Free Scandal (Tainted #1) by Aimee Duffy

words came. Maybe if she squeezed her eyes shut and wished really hard, time would go back and she could pick out a pair of decent shoes so Sebastian wouldn’t have to come in here and find … that.
    Alicia tried again. ‘Not women like me.’
    Watching Alicia kneel in front of him, unable to meet his eyes, made Sebastian wish he’d toned down the teasing. Her parents had obviously been way too uptight, making their daughter too embarrassed to even want something as basic as pleasure. It pissed him off that someone as fiery as Alicia could be was forced to stifle all that passion.
    Though he suspected there was more to it. Growing up in the home of an earl with a reputation as clean as a whistle meant he either had deep enough pockets to buy silence, or was ruthlessly strict with his family. Part of him wished it was the former. The thought of a younger Alicia having to deal with her father’s wrath didn’t sit right with him.
    ‘Come on.’ He got to his feet and held out his hand.
    She frowned at him. ‘Sebastian, I don’t feel like going out.’
    ‘How about some Dutch courage and a takeaway instead?’ Her eyes widened and some of the pink seeped out of her face. ‘We can work on the press release. What you have is great, but you don’t have all the details of how we met hammered out. I can help with dates.’
    ‘Um …’
    He took her arms and pulled her up. Alicia stumbled closer and he wrapped his arms around her for support. Not the wisest move, considering her hips now pressed flush to his, spiking his blood flow with a shot of arousal.
    ‘It’s fine. You don’t have to be embarrassed. I’m the one who’s slept with half the female population, remember?’
    A smile twitched up the corners of her lips. ‘In your dreams, maybe.’
    Stepping back to regain a little control, he slapped a hand over his heart. ‘You wound me.’
    ‘I’ve a feeling it would take more than that to put a dent in your ego,’ she said, her grin widening and her shoulders relaxing.
    Sebastian didn’t mind letting his ego be the focus of teasing if it helped her get over him finding the unwanted gift. ‘You’ve caught me.’
    He pulled his mobile out, then tugged her close to his side.
    ‘What are you doing?’ she asked.
    Loading up the camera, he said, ‘We need to let the world get used to us together, don’t we? I know we’re staying home but no one else has to know. Instagram will fix that.’
    She frowned as the front camera came on and captured their heads. ‘But –’
    ‘Say cheese,’ he said, then snapped the photo.
    He entered the caption: Finally get to take my stunning girlfriend, @AliciaSimpson out for dinner. #GoodTimes, then hit send.
    ‘Sebastian, I wasn’t ready,’ she protested.
    He showed her the picture and said, ‘You’re beautiful, don’t worry. Now where do you keep the takeaway menus?’
    Mai flicked through the pages of her diary from the previous year. What started so great, so beautiful, had ended so cruelly that she sometimes wished Sebastian would come down with something awful – like malaria.
    Other times, like tonight, she just felt sad and unloved.
    Skipping to February, she remembered her birthday. Sebastian had trained so hard for almost a month. She’d barely seen him. He’d taken the fourteenth off, arranged for them to fly to Paris that morning, and they’d had a very romantic dinner with the Eiffel Tower in full view. The champagne flowed all night and when dessert came, she found the seven-carat diamond ring that had given her hope that things would get better between them.
    She’d realised then that she was adored, cared for. He’d shown her just how much, telling her how beautiful she was, but she knew he was just being nice – the winter had taken her up a dress size and she hadn’t been feeling great about her new size ten figure.
    But that night in Paris, she’d forgotten her worries as he’d made her feel sexy, loved, and like the only person in his