Page 46 of Midnight Serenade
And now?Rightnow?
I held my sweatshirt away from my body in disgust. I hadn’t showered in three days, my hair was snarled, I had sleep creases in my face and no makeup, and I was in my warmest and holiest pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt.
I sat there for a moment, just enjoying that thought. That a woman could be beautiful in some of her worst moments and on some of her sickest days.
“Thank you, Sebastian,” I said softly.
He turned to me and smiled.
I shook my head and sat up a little taller. “Can I please go outside now?”
Sebastian came to sit by me. “You’re still contagious.”
I slumped. “Okay.”
He squeezed my hand. “I can clear Kazi’s deck for you if you stay in just one area, to make it easier for my staff to clean after you’ve come back to get a nap.”
“Does Kazi’s deck have a hot tub?” I asked, perking up a bit.
Sebastian nodded. “I use it often. The only thing up there, other than Kazi’s area, is The Starlight Lounge, and that’s only open certain evenings.”
“Okay. I’d love some ice water as well.”
He ran a gentle hand down my arm. “Are you sure? You still seem cold. You’ve got goosebumps on your arms.”
Little did he know the goosebumps were from his touch. I avoided saying so, though. “My fever went away. Otherwise, Iwouldn’t be able to go in because I’d overheat, so yes, ice water sounds good.”
“Alright. Want some company? Or do you want some time alone.”
“Company sounds good. Let me call Mama and make sure she knows I’m feeling a bit better.”
Sebastian left me to my phone call.
After assuring Mama I wasn’t dying, I changed into a suit. It took me ten minutes, but I did it. I came out of the bathroom breathing heavily and probably completely ashen. I felt like I was swaying a little. It was either me or the ship, I couldn’t tell which.
Sebastian was waiting with a wheelchair.
“I don’t need a wheelchair.”
His eyes lit up with silent laughter. “Walk from there to here without swaying.”
I walked. And I swayed. And Sebastian made me get into the dumb wheelchair. I was trying not to pout as I got wheeled out of the room and down to the elevator. Sebastian kept up an easy conversation, carrying the bulk of it because conversing quickly exhausted me.
We found Kazi lounging on his private deck. He got up to say hello when Sebastian wheeled me close enough to the hot tub that I didn’t have to walk but a few steps in order to get in. Other employees brought out ice water and towels, and Sebastian left to quickly change so he could get in with me.
I thought I’d read somewhere that hot tubs were good when you were sick. The heat helped with the aches and pains, and the steam helped with congestion. I just had to be careful, as too much would be bad and would make me light-headed quickly. I decided that every ten minutes or so, I’d get out and sit in a chair until I cooled off. I was just happy being out in the full sun.
Kazi laid down beside the spa and chilled with me until Sebastian came back in board shorts and a long-sleeved swimshirt. I’d seen him without a shirt, but today he was fully covered. Probably because the sun was scorching today and more painful for a vampire.
I was enjoying the blistering sun and blinding brightness. Three days in my cavern of darkness had cured me of any and all troll-like behaviors. My hair up in a bun let the sun beat down on the back of my neck. I laid my head back against the hot tub ledge and felt its rays on my cheeks and forehead, my closed eyelids, and my shoulders, and it feltheavenly.And the jets and heat in the hot tub were perfect for my achy muscles.
I sighed a big sigh and then just drifted in bliss, cuddled with Sebastian until I had to get out and cool off.
Since I’d been in quarantine, Sebastian and I had had a lot of time to talk. Well, for the first day, he’d talked, and I’d babbled all of my thoughts all over the place. I still had no idea what I’d said, but Sebastian found humor in itstill, three days later, and would chuckle randomly about it, so I was calling it a win.
During my illness, we’d grown closer. We’d had hours to talk as he opened up and shared his life with me. I would talk when I had the energy, but I had been mostly happy to listen to Sebastian share his heart. He’d led a long life. A complex, at times heartbreaking, life. But he’d lived a good life. He’d told me more than once that he’d tried to make every moment count.
Most vampires that reached master level, he’d explained one evening, lost their joy for living. They’d done most of the things they were interested in and had enough time to rise to the top or best those things. They’d even done some things they didn’t care about at all, just for the novelty. But Sebastian, even though he’d risen to the age of master vampire, still managed to find joy in his life, and it showed in everything he did. It was a quiet joy, but a joy nonetheless.
