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Chapter 11
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
Lotus SeraphimSoooo. A little flashback smoochie smoochie. And a little real-time softening between Sebastian and Phillip. What do you think? Should we be shipping Celine with Sebastian or Phillip?
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Sebastian’s eyes followed her across the backseat of the luxury car. He looked adorable with his pouty lips and wrinkled brow. Already regretting ruining their moment, Celine wrapped her arms around her middle to stop herself from returning so she could kiss his sad eyes and lick his plump lips.She tried to remind herself of the many reasons that she could not allow Sebastian into her life, but it had little effect on the glamour this man had over her. Damn it. This was why she did not want to see him.“Why are you here, Sebastian?”, Celine asked and flinched. She hadn’t meant to sound that rude.His head tilted and the corner of his mouth twitched up into a lopsided smile. “I wanted to thank you.”, he said. “For helping me.”“Didn’t Mr. Barn’s tell you, that I want to keep things anonymous?”, Celine asked. What was it with billionaires and the word no?The grin faded. “He did, but I wanted to do this. In person. I was surprised when I found out it was you. Because of…”, he stopped th
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Sebastian approached Celine, and Apollo whinnied in greeting. “I guess we will be seeing each other a lot from now on.”, Sebastian said coming to stand by her sideApollo recognized Sebastian so that meant. “Are you Apollo’s owner?”, asked Celine not daring to look at him.“Yes, but don’t let that fool you. Apollo is the one in charge of this relationship. I am surprised he took to you. Normally he does not like anyone, not even horses.”, he said scratching Apollo behind the ears.Celine let out an exasperated breath. She was the horse whisperer. She never met a horse she could not tame.“I didn’t know you were looking for a stable.”, Celine said delicately trying to figure out how he was able to stable his horse there without her knowing.“I wasn’t satisfied with Apollo’s previous accommodation. So, I decided to place him with a family I trust.”, Sebastian said.After her father’s refusal, she would have thought he wouldn’t dare to step foot here. “I’ll do business with your kind, but
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Celine felt like she was on a rollercoaster every time Sebastian had a lesson. It typically started with a dad scare. Dad forgot his glasses and was coming back? Or he wouldn’t leave at his usual time? She was halfway convinced he knew everything, and this was his punishment for her disobedience.But then there was the lesson itself. Why couldn’t she get used to Sebastian? She had butterflies before every session, and today, Celine’s nervousness was at epic levels. It was the first time she would see him since he made the awkward comment about marriage.“If only I could marry someone like you.”, she remembered. Once the words came out of his mouth things got awkward. They both tensed up and then he patted her back. Like, those awkward heavy-handed thumps men give each other when they are done with a hug. Then he practically pushed her out of his embrace.After that, he went into mansplaining mode. “I didn’t mean you. Not that you wouldn’t make someone a lovely wife, but you know. Someo
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Rachel stared down at her desk and did not answer but Celine was determined. She was not going to let Rachel get away without telling her what was going on. “What’s going on Rachel?”, Celine repeated. She was getting irritated, not to mention embarrassed that this was happening in front of Sebastian.Rachel’s eyes flicked to Sebastian and then Celine. Celine looked at the man, who may or may not be her friend, and made a split-second decision, to trust him. “It’s fine.”, she said, and Rachel’s eyes widened and I nodded indicating she should speak.“About that woman, I don’t know. She came in talking about your divorce and how she didn’t want to be associated with us.”, Rachel said. Celine was taken aback. Divorces were almost as commonplace as marriages these days. Were there even people who thought like that anymore?Rachel seemed uncomfortable. Was she holding anything back? “Rachel!”, Celine warned. She knew there was more.“Okay. Okay.”, she put her hands up in the air. “She said t
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Like a rabbit that hears the snap of the trap before it feels the jaws, Celine tensed to flee, but Phillip had seen her, and she was too proud to let him see that she feared him. What did he want, hadn’t she made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him?Pushing away from the wall, Celine walked toward Phillip as if she had a purpose. Technically, it wouldn’t be a lie she was leading the opening ceremony. She decided to take the initiative and get whatever this was over with.“Phillip.”, she said, greeting the beautiful man who, until a year and a half ago, had been her husband. “Thank you for coming and participating in Mom’s memorial.”, Celine said. She was just about to make her excuses and leave when Phillip pushed her into the wall and stepped into her personal space.He didn’t hurt her, but he did shock her. Phillip wasn’t the kind of man who physically manhandled people. He preferred them to do his bidding willingly. Celine gasped, “Phillip, what the hell.”, she said. Whe
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Her father was right. They should have waited another year to host their first tournament. Celine had been too greedy and impatient. Her mom wouldn’t have cared if it took one year or ten years, but Celine just had to push and push. Now everything was ruined, all because of her.Celine was a private person who believed, “A clean hand wants no washing.” But she was beginning to wonder if she was being naïve. Her beliefs had landed her on the wrong end of the rumor mill. She could take it if it only affected her, but Chanel’s defamatory rumors had soured an event that meant the world to her little family.She was starting to get angry.Celine took several deep breaths and imagined herself on a beach then stepped out in front of the audience with a smile plastered on her face. It was time to announce the winners of the tournament. She walked out to the center of the arena, where Sebastian and two other women waited to hear the results.“I want to thank all the participants and their supp
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Celine kept herself busy with training horses and joining the stable hands in the back-breaking work of maintaining the ranch. Every day, she woke before dawn and at night she crashed into her bed too exhausted to dream. Did it stop her from thinking about Sebastian, Phillip, and Chanel? No, but it did stop her from dwelling on it.Today Sebastian was due to show up and she wanted to make sure she was ready. So, she came to the office to look at the staffing schedule when she heard Rachel on the phone. “I’m sorry I can’t reach him. Let me try his daughter. Okay. Okay. Hold on, let me write that down. Okay. We’ll be in touch.”It was early so Celine went to the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee, then her phone rang. It was Rachel. She didn’t know she was there. Celine laughed and walked into the reception area with the coffee expecting to surprise Rachel and make her giggle. But Rachel was not smiling. Something was wrong.“Rachel, are you okay? What happened.”, Celine asked and han
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Collette went back to school and wouldn’t be back until Christmas break which left Celine alone with Dad, who was avoiding her. How the man could do that given they lived and worked together, was truly an accomplishment, and it was starting to make her mad. All she wanted was for him to show her how the finances for the business worked. He was hiding something, and Celine was determined to find out what it was.She started with the bank. When Mom died, they put Celine on all the business accounts which meant she had access to everything. So, she called the bank and with one easy conversation, had access to all the accounts. But what she saw did not make a whole lot of sense. There were a lot of cash deposits and withdrawals and there was no way to know what her dad was using the money for.Another mystery was the monthly withdrawals of large amounts of money from places she did not recognize. When she called the bank, they told her they were for loans that her dad had taken out using t
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Celine was awake thinking when Collette came in with her cheery Mary Poppins voice. “Good morning.”, she sang, and Celine gritted her teeth. Instead of answering she closed her eyes. People went away if they thought she was sleeping.“Time to wake up, sleepy head.” Celine heard her bustling around the room, tidying up. “It’s so gloomy in here, no wonder you sleep all the time.”, Collette twittered like a happy little bird. Celine fantasized about finding a rock and throwing it at her. All that would be left was a puff of feathers littering the air.Suddenly, there was light glaring behind her eyelids, ruining her self-indulgent ambiance of depressive despair. Collette had drawn the curtains, that traitorous little harpy.“You’re going to have a visitor today.”, Collette chirped. “Look I got you some flowers. Aren’t they pretty? Here smell.”, She practically stuck the bouquet in Celine’s face who was lying on her stomach so the burns on her back could heal properly, and she had an oxyge
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Beaumont Equestrian Center spent a lot of money on a fire system that was tested and maintained several times a year, but the one, and only time they needed to use the system, the fire raged undeterred. Where were the wet sprinklers and the alarm? Why hadn't the fire triggered anything? Was the system defective? Celine realized she was going to have to turn the sprinklers on manually. There was a lever on the side of the building, where she could turn the sprinklers on and hopefully put out the fire.Coughing and gasping from the smoke, Celine ran the length of the stables. The beam of her flashlight bounced across the ground until she found what she was looking for, the manual release. All she needed to do was pull the lever. Where was the lever? Did she have it wrong? No, she was positive this was the place, but there was no lever. Looking closer, she saw the lever had been torn off. What the hell was going on? Had someone accidentally done this and not reported it, or was this int
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Turning onto the dirt road to her house, Celine’s head was full of her date with Ethan, and her feelings about Sebastian. She resented having to “move on”. That’s how it felt, she guessed, to be the one who didn’t end the relationship. Sebastian had moved on, but she was stuck still loving him. Wasn’t that the entire reason she was, “Getting out there?”, to snap her out of her lovesick state?“Stupid lying asshat.”, Celine yelled and hit her steering wheel. She didn’t want to move one. She just wanted Sebastian. Hot mournful tears rolled down her cheeks, and the dirt road blurred. Why did he do this to her? He lied to her, and now she had to live life without him. “I hate him.”, she sobbed.Turning the bend, she saw her house and she accelerated planning to hit the brakes hard at the last minute in a satisfying act of pointless violence. At the last second, she saw a car parked in the road, blocking the way and she screamed and slammed her foot down hard on the brakes. Her body rocked
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This time when he asked her out, she said yes, and even though she wasn’t excited about her date, she hoped when the time came, she would be. His name was Ethan. He was a few years older than she was and already had a healthy equine veterinarian practice. Ethan had brown hair with adorable curls that begged to be pulled, and big blue eyes that made her think of tropical waters or summer skies. He was tall, very tall, standing at six feet four inches and he had the kind of body earned through hands-on labor and not at a gym.Everyone thought they were the perfect match. Collette said if she wasn’t in the middle of a push-and-pull love affair with Dr. Gururaj she would snap him right up. And they were right, Ethan was divine, and she should be swooning at his feet and thinking about kissing his, pouty bottom-heavy full lips. Not psyching herself up to go on a date with him.In her heart of hearts, she still belonged to Sebastian, but that was not going to happen. Kim in her infinite wisd
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With a fake smile that stretched like rigor mortis across her face, Celine shifted from one foot to the other trying to alleviate the ache from her high heels, and longed for the days when she did everything in boots. Her new role as an entrepreneur for Beaumont Equestrian made her feel like an imposter and she lived in constant fear, that at any moment, someone would see past her business attire and discover she was just a hick that was good at riding horses.“Everything looks good.”, the banker said. “The seventy thousand dollars should transfer this afternoon. Is there anything else I can help you with today, Ms. Beaumont?”, asked the bank teller.“That’s all for today, thank you.”, Celine said sustaining her counterfeit smile, and left for her next appointment of the day.It had been four months since she last saw Sebastian and, in that time, her father came home, the contract with Gale Hospitality was a success, and local schools were sending their kids by the busload to take clas
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It was daylight and Celine was coming home to shower and change. From there, she was off to a prep school to pitch equestrian classes. She knew with this group; it was important to dress well. Luckily, she still had some very nice outfits hanging in the back of her closet, from when she was married. She texted Jacob and John that she was on her way home.JacobDon’t come yet. Your boySebastian’s here looking for you.Can I hit him? I always wantedto kick some billionaire ass.CelinePlease get rid of him. I need to getdressed I have a meeting at a school.If a billionaire wants to find you, there is nothing on this earth that can stop him so Celine should not have been surprised when he showed up at the hospital that evening. Luckily only family members are allowed in the ICU unit so when the nurse told her this incredible-looking man was there to visit her father, she told them to turn him away. What she did not count on was that Sebastian would wait for her, so when she left the I
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Walking out of Gale Industries, Celine felt like a rockstar. She had given her very first pitch to get an equine contract and she felt good about it. It all started when Kim told her about an opportunity.They were in the hospital cafeteria eating mediocre food the same morning Celine had her fainting spell. It was a panic attack, not dangerous, but scary. Apparently, hyperventilating puts too much carbon dioxide in your body and starves your body of oxygen and if you do not have enough oxygen in your bloodstream you faint.All of a sudden Kim got, that, look on her face, and Celine internally groaned. She knew what that look was. It was the, I have a great idea that you are going to hate, look. Celine rose to escape, “I’m going to get some water, do you want some?”, Celine asked.“Yes, but hold on a second. I have an idea.”, Kim said grinning like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.“Can it wait until I come back? I’m thirsty.” Celine said making another futile attempt.“Can’t w
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A few days after Sebastian asked for a “break”, Celine’s dad was discharged from the hospital. Collette was away at school, so Celine handled it, but she wasn’t alone. Jacob and John came over and set up a temporary bedroom in the family room so Dad would not need to go up and down the stairs while he recovered. Rachel put a schedule together to make sure someone was coming by every hour or so to check on Dad. Even Kim came out of the woodwork and helped.Everyone was ready to help Dad recover except Dad. As soon as he got home, he went rogue. He kicked out the physical therapist when she came and wouldn’t let the traveling nurse take his vitals. Instead of lying down and resting he sat at the kitchen table all day putting together model airplanes drinking coffee and eating whatever he wanted.Celine coped with the “break” by working round the clock. If she wasn’t tending to her father, she was working at the equestrian center. They suddenly had more business than they knew what to do
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Without an explanation to Phillip, Celine raced through the restaurant, and out the front door. Sebastian was not that far ahead of her. “Sebastian.”, Celine said calling out loudly as she ran towards his retreating figure.She was desperate to reach him, she knew he was misunderstanding what he saw, and she didn’t want to hurt him or lose him. Sebastian flinched when she called his name so she knew he heard her and yet he did not stop or even look. He was really upset. She pumped her legs harder striving to reach him and when she tried to slow down she ended up skidding on the ice right into Sebastian’s back. This knocked his feet out from under him on the slippery ice and they both went down.Sebastian was over six feet and had a solid two hundred pounds of muscle so when he fell on top of her it hurt, a lot. Celine hardly felt the pain, she was so worried about Sebastian’s misunderstanding. He rolled off her and came to her side. “Celine, oh my God. Are you okay?”, Sebastian stammer
