Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
Sebastian perked up. “Want some company?”
“That depends,” she teased, leaning into him once more. “Can you promise to behave yourself?”
“Maybe,” he mumbled, dipping his mouth to her shoulder. “But you know you don’t want me to.”
He knew her well.
“Enjoy the honeymoon while it lasts, lovebirds!” Michael cackled from the doorway, raising a hand in farewell. “Make the most of it!”
* * *
An hour later found Taliana showered, dressed, and wandering into the packed restaurant with Sebastian, the boys, and Jude along with his chattering entourage of well-dressed girls.
Before they left the house, Jude had cornered Taliana and demanded to know who the culprit was behind the hickeys that adorned her neck. It had only taken a single guilty glance at Sebastian to give him an answer, and Jude’s responding scream probably could’ve been heard from down the street. Honestly, it almost seemed like he was happier about the whole thing than Taliana was.
He’d stolen her away from Sebastian for the ride to the restaurant and had been gloating about how he’d called this from the very beginning. By the time they all reconvened outside the quaint building on Main Street, Taliana had had enough of him cooing over her new relationship, and she wasted no time putting a little distance between them.
Luckily, Sebastian picked up on Taliana’s distress and was quick to guide her inside and away from Jude. The restaurant only had five tables packed into the tiny room, but there were at least ten people seated at each. There was only one table that wasn’t filled to capacity yet, despite its beautiful view of the ivy-covered terrace, but it didn’t take a genius to see why no one else was sitting there.
The joy that had been fluttering in her stomach since late last night disappeared when Taliana realized if they wanted to stay and eat, they were going to have to sit with Blair Bakhtiar.
Taliana sagged against Sebastian’s arm around her waist. “I don’t want to deal with her this morning,” she grumbled.
“Doesn’t look like we have much of a choice,” he said, just as Blair glanced over.
“I think we should go back to the house and have breakfast in bed.”
He shook his head and fought a grimace. “Too late now, we’ve been seen. Plus, I’m starving.”
Unfortunately, Sebastian was right. If they left, Blair would take this as a battle won. And, well, Taliana was hungry too. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Clutching his hand tightly, Taliana allowed Sebastian to lead her to the table and took care to settle into a seat on the opposite side of the table from Blair. The distance between them wasn’t huge, but it was enough to keep Taliana from lunging across the exquisitely set table.
“Good morning,” Blair said pleasantly, smiling as everyone else settled into their seats. The ones on either side of her remained empty. “You all have a nice night?”
Part of Taliana was tempted to grin, but she held back. “It was decent,” she answered nonchalantly, though Sebastian’s hand on her thigh said it had been much better than that.
Judging from the way Blair’s neutral expression slipped ever so slightly, she had picked up on the fact that something had changed between them. Her guarded eyes darted from Taliana to Sebastian and back again as she took a slow sip of her juice. “I’m glad to hear that.”
She was quiet as Michael dropped into the seat to her left, a grin lighting his face. “Hi, honey,” he greeted brightly. “Ruin any lives since I saw you last?”
What looked to be an almost genuine smile tugged on the corners of her mouth as she turned to face him. “Unfortunately, no. Haven’t had the time.”
“Huh, strange. I thought you blocked out a couple hours of your day to plot someone’s downfall. My mistake.”
“If you missed my schemes so much, you should’ve said something. I would’ve whipped one out for you.”
“Oh?” Michael questioned, mock intrigued. “You still have things up your sleeves?”
Blair turned her palms up, putting her bare arms and shoulders on display. Her white halter dress only covered the essentials. “You know everything I have is laid out on the table.”
“That’s funny, because I sure don’t see anything. Where are you hiding it?”
“Maybe you’re just blind,” she cooed, reaching out to pat his cheek. “Because it’s all out there. Just look closer.” She shot him a wink as she dropped her hand and turned her calm smile back in my direction. “You don’t need to worry, Talia. I don’t have any schemes planned for you at the moment.”
Sebastian tensed beside her, but Taliana wasn’t deterred. “You’ve learned your lesson then?”
Her laugh garnered almost all the male attention in the room. “What lesson was there to learn?”
Taliana raised a brow. “Maybe not to mess with people who don’t deserve it?”
“You think you know the whole story, don’t you?” Blair leaned forward, gray eyes locked on Taliana. “You don’t know anything, Taliana. But I’ll let you in on you a little something-I’m difficult to shake off.”
“Like herpes!” Michael exclaimed.
Blair grinned and turned her sharp attention to him. If one thing was for sure, it took a lot to get to her. “Just curious, Michael,” she said lightly. “Did you ever get those crabs cleared up? Ariana was thinking about propositioning you last night but didn’t want to catch anything.”
Michael’s smile tightened just a little, barely enough to notice. “Don’t worry, baby, I’m all clean now. You wanna have a go?”
“Sorry.” Her grin dimmed to a sympathetic smile. “Out of your little group, Sebastian’s the only one I’m interested in. You’re second best, though, I’ll give you that.”
Throughout their exchange, Sebastian’s grip had tightened on Taliana’s thigh, clearly having a hard time holding back. But now he’d hit his boiling point. “I think that’s enough, Blair,” he cut in coldly.
She flashed him a sharp smile, coiled like a snake about to strike. “Baby, I’m just getting started.”
She may have thought so, but someone else was prepared to bring her reign of terror to a halt.
“Enough, Laleh,” someone said from behind her, and Taliana glanced up in surprise to see Khalid. “Get up.”
Her amusement quickly disappeared, and before she could make a move to stand, Khalid’s hand locked around her upper arm and tugged her out of the chair.
“What’s her brother doing here?” Taliana asked Sebastian, though her gaze didn’t leave the pair moving off to the corner of the room.
He shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe he’s here to keep her in line?”
Taliana could only hope.