Page 73 of The Sun & Her Burn

A Savannah-style apology.

I inclined my head in acceptance of it.

“What has kept you from me?” she asked casually, though there was nothing casual about her.

I crossed one ankle over my knee and leaned back. “The Critics Choice Awards are the weekend after next, followed swiftly by the Academy Awards. Interviews, podcasts, media events, and any other opportunities to put me in front of a camera for the purpose of winning awards. You know how it is.”

“I do,” she agreed, pausing for a moment to adjust the stems in a small bouquet on the table. “Are you taking a date?”

Just for a moment, an image of Linnea on my arm appeared in my mind’s eye. In full glam wearing one of her own feminine gowns, I wondered how many people she would stun with her fierce beauty.

I blinked, and the dream dissolved back into impossibility.

“No,” I said.

None of the people I wanted to accompany were available to me. Though, to stave off loneliness, I had asked Giselle to accompany me to the Golden Globes.

“I saw a photo of you with some woman on a surfboard recently,” Savannah mentioned airily.

“Did you?” I asked with a cheeky grin.

She pursed her lips. “Sebastian, don’t be childish. Who is she?”

It was good for my spirit to see her jealous, but I wasn’t cruel, so I merely shrugged and told her the truth. “Linnea Kai.”

I was startled by her reaction.

Mouth agape, hand froze with the teacup lifted halfway to her raspberry-painted mouth, eyes wide and blue as the saucers on the table.

“Linnea Kai?” she reiterated.

“The very one.”

She replaced the teacup without taking a sip, eyes narrowing. “As it happens, I just bumped into Linnea Kai on the arm of my ex-husband at Nobu the other day.”

Ah.

I fought my smile valiantly and lost, the edges of my mouth curling deeply.

She thought Adam and I were picking up where we left off.

Only not, of course, with her.

But with another woman.

A younger one.

I knew how much that would burn her and felt both juvenile-like excitement and retribution, and a deep sorrow.

You could have me for as long as you wanted, I felt inclined to remind her.You could have fought harder to keep us all together.

But I didn’t want to argue.

After finishingThe Dream & The Dreamerand kissing two of my waking ghosts already, I didn’t have it in me to play games.

“Linnea and Adam are dating,” I agreed. “I introduced them.”

“You did?” she said. There was no outward sign of it, but I knew she was seething.