Ruined (A Barnes Brothers novel) (15 page)

If he said Dash’s name one more time . . .

Dash was gone—he had a date.

She didn’t want to point that out to him, though. Sebastien
still
had it in his head that Dash was the baby’s father.

Marin hadn’t been able to disabuse him of the notion. When she tried to talk to him, he went out of his way to either invite others into the conversation
or
he just suddenly had somewhere else to be.

He wasn’t staying at the hotel, so she couldn’t even ambush him there.

With every passing day, it was getting harder to figure out how to do anything about the craziness that now stretched between them. Staring at him, painfully aware of others staring at
them
, she closed one hand into a fist.

“Dash had to leave already,” she said, keeping her voice calm. If she didn’t say
something
, Sebastien was likely to push the issue. “I’ll give him a call once I’m on my way back to the hotel. You don’t need to drive me. There are still cars going to the hotel. I’ll catch one of them.”

“Maybe you should let Sebastien drive you,” Sojo suggested. Before Marin could even sputter out a response, Sojo took a step forward. Voice low, she added, “People are going to get curious if you keep this up, Marin. Just take the fucking ride already.”

She gave both of them a silencing look, and then turned back to the others. “I heard there was going to be pizza and beer tonight. Is there a reason I wasn’t invited?”

Marin looked over at Sebastien and huffed out a breath. “Fine.”

She’d better go, otherwise tomorrow, Sojo would never let her live it down. The other woman
never
went out with the crew. It wasn’t that she didn’t like to hang out with the others, but she wasn’t much on socializing on a large scale. If she was doing it, it was to draw attention away from Marin.

Sebastien gave her a look that told her he knew exactly why she’d given in, but he was courteous enough—
today
—not to call on her on it.

When he laid a hand at her back, she had to fight not to jump away.

Not because she didn’t like his touch—she did.

Oh, did she like it.

The feel of his fingers, the warmth of his palm was something she wanted to just sink back against. Part of her wanted to turn to him and just melt against him. The other part of her wanted to smack him, because why in the hell couldn’t he see what was obvious?

Sojo had already figured it out.

She’d bluntly asked Marin, “Why is Sebastien always pushing you toward Dash? He’s the daddy, isn’t he?”

Dash hadn’t made that connection yet, but he would.

And if she wasn’t careful about things like . . . oh, say
passing out in front half the crew
, others would put two and two together and realize she was pregnant, then
others
would start making stabs in the dark. Sooner or later, one of them would hit the target.

The rumor mill would spin nonetheless and by the time she got home, the tabloids would be spouting off shit like maybe a Martian had impregnated her.

“Maybe they’ll be decent and at least make it Matt Damon,” she grumbled as she trailed along next to Sebastien.

“What?”

She could have kicked herself. The problem with being an only child is that sometimes you just talk to yourself. It was a habit she’d developed in childhood and when she was tired or stressed, she lapsed back into it. Tonight, she was tired
and
stressed and now she was irritated to boot.

Feeling his eyes on her, she managed a shrug. “The way things are going, people are going to figure out what’s going on and when the news hits the tabloids, I’ll be lucky if they don’t have a Martian pegged as the father.”

“Ah . . . and you’re hoping they go with Matt Damon.” He crooked a grin at her. “Well, he’s better than the Looney Toons version. Although, you and Marvin would have made an interesting couple.”

It startled a laugh out of her. As they stopped by his car, she glanced over at him.

He was staring at her.

Her heart skipped a few beats and she hurriedly looked away. He had the door open for her and she ducked inside but instead of closing the door, he knelt down, staring in at her. “Are you feeling okay now?”

His voice was soft and the darkness wrapped around them, creating the illusion of intimacy where there was none.

She managed to hide the shiver, but if she kept looking at him, she was going to lean toward him. Touch him. Kiss him. Her body was humming now that he was near again. Acting out scenes when she was wearing little more than a pair of underwear was never what she could call
intimate
, even with Sebastien.

At least
before
.

Now, though . . .

Today had been an exercise in erotic torture and patience. She’d had to think about things like nursing bras and whether she’d like a girl or a boy and whether she’d keep working once the baby was born—while still keeping her brain on the task at hand. Enough to keep tuned in, yet not enough to let her body get
too
into it. It was a fine line to walk but she’d managed to keep all the need trapped down inside her body.

Now that he was here . . .

Averting her gaze, she focused on the darkness spreading out in front of the window. “I’m fine, Sebastien. I’m just tired. It’s hard to sleep sometimes and it’s catching up to me, that’s all.”

His hand brushed hers.

“You ever going to look at me in the eye again, Marin? Ever going to talk to me?”

The emotion throbbing in his voice had a knot swelling in her throat.

Talk to him . . . look at him . . .

She needed to talk to him. She had to tell him.

She opened her mouth to do just that when he continued. “I mean, I get that it’s not going to happen. I know you don’t . . . Hell, we’re not going to happen. You’re with Dash, you’re carrying his baby, but we used to be friends. You’re probably the best friend I’ve got. Did I totally destroy that?”

“Sebastien . . .” Closing her eyes, she floundered for how to tell him what she needed to say.

He took the silence the wrong way.

“Fine. Okay. I get it. I . . . yeah. I’m sorry I was such a bastard, Marin. Really.” He shut the door with a little more force than needed and she groaned, covering her face with her hand. She went to say something when he climbed in, but again, he was already talking. “At least send Dash a message. Let him know so he doesn’t hear about it from somebody else.”

Irritated all over again, she snapped, “I don’t have to check in with Dash or anybody else. I’m fine.”

A taut silence hung between them, shattered only when Sebastien started the car. The powerful engine roared to life before settling into a purr as he threw it into reverse.

The entire drive was made in silence and Marin kept her face turned from his.

Mentally, she walked through what she needed to do.

This had gone on too long and she had to put an end to it.

Her heart ached every time she saw him and if she didn’t so something
soon
, it was only going to make it worse.

He thought
he
had put some giant wedge between them, but in reality, she was creating one, just by not finding a way to tell him. The longer she waited the harder it would get, too.

As the lights of the hotel came into view, she looked over at him. “Sebastien, would you—”

The music blaring from his phone interrupted her. Sebastien picked the phone up from the console, eyed it before dropping it. She thought for a moment, he wasn’t going to answer and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

But then she mentally started to swear up and down as he tapped a button on the steering wheel.

The soft, throaty voice that rolled out made Marin see red.

Evie Taylor wasn’t exactly a woman Marin didn’t like.

Generally, Marin was an easy-going woman so while. Evie might be considered a prima donna, the two women got along well. But Evie was also a determined predator in Prada and everybody knew she’d set her sights on Sebastien. She was playing the sister in the movie and she had a lot of scenes with Marin. Every so often, Evie would ask about him . . . or one of the other brothers.

Marin had gotten tired of the questions about the brothers. She was as protective of them—and their wives—as if she were part of the family. She’d told Evie she was wasting her time on Sebastien’s brothers. They were stupid in love with their wives and when she’d mentioned Travis, Marin had just laughed.
You won’t ever see him
.

So that had just made her that much more focused on Sebastien.

“I was wondering if you might be interested in grabbing a bite to eat.”

Say no
. Marin stared at the console, thinking so loud it was a miracle Sebastien didn’t hear her.

Or maybe he
did
. Maybe he laughed and chuckled and chatted with Evie just to piss Marin off.

She had no idea.

But by the time the call ended, Sebastien had made plans for Evie to meet him out in front of the hotel.

So much for you taking me up to my room, staying with me
. She was tempted to sulk and point out that he was supposed to be taking care of her,
hello
!

But she was feeling fine and she’d sound like a whiny brat if she went and did a one-eighty after telling him she was okay.

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” he asked, checking his mirror before pulling into the valet area in front of the hotel. It was crowded but he managed to work his way straight up to the front. And what a surprise . . . Evie was already out there.

Oversized glasses hiding her face and dark red hair pulled back into a loose braid. Evie started walking toward the car with a smile on her lips. Even seeing Marin didn’t make her pause, although Marin saw her brow arch up.

“I’m fine,” Marin said, gritting her teeth. Emotions raged inside her, everything from hurt to jealousy. She didn’t know if she wanted to cry or just turn to him and smack him. “You two have a nice . . . time.”

She almost said something pithy, but managed to keep it behind her teeth.

Sebastien was already out of the car by the time she had gotten her purse from the floor, but he didn’t go straight to Evie. Nope, Sebastien’s parents had raised a gentleman and he was right there, opening the door before she had a chance and offering a hand.

She ignored it, pettiness creeping in to snuggle right up to hurt and jealousy. “You go on over to Evie, Seb.” Offering a chilly smile, she said, “I’m hungry and tired. Don’t mind me.”

“You never did text Dash.”

Fuck Dash
.

He must have seen something in her eyes because he went to say something but before he got it out, Evie appeared at their side. “Are you ready, Sebastien?”

A moment pulsed between them and Marin had a weak hope that he might tell Evie he’d changed his mind.

But he didn’t.

He just nodded.

“Text him,” he said again.

Kiss my ass
, she thought as she cut around him.

She headed straight for the doors, ignoring the staff who whisked them open for her. If she hadn’t been pregnant, her first stop would have been the bar.

As it was, she stopped by the desk and put in a request for a meal. Since she couldn’t drink, she was going to eat. Fortunately for her temper, morning sickness had finally picked a time of day—the morning. So she was going to pig out on something terrible to eat and top it off with ice cream.

Maybe it would help burn off this temper.

She doubted it, but she was still going to try.

***

Sebastien had accepted Evie’s offer for one reason and one only. So he wouldn’t be tempted to go up to the hotel room with Marin. She’d been feeling better, anybody could see that.

If he’d gone up with her . . .

Since he didn’t want to cross the lines he’d drawn for himself, he’d accepted Evie’s offer. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of the look he’d seen in Marin’s eyes when he opened her car door, but he’d long ago figured out that while he
thought
he knew Marin Lassiter fairly well, he would never
understand
her.

Evie settled back in the seat while tension hummed in the air. Before she could say anything to break the silence—and he could hear it coming—he reached out and punched a button on the dashboard. When the automated voice came up, he gave Evie a quick smile.
Gimme a minute, okay?

She smiled back, shifting to face him.

“Call Dash,” he told the voice.

The voice operated system was quiet a moment and then it asked, “Call Zach?”

“No.” Rolling his eyes, he said, “Call Dash. Dash Harlow.”

After another pause, the voice offered, “Say one after the tone, if you’d like to call Zach. Say two if you’d like me to call Mom at home. Say three—”

“You stupid piece of shit.” Irritated, he picked up his phone and held it out to Evie who was laughing at this point. “Can you find his number in my contacts?”

A minute later, Dash’s voice was coming through the speakers, although Sebastien could barely hear him. What was he doing?

“Hey, Seb . . . what are you up to, man?”

“I could say the same to you.” Irritated but determined not to show it, he asked, “Have you talked to Marin?”

“What . . . oh, yeah. She sent a . . .” There was another voice, followed by Dash’s again. “Hold on a minute, okay?”

Sebastien clenched his teeth, the grip he had on his anger becoming more strained by the minute. When Dash finally came back on the line, it was notably quieter and Dash sounded a little less distracted. “You there?” the other man asked.

“Yeah. I never went anywhere. You able to talk without . . . distraction now?”

“Oh, yeah. There weren’t any distractions anyway. Save for the noise.”

Sebastien might have believed him if it hadn’t been for the voice. A low, male voice. And that wouldn’t have stood out, except for the fact that Dash was bi. The voice cut off abruptly and Dash was level and calm when he said, “You asked about Marin—yeah, I talked to her. She said she had a spell, but you got her to the hotel and she’s fine. Was there anything else?”