The Education of Sebastian (40 page)

His eyebrows shot up. “Seriously? Do they have them in San Diego?”

“I can see what you’re thinking, Hunter, and the answer is no way!”

He narrowed his eyes and then with a lascivious leer, leaned towards me. He ran his finger down my throat, over my T-shirt, between my breasts and all the way down to my stomach.

“You sure about that?”

My eyelids fluttered closed. I couldn’t remember what my reasoning was.

Suddenly he swore. “Fuck!”

A police officer was walking towards us.

He tapped on my window and I rolled it down. If he’d been two minutes earlier… I really didn’t want to think about that.

“May I see your license, please, ma’am?”

He was stocky, in his fifties, and had a weathered face that was not unkind.

“Yes! Yes, of course!”

I reached over to the back seat to grab my purse. I felt a little shaky; Sebastian just looked pissed.

The officer glanced at my ID and then over at Sebastian. “You from the Base, too, son?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm, well. This is private property. So you and
Mrs. Wilson
should find somewhere else to… park.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll do that. Thank you, sir.”

The officer handed me back my license and watched while we buckled ourselves in and I drove off.

Sebastian blew out a long gust of air and grinned at me.

“That was
so
embarrassing,” I whined.

He laughed and shook his head. “It was worth it.”

“Where shall we go now?” I said, still feeling grumpy.

“Somewhere we can get some food.”

“You’re hungry
again?
”

He gave me a wicked smile. “Sure! It must be all the… exercise.”

I slapped his leg. “You are a bad influence!”

“Yeah, baby, but you love it.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

I drove us back to the I-5 and then took a turning towards Mission Beach, heading north up the coast road until Sebastian told me to pull over.

“There’s a place here we can get some food,” he said, quietly. “This cove is real pretty: we could just sit and chill for a while.”

“Sounds great,” I said smiling at him. “Although I’m more thirsty than hungry.”

“You should eat something,” he said seriously.

I just adored the way he tried to look after me – so, so sweet.

“Okay, I’ll have a sandwich. Anything, whatever they’ve got.”

I wandered down the steps to the small cove and cautiously laid out the picnic blanket as near to the concrete steps as possible, without being so close that people would actually trip over me.

It was soothing being by the ocean. I imagined how blissful it would be to hear the sound of the waves rolling in until they were as familiar as breathing. I felt so full of hope for the future – I hadn’t even realized it had been missing from my life until Sebastian had opened my eyes.

I didn’t need to turn around to recognize his quiet footsteps coming down behind me. He had a bottle of water and a can of Coke in one hand, and two packages of sandwiches in the other. He flopped down next to me with a grin and kissed my shoulder.

“Tuna or BLT?”

“Tuna, please.”

He handed me the package and I took a huge bite. It was freshly made and very good.

“Hungry?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Must be all the exercise,” I said, glaring back with my mouth full.

He laughed and unwrapped his own sandwich.

He finished before me, of course, and pulled off his T-shirt to lean back on his elbows and soak up the sun. His smooth skin gleamed in the sunlight, utterly distracting me from finishing my sandwich. I ran my eyes over his flat stomach and muscled chest and decided I’d much rather eat him.

I laid the remains of the sandwich to one side and pushed him down onto the picnic blanket.

His eyes flashed open in surprise and then he let out a long sigh as I kissed his chest and teased his nipples with my tongue. Mmm. He tasted way better than any old sandwich, no matter how freshly made.

I stroked the flesh just below his waistband, running my fingers along the edge of the denim, knowing that he was primed and ready for action. He groaned.

“Caro, what are you doing to me?”

“Saying thank you for the sandwich,” I murmured against his stomach.

“You’re driving me crazy! How am I supposed to think about anything when you’ve got me like this?”

He gestured weakly towards his zipper.

“That’s the point,” I said, smiling against his chest. “You’re not supposed to think about anything.”

“It’s working,” he muttered, then ran his hands down my back, pulling me closer.

I wanted him very badly and I only had myself to blame. I wondered briefly if the storage closet at the country club’s locker room had a ‘vacancy’ sign on it. But he had work to do and I had room-shares to check out.

I ended our mutual torture, planting a loud kiss on his belly button, then snuggled into his shoulder, resting my head on his chest.

“When did you get to be such a bad girl?” he asked, stroking my hair.

“Oddly enough, around the time I met you,” I said sharply, digging my fingers into the ticklish spot around his waist.

“Okay, okay! I give in! Jeez, you play rough.”

“I got the distinct impression you like it rough,” I said, leaning up to look at him.

His anxious look was back immediately. “Oh, God, I’m sorry, Caro! I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“Of course not! And believe me, I enjoyed our illicit car sex just as much as you.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes! How many orgasms do I have to have for you to believe me?”

He smiled and looked smug. “Five is the record.”

“What?! You’ve been counting?”

He shrugged and looked a little embarrassed, as if he’d been caught out in a naughty secret, which he had.

“Can’t help it: it’s a guy thing.”

“You… you haven’t said anything to Ches, have you? Because if you have I wouldn’t be able to look at him…”

“Of course not!” He sounded angry. “I would never say anything to anyone about us. Ches knows as much as he needs to.”

“Has he said anything else?”

Sebastian sighed. “He’s worried, I guess, but he won’t tell anyone.”

I decided to let it drop. If he trusted Ches, well… there was nothing I could do about it one way or another.

“By the way, did Brenda find you again yesterday?”

He scowled. “That stupid bitch nearly got me fired.”

While I wasn’t sorry that Brenda was annoying him, I was shocked to hear him talk about his ex-girlfriend like that.

“Did she… er… try again after I left?”

He sighed. “Kind of, but…”

“But what?”

“I told her I was seeing someone and that there was no way I was getting back with her after…”

Now he had my complete and undivided attention.

“After what?”

“Nothing,” he mumbled.

I bit my tongue, determined not to press him if he didn’t want to talk. But, wonder of wonders, my silence seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Ches told me some stuff… after I broke up with Brenda, she started hanging out with some of the guys we used to surf with. She was… partying a lot.”

“Oh.”

From the expression on his face I guessed that was a euphemism for sleeping around. I could see Sebastian wasn’t impressed with that.

I sighed to myself. Men were so good at double standards: here he was, having an affair with a married woman, and he was dismissing his ex-girlfriend because she’d slept with other people
after
they’d split up. I knew he didn’t think of what we had as an affair, but that was just his insider view, and if he’d have asked Ches to tell it like it was, that’s exactly what his friend would have said.

I felt almost sorry for Brenda. Almost.

“You know, I just don’t see you two together. Was she always so… pneumatic?”

“Pneumatic?!”

He smirked then a shadow crossed over his face.

“Not always. I mean, she could be pretty full on – she liked being the centre of attention, Homecoming Queen, all that kinda shit. It wasn’t really my scene – it was one of the things we used to argue about. But she could be really sweet and fun, too.”

It was my own fault for asking, but I really didn’t want to hear her described that way. My sympathy for her took an early bath.

“What happened?” It was none of my business but now I
really
wanted to know. “Why did she change?”

He shrugged and lay on his back, folding his hands under his head.

“Some of her friends were sleeping with their boyfriends and she thought we should, too. I just thought it was lame to do it just because her friends were.”

“And you were never tempted?”

“Yes and no. I thought about it a lot…” Then he smiled. “Not as much as I think about having sex with you, but yeah, I thought about it. We got close a couple of times. I’d pretty much made up mind I was going to…”

“Hence practicing with the condom?”

He reddened and didn’t reply.

“So what stopped you?”

“Ches told me he’d seen her making out with some other guy. He wouldn’t tell me who so I figured it was probably someone I knew… I thought maybe Jack… She denied it – at first, then blamed it on having too much to drink. But that just finished it for me. I thought… I thought I must be something special if she wanted to… with me, but… I guess not.”

I leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

“Well, I think you’re
very
special; and Brenda’s loss is my gain. Although, I’m surprised she thought you’d take her back after that.”

He smiled. “She said she didn’t believe I was seeing anyone – that I was just making it up to get back at her.”

“Well, hopefully she’ll go on thinking that.”

He frowned. “Why?”

“Because as long as she’s thinking that, then she’s not suspecting me. I mean, let’s face it, you couldn’t have been more damned obvious yesterday!”

He looked hurt. “I hardly even spoke to you!”

“Sebastian, you were staring at me the whole time. Even when she heaved her enormous tits up in her bikini top, you didn’t look at her. She must have thought you’d gone blind.”

“Enormous tits!” He laughed loudly. “Yeah, I guess they are kind of hard to miss. But I prefer yours.”

“I thought all men liked women with big breasts?”

He nuzzled my hair. “I’m more of an ass man,” and he ran his hands over my backside, squeezing gently, to emphasize his point.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it, because I definitely can’t compete with her on… volume.”

He chuckled quietly and continued stroking my back as I snuggled closer.

Then his hands stilled and he seemed deep in thought.

“I was wondering,” he said softly, “can I ask you something… about you and… David.”

Uh oh.

“What were you wondering?”

“How you got together in the first place. You don’t seem to have much in common.”

Or, in fact, anything at all
.

“He was stationed at the Base near where I lived. I’d gone to the drugstore to pick up something for my mom and he drove up in this cute little sports car – a Corvette – electric blue. He was in uniform and he just came up and started talking. I couldn’t believe he was interested in me: sophisticated older man.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I just saw what I wanted to see: and I was desperate to leave home.”

He nodded. “I totally get that.”

“I was in my senior year, so… when he proposed, I said yes.”

“Did… did you love him?”

“I convinced myself I did – at first. But I soon realized I’d made a mistake. I just didn’t have anywhere to go back to. Mom made it pretty clear I’d made my bed; and papa – he just did as he was told. Besides, I got to travel – a bit.”

He was silent for a moment but I could tell he still had more questions. Eventually he cleared his throat and tried to sound casual.

“When did you and… him first… um…?”

“First have sex?”

“Well, yeah.”

He had a right to know: he’d told me all about Brenda.

“It was a week before my eighteenth birthday. There’d been some big event on up at the Base – my first big formal. I’d loved all the dressing up – it seemed so glamorous to me.” I took a deep breath. “We did it on the passenger seat of his car. It was… unpleasant. It hurt.”

“Have you…?” He bit his lip, unable to finish the question.

“Have I what?”

“I know I have no right to ask, Caro, but since… since me and you… have you… slept… with him?”

I could tell this was a question he’d wanted to ask me for a while.

“No, tesoro. I haven’t let him touch me since our first night together.”

I didn’t think he needed to hear that I’d jerked David off instead.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, tesoro. It’s only since I’ve met you that I’ve known what it’s like to make love;
really
make love.”

And I kissed him, desperately, passionately, to show him that I meant every word. He held me to him, our mouths locked together, breathing each other in.

“Don’t go back to him tonight, Caro, please.”

“I have to, Sebastian. After I drop you off at the club, I’m going to check out those rooms. I’m sure one of them will do. I’ll put down a deposit and move my stuff in tomorrow. Then, when I’ve got somewhere to go, I’ll tell him that I want a divorce: tomorrow evening. I’ll be able to go straight away.”

“I don’t like leaving you with that asshole! You don’t know what he’ll do! He could hurt you again!”

Sebastian’s body filled with tension and his hands were balled into fists at his sides.

“He won’t hurt me. Yesterday evening was an accident. Yes, he’s a bastard, but he’s not like
that
.”

It was clear that he didn’t believe me. Perhaps he needed David to be as big a bastard as his father.

“I can come over tomorrow morning and help you pack,” he offered, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles.

“There won’t be much: just my clothes and a few bits and pieces.”

“I want to help.”

“It’s probably best if I do it myself after he’s gone to work tomorrow. I’ll meet you after I’ve moved into the new place.”