, was he? It couldn’t be.
“He said your mom told him how much you loved it down there, so he wanted to take you.”
“I’m so glad you told me this,” I said truthfully. “You might feel bad about letting a surprise slip, but I hate getting surprised, so you did me a favor.”
“Well, the man is smitten with you, kiddo,” she laughed. “Okay, I got to go. I’ll keep you updated on our side, but Spenceand Nat are good to go along, and I know you are gonna dig them.”
“Okay, Av,” I said with a smile. “Hopefully, you guys can work something out, but if you can’t, I get it. I was shocked by this news about an hour ago, and if I weren’t a journalist who worked mostly from home, I wouldn’t be going either.”
“Before I let you go,” she started, “aren’t his parents coming to visit?”
“Yeah, in two days or so.”
“Dear God, he’s adorable,” she said, and this time, I rolled my eyes at her being caught up in Sebastian’s charming side. “He’s keeping them away from you.”
“Even though I’m the one who invited them?” I laughed. “I did that back when I hated him, by the way.”
“I thought the whole hating him thing was a front to cover that you guys were in a relationship?”
