Vindictive #4

8. the art of war

The front door slamming pulls me from my deep sleep. I wake up with a snort—a very unattractive quality I possess sometimes. Rubbing the sleep and crust from my eyes, I slowly pull myself off my bed and walk towards the bedroom door. It isn't until my hand is on the doorknob that I realize I'm a bit underdressed. Groaning, I turn and grab my silk robe from off the cream chaise and slip it on. I tie it as I exit my room.

I can hear voices followed by mild laughter, and my eyebrows furrow. Is that Gary? Laughing? My confusion deepens when I hear the voice of another man—a younger man, by the sounds of it. A very attractive voice. I see suitcases before anything else, placed right at the foot of the stairs. As I continue my way down, I begin to see the beginnings of the men who'd just come inside.

Without looking at his face, I knew which one was Gary. He stood to the right in his Testoni shoes. Fucker had expensive tastes. We were a lot alike in that aspect. Hell, this robe cost almost eight hundred dollars. I slipped my hand into the pockets as I continued down the steps, frowning at the other mans shoes. Sneakers. Chucks. All white ones. Just as I reached the last few steps, they turned and looked at me.

My lips parted, but I didn't speak. My eyes shifted between Gary and the man. Gary is handsome, I'd never dispute that. But he's years older and I rarely saw the appeal in older men. Unless, of course, they had the money to make up for it. Gary did but I could never look at him as a sexual prospect. His son on the other hand...

Sebastian has a sexy geeky look going for him. He decided to wear an expensive looking dark blue sweater vest over a button down shirt. His pants aren't formal nor tacky. My eyes landed on the Chucks again. I tried to hide my disappointment. I always found Chucks to be tasteless. He held a book in his hand and I only take to a second to glimpse at the title—The Art of War. I internally roll my eyes. His glasses and round and kind of dorky, but don't take away from his handsomeness. His face is strong, chiseled. The stubble on his chin indicates it's been a little bit since he last shaved and his hair is pushed back away from his face. He looks...neat.

I recognized him from the pictures around the house.

"Milan." Gary's voice is different. Lighter.

Sebastian's gaze trails down the length of me, stopping at my legs a little longer than necessary, and then focuses on my eyes. I pull a hand from my robe pocket and hold onto the banister.

"You two haven't met," Gary says, almost like realization. "Sebastian, this is Milan. Milan, meet my son Sebastian."

Sebastian slowly extends a hand toward me. "Milan, nice to meet you. Are you...?" He trails off and looks to his father. "Are you and my father...?"

I fill in the blanks in my head. Does he think we're sleeping together?

Sebastian's gaze returns to me.

"She works for me," Gary finally says, sounding resigned.

Sebastian's hand drops to his side. "Does she?"

Gary nods silently.

"Another secretary?"

I can't help but feel like I'm missing key information. Instead of dwelling on it, I take a step back.

"Well, I should..." I gesture to my underdressed form. "Welcome back, Sebastian. It was nice meeting you."

"You too." He doesn't sound genuine.