Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (32 page)

“Of course, Brooke, take your time, we’ve waited this long to finally extend the offer, the least I can do is give you time to think it over,” he smiled. “Now, please continue eating.”

We made polite conversation as we finished up our breakfast, and at one point his wife, Laura, stopped in to introduce herself and steal a piece of bacon.

“Thanks for pleasantries sweetie but Brooke and I both know that meeting her was just a ruse, you were
only after the bacon,” Max playfully called to her, as she was leaving, then giving me a wink.

She popped her head back around the corner with lightening speed. “Don’t listen to him Brooke, it was delightful meeting you, I just happen to be a sucker for anything related to pork,” she smiled sweetly, then blew a kiss in her husband’s direction. I got a kick out of watching the way they interacted with one another and wondered if that’s what it would be like if Sebastian and I lived together.

“Do you have anyone special in your life Brooke?” he turned his attention to me.

“Yes,” I felt myself blushing just thinking about how special Sebastian is to me. “In fact, I met him when I came out for the first interview.”

“He lives here in L.A.? Isn’t it rather hard to keep a relationship going, being that far apart?”

“Well, yes, it can be challenging, but we’ve managed to make it work so far. I must admit, seeing the way you and Laura interact gives me a reason to long for something less spatially challenged,” I admitted.

“What was it that brought you back to L.A. this time? Was it him?”

“Yes,” I nodded, “his sister got married this past weekend and I came back for that, but also to spend time with him. In fact, he’s asked me to relocate here and live with him.”

“So the timing of my offer coincides rather splendidly, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what the little voice inside my head keeps telling me,” I sighed.

“May I ask his name?” he urged, politely.

“Certainly, his name is Sebastian Miles.”

“Ah, I know his parents, Thomas, and Tracy, they are
regular patrons of several of my restaurants. They are a great family, I’ve heard good things about Sebastian as well,” he patted my hand, in what I supposed could be considered a fatherly act, although I had no personal account of what that might actually look like.

“Well, speaking of Sebastian, I should probably be heading back, he tends to worry about me if I’m out of his sight for too long,” I laughed. “Thank you very much for today. I want you to know that I’ve heard everything you said, and I think I know which way I am leaning towards, but I just want to take a day or two and sleep on it. I hope that’s okay.”

“Absolutely. Take all the time you need and be sure to give me a call once you’ve made your decision, or if you have any further questions.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Sebastian~

Brooke came through the door just after I had returned from a late morning run on the beach. I had just been on my way to the shower when she barreled toward me and jumped into my arms, with a huge grin on her face and joy in her eyes.

“Umph,” I groaned as she collided with my waist. “Wow, that’s quite an entrance; I take it everything went well.” She captured my face in her hands and proceeded to cover my face with kisses. “Mmm, I like happy Brooke,” I smiled against her lips.

“It was an amazing meeting babe, he made me this incredible breakfast, offered me the job, and gave me a tour of his house, I even met his wife!” She placed another kiss on my lips before grimacing and sliding down my sweaty body. “Ew, you’re all slippery,” she laughed, turning to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Well, that’s probably because I just got back from a run. Wait a minute, can we back up for a minute, you said
he offered you the job as his executive chef?” She nodded enthusiastically.

“Incredible isn’t it!” She broke into an impromptu dance right there in the middle of the kitchen, and I have to tell you, she looked pretty sexy.

“Hell yeah!” I danced up behind her, grabbing her by the hips and matching her crazy rhythm. “So, does this mean that you’ll be moving to California?” Her body froze.

“Not exactly,” she said, slowly.

I turned her around to face me; I needed to see her eyes. “What do you mean, not exactly? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I haven’t given him an answer yet; I told him that I needed to sit on it for a couple of days.” She pressed her hands gently on my stomach and pushed back, putting distance between us and raising my irritation level.

“I thought this was what we wanted, what you wanted, why do you need to think about it? This is like a sign that you’re supposed to move in with me,” I argued.

“I need time to talk it over with Donnie and Jade, get their opinion. This isn’t a snap decision for me Sebastian; I don’t work that way.”

“Why the hell not! This is a way for us to be together, and you can still live out your dream, it’s a win-win for both of us.”

“Stop it! Stop trying to pressure me,” she cried out.

“Since when do I pressure you into anything?” I threw my hands in the air, at a complete loss to understand what pressure she was referring to.

“You do this with me a lot, it’s just like the whole sex thing all over,” she screamed, turning away from me.

“Wait a minute, I thought we made that decision together; I never pressured you Brooke.” I felt my chest
constrict and immediately raised my hand to rub it.

“I need to get away for a bit; I need some time alone to think.” I watched her walk out the door and make her way to the beach, and, for the first time, I didn’t follow her. Instead, I turned and went out the front door.

I had been driving for fifteen minutes before I realized where I was headed, straight to Travis and Natalie for some sage advice, because God knew I needed it. At this point, I was starting to think that I was in over my head. For me it seemed perfectly simple, we loved each other and wanted to be together, the best solution was to have her share my home. All this time I had been under the assumption that she felt the same way and could no longer live without me, maybe I had been wrong.

Travis opened the door, and the look on his face told me that he already knew that something was up.

“Let me guess, trouble in paradise?” he motioned me in. I grunted and brushed past him, wishing like hell that I could have a drink to help calm my nerves.

“How do you always know when my life’s falling apart?” I asked sarcastically, rolling my eyes and falling back on the loveseat next to the dog.

“Natalie’s on the phone with Brooke right now, she’s out back using her ‘Mom’ voice so I figured you must have done something to screw things up,” he guffawed. “So you want to tell me what happened, or do I have to guess?”

“She said I was pressuring her into moving to California,” I spat out.

“Are you?”

“No!” I said defiantly, looking over at him and staring, he stared back intently, asking me the question once more with nothing but a look. “Alright, maybe I did a little, but that was only because she got offered her dream job here
in L.A. What was I supposed to say when she told me that?”

“Well, for starters, how about congratulations, or I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m sure I told her that,” I muttered, replaying the scene over in my mind. Crap, I hadn’t said either of those things.

“Well, something ticked her off. I could hear her yelling through the phone,” he said, shaking his head and sitting down across from me.

I let out a loud sigh and dropped my head into my open hands, feeling very ashamed.

“She thinks I pressured her about sex,” I groaned into my palms.

“Dude, that’s not cool at all,” Travis reached over and grabbed my hands, pulling them away from my wet face. “Sebastian, did you pressure her into something she didn’t want to do?”

“No,” I insisted. “Maybe I pressured her at first when she first stayed with me, but nothing happened. She told me how she felt, and I respected that. Anything that’s happened since then has been a mutual decision, I swear. I would never do that to her, or any woman. I think she was just angry and probably wanted to hurt me. I’m not going to lie, Travis, it wasn’t easy for me, but I’ve always let it be her call.

“Okay,” he eased back in his seat, “I believe you. I don’t know what’s going on between you two, it’s obvious that you are very much in love, but this is a big decision for her. As hard as it is for you, and I’m sure that sometimes it must hurt like hell, you need to give her time. She needs to come to terms with this in her own way; it can’t only be about making you happy.”

I sat there absentmindedly scratching behind the
sleeping dogs ears, thinking about what he had just said, knowing that he was right, and what I needed to do to fix it. Natalie came back inside, pausing when she saw me, and then went to sit down next to Travis.

“How are you doing sweetie?” she asked in her best ‘Mom’ voice. I didn’t respond, only offering a slight shrug of my shoulder. “I think you may have messed up a bit tonight.”

“What do you mean?” I sat up, searching her face for answers.

“Brooke left sweetie; she caught a cab back to the airport.” Her words took the air right out of my lungs, I hadn’t been expecting that outcome. “Sebastian,” Natalie came over and knelt in front of me, taking both of my hands into hers. “She still loves you, she just needs some time to work all of this out. She knew that if she stayed she wouldn’t be able to think straight, you kind of make her lose focus.” I winced outwardly at that comment, no longer able to contain my emotions. I broke down, not knowing if this was the end, or if I should even keep fighting. “Sebastian, she loves you so much. She wants so desperately to take this job and live with you, but it’s not going to come easily to her. She will be leaving everything she knows to come out and bet all of her cards on you. She’s not used to giving up control to anyone else. Please, just give her a couple of days, I promise she’ll come around.” Her arms enveloped me in a tight embrace, and I held on for dear life as the fear poured out of me through the tears that continued to fall.

The house felt empty
when I walked through the door. I’m not sure why I expected anything else, knowing that she wasn’t here had been a fact made clear to me more than three hours ago. Natalie and Travis tried their best to offer me consolation, but it had done little to lift
my spirits. Natalie told me to give her some space, that she would come around after having a chance to go home and clear her head. I wasn’t feeling as sure about it, but I was willing to take her advice. If time and distance were what she needed, then I was going to give it to her, it was the least I could do. I won’t lie, though, it wouldn’t be easy, and it was going to take every bit of resolve that I had not to call her and try to clear up her comments about intimacy and me pressuring her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Brooke~

I panicked. That’s the only explanation I had for what I had done. I panicked and then I ran, back to the familiarity of my apartment and my friends. As I boarded the plane, on shaky legs, I thought about the last words I had spoken to Sebastian. I had accused him of pressuring me intimately, which hadn’t been entirely true. While it was true that he had tried pressuring me early on in our relationship, I asked him to wait, and he had respected that completely. Any decision we had made since that initial discussion had been unanimously agreed upon, whether related to the topic of sex or anything else, we had always been on the same page. The look on his face had been one of hurt and confusion, I know this because I remember it vividly, and I see it every time I close my eyes.

I’ve been back for three days, three long days with no word from him. I know that I’ve hurt him, what I don’t know is if he will be able to forgive me. Part of me wants
to believe that we mean more to each other than that, that one fight isn’t going to break us, but another part can’t help wondering if my leaving did more damage than my words.

Jade hasn’t said much; she’s just been there offering her silent support, listening to me cry. The thought of leaving her behind as I go off and live my dream makes me sad, but the thought of not going scares me even more.

“Hey,” I said, joining her at the kitchen table.

“Hey yourself. How are you feeling today?” she smiled at me.

“About the same I guess. Listen, we need to talk about something,” I suddenly had her full attention, the cupcake she was eating pushed aside as she leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I had a meeting with Chef Wolf while I was in California. He offered me the job and I’m going to take it.” I puffed out my cheeks and let out a big breath as the butterflies did a number on the contents of my stomach.

“I’m not surprised. I always thought he was a fool for not calling you back,” she said encouragingly.

“Thanks. I secretly thought so too, but he told me that he had some trouble at his London site and that had taken center stage. They have a strong team in L.A., but the executive chef wants to take a step back from the industry and spend time with his kids before they graduate. I think they like me, not only for my culinary skills, but also because I am single without any kids, meaning they will get a lot of years out of me,” I laughed nervously.

“What did Sebastian say? I’ll bet he’s happy,” she replied, unaware that Sebastian and I hadn’t spoken, or that I left without saying goodbye, or even telling him
that I was leaving. She just thought that I had been crying because I had to leave him again, I didn’t have the heart to tell her all the details when I first arrived back home.

“Well, we haven’t spoken to each other in a few days.”

“What do you mean, why not? Did you two have a fight?” she asked “Wait a minute, is that why you came home early and have been crying ever since?”

“Yes,” I nodded, “to all of the above. We had a fight, our first major fight, and neither one of us handled it well. I wanted to call him, but I’m afraid he won’t answer.”

“Seriously? You two have been head over heels in love for the past six months, you talk continuously, and can’t keep your hands off each other when you’re together. Isn’t this the same man you’ve been talking about moving in with? And you’re afraid he won’t talk to you because of one fight?” she rolled her eyes dramatically and grabbed my phone, pressing the speed dial for Sebastian, and I couldn’t stifle the groan that made its way past my lips.