PLOTTED STARTER // @asteriananthologies ( sebastian + lexie )
Maybe, as she mentally planned this whole evening, there had been a three-course meal that she, Cecelia Holmes-Moran, a woman who has trouble cooking pasta, had made from scratch, but that had quickly fallen by the wayside when Sebastian suggested they just order Chinese and then everyone gets what they actually like. “Oh my god,” she begins, wrapping her arms around Sebastian from behind, only to kiss his shoulder and then walk away again, “she’s still going that thing where she throws her teddy out of the crib just to yell she wants it back. She’s doing it to get to me. And you can’t not give it back to her because she just starts screaming at you.” He is getting blamed for this; he’s too soft with her, there is zero discipline with that two-year-old. Although, it does seem like something she would do when she was younger; they also have the same first words! No, mine. Maybe they’re too alike.
Cee twirls around the kitchen like she has something to do but he’s sorted the wine and the table was set earlier. Actually, could this be nerves? She’s never hosted a dinner party for his friends before, she used to having a team of people who know her more, who understand her quirks and the world she exists in. Tonight she’s Mrs Moran, wife of the most dangerous man in London, not Cecelia Holmes, most fashionable woman in London. Well, she still is.
She opens her mouth to speak but the doorbell rings through the kitchen and she frowns at Sebastian, “you should get it. We shouldn’t crowd them, you get their coats and stuff. I’ll-- uh, I’ll pretend I know how the cooker works or something, make myself look busy with it.”
Outside, Aidan knows he’s nervous. It’s not every day you get invited to dinner with your boss, not in this line of work. If his evening goes well it could mean big things for him and Asteria, but if it goes badly... he squeezed Lexie’s hand to calm himself, glancing at his wife as they wait on the doorstep. But, how could this go badly? This was a walk in the park for his wife, her talent. She could do the interesting small talk, delving into deeper matters, the schmoozing which didn’t come across at pitying or over the top. They were a team; not quite the muscles and the brains but something close... the intention and the force, perhaps. But while he thought he could keep up a conversation with his boss, the wife was an unknown. He had only met Cecelia once if you could call it a meeting. She had been storming out of Sebastian’s office as he was making his way in, and it put him on edge to meet the woman who could make Sebastian Moran look nervous. “You look--” he begins in a whisper, not getting in his compliment before the door opened. Aidan hitches up an easy smile, offering his hand out to the taller man. “Mr Moran, so good to see you, thanks for this, tonight.”
