Page 9 of The Sun & Her Burn

He winked. “I can make time for my favourite American girl.”

“Still full of shit, I see,” I said with a raised brow.

His laughter drew the attention of everyone in the restaurant who was not already watching us. It was a rich, melodious chuckle I felt coil warmly in my gut.

The tabloids sometimes referred to him as silly epithets like “Sex God” and “Italian Stallion.”

I could understand why.

“You never were charmed by me, were you?” he murmured, his hands still gently grasping my upper arms. “It’s good to see that hasn’t changed.”

“Still irreverent as ever,” I promised.

Behind me, someone cleared their throat.

Sebastian’s gaze followed the sound over my shoulder, and he frowned. “Excuse me, I’m being incredibly rude. You’re here with someone.”

“Cynthia Gadon,” my former agent said, stepping closer so that she bumped me with her shoulder as she extended her hand to Sebastian. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I must say, I am ahugefan of your films.”

His eyes sparkled as they slid to me. “Ah, it’s good to meet a real fan.”

I rolled my eyes at him, and he flashed me that toothy white grin that would have been wolfish if it wasn’t so appealing.

“Cynthia is my former agent,” I explained to him blandly.

He bit the edge of his grin to keep it contained. “What a shame.”

“No, no,” Cynthia said, a flustered flush seeping down her pale neck. “Linnea and I were just renegotiating terms.”

“Were you?” Sebastian drawled, dropping one of his hands down my arm to tangle his fingers with mine. I could feel my pulse in my fingertips as if my heart had slid down my arm from my chest to get closer to him. “Well, what fortuitous timing.”

Cynthia beamed, relieved, thinking no doubt that she had secured the only client she had who was close to such a superstar.

But unlike her, I knew Sebastian. His beauty may have been the alluring flame to draw women into his orbit, but it was his cleverness that made them stick.

“I was just on my way to meet my agent, Mali. I’ll introduce you,” he declared.

Mali Issah was one of the biggest names in Hollywood. She represented dozens of the world's top stars, including Jace Galantine, Maya Cervantes, and Iona Blake.

Cynthia’s mouth fell open.

I hid my smile behind my hair as I leaned across Sebastian to grab the termination letter on the bar. “I’ll just sign this, and we can be on our way.” I twisted my body so my breasts rasped across his abdomen. His eyes were lit with humor and maybesomething darker, when I looked up at him. “You don’t happen to have a pen, do you?”

Suddenly, Harry the bartender was before me, offering one across the counter, but I waited for Sebastian to reach into the inner pocket of his jacket to retrieve his own pen. He dipped down intimately to hand it off to me, the scent of his spicy cologne warm and inviting.

The perfume I had taken to wearing reminded me of a feminine version of that same scent. Having it in my nose again made me wonder if that wasn’t why I’d been subconsciously drawn to it.

“Good riddance,” he whispered as he pressed the pen into my hand.

It was my turn to wink.

I dashed my signature against the paper and then turned to face him fully, sliding the pen into the inner pocket myself. The beat of his heart was a heavy drum against the back of my hand.

“Thank you,” I said softly, not just for the pen but for showing Cynthia just exactly what she was missing by letting me go.

Sebastian’s hand came up to cover my own, flattening it briefly to his chest. “Anytime.”

“Linnea, really, if you’ll just take a moment to talk with—” Cynthia tried again.