Page 105 of Hate To Be Mine

Terrifyingly, exhilaratingly free.

“Bernadette.” Sebastian was watching me with concern. “What just happened?”

“I just told my father to go fuck himself.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You what?”

“He wanted me to help him commit fraud. To screw over you and your family. And I told him no. Actually, I called him an ungrateful prick and threatened to expose him to your lawyers.”

A slow smile spread across Sebastian’s face. “That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Despite everything, I laughed. “You have a weird definition of sexy.”

“Standing up to your asshole father? Choosing integrity over job security? Yeah, that’s extremely hot.”

“Well, it’s not punching someone out, but that’s how you fight back without violence.”

He chuckled. “So, does that mean you’re not our insurance rep anymore?”

“Not officially. For now, let’s say I am.”

He nodded and sighed. “If you insist.”

“Let’s get the rest of these delivered. It looks like it’s going to start raining any minute.”

We continued our deliveries, but something had shifted in me. I’d burned a bridge I’d been too afraid to cross for years, and instead of feeling terrified, I felt light as a feather.

“What happens now?” Sebastian asked as we handed out the last care package. “With your father, I mean.”

“I have no idea. He’ll probably fire me. Disown me. Cut me off from everything.”

“And?”

“And I’ll figure it out. I’m a damn good insurance professional. I can find another job. One where I don’t have to compromise my ethics for beach houses.”

We knocked on the last stop, Clarissa’s room. She opened the door naked.

Okay, not naked, but she had on a bra and panties and what I supposed was a robe, but it was sheer. Kind of defeated the purpose of a robe.

I’d seen her in bikinis the last week, but wow. Was I supposed to compete with that? The woman was gorgeous. I glanced up at Sebastian to see how he was responding to the little vixen.

He looked like he was talking to a light pole. There was zero attention being paid to her naked body. I gave my little spiel while Clarissa rummaged through the goody bag.

And then it was done. We had fulfilled our duties.

The rain started then. Not heavy yet, just a light drizzle that promised more to come.

“Shit,” he said.

“What?”

“We didn’t pack supplies for us.”

“Oh. We would fail if this was a plane going down.”

“What?”

I rolled my eyes. “No one ever listens to the preflight instructions.”