Page 149 of The Sun & Her Burn

Sebastian stared down at me with a wealth of words written in those gold eyes. His mouth worked for a moment as if he hadforgotten how to speak, but then it flexed into such a gorgeous smile I almost forgot my own name.

“I knew this suit was missing something,” he teased, but there was a seriousness to his gaze that made me swallow as he pressed our foreheads together. “There is nothing better than belonging to someone.”

“Someones,” I corrected impishly.

He chuckled and pulled back so he could smile at Adam beside me. “Someones,” he agreed.

“Well, she stole my thunder,” Adam quipped as he stepped closer to us, pressed along Sebastian’s side. We both watched as he pulled a watch from his pocket. It had a slightly worn leather strap, but the watch was gold, with a copper-pink dial and a moon and stars design inked in gold and navy blue. “Only fourteen of these were made, and my mother’s father had one of them. It is from the 1940s, and it’s the only thing I have left from him.”

He stared at the watch as he held it between us as if transfixed by it.

His voice was quiet when he next spoke. “It’s on loan,” he told Sebastian as he finally raised his gaze to the other man. “Until the day you feel comfortable wearing the other Patek Phillipe I once gave you. I wanted you to have something of myself with you tonight. It’s not quite holding your hand myself…” he joked lamely and shrugged one shoulder.

Sebastian’s fingers trembled ever so slightly as he raised his hand to take the watch. “Adam, if I still had that Patek, I would wear it now. But”—he winced—“in a fit of rage, I returned it to Savannah when I first saw her in New York with Tate a few months after things ended.”

Something like heartbreak followed swiftly by rage surged through Adam’s expression. “Well, it wasn’t hers to keep. I bought that for you.”

“Mi dispiace,” he said, reaching out to cup Adam’s neck. “It was wrong of me, but I was hurt.”

Adam’s jaw clenched, but he shook off his anger relatively well and jerked his chin at the watch currently in Sebastian’s free hand. “I’d like to see it on you tonight when you win your second Academy Award.”

Seb lifted his hand toward him so that Adam could fix it to his wrist. It was oddly erotic watching him, and I realized I might have some kind of bondage kink.

“Now, you're ours,” I announced, leaning forward to brush my lips over Seb’s. “Inside and out.”

Sebastian chuckled lewdly at my innuendo, but there was pure, almost boyish joy as he smiled at us both and looped his long arms around our shoulders to bring us in for a three-way hug. It could have been awkward, maybe, to hug with an extra person, but we fitted together like puzzle pieces, as if we’d been carved into shape for exactly this purpose.

I had never been a big believer in fate, but standing in Adam’s living room in his and Sebastian’s strong embrace, I thought back to that day on Croyde Beach in Cornwall and wondered if this wasn’t exactly where life had intended us to end up.

28

LINNEA

My leg wouldn’t stop jittering as the limousine inched closer to the front of the receiving line at the Dolby Theatre, where the Academy Awards, more colloquially known as the Oscars, were held each year.

Adam’s big hand found my jumping limb and squeezed tightly enough to quell the movement.

When I looked over from the window, he was studying me.

“Nervous?” he asked. “You didn’t seem so at the Critics Choice Awards.”

“No,” I agreed, “but they didn’t seem so…iconic.”

Adam’s mouth flexed into a little smile. “This is much of the same, just on a grander scale. I’ll be honest, all the award shows are dull as hell. Not enough bathroom breaks, too many egos in one room, and an absurd amount of droning on in the speeches. Adrian Brody once spoke for overfiveminutes.”

“Wow, you really paint a picture,” I drawled. “And to think I was excited.”

“I think you’ll enjoy it,” Adam said with that coy smugness I had once found so annoying and now couldn’t help but find charming. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“Oh, and how will you do that?” I asked, curling into him as he tugged me closer so I was basically in his lap. It would probably wrinkle my dress, but I wanted to be against him more than I cared about a few wrinkles. Besides, Chaucer was in the front with the driver and I thought she might have a portable steamer in her Mary Poppins-esque tote.

“You do know I’m a world-famous movie star with connections everywhere?” he asked haughtily.

I laughed and watched as his mouth edged into that little grin.

“Okay, well, I trust you,” I said, already feeling much more relaxed as I snuggled into his side and took one of his hands between my own to fiddle with his long, blunt-tipped fingers. God, even they were gorgeous.

“Linnea,” he called after a moment, slipping his hand out of mine to use to tip my chin up so I was staring into his intense gaze.