Page 26 of In the Net (Sin Bin Stories #5)

HARPER

M y roommates have been tittering like schoolgirls all evening.

“Are you and Sebastian going to his place or coming back here after your date?” Maddie asks from where the girls are sitting in the living room. “Because if it’s back here, let me know so I can buy a pair of earplugs.”

Scarlett and Jasmine erupt in laughter while my jaw pops open.

“Maddie,” I groan reproachfully, rolling my head back. “Not you, too.”

I can only expect that kind of joke from the other two, but not from her!

She’s such a sweetheart that her cheeks are rosy, wearing a guilty look when she answers, “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“She’s right, though,” Scarlett nods. “When those two finally hate-fuck after years of pent-up frustration, it’ll probably be heard all over town.”

My eyebrows elevator down. “There’s nothing pent-up between me and Sebastian, trust me.”

In response, Jasmine just wiggles her eyebrows to Scarlett and Maddie, and my three roommates start tittering again.

While they’re sitting nice and relaxed and deriving endless amusement from the fact that I’m waiting for Sebastian to pick me up for a fake date, I’m pacing up and down the hallway by the door, knotted up with nerves and anxiety.

I don’t know why Sebastian volunteered to be my wedding date. But he was so insistent, and the arguments he gave me made so much sense, that he wore me down.

Could it be something about him wanting to, I don’t know, pay me back for looking after him when he was melting down in Paris? It’s not like I did anything for him he didn’t do for me when I was sick …

Either way, I agreed, and now I’m stuck with this arrangement. Even if I haven’t shaken off all the doubts.

I’d love for us to be able to just keep our distance until the day of the wedding, but I realize that won’t work.

For one, Mackenzie’s envy is going to make her a certified hater, and she’s going to be on the lookout for any opportunity to cast doubt on our relationship. Sebastian and I need to get more comfortable around each other, and we need to be seen in public as a couple more often.

There’s a fancy restaurant a couple miles outside town where I know one of her sorority sisters who she’s friends with works as a hostess.

If Sebastian and I go there for dinner, she’ll see us, and no doubt word will quickly get back to Mackenzie.

If she hears about us being out on a date like a normal couple, it’ll make our relationship seem more real.

Then, hopefully she’ll be less inclined to try to poke holes in it, especially when we have to spend the day around my family.

This is one of those restaurants with a dress code.

Dressing nice, being picked up by Sebastian who’s also going to be dressed nice, having dinner with him at a restaurant that cultivates an intimate, romantic ambiance …

everything about tonight has my nerves frayed and anxiety rolling through my body.

It doesn’t help that he’s late.

I take out my phone to check his last message.

Sebastian (ugh)

Be there at six-thirty

It’s six-fifty already.

He’s twenty minutes late. But I’m already wound so tight with a combination of dread over having to pretend to be smitten in public with the hockey player I can’t stand, and eagerness to just get it over with, that it feels like I’ve been waiting for hours.

“Just look at her,” Scarlett says, the coyest grin in the world carved on her face, “so in love that she’s counting the seconds until her boyfriend arrives.”

I told the girls about what Sebastian and I are doing, so they know it’s all an act. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from getting all the mileage out of this as they can.

I love my roommates, but they’re getting on my nerves right now. I’d rather just wait for Sebastian outside. Maybe some fresh air will do my anxiety good, too.

I roll my eyes when Jasmine calls out, “We won’t wait up!” as I pull the door open and step outside. When I close it behind me and step onto the porch, I find Sebastian in front of me.

His eyebrows bounce, a wry grin on his face. “Wow, someone’s eager.”

I give him a flat look. “You’re late.”

“Counting the seconds, huh?”

I show him my phone, open to the message he sent me. “Twenty-five minutes late is bad even for you.”

He looks at my phone and his jaw drops, amusement spreading over his face. “No way you have my name saved in your contacts like that.”

“If I had to put your number in my phone, I figured I might as well add the sound I made while doing it.”

He’s chuckling, shaking his head while he takes out his own phone. “Look.”

He holds his screen to my face, with our text thread open, and I read my own contact name.

Harper (ugh) .

My stomach tilts. We both saved each other’s names into our phones in the exact same way.

“Eerie, huh?” Sebastian says, still laughing to himself.

“Downright creepy.”

“They do say great minds think alike.”

“If my mind is thinking alike to yours, I might need to see a doctor.”

Sebastian’s smile is so broad the edges of his eyes crinkle behind his glasses. I don’t know why this coincidence is so amusing to him. I find it distressing. The exact same idea that occurred to Sebastian occurred to me? Not a comforting thought.

“Anyway, sorry I’m late. I’m borrowing my roommate Felix’s car and he lost his keys.”

I roll my lips. “You couldn’t have sent me a message to let me know?”

“This is so cute. We’re already fighting over me not texting you enough. I promise I’ll text you first thing in the morning from now on, and after classes to ask how your day went.”

I don’t know how I’m going to survive this.

As I drill Sebastian with an irritated look, I notice what he’s wearing for the first time.

A crisp button-up shirt in a light pink color that looks surprisingly good against the jet black of his hair and glasses frames.

The shirt is tucked into a pair of brown pants that give his long legs a straight silhouette, making him look even taller than usual.

It’s dressy, but not too formal, and it’s interesting. He looks good.

I mean, it looks good. The outfit. It would look good on anyone. Has nothing to do with Sebastian wearing it.

Oh, who am I kidding? Sebastian looks hot as fuck in this outfit. No reason I can’t admit it. I may be immune to experiencing actual attraction to him, because I know how obnoxious and annoying he is, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize objective facts.

When I lift my gaze back to his face, I notice his eyes gliding over my body.

I’m wearing a yellow dress, form-fitting but not tight, with a light, black cardigan thrown on over it because it’ll probably be chilly inside the restaurant. Fancy places love for people to be cold, for whatever reason.

My sight gets pulled to Sebastian’s neck as his sharp Adam’s apple bulges with a long swallow.

Wings flap in my chest, his gaze suddenly feeling heavy on me, my body warming wherever his vision scans.

“Well … guess we should get going, then,” he says, his voice coming out thick and raspy.

I feel the vibration far lower in my core than I’d like to admit.

Mackenzie’s friend who works here, Jenna, has been looking at us all night, just like I counted on.

It means that she’s probably already texted Mackenzie that we’re having dinner together, which means Mackenzie has less reason to doubt our relationship, which is good.

It also means that I’ve had to pretend to be enjoying this fake date with Sebastian. Which is bad.

I guess I need the practice, though. If Sebastian and I had to rock up to the wedding and pull it off with zero practice in pretending that we can stand each other’s company, things might end in disaster.

Spending enough time around him to be convincing is going to be like taking multiple large doses of the worst-tasting medicine.

Even though we’ve been faking smiles and pretending to laugh whenever Jenna looks our way, the conversation has been stilted and awkward.

“So … Paris was cool,” I lamely try a new topic.

Sebastian looks livelier as he nods. “Yeah, it really was. Everyone likes to say that Paris is overrated, but honestly, it lived up to all my expectations.”

“Right? And the people weren’t even mean like everyone says. Well, for the most part …” Some girls from the conference and I went out a couple nights, and once we went to the bar in Le Marais that Clement recommended. He was totally right about some of the bartenders being snooty.

“Honestly, I’ve been listening to nothing but French music since we got back,” Sebastian says.

“Really? Same here.”

An amused look pulls on Sebastian’s face. “Hm. Our brains really do seem to be working the same lately.”

A fluttery feeling winds through me. “Now I’m really getting worried.”

He grins, and it doesn’t look like one of the fake ones we’ve been pulling all evening. “What songs have you been listening to?”

“I like Fance Gall. Her song Laisse Tomber Les Filles .” It’s a catchy, empowering song about how a guy who treats girls badly will get what he deserves one day. I give Sebastian a pointed look. “You might recognize yourself in the lyrics if you listen to it.”

He wags a brow at me. “I’ll be sure to listen to it, then.”

“How about you? What have you been listening to?”

“There’s this French singer named Georges Moustaki I really like.”

“Oh! I’ve heard some of his songs. He does some really nice duets with a French woman singer named Barbara.”

Sebastian nods, looking excited. “Yeah, I love those songs.”

Sometimes I can forget that Sebastian and I really do have a lot in common. Similar interests, similar tastes in books and art.

If I end up with some good recommendations out of spending all this time with him, maybe that’ll be a kind of silver lining.

The rest of the dinner passes a lot quicker as we talk about our favorite French songs, movies, and literature that sparked our love for French culture, and made us both so excited to visit Paris.

The conversation even continues through the car ride home.

It’s hard to believe that time in an enclosed space with Sebastian Lawrence could pass so quickly.

When I get back home and up to my room, there’s an odd feeling I can’t shake when the first thing I do is listen to some of the songs Sebastian recommended.