Page 46 of Worth Every Moment (Hawkston Billionaires #4)

ERICA

S o far today, Seb has given me space. Not polite space, but actual space where I feel like he’s deliberately ignoring me even though he’s sitting right beside me on the private jet. It’s like the silent treatment, but if the silence were stuffed full of unspeakable sexual tension.

We’re on the way to the Caribbean, to the private island owned by Seb’s father, where Nico and Kate’s exclusive wedding is being held.

I was always coming as a guest in my own right, given my long-standing friendship with Nico, but now I’m here as Seb’s official date, which means I’m travelling with the family.

Nico and Kate are already out there, but the rest of the guests won’t arrive for a few days.

For now, it’s me, Seb’s brother, Matt Hawkston, his two kids and his fiancée, Aries.

Then there’s also Jack Lansen, Kate’s brother and Nico’s best man.

Amy’s coming too, but not until the day of the wedding.

I feel a little out of my depth, plunged into the inner Hawkston circle like this, but even when Amy arrives, I’m not sure how much I’ll get to see of her.

She’s flying in briefly to perform with Jack’s girlfriend, Elly, who’s already out there as the maid of honour.

“What the fuck are you doing with those Smarties?” Seb says, glancing over the aisle at Jack, who’s got ten tubes of Smarties on the table. He’s sorting them out into colours, seemingly putting certain ones back in their own tube.

“Elly only likes the orange ones,” Jack says without looking up from his task.

“You know you can buy tubes of orange only Smarties?” Aries says.

Jack jerks his head up from his task. “Fuck, really?”

Everyone laughs.

“You’re so cute,” Matt says, reaching over and ruffling Jack’s hair.

“Fuck off,” Jack mutters, waving him off with one hand.

“Hey, Abigail,” Seb calls, beckoning the stewardess with one hand. She offers him a smile and comes down the aisle towards us, but something about the eager way she’s looking at him sets me on edge.

“Yes, sir. How can I help?” She bats her eyelashes, and Seb gives her a panty-melting smile. Anger flares right beneath my breastbone at the way a tiny blush creeps over her cheeks.

“Can you sort the Smarties out?” Seb says, all endearing charm. “Jack here wants all the orange ones in a separate tube. For his lady love.” He grins, and Jack scowls at him.

The stewardess bows her head. “Of course, sir.”

She reaches over to Jack’s table and starts taking the tubes.

“Woah, hold up.” Jack tries to shield the Smarties. “I want to do this—”

“If I have to watch you fiddle with Smarties all the way to the Caribbean,” Seb interrupts, “I’ll eat every single one of them before you can say, ‘Seb Hawkston is the fucking bomb’.”

Jack rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, allowing the stewardess to scoop them up and take them away. “I want to check them,” he calls after her, rushing up the aisle to follow her wherever she’s taking them.

Matt and Seb chuckle about Jack and how he’s a completely different man since he got with Elly. Aries, however, doesn’t seem to be listening. She keeps staring at me, and it’s weirding me out a bit, so I wipe a hand over one cheek and then the other. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Sorry. Shit. I’m staring, aren’t I?” Aries gushes.

“A bit.”

“Sorry. I just can’t believe you’re the real Erica Lefroy. And you’re dating Seb. Actually dating him. I mean, if it works out, you could end up being my sister-in-law.”

“Oh,” I say, completely taken aback by the idea of becoming a member of the Hawkston family.

Matt, sitting across the aisle reading a broadsheet, snaps his paper down and looks over. “Aries,” he reprimands, but she keeps going.

“I’m completely starstruck. I’ve been trying to act cool and normal, but I can’t fake it.

Please don’t mind me if I just stare at you.

It’s just… you’re so pretty. It’s crazy.

” Aries, all green eyes and long red hair, and completely gorgeous in her own way, leans across the table and examines me like I’m some sort of exhibit.

If she weren’t so friendly and cute, I’d be appalled, but there’s something endearing about her.

Her energy is inviting and I don’t mind at all.

“You’re perfect. Even more beautiful in real life.

” She reaches forward and, thinking she means to touch me, I back away a bit, which seems to bring her to her senses.

She blinks, dropping her hand and pulling her neck in. “I’m so sorry. I’m terribly uncool.”

“That’s really okay. It’s—”

“You must be pretty special,” Matt tells me. “Aries doesn’t know who anyone is. Doesn’t read the news. Doesn’t scroll on a phone. Hardly uses Google.” He huffs.

“Matt’s still annoyed because Aries didn’t know who he was when she turned up as the new nanny,” Seb interjects. “She thought he was the gardener.”

“He was mowing the lawn,” Aries nearly yells.

“What was I supposed to think? Also”—She leans across and rubs Matt’s knee, which brings a faint smile to his otherwise grumpy face—“No offense, but you’re no Erica Lefroy.

This woman is the face of a generation. You can’t walk down the street without seeing a picture of this perfection .

” She waves at my face, and Seb catches my eye, amusement flashing in his gaze.

“Buses, posters. Every makeup counter in the UK. You’re a complete nobody by comparison. ”

“So charming, Aries, dear.” Matt flaps his newspaper back up and continues reading, like he’s the parent and we’re a rowdy bunch of kids.

Aries rolls her eyes at Seb, who answers with a half-smile that makes his dimple pop. She reaches out and pinches his cheek, grinning as she nods her head at me and says to him, “She’s out of your league, handsome.”

A twinge of discomfort hits me at her teasing him this way, as though they have a chummy kind of friendship that Seb and I can’t have now that he’s made me come.

Not that our friendship was ever quite like the dynamic he and Aries have going on, but seeing them interact makes me uncomfortable.

I want every type of friendship with him.

All of it. All of him, and every facet of his personality, just for me.

Seb’s gaze darts away, and if I’m not mistaken the tiniest hint of red tinges his cheeks. Or maybe that’s just where she pinched him.

Something twists unpleasantly in my stomach. Jealousy ? She’s beautiful, no doubt about it. And so open and friendly. A flirtatious tease. She’s a lot like Seb in that way, and nothing like me. And they do seem to get on well. Better than me and Seb?

Aries, forgetting the entire interaction, which seemingly meant much less to her than it did to me, sits back in her seat and says, “Let’s play strip poker.”

Matt’s newspaper snaps again, but this time he folds it away and stands up. “Absolutely not. Honestly.” He looks at me while gesturing at Aries and Seb. “These two are a nightmare together. I think I preferred it before they were friends.”

Maybe I would prefer it if they weren’t friends too.

I frown and Aries explains, “Seb was a dick to me at first. Said I was just the ‘hot nanny’.” She does finger quotes for emphasis.

“Who Matt was fucking because he was having a mid-life crisis.” A disapproving sound rumbles in the back of Matt’s throat, but Aries tosses a red braid over her shoulder, looking so carefree that I can tell she doesn’t give a hoot what Seb said back then or what Matt thinks about her telling the story now. “But after that, it was love.”

Love? She blows Seb a kiss, and he hangs his head for a moment, and this time I’m certain he’s blushing. “I’m really sorry,” he mutters.

“I forgive you.” Aries nudges him so forcefully with her elbow that his arm jolts off the table.

“Fuuuck,” Seb blurts as his chin nearly hits the surface.

Matt puts his hand out to Aries. “Let’s check on the kids,” he says, nodding his head at a further compartment of the jet, where I know his son and daughter are watching a movie.

Aries gets up and follows him, and I’m ashamed to admit I feel a pang of relief when she’s gone, which I know is ridiculous.

She’s engaged to Seb’s brother, for crying out loud.

She’s not about to make a move on Seb. She’s not a threat to me, but it feels like she is.

But why do I care? A threat to what? This whole relationship is fake .

But last night’s orgasm was very real.

Now that Seb and I are alone, the tension is stifling. We haven’t touched one another all day. I’ve barely looked at him. And yet I’m more turned on than ever just being in his vicinity. Last night, on the balcony, was completely reckless. So unlike me. So out of character.

Or was it? Maybe this is my character now. I mentally count up the incidents. The gallery, masturbating on his bed, the balcony last night. It’s like I’m morphing into a new person. Letting that needy little slut out of the box…

I’ve done things in the past twenty-four hours that I would never have done before. And I loved all of it. I want more of it. In fact, what I really want is to straddle the gorgeous man next to me and see where it leads… I need to know he’s mine and only mine. Fake or not.

“Sorry about Aries. She can be a bit much.” He leans back in his chair, scrolling on his phone, giving me the barest of glances as he adds, “She certainly likes your face.”

“I like hers.”

Seb raises a brow. “Now, there’s an image—”

“One that shouldn’t even be crossing your mind. You’re my boyfriend.”

He turns in his seat. “Fake boyfriend.” I scowl at him and amusement flashes in his eyes. He leans closer, whispering in my ear. “Are you jealous?”

“No.”

“There’s no need to be. Aries only has eyes for Matt. She’s besotted. God knows why. The man’s a beast.”