“You wouldn’t recognize the address. It’s the ghetto,” he said with a hint of defiance and anger. He should have had the idyllic childhood that Ashley had enjoyed. While her life had been luxurious and carefree, his days had been difficult and unsafe. He’d had to fend for himself and his family and there were many early days when he had failed.
He’d left the ghetto years ago, but he had honed his survival instincts in his old neighborhood. Stay alert, know how to fight and shut down any potential threat before it gained power. Those rules helped him in the streets and in building his empire.
Her eyelashes flickered. “You’re right. I don’t know where that is, but only because I don’t get out much. And the money is for...?”
“The medical clinic,” he said slowly as he watched her expression. She showed no pity or fear. No disdain about his background. Just polite interest. Considering her sheltered and privileged life, Sebastian wondered if she understood living in the ghetto was like a prison term.
He grabbed her hand, ignoring how it fit perfectly in his, and led her out of the VIP section. “Let’s dance.” He couldn’t wait anymore. He needed to feel her curves flush against his body.
Ashley froze and dug her heels in. “I don’t dance.”
Sebastian stopped and turned around. “You don’t dance. You don’t drink. You don’t party.” He didn’t believe any of it. He knew many heiresses and socialites. They lived to be seen at the right places with the right people. “What do you do?”
Ashley shrugged and looked away. “Nothing that would interest you.”
It shouldn’t interest him. He didn’t care what women did when they weren’t with him. Sebastian didn’t want to know about their jobs, hobbies or passions. Yet he was intensely curious about Ashley. “You don’t date.”
She looked at him cautiously from the corner of her eye. “I never said that.”
She didn’t have to. “I was your first,” he reminded her. And for some reason that was important to him. Was it because she was his first virgin? He didn’t like the possessive streak that heated his blood and made him want to keep her close.
“I’ve been busy,” she declared as she tried to slip from his grasp.
“Busy doing what?” he asked as he pulled her closer. How did she fill her day? “You live in a tropical paradise. You don’t have a job or obligations. Most people would kill for that kind of life.”
“Is that what you think?” She abruptly stopped and pressed her lips together. “Okay, sure. My life is perfect. And that’s why I will go to great lengths to keep it.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes as he watched Ashley’s guarded expression. What was she hiding? He was about to go in for the kill when he felt a feminine hand on his sleeve.
“Sebastian?”
He recognized the cultured voice before he turned around and saw the cool blonde standing next to him. He dropped his hold on Ashley as he greeted his former flame with a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, Melanie,” he said.
“And who is this?” she asked with false brightness.
Sebastian swallowed back a sigh. This always seemed to happen when an ex-lover met the current one. He found the territorial attitude tiresome. “Melanie, this is Ashley Jones. Ashley, this is Dr. Melanie Guerra. She works at the medical clinic.”
“And I’m also your predecessor,” Melanie said bitterly as she shook Ashley’s hand. “I believe you stole him from me.”
“Would you like him back?” Ashley asked hopefully.
Melanie was momentarily surprised before she gave a shrill of laughter. Sebastian wrapped his hand around Ashley’s arm and shot her a warning look. He wasn’t sure what Ashley was going to do next. It was a rare feeling.
“No, thanks,” Melanie said as she gave Ashley a thorough look. “Our fling was very brief and he dumped me after he came back from some island off the Florida coast. I got a bouquet of flowers, a bracelet from Tiffany and no explanation. Now I understand why.”
Ashley went rigid under Sebastian’s grasp. To his surprise, Ashley didn’t respond to Melanie’s statement. Her expression was blank, but he sensed her slow burn of anger.