Virtue and Vice

Chapter Seven

A/N: And since I had a look at Chapter Seven and thought it a bit short, here's another one for you. This is for all the loyal readers! 

And since I love the Brits and I'm featuring one in this story (hopefully accurately), I'm dedicating this chapter to Cheamcat who helped me so much by dedicating Ch. 22 of her story A Model Mother. She's an awesome author and champion of other WP writers... I thought this was appropriate because Sebastian talks a little bit about his background here and she was also among the first to vote for this story when it first went online.

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When I woke up from my nap early afternoon yesterday, Sebastian was still there next to me, fully awake and watching me, his fingers combing through my hair in slow, leisurely strokes.

He smiled—a half-fond, half-wry quirk of his lips was more like it actually—and pulled me close, his lips grazing down the bridge of my nose and pressing softly against my lips.

Ah, that really had been heaven.

In the space of a few seconds, the future had flashed at me—mornings of waking up like this, wrapped in Sebastian's arms. It was an alluring thought but one I chastised myself for thinking, knowing that beyond this summer, Sebastian would always remain a dark prince in a fairytale that didn't exist in reality. 

We spent the rest of the day at the garden before making a quick dinner of chicken and vegetable kebabs. We finished the evening off with a walk along the beach, watching the sunset. 

He had walked me to my bedroom, kissed me an ardent goodnight and with great reluctance, walked away. 

The next day, Jennison arrived.

He quickly chatted with me as he helped me with the fresh laundry I was carrying into the linen room and although he didn't ask too many details, I could tell he was ascertaining for himself that nothing of concern had gone on. When he was satisfied, he bid me goodbye and headed to the library/office where Sebastian had been all morning, going through some paperwork.

"With Alfred gone, I'm now the chairman and CEO of the company," was his brief explanation when I reached up and kneaded the deep lines on his forehead that morning at breakfast. "People openly admired his leadership while they considered me too savage. They're growing restless knowing he won't be around anymore to tone me down. I'm doing what I can to reestablish some peace of mind. A few hours, that's all. I promise."

I didn't even ask him for anything but I let him swear on his heart (the one he claimed wasn't always there) that he would be done by lunchtime. 

He made good on that promise—Sebastian didn't make light of his promises—and joined me for lunch, even extending an invitation to Jennison if I didn't mind. The man had looked awkwardly uncertain for once but I just grinned up at him and asked him to help us bring out the salad bowl and platter of sandwiches out to the covered patio. The small team of guards who usually accompanied him stopped by at my request to grab some food for themselves before resuming their jobs probably patrolling around the grounds.

Jennison, who didn't really seem used to having any other kind of regular conversations with his boss about anything else but work, gave Sebastian several updates including the media interest in him after they speculated that he'd gone into hiding. He suggested we stay in as most people believed Sebastian was somewhere abroad right now (which he had been as Alfred had been in his vacation home in Italy when he passed away) but that if they got one whiff of him around Cove Manor, they'd show up and try to barrel down the gates. His PR team had already released a statement saying that Sebastian will officially take up his additional role come fall after he'd had some time to mourn a dear, dear friend.