The Boyfriend Arrangement

“Could you put on a robe or something?” she’d finally asked. Despite her best intentions to ignore him when they were alone, she was sure to burn off a chunk of hair if he kept walking around mostly naked.

Sebastian had seemed startled and mildly insulted by the request at first, but had quickly retrieved one of the resort robes and covered up.

She’d thanked him and the tension between them eased. They’d finished dressing, gone down to the great hall and sat together throughout the meal, engaging in polite conversation with those around them. They’d smiled, leaned into each other, shared bites of food and were as lovey-dovey as they could stand to be until they were finally released for some welcome rest.

Now that she’d had an eyeful of what he was hiding under his suits, Harper wasn’t sure how well she would sleep tonight. Not lying a mere inch or two from Sebastian for hours on end.

They bypassed the elevator and walked slowly and silently up the staircase together to their suite. About halfway up, Harper felt the brush of Sebastian’s fingers against her own. She looked down and put her hand in his when she realized he was intentionally reaching for her. He was right. They should be holding hands. She couldn’t let any awkwardness that happened behind closed doors impact the show they were putting on for everyone else.

If only touching him didn’t unnerve her the way it did. His hand was large and warm, enveloping hers in a way that made heat radiate up her arm. By the time they reached their room, her blood was humming through her veins and she felt as if the silk pussy bow that tied at the collar of the Fendi blouse she’d chosen was about to choke her. She also felt flush in the otherwise cool castle. That could only be Sebastian’s doing.

He let go of her hand long enough to open the door and let her step in ahead of him. He followed behind, pulling the door shut and fastening the privacy latch.

Harper wasn’t the only one who was oddly overheated. As she untied the bow at her neck, she watched Sebastian slip quickly out of his suitcoat and tug his tie loo

se. She found her eyes drawn to the hollow of his throat as he unfastened his collar and continued down the line of buttons until a touch of dark chest hair was exposed.

Suddenly the thought of pressing a kiss against that part of his neck appeared in her mind. The warm scent of his skin, the stubble brushing her cheeks, the rhythmic thump of his pulse against her lips... An unwelcome tingle of desire surged through her whole body, making her belly clench and her breasts ache with longing in the confines of her bra.

When her nervous gaze met his, she found a questioning look in his eyes and a room that was abruptly very quiet. “What?” she asked before turning away to focus on kicking out of her pointy-toed heels.

Sebastian just shrugged and sat in a chair to pull off his shoes. “You were staring at me, that’s all. I was waiting for you to say something. Did I get some shepherd’s pie on my shirt?” He looked down at the pristine gray shirt.

She wished he was a mess. Maybe then she could ignore the building attraction between them. Instead, he’d been the perfect companion so far. Perfect aside from being too attractive, too nice and too supportive. A soft, pasty midsection would really help her control her libido right now, but she knew that what was under that shirt was anything but. “No. I just...got lost in my thoughts, I guess.”

It was then that, with them both in states of partial dress, they found themselves at an impasse. Harper didn’t know what to do next. She certainly wasn’t about to tell him what was on her mind. If she stood there any longer, he’d continue to undress like before. She supposed she could gather up her pajamas and take them into the bathroom to change like this was a sleepover with a group of shy ten-year-old girls. Perhaps that would give him time to change privately, as well.

She turned to where her luggage was sitting open and started riffling through it. Thankfully she’d thought to pack pajamas that were less than intriguing. She had passed on the dog onesie—it was too bulky—but had chosen something just as unappealing. There was a piece of nice lingerie for show, but the rest was purely practical in nature. They were flannel, for the potentially cold Irish nights, and long-sleeved, to keep any glimpses of exposed skin to a minimum.

“Here,” he said.

Harper turned her attention to Sebastian in time to see him deliberately taking off the rest of his clothes. “Um, what are you doing?” she asked, clutching her pajamas to her breasts for dear life as she realized what was happening.

“I’m getting this out of the way.” He shrugged off his dress shirt and stepped out of the suit pants that had pooled at his feet. “We can’t spend this whole week tiptoeing around each other and if you keep burning fingers on your curling iron while you sneak peeks at me, people are going to start asking questions. We’re sharing a room. Sharing a bed. It doesn’t matter what does or doesn’t happen in the bed—we need to be more comfortable around each other. You said so yourself when we first agreed to this whole thing.” Standing in nothing but those same navy boxer briefs, Sebastian held out his arms. “Take a good look. Get it out of your system. It’s just the standard equipment.”

Harper watched with confusion and curiosity as he displayed himself to her. His equipment was anything but standard. Her gaze flickered from his defined biceps to the chest hair across his pecs to the trail that ran down his stomach to the gray waistband of his briefs. She was tempted to glance lower, but he turned, giving her a look at his muscular back and curved rear end, as well.

“Well?” he asked with his back to her.

“Why are you so tanned?” she blurted out to her own embarrassment.

He turned around to face her with a smile. “You’re staring at my ass but your only question is why I’m tanned?” He shrugged, unfazed by her question. “Okay, well, my apartment building has a rooftop pool. I swim a lot. It’s one of my stress relievers. It’s not enough, apparently, but it’s what I do. I’m not big on going to the gym. It’s boring.”

“What do you mean it’s not enough?”

Sebastian’s lips twisted for a moment in thought and he shook his head. “Nothing. There’s not enough stress relievers in the world when you’re in my line of work, that’s all.” He looked down at his chest and back at her. “Seen enough?”

Harper nodded nervously.

Sebastian mirrored her nod and sought out a pair of lounging pants from his bag. He tugged them on and looked at her with a wry grin. “Now when you talk to your girlfriends about getting me out of my pants, you don’t have to lie.”

Harper smiled, still fiercely holding her pajamas as though they were a protective armor. It felt silly after that to hide in the bathroom to change, but was she brave enough to do it out here?

“Your turn.”

Her gaze met his. “What?” she said with obvious panic in her voice. Did he honestly expect her to parade around mostly naked because he had?

He held up his hands to deflect the blowback. “I’m just kidding Harper. Relax.”