CHAPTER 11
Maya
IT SMELLED LIKE SALT AND VINEGAR, A TRACE OF MEN’S cologne, and Guerlain Shalimar, my grandmother’s favorite perfume.
A weird combo, but I was too drowsy to question it.
I sighed, snuggling deeper into my pillow and— Wait a minute. What happened to my fluffy, ultra-soft bedding? It felt like I was sleeping on a brick wall—a warm, muscled brick wall that wasn’t uncomfortable per se, but it definitely wasn’t silk and goose down.
I cracked my eyes open. A blast of sunlight scorched my retinas, and I slammed them shut again.
I always closed my blackout curtains at night. I also always lit my favorite candle before bed, and that smelled
like jasmine, not Guerlain.
Something was very wrong.
I braved another peek. This time, there was no direct sunlight because there was a face shoved right in front of mine, blocking out the rest of the room.
“Aaaahhh!”
“Aaaahhh!”
I bolted up into a sitting position, my heart racing. “How
—what—why are you screaming?” I had so many questions, but I opted for the simplest one first.
“You screamed first,” my grandmother said, her ruby earrings glittering in the morning light. She wore a bright blue coat, a curious expression, and enough jewelry to fill a Tiffany’s. “Why are you sleeping on a yoga mat with your childhood nemesis?”
“What are you…” I followed her gaze to the spot next to me, where Sebastian lay sprawled with his forearm covering his eyes. One of his legs tangled with mine, and I realized with horror that the “brick wall” I’d been snuggling washim.
Our screams didn’t appear to have woken him.
“Aaaahhh!”
I yanked my leg away from him and scrambled to my feet. My grandmother chuckled as Sebastian finally stirred.
He lowered his arm and squinted up at us. His gaze flicked over my sleep-rumpled frame, and his eyes flared with something dangerously close to heat before they cooled.
The entire moment came and went so quickly that I must’ve imagined it. There was no heat. Why would there be heat?
“I hope you don’t wake up screaming like that every day.
It’s quite off-putting,” he said before giving my grandmother a charming smile. He seemed to be taking her unexpected appearance much better than I was. “Good morning, Mrs.
Gupta.” Gupta was my mother’s maiden name.
My grandmother smiled back. “Good morning, dear.”
She’d always had a soft spot for Sebastian, which proved that her exquisite taste in jewelry didn’t translate to equally exquisite taste in people.
I ground my teeth as Sebastian rose leisurely to his feet.
He stretched his arms over his head and yawned, the lazy movement resembling that of a big cat after a nap. Despite his sleep-mussed hair and rumpled clothing, he still looked gorgeous. There were people who spenthours mastering that effortlessly casual look, and he’d nailed it by rolling out
of bed or, in this case, a yoga mat.
It was so annoying.
He reached down to roll up our mats. My eyes dipped involuntarily to his forearms, and a hint of something velvety brushed my heart. A flutter? No. That was ridiculous.
Our brainstorming session for the pop-up had been fun, but that didn’t mean anything. The only thing Sebastian Laurent had ever induced in me were ulcers.
But there was something so… intimate about seeing him right after he woke up, even if he was fully dressed and we were in an office. I was convinced he’d had a nightmare when he’d dozed off the first time last night, and that tiny glimpse of vulnerability shook me more than I cared to admit.
I preferred when Sebastian was some untouchable god. It irritated me, sure, but it didn’t create cracks in what was supposed to be my rock-solid opinion of him. I’d formed my opinion of him after decades of forced acquaintanceship, and I didn’t like being proven wrong.
Which I wasn’t. Sebastian was Sebastian, no matter how endearing he was when he got excited about the pop-up menu or how nice his body warmth— A delicate cough interrupted my musings.
I jumped, my face heating when I met my grandmother’s shrewd gaze. She plucked Sebastian’s jacket off the back of a chair and held it out to him. “Perhaps you should put this back on lest people get the wrong idea,” she said without taking her attention off me.
“Ah.” Sebastian cleared his throat. “Thank you.” He took the jacket, a wash of dull red darkening his cheekbones.
Our eyes met for a millisecond before we both quickly looked away.
The flush spread from my face to my neck and chest. I had nothing to be embarrassed about. It wasn’t like we’d done anything wrong. We were working, and we fell asleep.
End of story.
I faced my grandmother again. “What are you doing here, Nani?” I asked, attempting to take my mind off Sebastian’s proximity. “You never come into the office.”
“I’m meeting a friend for breakfast, and I was in the area.
I thought I’d come by to see whether your father’s terrible taste in decor has improved. It hasn’t.” My grandmother’s eyebrows rose. “It’s a good thing he wasn’t the one who found you two here. It’s frowned upon to fornicate at work.”
“What?No!”
“We weren’t—”
“We didn’t—”
Sebastian and I stumbled all over each other trying to deny her accusation.
“We weren’t fornicating,” I said. “We’re fully dressed.
Does it look like we were doing anything inappropriate?” I gestured at our clothes.
My grandmother’s gaze traveled between us. “It looks likesomething,” she said. “Perhaps if you fornicated more, you’d have given me great-grandchildren by now.”
“Nani!”
Beside me, Sebastian’s face turned the color of ripe strawberries. I would’ve enjoyed his discomfort more had flames of mortification not engulfed my own cheeks.
For an eighty-year-old, my grandmother was extremely open about sex. I wished she wasn’t.
“It’s the truth.” She harrumphed. “If you—”
“Please don’t say the word ‘fornicate’ again.” Normally, I’d never interrupt an elder, but I wasthis close to dying from humiliation, and I had so much left to accomplish before I accepted death’s embrace.
Though to be honest, getting struck by lightning sounded really good right now.
“I wasn’t going to.” My grandmother’s gold bangles jangled as she smoothed the front of her coat. “What I was going to say was, I’m not getting any younger. I don’t want to die before my favorite granddaughter walks down the
aisle.”
Ha! I knew I was her favorite.Take that, Neha.
“You’re not going to die,” I said. “I mean, not anytime soon. You’re one of the healthiest people I know.”
“Yes, well, that doesn’t mean anything. I could fall off a cliff or get hit by a car.” She sounded unbothered by the thought. “Anyway, I’ve taken up enough of your time. The sooner you finish this project, the sooner you can work on my great-grandchildren.” She waggled her fingers at us and sailed toward the exit. “More working, less sleeping together,” she added over her shoulder. “Save that for a
hotel!”
The door slammed shut behind her.
Silence rang in her wake. Sebastian and I stood stock still until voices outside the hall snapped us out of our trance. It was almost eight, which meant people were trickling into
work.
“I should—”
“I need to—”
We bumped into each other as we rushed to grab our belongings. We mumbled our apologies before swiftly exiting the room.
I took the elevator; he took the stairs. For once, neither of us had anything snarky to say.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I had to get away from him ASAP.
It’s just Sebastian. The elevator doors pinged open.
You’ve known him your whole life. Nothing’s changed.
By the time I crossed the lobby and stepped outside, I’d almost convinced myself that was true.
“Hello? Earth to Maya.” Vivian waved her hand in front of my face.
I blinked, my attention snapping back to the present.
“Sorry. What were you saying?”
“I wanted to see if you had any changes to the run of show,” she said. “I swapped Riley K.’s time slot with the acrobats. She’s flying straight in from her tour in Asia, so I wanted to give her a buffer in case there are any delays.”
“That’s fine,” I said.
We were in her living room, going over the final details for my birthday party, which was coming up in two and a half weeks. I usually loved this part—Cake! Performances!
Gifts!—but I couldn’t get my head in the game.
Honestly, I’d been distracted all week. Ever since… Well, ever since I woke up next to Sebastian Laurent and found
myself not hating it.
It was so wrong.
We tolerated each other at best, so I shouldn’t be softening toward him. I was pretty sure that was a sign of the apocalypse.
“Good.” Vivian marked something in her notebook.
“That’s all I have. I’ll reconfirm with the vendors tomorrow, but other than that, we should be set for the party.”
“Thanks, Viv.”
She smiled. “Any time.”
We’d worked together many times in the past, but thanks to Sloane, our relationship had gradually transitioned from friendly acquaintances to actual friends over the past year.
I’d always liked Vivian. The luxury event planner was competent and patient, and despite coming from—and marrying into—major money, she remained down to earth.
Her husband Dante Russo ran the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate, which gave her access to some niche, high-powered connections that were invaluable in her line of work.
My phone pinged as Vivian walked me to the door.
SEBASTIAN
See you soon I’m going to win, you know
I rolled my eyes. I hadn’t seen him in person since our unplanned sleepover. We’d communicated exclusively via emails and texts over the past week, but that hadn’t stopped us from jumping into another competition.
Our first major task for the pop-up was finding the perfect location. We’d agreed we needed something more special than any ol’ New York haunt, but we’d butted heads over what the alternative should be.
After days of research and heated arguments, we’d narrowed down our top choices. I picked a gorgeous rustic venue in Vermont; he was dead set on a lakeside château in North Carolina. I didn’t even know there were châteaux in North Carolina, but it didn’t matter. My option was going to beat his, hands down.
“Have fun in Vermont.” Vivian hugged me. “Try not to kill him, okay? I can speak for Sloaneand myself when I say a murder charge right before your birthday would not be ideal.”
During one of our more… spirited text threads, Sebastian and I somehow committed to visiting both our top venues together. It was the only way we trusted the other to be honest about their thoughts, and we’d have to do a walkthrough of the final location anyway.
We were visiting Vermont this weekend and North Carolina later in the month, after my birthday.
I was dreading both trips. They meant even closer proximity to Sebastian, but I had no choice. They were a necessary evil.
“I’ll try my best, but no guarantees,” I said. “I might need you to bail me out.”
Vivian laughed as the front door opened. “You got it.”
“Who’s bailing who out?” a deep, lightly accented voice asked. Dante walked in a second later. He was carrying their adorable two-year-old daughter Josephine, affectionately
known as Josie, with one arm and holding a picnic basket with his other.
Josie’s face lit up. “Mommy!” She reached for Vivian with chubby little arms, squirming frantically until Vivian took her from her husband.
“Hi, darling.” She planted a giant kiss on the girl’s cheek.
“Did you have fun at the park with Daddy?”
Josie giggled. “Yes! We saw doggies!”
“Ooh, welove doggies.” Vivian turned and gave Dante a softer kiss. “She’s going to make us get her a P-U-P-P-Y when she grows up, isn’t she?” she whispered.
He grimaced, but his eyes were tender as he looked at his wife and daughter. “Please, don’t speak it into existence.”
He inclined his head toward me. “Maya. Good to see you.”
“You too.” I smiled even as something tightened in my chest.
I didn’t have baby fever, and I wasn’t someone who grew up dreaming of a dozen kids and a white picket fence.
However, seeing how happy and domestic the Russos were made me ache for something similar.
I had a lot of career ambitions, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want family outings and picnics in the park too. The trick was finding someone I loved and respected enough to start a family with. So far, the options were dismal.
My mom kept saying my expectations were too high, and maybe she was right. But if I didn’t have high expectations for the person I spent my life with, then I might as well have no expectations for anything at all.
“Are you the one who needs bailing out?” Dante asked, sounding as amused as an intimidating, six-foot-four Italian CEO could sound.
“No.” I blushed. “It was, um, an inside joke. I have to go, but I’ll see you at my party in a few weeks?”
He nodded.
I said my final goodbyes and slipped out, leaving them to their family time.
The Russos lived only a few blocks from me. I had time to go home, change, and pick up my luggage before I was supposed to meet Sebastian, but my plans vanished into a puff of smoke when I exited the building to find a familiar
black SUV idling by the curb.
The window rolled down.
“Get in,” Sebastian said, sounding bored. A pair of sunglasses hid his eyes. “Your luggage is in the trunk.”
“What the hell?” I spluttered. “How did you know I was here?” If he was stalking me, we weren’t going to make it to Vermont before I required bail.
He shrugged. “Your assistant loves me. Also, Vivian posted a photo of your party-planning session to her
business page.”
“She would never post our location.”
“No, but I recognized the carpet. Dante and I are friends, you know.” Sebastian gestured at the passenger seat. “Are you getting in or not? Because if you want to walk all the way to Vermont, I’m happy to oblige.”
“Nice to see our trip is off to a good start,” I grumbled. I climbed into the car and barely had time to shut the door before he peeled off, nearly mowing over two women in designer activewear in the process. “I can’t believe you ambushed me.”
“It’s a four-hour drive, Sal, not a kidnapping,” he said dryly. “Do you need to use the restroom?”
“No.”
“Do you need to eat?”
“No.”
“Then sit back and pick a playlist. You’re the DJ.”
“Fine.” I opened my Spotify and scrolled to my pop playlist. A Riley K. song blasted through the speakers, and I allowed myself a satisfied grin when Sebastian grimaced.
This was his least favorite song in her discography.
Actually, it was mine too, and I said that as someone who loved Riley K. But seeing Sebastian look like he wanted to
crawl out of his skin and bash in his eardrums was worth three minutes and fifty-four seconds of torture.
“How did you get my luggage?” I asked. “Don’t tell me my assistant gave you that too.”
“No, your housekeeper did. I told her I was doing you a favor.” He gave me a smug smile. “She also loves me.”
“That’s it.” I put on my sunglasses to hide my annoyance.
“I’m firing everyone and hiring nuns.”
“I’ve met a few nuns. They—”
“If you say they love you too, I swear to God, I’ll throw you
out and run you over. Twice.”
Sebastian’s laugh filled the car.
Eventually, we settled into a semi-comfortable silence.
The awkwardness of our last in-person interaction crowded in between us, but the music and outside scenery made it easier to pretend everything was normal.
It was a relatively short drive from New York to the venue in Vermont. It was located in a teeny-tiny little town called Ellington, which didn’t have an airport or a train station, so driving was the most convenient option.
“Are you ever going to tell me the truth about why you ran out of that meeting in October?” Sebastian suddenly asked.
The one I’d left to go straight to Pittsburgh. I couldn’t believe he remembered.
“I told you. I had a doctor’s appointment,” I lied.
“We’re stuck in this car for at least another hour, and your taste in music is questionable. The least you can do is tell me something interesting—andtrue.”
“My taste in music is not questionable. Not everyone likes to listen to pretentious French jazz.”
“Don’t change the subject.” He glanced over at me. “Is it really that bad?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. I hadn’t toldanyone about my Pittsburgh theory. I was worried it would make me sound unhinged, but the secret had been gnawing at me for
weeks.
Oddly enough, Sebastian would be the perfect person for me to share it with. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t dismissive. He’d always taken me seriously, even when I tried to rage-bait him once by arguing that Henry VIII was the greatest monarch in history (he wasn’t, which Sebastian had made clear via a sixty-minute dissection of every point I’d made).
“It’s notbad,” I hedged. “But if I tell you, you might think
I’ve lost it.”
“Try me.”
I took a deep breath. “I think the listeria outbreak over the summer was planned. Someone broke into our packaging facility in Pittsburgh and purposely sabotaged our products.”
It sounded even crazier when I said it out loud.
I winced and braced myself for ridicule, but it never came.
“Why do you think that?” Sebastian asked curiously.
“The cases never sat right with me from the beginning,” I said. “My dad isanal about safety regulations. The quality and reputation of our products are important to him, and staff are required to undergo training every year. Anyone who violates the rules is suspended or let go. We’ve been in this business for decades, and we’ve never, ever had an issue with contamination.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” Sebastian reasoned.
“It only takes one accidental fuckup.”
“That’s what I thought too, but my gut told me otherwise.
Our Pittsburgh factory is where a majority of our Italian line is packaged. When you mentioned Pittsburgh during our meeting, that triggered a memory. Earlier this year, one of our employees there was fired because they weren’t following our food safety guidelines. You’d think that would be the end of it, but they showed up a few weeks later with a gun. Threatened to shoot everyone there and then shoot
themself. Thankfully, security was able to disarm them before anyone got hurt.”
“Holy shit.” Sebastian’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I didn’t hear anything about this.”
“We buried it,” I said. “I convinced my father not to press charges, which would’ve opened a whole other can of worms, but the ex-employee was ordered to seek treatment.
They’re also not allowed to step foot within three thousand feet of any Singh Foods properties.”
“So you think they violated their restraining order to get back at the company,” Sebastian mused.
“It sounds far-fetched,” I admitted. “I went straight to Pittsburgh that night to talk to some of the employees. See if they’d noticed anything strange in the weeks leading up to the first case. None of them did, but I swear, my gut is usually right. I just can’t prove it.”
I desperately wished I could. Yes, I’d handled the contamination crisis effectively, but the company had still lost a share of customers who heard “Singh Foods” and thought “listeria.” If I couldprove that the contamination was a result of sabotage, not inadequate food safety controls, that would go a long way toward repairing our brand’s reputation.
“Have you told anyone else about this?” Sebastian asked.
“No. I don’t want to say anything until I have more than a hunch.”
“So I’m the chosen confidante.” A slow smile spread across his face. “I’m honored.”
My skin warmed. “Don’t let it get to your head. I only told you because you’re annoyingly persistent.”
“Nine times out of ten, annoying persistence is the key to getting what you want.” Sebastian glanced at me again. His face softened a smidge. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think your theory is farfetched. You have good instincts, Sal. Trust
them.”
Something inside me melted a little.
It freaked me out so much, I immediately turned my head to stare out the window. No talking, no looking at him, and definitely no more confessions until my body got on board with the fact that Sebastian Laurent wasstill our biggest rival. Bits and pieces of bonding didn’t change that.
He didn’t speak again for a while, either, though that might’ve been because he was too focused on driving.
The weather had taken a drastic turn over the past few miles. Sunny skies gave way to angry thunderclouds, and traffic slowed to a crawl as the rainstorm destroyed our visibility.
Forty minutes later, we’d advanced maybe five feet.
“This is insane.” There was a rare note of frustration in Sebastian’s voice. “If we stay on the highway, we won’t make it to Vermont until midnight.”
“What else are we supposed to do?” I checked my phone like it would magically give me an answer. Service was spotty, and it took Google forever to load.
“We’re only an hour or so from the venue. We can take the local streets,” Sebastian said.
“I don’t know.” I glanced uneasily at the rain. The droplets were hitting our car so hard, they sounded like bullets. “This doesn’t seem like the ideal weather for taking backroads.”
“This car is sturdy. We’ll be fine. Would you rather deal with backroads orthis?” He gestured at the sea of red taillights before us. It was what I imagined the entrance to hell would look like.
Plus, I hadn’t eaten since lunch at Vivian’s house, and the first pangs of hunger were starting to claw at my stomach.
“Fine,” I said. “But I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Somehow, Sebastian managed to maneuver us across lanes and to the nearest exit ramp. Our GPS rerouted, and I breathed a sigh of relief once we’d escaped that hellish snarl of traffic. I hadn’t realized how claustrophobic it’d made me until I was out.
However, my relief was short-lived. We drove for half an hour before the first inklings of unease prickled along my spine.
“Is it just me, or did we pass by that same gas station ten minutes ago?” The rain had eased a little, and I saw the same blue Toyota parked in the exact same spot as earlier.
Sebastian frowned. “I’m following the GPS. It must be taking us in circles. That’s never happened before.”
He tried to reset it, but it didn’t work. We were still going in circles.
“Screw it. We don’t have time to play tech support,” I said. “I’ll navigate using Google Maps. It should be more updated.”
The app was slower than usual, but eventually, it brought us out of our loop and toward our destination.
This was why I hated road trips. There was too much potential for things to go wrong.
But we were almost there, and the prospect of a hot shower and room service was all that kept me going.
“Turn left,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Sebastian slowed the car and eyed the narrow dirt path leading into the woods. “That doesn’t look right.”
“That’s what the app says.” I refreshed it again just in case, but it gave me the same directions.
He still looked skeptical, but he didn’t argue any further.
We drove down the path. We’d turned off the music ages ago, and it was silent except for the rain and the hum of the car engine. The woods towered around us, the trees so tall and thick they nearly blotted out the night sky.
I was used to bright lights and noise, and the oppressive darkness sent goose bumps rippling across my skin.
“Try rerouting again. This can’t be it,” Sebastian said. “It’s taking us deeper into the woods, not to the main road.”
“I’m trying. There’s hardly any service out here.”
If it weren’t for the app’s offline mode, we’d be fucked.
“Putain.” Sebastian uttered another French curse that was unfit for print. “Forget it. I’m turning around. We’ll go back to that gas station and ask for directions if we have to.”
I was so tired I didn’t crack a joke about him deigning to ask for directions. At this point, I’d happily sleep in the gas station. Anything that would get me out of this damn car.
He made a tight U-turn, but we drove only a few feet before he stopped.
“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?” I asked.
Sebastian pressed the gas pedal. A whirring noise vibrated beneath my seat, but we didn’t move an inch.
“I didn’t.” His face was pale. “I think the tires are stuck.”
My stomach plummeted. “You think?”
“Stay here.” He shrugged out of his jacket and used it as a makeshift umbrella after he exited the car.
I drummed my fingers against my thigh, my nerves too frayed for me to sit still.
After what seemed like an eternity, Sebastian returned. I didn’t have to ask how fucked we were; it was written all over his face.
“It’s the mud,” he said. “The tires are bogged down, but it’s impossible to get them unstuck in this weather.”
“But the storm’s supposed to last all night.”
“I know.”
I swallowed, unsure whether my sudden nausea was due to hunger, fear, or a mix of both. “So what does that mean?”
Sebastian’s expression was grim. “It means we’re stuck in this car until morning.”