“For the article,” I repeated. I could see where he was coming from. And it would make for an interesting piece. But playing Sebastian’s date for a night sounded as dangerous as it did fun. He thought I was immune to his charm? Hardly. I was just good at pretending to be. “Is there anyone else you could experiment on?”
“Not unless you can find me a dog lover who can’t stand me in the next hour.”
“You want to do this now?” I asked.
The corner of his mouth quirked. “Did I leave that part out?”
“Do we actually have to go out?” I asked. “Or can you walk me through how it would go?”
“Depends. Are we publishing fiction now?”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, but I’m supposed to give up my Sunday for a fake date?”
“You’re looking at it wrong. I’m giving you full clearance to critique my first-date moves—for the benefit of our entire readership, no less.”
I did like that idea. I chewed my bottom lip. “First of all, I’m in no state to do anything. I’m wearing sweatpants.”
“With ‘Royal Pain’ printed across the butt,” he added.
I scoffed, covering my backside with my free hand. “They were a gift, thank you very much.”
“Welcome, buns.”
I ignored him. “Secondly, my dogsitters don’t work Sundays.”
“First,” Sebastian countered, ticking off his defense on his fingers, “I can wait. Bruno and I will hang out while you get ready. Second, Bruno’s coming with us.”
“Excuse me?”
Hearing his name, Bruno nudged Sebastian’s leg. Sebastian automatically squatted and scratched his chest. “It’s a dog date. You love dogs, Bruno and I are pals, so I’m using that to make a connection.”
A dog date? Yes, please. I’d never been on one of those. And I wasn’t going on one—because this wasn’t real. At least, it wouldn’t be for Sebastian, but could I spend the afternoon with him and keep my mask in place? Just because Sebastian and I were learning to get along didn’t mean I was any defter at navigating men outside the office. “What makes you think I don’t have plans today?”
“Mostly that you told me you didn’t.”
I wrinkled my nose. I did not remember saying that or giving him my address. I was running out of excuses to skip something I wanted to do, even if I hated to admit it. I looked back toward my apartment. If Luciano found out I’d declined a date, even a pretend one, for a day on my couch with pub food, craft beer, and season two of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, he’d never let me live it down.
“I can wait down here if your apartment’s a pigsty,” Sebastian said.
I groaned inwardly. Now I had to invite him up to prove it wasn’t. Fortunately, my apartment was presentable if you didn’t count the evidence of my night with Luciano. Even my bedroom was in decent shape, a miracle considering I could be as messy as I wanted. Nobody except Luciano ever went in there . . . ever. Not since Neal. Even my dogsitters steered clear. I sighed at the thought.
“This is what you asked me to do,” Sebastian pointed out, probably thinking I’d sighed in protest. Bruno’s back leg thumped the sidewalk as Sebastian continued to hit his sweet spot. “It’s about how men can do better, be better, and maybe even have a shot with someone they thought was out of their league.”
This was one of the best parts of my job—the breakthrough. It seemed despite his resistance, I actually had been getting through to Sebastian these past several weeks. How could I go and cut his progress short? “Where are we going?” I asked.
“Let me worry about that. You’ll have to trust me.”
Famous last words. “All right,” I conceded. “Mostly because you got to critique my first-date moves, so it’s only fair I see yours.”
“You aren’t only going to see them,” he said, standing as we turned back for my apartment, “you’re going to get the inside track.”
An up-close-and-personal look at the inner workings of my arch nemesis and a notorious playboy? I showered and shaved my legs faster than Justin could make a room uncomfortable.
When I came out of my room, Sebastian was seated on the couch with Bruno’s head in his lap. He didn’t even cozy up to Lu that way. I passed behind them on my way to the kitchen, where I picked up the dog bowl. “I just have to feed Bruno and give him his pills, then we can go.”
Sebastian lowered the issue of Poised he’d been reading. I’d been collecting stacks of magazines over the past several weeks, anything marketed specifically to both men and women. “Did it and did that, too,” Sebastian said.
I stuck my head into the living room. “Did what?”
Sebastian turned his head over the back of the couch. “I figured I’d pitch in since you’re doing me a favor.”
“You fed Bruno? His pills too? But how’d you know what to do?”
“I checked the color-coordinated schedule on the fridge and saw that Bruno gets a third meal on Sundays around lunchtime along with his pills.” He shrugged. “Bruno showed me where to find the pill box, and since each day is already divided up and Sunday’s meds were untouched, I put two and two together.”
“He showed you where his pills were? Who’s anthropomorphizing now?” I teased, although my heart doubled in size at the way Sebastian looked after Bruno. Even if it was part of his act, it didn’t matter as long as Bruno was happy—and he clearly was, as he completely ignored me to sit with Sebastian. “How’d you get him to take his pills?”
“That’s our secret.” Sebastian tossed the Poised aside and stood as Bruno jumped off the couch. He turned and paused, blinking at my outfit.
“Is this okay?” I asked, my bangles jingling as I smoothed out the flowy floral dress and straightened my denim jacket. “I have a scarf in my bag. Since you won’t tell me where we’re going—”
“Yeah.” I didn’t miss the way Sebastian’s eyes scanned my bare legs down to my suede booties, and I didn’t mind it, either. “It’s just . . . I’ve never seen you in a dress like that. One that wasn’t, you know, for work.”
“This is what I’d wear on a first date.”
“It’s not what you wore to the game,” he pointed out.
“That was a different kind of first date.” I took Bruno’s leash from a hook in the entryway. I didn’t even have to say the word walk, and he was already loping around the apartment. I got a tote bag from the hall closet, cursing as I reached into the side pocket.
“What’s wrong?”
I pulled out my hand to show him my gooey fingers. “My gummy bears melted.”
“Do you carry them everywhere?”
“I told you, they help me think.”
He sighed, waiting as I packed Bruno’s emergency items, then said, “There’s one thing I should’ve warned you about before you agreed to this.”
“Okay,” I hedged and whistled for Bruno.
“I have many irresistible qualities,” Sebastian said, “and lots of charm, and I can’t just shut that off.”
I rolled my eyes as I hooked Bruno’s leash to his collar and whispered, “Here’s hoping his best quality is that he knows when to stop talking.” To Sebastian, I asked, “Your point?”
“Try not to actually fall for me today.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said wryly.
What Sebastian didn’t seem to realize was that I was already doing my best—and had been for a while.
16
Georgina
Sebastian had sent me for a second round of coffee so he could “pick something up.” With my bag of Bruno essentials over one shoulder, I carried two cups and walked Bruno to the corner where Sebastian had told me to meet him.
Possibly due to nerves from being on a pretend date with someone who considered me his enemy, I was already halfway through my mocha latte when Sebastian rounded the corner.
With a dog.
A brown, white, black spotted—and utterly adorable—dog. “Georgina, Bruno,” Sebastian called, “meet Opal.”