Page 36 of Worth Every Moment (Hawkston Billionaires #4)

ERICA

A roar of applause explodes from the ballroom. With one last look at Seb, I turn to the noise and force a smile onto my face. It’s habitual to avoid smiling for the cameras because Mum banned me from doing it, telling me it didn’t look good, but tonight, I’m grinning as I step into the limelight.

The room looks incredible, with black and rose gold decorations everywhere, balloons in both colours interspersed with monochrome images of me and Seb hanging from the walls.

Towers of champagne glasses are nestled on tables next to our makeup products, which is packaged in black boxes with ERICA LEFROY and the infinity symbol embossed in rose gold.

There’s a table with gift bags for everyone, and I can spot a few of my model friends over in the corner already digging in. I can’t believe I pulled this off.

It takes me approximately five seconds to sense Mum in the crowd.

She’s tall, so it’s easy to spot her, and her dark hair is blow dried and glamorous, falling around her shoulders in waves.

She’s gorgeous, but the scowl on her face makes her totally unapproachable.

I wonder if it’s deliberate. Does she choose to scowl because she looks hotter that way? Tonight, I suspect she’s actually mad.

But I don’t care. I am flouting the rules, and a perverse delight stirs in my chest at the thought of her turning up tonight to discover the branding completely revamped, and the room covered in images of me and Seb all over each other.

Fuck it . I hope it kills her to see me with someone she deems so off-brand and inappropriate. He dips to my ear, his breath hot and his voice alluring as he whispers, “Your mother is glaring at us.”

“She hates you.” I pull a false conciliatory expression.

“She thinks you’re the opposite of the Erica Lefroy brand.

” Seb’s eyes widen and I lean in, whispering, “She expressly banned me from having a public friendship with you. But I don’t care anymore.

Now, you are my extremely public boyfriend.

So yes, you have my permission to make it look real. ”

His expression brightens as a delighted smirk drifts over his lips. “Right now?”

I glance over at Mum, who is sipping on champagne, but her glare is still fixed on us.

When I look back at Seb, his gaze is so hot it’s like someone turned on a heater right behind his eyes.

I manage to catch the ‘Wow’ that wants to trip off my tongue, because having Seb Hawkston look at you like that, even if it’s only fake, is a full body sensation of deliciousness.

“Erica?” he repeats. “Now?”

I glance at Mum again, who is making her way deliberately across the room towards us.

“Yes. Now,” I confirm, and Seb lowers his mouth to my neck, his breath brushing my skin with a warmth that makes heat pool between my legs. I tip my head back and let out a whimper, so low that no one but Seb can hear it, and I feel him smile against my skin.

“Very convincing,” he murmurs as his hand slides around to my lower back, palm pressed flat to the bare skin as he tugs me against him. This time I don’t stiffen, I soften . His lips are against my ear when he adds, “Good girl.”

I turn molten. Nothing about this moment feels fake.

My body is having a very real reaction to his voice, his hands, the feel of his hips against mine, his breath on my neck.

I should probably have worn underwear because I can already feel the slickness gathering between my thighs.

I’m either going to faint or start rubbing myself against him like the horny woman I am.

“Erica!” My mother’s screech is sharp, all decorum thrown to the wind as she clamps a hand about my forearm and wrenches me out of Seb’s arms. She’s so furious, she’s not even pretending to give a shit who can see us. “We need to talk.”

She drags me through the ballroom, pulling me out a side door and into the corridor.

Heaving frustrated breaths, she places her hands on her hips as she stares me down.

“What are you doing? The decorations? The photos? You’ve ruined everything.

And now… Sebastian Hawkston? I told you he was not right for this brand. I told you he was—”

“I don’t care.”

Mum puffs. “What?”

“I do not give a fuck what you say anymore.”

Her mouth opens and closes, breasts shuddering beneath the cowl neck of her velvet dress. “Tonight is not the night to have a quarter-life crisis, Erica.”

“I’m not having a crisis,” I reply, sounding far calmer than I feel.

“Teenage rebellion, then. It might be a decade late, but your behaviour is starting to feel like that. Walking out of the consultation rooms and screaming at me in the middle of Harley Street. Prancing about in your underwear to launch this fragrance. And now this? Showing up in a dress that looks like midnight sex and letting Seb Hawkston feast on your neck in public, like the two of you walked out of an erotic vampire movie. This is the launch of your cosmetics line. It’s supposed to be flowers and purity out there.

The theme is innocence.” She yells the last word, spittle blasting all over my face.

I blink and rear back, but Mum continues undeterred.

“It’s not Sebastian fucking Hawkston sucking on your throat. ”

I set my shoulders. “If he wants to suck on my throat, then I will let him. If he wants—”

“He definitely wants,” Seb drawls, his voice all deep and sexy.

Together, Mum and I turn to find him leaning in the doorway, a gentle upward tilt to his lips.

“Good evening, Mrs Lefroy.” He strides towards her, holding out his hand. “We’ve never formally met, but I’m your daughter’s boyfriend. Seb Hawk—”

“I know who you are.” She casts a disgusted look at Seb’s hand. “You’re the one who takes every woman he fancies to his hotel. A revolving door you’ve got in those Hawkston Hotels, is it?”

I cover my mouth with my hand, horrified at Mum’s words.

Whether it’s true or not, to say it to his face strikes me as unforgivably rude.

But I’ve said things to him that are almost exactly the same, and the truth hits me with a devastating clarity: I’ve been walking around parroting my mother’s opinions without even realising.

I’ve been as much of a bitch to Seb as Mum is being now.

My chest crumples as regret fills me, and I wish I could undo all of it.

There isn’t a flicker on Seb’s face to reveal how he feels about what she’s just said, whereas Mum is panting, as though her words have exhausted her.

She turns to me. “Don’t do this. A man like him will destroy you.

I guarantee it. And you’ll bring everything down with you.

The company, the brand. The whole thing.

” She points at me, her finger jabbing the air in my direction.

“Don’t be a fool. He can’t commit. He’s a shallow, vain man who just wants to tick the famous Erica Lefroy off his bucket list of women.

We’ve worked too long and hard on this to allow—”

“Stop.” Seb steps between me and Mum, sliding an arm around my shoulders as he holds up a palm in her direction.

“You will not speak to Erica like that. And you will not speak to me that way either. You don’t know me, and you don’t know how I feel about your daughter, so rather than allow you to make assumptions, I’m going to tell you.

Erica is so much more to me than a famous name, and to be quite honest, the fact you’d even suggest it has me questioning your feelings about her.

She’s the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met, and every moment she spends with me, I’m grateful to be in her presence.

I would do anything for her. I’ve never met anyone more driven and focused, and I admire the tenacity with which she goes after her goals.

She’s a force of nature, and I’m honoured to play even the smallest part in her life.

I know how lucky I am, and I treasure every second that she’s by my side. I always have.”

“Well… that was…” Mum flinches and pulls herself up tall. “What a load of nonsense. Quite unbelievable. All of it.”

Seb clenches his jaw and his arm tightens around me.

“I was going to say it was a shame we’d never properly met before,” he says to Mum.

“But now I suspect that not knowing you has been a blessing I didn’t know I had.

I’m going to walk away. And I’m taking Erica with me.

” He bows his head a little. “Have a good evening, Mrs Lefroy.”

My heart is crashing against my sternum as I allow him to turn me in the other direction, and as we walk away the power of her stare sinks deep into my flesh, like she’s branding me with her ill will.

As he ushers me back towards the ballroom, Seb rests his hand on my lower back, and then it sinks lower, his fingers teasing the edge of the silk. My breath catches in my throat as his hand slides beneath my dress.

Oh, holy fuck. Seb’s hand is resting on my arse, and I have no underwear on. This is a step too far—a few inches lower and he could have his fingers inside me. Panic races through me at the possibility, but Mum is watching and I don’t want to let her know that this isn’t absolutely fine by me.

“Hmm,” he muses, squeezing my bare arse and glancing back over his shoulder. “You were right about one thing,” he says, raising his voice to speak to Mum. “I am going to destroy your daughter. Many, many times. And you know what else?”

Mum puffs, unable to form a response.

A wicked grin cascades over Seb’s mouth. “She’s going to scream my name while I do it.”