Sebastian
I bite my lip.
Fuck. Me.
Chapter twelve
Bash
"She asked you to what?" Tyler's laughter explodes through my phone speaker as I rummage through my closet, trying to find a shirt that says 'I'm taking this seriously' but not 'I'm trying too hard.'
"Pretend to be her boyfriend for her family trip to Colorado." I pull out a navy button-down, consider it for a moment, then toss it on the bed alongside the growing pile of rejected options. "Her ex is going to be there with his new fiancée apparently and she doesn't want to show up solo while he's parading around his engagement."
"And you said yes?" He sounds like he's enjoying this far too much, his voice practically vibrating with gleeful disbelief. "I can't believe she actually asked you to do this, you know with her giving you the cold shoulder to end all cold shoulders bit."
"Neither can I." I grab a dark green Henley. Nope, too calculated. I put it back with a frustrated sigh. "But it is the perfect opportunity to fix things, to show her I'm not just some arrogant playboy who bails. Plus, Colorado? That's my territory."
"You mean the perfect opportunity to get in her pants again."
I roll my eyes. "It's not like that."
"Sure it's not." His voice drips with sarcasm. "The woman you can't stop thinking about just asked you to ‘play house’ with her in a romantic winter setting, sharing a room, and you're taking it because you want to 'fix things.' Very noble of you."
"I fucked up, Ty." I sit on the edge of my bed, running a hand through my hair, feeling the frustration of the past week weighing on me. "I shouldn't have left like that."
"No shit. But this is actually perfect. You get to be the hero who saves her from embarrassment, and she gets the Sebastian Montgomery boyfriend experience without the actual commitment. It's like a free trial."
I laugh despite myself. "You make me sound like a subscription service."
"Premium package, baby. All the perks, none of the recurring charges." I can practically hear his shit-eating grin through the phone.
"You're an idiot."
"An idiot who's right." His tone shifts, becoming more serious. "Look, for real, this is your chance. Don't overthink it. Just be yourself—your real self. Not the player bullshit you pull sometimes. Show her who you actually are."
I stand up, moving back to the closet, fingers brushing past hangers of clothes I suddenly hate. "Well, that's the plan."
"And hey, isn't your sister still in Colorado? Sarah and your niece."
"Addie." I smile at the thought of my sixteen-year-old niece with her razor-sharp wit and uncanny ability to see through people's facades. Smart as hell and twice as mischievous. "Yeah, they're about an hour from Aspen. I was thinking I might rent a car and drive up to see them while I'm back."
"Perfect! You can introduce Charlie to the family. Really sell the whole boyfriend bit."
I pause, a gray sweater in hand, suddenly picturing Charlie sitting at my sister's kitchen table, laughing with Addie, fitting into my world in a way that makes my chest tight. "I don't know if that's a good idea." I've never brought a girl home to meet my family.
"Why not? Sarah would love her."
"That's what I'm afraid of." I toss the sweater aside and grab a simple dark grey button-down. This will have to do. "Sarah's got this annoying habit of knowingexactly what I'm thinking before I do. She'll take one look at me with Charlie and know this whole thing is a sham."
"All the more reason to introduce them. Your sister's got good instincts."
I don't respond right away, focusing on buttoning my shirt, trying not to think about how Sarah would absolutely call me out for harboring feelings I'm not ready to admit even to myself, but Tyler's right—my sister would see right through this fake relationship charade in about five seconds flat. The question is whether that's a good or bad thing.
"So what's the plan tonight?" He breaks the silence, mercifully changing the subject. "Dinner and...?"
"Just dinner. We need to get our story straight if we're going to convince everyone we're together. We need to figure out the details. How we met, how long we've been dating, all that stuff."
"You meet at a bar and sleep together the same night. That part's easy."
