“What do you think, Opal?” he asked, playing with her ears.
“She likes you,” I said when he didn’t respond, wondering if the topic was closed to further discussion.
“I like her. I don’t know if I want to return her.” He glanced at me. “Maybe I ought to adopt.”
It was, perhaps, the sexiest thing he’d ever said. He was already verging on the perfect date—chivalrous, vulnerable, handsome . . . but adding dog dad to the list? That was next level.
Still, I knew firsthand that owning a pet wasn’t without its rough spots. It hadn’t been convenient for Neal. “It’s a lot of responsibility,” I warned. “With a dog at home, you can’t stay out all night. They need potty breaks and training and lots of exercise. They’re expensive. And you can’t pick up and leave town whenever the urge strikes.”
“A year ago, I would’ve said I liked my freedom.” He tilted his head at Opal, and she cocked her head back. “Lately, I’ve been questioning whether having some attachments would be so bad.”
Despite the fact that the two of them seemed to be having their own conversation, I got the feeling we were no longer talking about adopting a dog. “What happened a year ago?”
“Hmm?” He didn’t look as if he planned to answer, but he never got the chance to anyway. His phone chimed, and he got up to check the screen. “He’s here.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Get your things. We’re on to the next stop.”
“I thought this was the date,” I said, standing to bundle up the throw.
“I told you, you’re stuck with me until dinner. Unless things go south, in which case I have Justin on standby to call me with an emergency.”
If I hadn’t been tossing the water bowl in a nearby trashcan, I would’ve smacked his arm. “You’re not supposed to tell your date that. What if there really is an emergency? I’ll think you don’t like me.”
“You already think I don’t like you.”
He had a point there. With both leashes in hand, Sebastian started back the way we’d come. When we reached the street, a car with dog ears on the roof honked from the curb, and a young guy waved at us over the hood. “I’m Kenny, your Ruff Ride driver.”
“Our what?” I asked.
“Your wagging wagon,” Kenny continued, “your pet-ty cab, crate on wheels, driving miss doggy, muttmobile.” He took a breath. “I’ll be your chauffur this afternoon, your pupp daddy, David Barkham—”
“We get the idea,” Sebastian said.
“You ordered this?” I asked him.
“While waiting for our drinks.” Sebastian opened the car door for Opal and Bruno. “After you, Lindsay Lohound and Shia LaBowow.”
The dogs just looked at him.
“Who wants to go for a ride?” I asked. Bruno perked up. He knew what it meant considering we regularly took a Zipcar out of town to see my parents, but if I’d asked if he wanted a colonoscopy in the same tone, he would’ve been equally as excited. Bruno and Opal hopped in and each one took a seat by the window.
I bent at the waist to look inside. “Where do the humans go?”
Kenny opened the driver’s side door. “Usually backseat with the pups, or you can sit up front if you like.”
Sebastian stuck his head through the other window to look past the dogs at me. “We could always do the lap thing.”
I scoffed. “I’m not sitting on your lap.”
Sebastian grinned. “I meant the dogs go on our laps.”
I tried to look indignant as I squeezed in, forcing Bruno to give up the seat he’d already claimed. He stepped on my thighs, and I gnashed my teeth under his weight to keep from howling. Opal was small enough to curl up on Sebastian’s lap, but Bruno sat his haunches on mine and stretched his front legs toward Sebastian.
Sebastian leaned through the gap between the front seats. “We’re a little behind schedule.”
“Say no more.” The tires screeched as Kenny put the pedal to the metal.
Sebastian reached toward me. Startled, I jerked back. “What—”
He pulled my seatbelt across my body and snapped the buckle. “Safety first, Keller. Wouldn’t look good for my date to end up in urgent care.”
“I suppose not,” I said wryly.
He stayed where he was, a glimmer in his eyes. “You know, if I were François, this would be the awkward point in the date where I’d try to kiss you.”
“Ha.”
“You don’t think I would?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Easy,” I answered, gripping the seat in front of me as we barely made a yellow light. “You don’t want to.”
“Are you only saying that so I’ll prove you wrong?”
Not even the blast of his cool-fresh-spice scent could pierce my frustration. First, he’d played with my hair at the game. Now, he was getting up close and personal. His nearness stole my sense, and I needed my wits about me. I tried rolling up my window, but it wouldn’t budge. Kenny must’ve turned on the puppy lock.
“Are you just flirting to see if I’ll take the bait and reciprocate?” I asked.
“You got me,” Sebastian said. “But then again, you’ve just described every incidence of a man flirting with a woman ever.”
“I meant that you’re trying to trick me into reciprocating,” I clarified.
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know—so you can hold it against me at the office? I wouldn’t put it past you to announce it at Monday morning’s meeting. ‘Georgina wants me and I can prove it.’”
“So you want me?”
“About as much as I want Montezuma’s Revenge.”
“Traffic is light,” Kenny called back as we passed under the Brooklyn Bridge. “We’re making great time.”
Sebastian scowled, ignoring Kenny. “I’ve been nothing but chivalrous to you all day, and you’re comparing me to diarrhea.”
It’d been an automatic response. It would be mortifying for Sebastian to take me on a fake date and find out I wished it was real. I shrugged, looking out the window. “If the shit fits.”
Kenny took a corner so fast, Bruno and I went flying across the seat toward Sebastian. He shifted to look around Bruno, who panted in his face. “So, if I were to point out that we’ve been having a pretty great second date—”
“Second?”
“Oh, come on,” he said. “You had more fun with me at the game than with François—I call that a date.”
I rolled my eyes. Typical of Sebastian to believe he’d scooped another man’s date out from under him. “When you say things like that, you only encourage Justin. You know what he said to me at the game?”
Sebastian searched my face. “Whatever it was, he probably read it on the back of a cereal box . . . and still confused the details.”
“It was more of an observation,” I said.
Well, well. It’s a fine line, isn’t it? According to Justin, Sebastian and I hadn’t just been fighting since day one. We’d been fighting something between us.
“Do you agree with his observation?” Sebastian asked.
I needed to move back to my side of the seat, but I didn’t want to. Sebastian wasn’t pulling away, either. I couldn’t forget why we were really here, though. The moment I started seeing Sebastian as anything other than a colleague was the moment I could no longer trust my judgment around him.
I slid away from him. “I don’t think so,” I said.
“Oh, Keller.” He sighed. “For someone so smart, you can really be clueless on some things, can’t you?”
“I am not clueless.” Justin had clearly shared his thoughts with Sebastian, so I could only assume by his reaction that he agreed. Or was it that he’d finally figured out there was more advantage to making a friend than an enemy of me?
I hoped it was the former, and that scared me. As did my hope that it wasn’t the latter. Could I trust myself to keep a clear head and not fall for someone who had no plans to cross the line from hate to love?