Ten Years Later... Read online

  Sebastian’s voice blended with hers, but it was as if neither one of them had spoken, for all the effect it had on Tiffany. She apparently had decided to turn a deaf ear to both of them, focusing only on getting them to dance.

  For just the slightest second, a smirk crossed Tiffany’s full lips. She was enjoying their discomfort, Brianna realized. Still hateful after all these years.

  “Aw, they’re shy. Looks like they need some encouragement,” Tiffany mocked. “Okay, give it up for Sebastian and Brianna,” she cried, beckoning for the attendees to applaud or chant the couple’s names. Or better yet, both. The crowd complied immediately.

  Tiffany’s smirk turned into a look of satisfaction. “Music, please, boys,” she called out to the band, then tossed a final, somewhat condescending bone to the audience. “And, for those of you who don’t remember, that last ‘magical’ song they danced to was Etta James’s ‘At Last.’”

  Tiffany, a commando in bright lavender taffeta, narrowed her eyes as she appraised the couple she had hustled to the center of the dance floor. The look on her face seemed to say, “So, what are you waiting for?”

  Sebastian was far from happy about this turn of events, but the last thing he wanted was to cause a scene. The thought that no good deed went unpunished crossed his mind. If he hadn’t come here to please his mother, he wouldn’t be going through this now.

  “Tiffany’s going to bully us into dancing to that song. You realize that, don’t you?” Sebastian whispered to Brianna, barely moving his lips.

  Brianna did her best not to shiver as his breath slid along her bare shoulder. A wealth of old, repressed sensations and feelings came cascading down on her before she had a chance to block them again.

  She focused only on what Sebastian had just said, not on what she’d just felt. “Bullying comes naturally to Tiffany,” Brianna whispered back, recalling several instances during her high school years. Tiffany had always been obsessed with holding court and being the center of attention. The cheerleader had been utterly furious when she’d lost the bid to be crowned prom queen, especially to someone who hadn’t lobbied to win the title.

  Despite the fact that, the whole time she’d been driving here, she’d done her best to anesthetize herself against Sebastian should she run into him, she could feel that old thrill trying to break through.

  It had just about succeeded when Sebastian suddenly took her hand and said, “One dance can’t hurt.”

  A lot you know, she thought grudgingly. Nobody broke your heart the way you broke mine.

  Brianna pressed her lips together to keep the words back. If she was lucky, they’d have this dance and then he’d leave.

  If you’re luckier, you’ll have this dance and he won’t leave.

  The thought startled her.

  Out loud she said, “Guess not,” as she forced herself to smile broadly up into his face—strictly for appearances’ sake.

  The strains of the classic song filled the carefully decorated gym. The next moment, someone had the bright idea to dim the lights. And just like that, Brianna felt herself being teleported back across time and space until she was right there, at the prom, with the last song surrounding her like a soft, warm wrap.

  Before she realized it, or could do anything to prevent it, her body was blending together with Sebastian’s.

  Just as it had that night.

  The whole world had been at her feet that night. Everything had been fresh and new and it had whispered the promise of such wonderful things to come.

  As it had turned out, it was the last time that she had felt sure of anything. The last time she’d felt secure. It had been just hours before her entire world was upended. While she was dancing with Sebastian, her father had been involved in that awful car accident, when an underage driver had jumped the light and plowed right into him.

  Her whole life had changed in a matter of seconds. Instead of going away to college with Sebastian and beginning a new chapter in her life, not only going away to college but also moving in with Sebastian, she’d opted to remain home and help her father recover from the accident.

  She’d thought her heart would literally break as she watched Sebastian leave, even though she had been the one to encourage him to go.

  Was that really all those years ago? she wondered now. It seemed like just yesterday, especially with all these old feelings ambushing her.

  Maybe her father was right. Maybe she really did need to take a short break from everything. From constantly shouldering problems that weren’t always just her own. Her ability to empathize helped her be the kind of nurse every patient wanted, but at times it wreaked havoc with her own life, continually draining her.

  So just for tonight, she decided abruptly, she was going to allow herself to reminisce, to go back to a time when she’d believed that her life was going to be absolutely nothing short of perfect.

  “You still wear that perfume.”

  Sebastian’s voice, low and still incredibly—and unintentionally—sensual, crept into her consciousness, catching her off guard.

  It took her a second to play back the words and understand them. It took her another second to realize that she’d laid her head on his shoulder.

  The way she had that last night.

  Blinking, Brianna raised her head and looked at him.

  “What?”

  “Your perfume,” he repeated. “It’s the same one you wore that night.” He remembered how it had eroded any defenses he might have had and had made him want her in the worst way.

  “It’s the same one I wear all the time. I guess I’m not very exciting,” she confessed with a slight, careless shrug.

  Exciting or not, she was still her own person. Her own person who was committed to going her own way whenever she had to and helping others whenever she could. Being a nurse wasn’t just what she did—it was what she was.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t exactly say that,” Sebastian told her.

  Maybe it was the combination of the perfume, the song and the fact that, for the most part, he’d led a fairly solitary life overseas. There were more than a few times when he’d felt alone in the crowd for these past few years, despite living in one of the most crowded cities in Japan.

  Whatever the reason, holding Brianna like this, having her perfume fill his senses, managed to stir up some old, treasured memories. Memories that nonetheless felt a little misty, because time had a way of creating holes in the fabric of life as it began to stretch out.

  The memories allowed him to suddenly feel as if he had been transported back to the past. To the last time he’d held Brianna in his arms. Then his head had been full of dreams for both of them.

  He’d made love to her for the first—and only—time that night.

  The wave of nostalgia that hit him was almost overpoweringly strong.

  Brianna was undergoing a struggle of her own—and losing.

  Talk, damn it. Say something. Something vague and neutral. Before you wind up making a fool of yourself and melting all over him.

  Desperate, Brianna hit on the only topic she could actually think of. “So, how is your mother doing these days?”

  “Not as well as I’d like,” Sebastian admitted in an unguarded moment.

  Ordinarily, he wasn’t given to voicing his concerns or feelings. The years had made him far more stoic than he had been.

  Less than five minutes in Brianna’s company and he was regressing, he thought, annoyed with himself.

  The concern he saw entering her eyes surprised him. “What do you mean by that?”

  A simple excuse occurred to him. One that was, ultimately, a lie. But he had never been able to lie to Brianna. To start now just seemed wrong.

  So he told her the truth. “The doctor said she’d had a minor stroke—reminded me just how fragile lif
e really is. I was planning on having a lengthy visit with her over the Christmas holidays, but once she told me about her condition, I rearranged my vacation plans and flew out as soon as possible.”

  He paused for a moment, debating his next words. It exposed his vulnerable side, but then, this was Brianna, whom he had once trusted implicitly. He supposed, simply because old habits were hard to break, part of him still did.

  “Mom made me realize that putting off the visit home might not be the wisest thing to do. If something had happened to her before I got a chance to see her, I’d never forgive myself.”

  She knew he wasn’t being dramatic. His mother was a wonderful woman whom everyone absolutely loved. Including Sebastian. And her.

  “So here I am,” Sebastian concluded.

  The wheels in her head had instantly begun turning at the first mention of his mother’s illness. The nurse in her was never off duty.

  “Has your mother ever had a stroke before?”

  “No, not to my knowledge.” He came back at her with his own question. “Why?”

  Her shoulders rose and then fell in a casual shrug. “No real reason. I’m just trying to pull some facts together.”

  He’d been so caught up in the moment—and trying not to be—that he’d completely forgotten. “That’s right. You became a nurse, didn’t you?”

  Brianna nodded. “After my father got well, there was this tremendous feeling of relief. But at the same time, there was also this feeling of ‘what do I do with myself now?’”

  “The words ‘relax a little’ come to mind,” he told her.

  She smiled as she shook her head. “Not really in my nature. Besides, going into nursing seemed like the natural progression at the time. I like helping people, like getting them motivated and helping them realize that the only thing holding them back from achieving their goals—no matter what those goals are—is themselves.”

  Sebastian had grown quiet and there was a strange look on his face now.

  She flushed a little ruefully. “I’m talking too much, aren’t I?”

  She was even prettier than she had been when he’d left, he thought now. Her looks were enhanced by a confidence that hadn’t been there when they’d gone together.

  He found himself having to struggle to keep from being drawn in.

  “I don’t think so,” he answered honestly. Who would have thought that the feelings he had for her were still there? That they hadn’t disappeared but had just gone into hibernation? “When my mother asked me to attend this reunion—”

  “She asked you to attend?” Brianna echoed in surprise. That sounded so much like what her father had done, she was struck by the odd similarity.

  He nodded. “My coming to the reunion seemed to mean a lot to her. Why is beyond me,” he admitted. But then, the workings of a female mind mystified him. “What?” he asked when he saw her mouth beginning to curve. To his knowledge, he hadn’t said anything funny.

  “Don’t act as if you came here kicking and screaming,” she told him, amused at his protest. “The Sebastian I remember never did anything he didn’t want to do.”

  The shrug was careless, even though he didn’t take his eyes off her for a second.

  “Maybe I’ve gotten more thoughtful in my old age,” he speculated.

  “Twenty-nine only qualifies for old age if you happen to be related to a fruit fly,” she countered.

  Sebastian smiled in response, a slightly self-deprecating expression on his face. She’d forgotten how easily that could get to her. Several more couples had joined them on the dance floor, so it no longer felt as if the two of them were putting on an exhibition strictly for Tiffany’s amusement.

  When Sebastian stopped moving about on the floor a moment later, she looked up at him curiously. “Why did you stop dancing?”

  “Because the music stopped playing,” he answered simply.

  Damn it, how could she have missed that? Had she been that mesmerized by him? That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

  “Right.” Embarrassed, Brianna stepped back, dropping her hands from his. “Well, I guess we’ve fulfilled any leftover obligations from that last prom.”

  At least the obligations to strangers, she couldn’t help thinking.

  “Oh, no, you two aren’t planning on ditching us already, are you?” Tiffany gushed, suddenly coming up to them again. “Maybe for a little secret rendezvous?” she asked with a laugh that threatened to turn Brianna’s stomach.

  Like an unwanted guest who was oblivious to any attempt to get her to leave, Tiffany hooked one arm through each of theirs, placing herself strategically between them. Her smile was as fake as it was wide.

  “Is that it?” she pressed. “Do you two really intend to make up for lost time?”

  He knew that telling Tiffany it was none of her business just made her more curious—and more determined to prove that she was right.

  So he deftly avoided a direct answer. “I guess I can stay for a little longer,” Sebastian told the former cheerleader.

  Without meaning to or being totally conscious of doing it, he glanced in Brianna’s direction to see if she’d been persuaded to remain for a while longer as well.

  Or, he supposed, strong-armed into it.

  He had to admit that he expected to see fireworks between the two women at any second. His money was on Brianna. Of the two, she appeared to be in far better shape—not to mention a lot feistier than Tiffany.

  “Wonderful,” Tiffany exclaimed, clapping her hands together. In what seemed like an afterthought, she looked in Brianna’s direction. “And you, Bree?”

  There had always been something condescending in her voice, Brianna thought, no matter whom she addressed. It used to intimidate her, but she’d had to shoulder so much in these past few years that the snide attitude of one small-minded woman no longer bothered her in the slightest, the way it might have at some other time.

  She supposed that, as Sebastian had already said, it would do no harm to hang around here a little longer. After all, after tonight he would most likely go back to his work, which she’d heard was out of the country, and she would go back to hers. And their paths would never cross again.

  So she awarded Tiffany with a carefree smile and said, “Sure, why not?”

  “Great.” This time, because they both seemed so willing, the word sounded a little less than upbeat. “This way, please,” Tiffany told them, leading them to another part of the gym.

  Sebastian stayed where he was for a moment longer and asked, “And just what’s ‘this way’?”

  It was obvious to both of them that Tiffany didn’t like being questioned or having to explain herself. She was, as Brianna would later tell her father when he asked how things had gone, a control freak in search of her own country to rule.

  “Why, a photographer, you distrustful man.” Tiffany laughed as if she had just said something exceedingly witty. “We’re trying to put together an album of former students. You know, kind of like a ‘where are they now?’ sort of thing.”

  Sebastian looked at Brianna and asked, “You okay with that?” The display of concern toward Brianna irritated Tiffany no end, even as she continued maintaining her completely artificial smile.

  “Sure,” Brianna agreed. “I’ve got no problem having my picture taken.”

  “Thank you.” Tiffany’s gushing tone had been abandoned. What lay beneath had definite touches of frost to it, as did the glance she shot Brianna’s way.

  But the next moment, Tiffany once again reclaimed center stage and wound her expensively manicured fingers around the microphone, and the wide, shallow smile had returned.

  “Attention. Can I have your attention?” she requested in a voice that grew louder with each passing syllable. “The photographer’s been making the rounds to your tables, b
ut now it’s time for all of us to stand up and come together for group shots,” she announced. “We all thought it might be fun if we did it the way the yearbook was done—pictures taken in our old clubs. Those of you, like myself—” unable to stop herself, she allowed the superior smirk to pass over her face again “—who belonged to an endless number of groups will be forced to have your picture taken in each and every one of them. Just remember, this is ultimately for the good of the student body.”

  “Is she for real?” Sebastian whispered the question to Brianna. He’d turned his head away at the last moment so that Tiffany wouldn’t be able to overhear him.

  Brianna took a quick survey of the woman at the microphone. As far as “real” went, she highly doubted it. Tiffany had obviously had her nose shortened, her chin reinforced, not to mention that her cup size had been increased by a multiple of two. Her hair was neither her natural color, nor, from what she remembered, actually hers. Her hairdo was comprised of elaborately woven extensions.

  “Not as far as I can tell,” Brianna quipped.

  Sebastian suddenly had to bite his lower lip to keep from laughing.

  Brianna saw the contained laughter in his eyes when he looked at her and that old feeling, the one she was desperately struggling to block, rose up and found her again.

  She reminded herself that this was an isolated evening, one with ties to the past and absolutely no ties to either one of their futures.

  With that understood and taken into consideration, she allowed herself to react to him, but only as long as she kept in mind that all her tomorrows would be without him, just as so many of her yesterdays had been.

  Tiffany beckoned over the photographer, a tall, balding man who had a camera hanging from his neck and another one held firmly in his hands.

  “All right, Alan, let the snapping begin,” Tiffany declared as she turned her body three-quarters toward the photographer, her hands on her hips and her head thrown back.

  She was posing for him.

  To her chagrin, the photographer turned his camera toward Sebastian and Brianna and began shooting shot after shot.