A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire (49 page)

“And taking off your panties with my teeth?” Sebastian finished with a seductive grin at her, and she immediately grabbed a roll out of the bread basket and tossed it at him. He laughed as it smacked him on his chest and broke into a bunch of little pieces that fell into his lap.

“You are absolutely, completely awful,” she told him, turning her head away with an unhappy grimace. From the corner of her eye, she could see him smile softly as he picked up the roll pieces and put them on his plate.

“Tobin, you are not the type of girl I would ever consider having sex with in a bathroom stall,” he told her simply, still obviously amused and yet not as obviously perverse about it as he had been before. “You aren’t the type of girl to get drunk on five glasses of champagne before the appetizer even arrives to make it easy, and ultimately more enjoyable, to have sex with in a bathroom stall than try and sit through something even resembling a date.”

She lifted a brow and glanced at him speculatively. “I’m not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t meant to be an insult, at the very least. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, or that my taste in women hasn’t been… questionable in the past—”

“It’s still questionable now, considering the circumstances,” Tobin interjected, wrinkling her nose slightly.

“—but that is precisely why I am going out with you instead of one of those girls. On a real date, for once, with a girl with some class. A girl who is smart in addition to beautiful and who doesn’t require alcohol to have fun,” he finished despite what she had said. “There might be smarter choices for you to make when it comes to guys, I’ll admit that too, but you are by far the best woman I’ve ever been interested in for… my entire life.”

A smile twitched at her lips and she looked back at him at last, sighing and shaking her head. “Alright, alright. There’s the compliment. You’re forgiven.” He chuckled at her and took a more composed sip of his wine. She reached for her own, enjoying the Pinot Grigio she had ordered and glancing around the restaurant he had taken her to. Well, that she had met him at after leaving her apartment and leading the police out front away so that he had a chance to sneak out. He had said before that she could pick the place, but she’d opted to let him; things had changed since they had made that arrangement, some for the better and some not. This was an actual date now, for one thing. Not just her trying to get rid of him.

The restaurant was just as nice as the one Aaron had taken her to weeks ago—what felt like years ago. She had markedly better company this time, somehow. Well, Sebastian wasn’t a jackass lying through his teeth to get into her pants, at any rate. He’d already managed that, so he was actually much more genuine than most other guys she went on dates with. Even though he was a career criminal who had held a gun to her head. Yeah, better not to think about that one too much and enjoy anything other than the massive drama the rest of her life had become.

“So, what are you thinking looks good?” Sebastian asked, grabbing his menu off the table and starting to look through it. Without reaching for her own, she looked at him; he looked exceedingly good tonight, even if it was just a simple outfit of a pair of black slacks and a dark blue dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up around his elbows. His auburn hair was in attractive disarray around his face, and he didn’t look at all like the thug he had seemed the first time she had met him. Or the several times she had caught him stalking her.

She smiled a little bit to herself and reached for her own menu, opening it up as well and giving it a cursory glance. “I dunno, although I’m drawn most immediately to the tiramisu,” she mused, lifting a brow as she glanced over the top of her menu at him. He was meeting her gaze in a heartbeat, and his eyes twinkled with amusement.

“We can probably do dessert, if you want to share it.”

“Heck no, I want it all to myself.” He chuckled and looked down again. Tobin didn’t think she was looking too bad tonight either, in a pretty black lace dress that fit her well; it was just early enough in the year that she could get away with wearing it without it being too cold.

“Well, I’m leaning toward the lasagna,” he told her idly as he scanned the menu in front of him.

“Hmm,” she mused, turning her attention away from the desserts and to the entrees on the menu. “Well, the Chianti chicken looks good.”

He looked for what she had mentioned, and a brow quirked in surprise. “Apples, grapes, and hazelnuts? Well, it certainly sounds original at the very least.”

Tobin grinned. “What, your uncle didn’t offer that at his restaurant?”

“Not so much. Lots of pasta, and lots of sausage. But hey, who am I to criticize a lady’s choice for dinner? Get whatever you want, Tobin.”

She smiled and set her menu down, having already decided that that was what she wanted. “I’m surprised you didn’t take me to your uncle’s, after all of this,” she pointed out curiously—only to wince when the relaxed amusement on his face seemed to falter.

“He didn’t want much to do with me, after… some of what went down. He’d always been careful not to get more involved with the Family than he had to be—than they forced him to be. So when I went down that path, he told me not to come back around.”

For a long moment, she was quiet, looking at Sebastian’s face. He was still looking over the menu even though she was pretty sure he had decided what he wanted a while ago. “I’m sorry,” she said softly at last.

He sighed and shook his head, putting down his own menu. “It’s my own fault,” he murmured. “I was a stupid kid, but I knew better than that. It was just fun at first. And I got in over my head.”

While he might’ve been about to say more, the waiter returned then, and they gave him their order. He offered them more wine before he left, but Tobin was glad when he was gone; she was glad that there wasn’t really anyone else around their booth, either. She looked back at Sebastian, knowing he was still thinking about his uncle and the things he had done; some part of her knew she should just let it drop for right now, but…

“What are you going to do, Sebastian? To make them stop? To get out of that life and to make them leave me alone?”

His brown eyes lifted to her with a surge of fury in them that reminded her distinctly of the man who might have killed her; her throat tightened, but she realized all at once that the fury wasn’t directed at her. “Capozzi underestimates me. He forgets that for years I’ve been his right-hand man—that I know all of his schemes, everything he has going on in the business. Everything that I can use against him. You’d be the least of his concerns if he thought about how much else I could expose if I was so inclined,” he growled, and Tobin shifted nervously.

“So you’re going… you’re going to blackmail him?”

“After a fashion,” he answered, only to pause, apparently taking notice of the uneasy fear on her face. He shifted, and the coiled anger that had seemed to define him faded so that she almost could’ve missed it entirely. He was always doing that, she realized. He was always making himself seem calmer than he was. “Tobin, these are very dangerous people, and the only way to make them do what I want them to is to prove myself just as dangerous. Blackmail is the ultimate goal, yes, but it’s not the only consideration I have. I have to prove to them that I’d be willing to go through whatever was necessary to make them back off and leave us alone.” Us. It’d become us, and that made a part of her flutter with something that was very similar to delight.

Despite this, she swallowed hard at his wording, needing to focus on what he was actually saying. The seriousness of such promises. “Whatever’s necessary?”

“I won’t tell you that, Tobin,” he answered with a firmness that startled her. “I won’t involve you in that part of any of this. You’ve been involved in the darkness of my life for far too long already, and that’s my fault. I won’t let you suffer anything else. The less you know, the better, for both of us. All you need to know is that when it’s all over, you will be safe. We will both be safe, and we will be able to live our lives the way we want to.” Sebastian paused, meeting her blue eyes. “Which I’m hoping will be together.”

Despite the dread that had welled in her heart at this speech, a smile twitched at her lips, and she was leaning across the table to kiss him. He accepted it readily, reaching up to cup her cheek for a long moment. They held themselves there, until Tobin was certain she’d fall over from the uncomfortable way she was bent over the table, and she drew back with a little laugh, reaching for her wine.

“I believe you, Sebastian,” she told him at last. “I do. I believe we’ll be safe in spite of everything else I’ve seen in all of this. I just can’t help but be concerned about what might happen, when—there has been a lot taken from me already.” None of this, she told herself, was enough that she had gotten over Kate’s death. But if Kate had known Sebastian, she would have liked him, and she would’ve wanted Tobin to be happy still. It wasn’t fair that she was gone—it never would be. But she had to keep living.

“I’d expect nothing less,” he agreed softly. “But this time… this time, I’m not going to let them get the better of me. I will keep you safe. I will keep them away from you, no matter what.”

She felt her heart leap into her throat as she looked across the table at him; he was so different from how he had been when she had first met him. And he wasn’t, at the same time. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to decide what he was or wasn’t, but in some ways, it didn’t matter at all. But she believed him. If he could keep her safe, if he could protect her and stop Capozzi and his men from coming after her, then they would be happy. For however long they lasted, whether that was a month or a year or forever. She had no idea. Right now, though, despite everything, he was what she wanted.

Before she had the chance to say anything, a foul odor touched her nose and she wrinkled it in distaste, turning her head. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sebastian blink in surprise, and then sniff the air himself; a similar expression took his features.

“Ugh, what is that smell?” he asked, starting to stand up from the table to see if he could see anything.

“I have no idea.” Tobin turned her head to see if she saw anything herself, only to notice that their waiter was hurrying toward the table, a perturbed look on his face. “Is everything alright? What’s that smell?”

“My sincerest apologies, but we’ve actually had a small grease fire erupt in the kitchen. It’s being taken care of and there are firemen on the way to contain it, but for your own safety, we are temporarily asking all patrons to wait outside while the issue is resolved. The inconvenience will of course be figured into your check once you have received appropriate service to your satisfaction.”

Tobin was pretty sure her eyebrows had reached her hairline as he told them this, trying to gesture them out of their booth. She exchanged a glance with Sebastian, and then shrugged and reached for her purse to head outside. What else were they supposed to do? A grease fire was a grease fire. Her date hesitated a little bit longer than she did, and then he was sighing and sliding out from his side of the table to follow her.

“Well, this isn’t exactly how I was expecting the evening to go,” he grumbled as they joined a growing mass of people making their way slowly outside onto the street.

“It’ll still be a fine night, Sebastian, just take a little bit longer. Besides, I’d rather be outside and away from any fires, thank you very much.”

He chuckled. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m just starving. I didn’t want to have to wait for that lasagna any longer than necessary.”

“They’ll probably work double time to get everyone their orders right away once we’re back inside and seated—and, hey, a smaller check is never a bad thing, no matter what the reason.” They were outside by now, scooting out of the way to have some room to stand by themselves in the crowd that was now waiting. Some people left, heading off down the street, probably those who had already gotten their meals and meant to skip out on the check entirely, with this interruption. Most, though, took up irritated but calm positions to try and see what was going on inside as the sound of fire truck sirens echoed down the street. Sebastian shifted uncomfortably near her.

“We shouldn’t stand this much in the open,” he murmured to her, attracting her attention again. “Your escorts might notice me a bit too much, even in all the commotion.” Tobin’s throat tightened and she glanced toward the police car that had been following her around for the past few days before nodding and moving with him a bit further down the street, to where there was a small alley in between the restaurant and the shoe store next to it. Sebastian wedged himself into it, hiding his face in a few shadows without quite seeming strange, and she smiled and waved over at the cops. One of them had started to get out of their car when they saw her come out, but her simple reassurance prompted him to climb back into his seat—and lift what seemed to be a doughnut from his dashboard to continue eating. Typical.

“Well, at least they have food to keep them occupied,” she mused, looking back at her date with a bemused smirk.

“Hey, a cop with a doughnut is a cop not worried about crime for a few minutes,” he quipped back at her with a smile, and she laughed. At least her escort had been discreet enough that no one had really noticed them following her around. They were just a cop car parked on the street taking a break for a little bit, something they were more than entitled to do when all was said and done.

She peered over her shoulder at the restaurant with a sigh. “I hear you on being hungry, though. I hope our food wasn’t anywhere close to done, so it’s not cold when we get seated again. Hopefully this won’t—”

“Tobin,” Sebastian interrupted her all at once, with a low, furious growl that sent her head snapping back around, staring at him. No, more accurately, staring at the gun that was suddenly being pressed against his temple before following it breathlessly along the arm it was held by, to a dark, menacing face in the shadows. If she’d been breathless a moment before, suddenly her breath was ragged, her heart pounding in her chest as her purse slipped from her shoulder and barely managed to catch on her fingers instead of hitting the ground.