“So what really happened to Cassie?” Helen asked as the driver pulled away from the curb.
Seb’s gaze drifted again to the dress shrink-wrapped over her long, slender body, her breasts like two ripe plums below her deep collar line. The clothes he’d seen her wear so far had done nothing for her willowy figure, but this? It left nothing to the imagination.
Seb tugged at his collar. “It’s like you called it. She had a family emergency.” When Helen wriggled her dress down from where it had ridden up her bare thighs, Seb turned to the window. “Cassie’s father had a stroke yesterday in France, she flew to be with him and won’t be back until September.”
“Wow. Thatisscary.”
“Yeah, but sounds like he’s gonna be fine though.”
“I was referring to me being right, but I’m glad he’s okay.” She fussed with her dress again. “So, tonight I’m being me, but I’m still to carry on telling people I write poetry because that’s what the scary lady thinks?”
“She’s called Brenda.” And Seb had to agree that she could be scary, but since learning he wasin love, Brenda had softened considerably toward him. “I figured you writing poetry was a white lie we could live with. Lots of people have aspirations to be writers, but please don’t bring it up unless you have to. If anyone asks, you’re taking time off work to help me out at the Get Living headquarters.”
“Putting my career on hold to boost yours?” Helen’s lips puckered. “That makes me sound like the little woman at home.”
“Don’t get on your high horse about it. How else are we gonna explain you working in the yard? Those reporters today, including Grice, have no reason to believe you’re on probation, and I’m assuming you haven’t shouted it from the rooftops.”
“No, just my family and a friend know.”
That was something, at least. “And that love you spoke so readily about earlier? You’re giving it a chance by being fully supportive of my work.” Again, his gaze dipped past her glossy lips to her barely-there cleavage. Recalling her Byte Me tattoo, Seb frowned. “What work did you do for that boss you tried to steal from?”
“Ex-boss, and that money was mine so I wasn’t stealing it.”
“You were if you had to break in to his apartment.” Seb strived for calm. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I design and maintain websites,” Helen said, then tilted her chin toward him. “I was reading about you yesterday.”
Avoidance. What a surprise. That didn’t bode well for what he’d find out about her, but as soon as tonight’s dinner was over, he’d make it his mission to find out every damn thing about Helen Hobbs so he could mitigate any other disasters before they happened. “Did you come across anything interesting about me?”
“Lots of things.” She crossed her legs. The hem of her dress rode up to her crotch.Sweet lord. Please be wearing panties? The very last thing he needed were indecent photographs splashed across the internet if she tripped in those heels. “They’re all very pretty and makes me wonder why you didn’t know what she looked like.”
Sebastian blinked as Helen waited expectantly. Too distracted by hemlines and crotches, he’d clearly missed something. “What who looked like?”
“Cassie. Why didn’t you have a picture of her?”
“Looks aren’t important to me.”
“Bollocks.”
Bollocks?That sounded a lot likebullshit. “Okay, I’ll confess. I was halfway across the Atlantic, there wasn’t time, and Jimmy’s description was good enough for me.”
“Very slapdash for someone so organized.”
Huh. “I admit my original plan sucked, but I can assure you”—Seb motioned between them—“this one sucks even more. But fear not, under the current circumstances, I’ve devised a new plan, the theme being love conquers all.”
She sniffed the air. “I smell flowery bullshit.”
“I’ve taken some very recent lessons.” Seb gazed out of the window again. The Friday evening sidewalks were busy, full of couples strolling hand in hand, pointing at menus in restaurant windows. “You were right earlier. Brenda, nor anyone else, will be fooled for long if we don’t do a good job of acting like we’re in love. So, I’m gonna do all it takes to make our relationship believable, starting with us living together. From tonight. Do you have a spare room for me at your place?”
She gasped. “You want to live with me?”
“No, I don’twantto. Ineedto.” Seb couldn’t let Helen go tonight without knowing where she lived. For all he knew, the address she’d written on the salary form could be as fake as their relationship—particularly, as his Google Maps search earlier had the location icon pointing to the middle of a field. “Love conquers all, remember? And I’m conquering the fact that you could potentially ruin my career.”
“You know I won’t do that.”
“Damn right you won’t. Clause two point one ensures it, but I still need this relationship of ours to look as real as possible, and after your declaration to Brenda, it wouldn’t look right if we lived separately.”
“Well, I … have … um …”
