The Bookworm's Guide to Faking It (The Bookworm's Guide 2)

“There’s nothing going,” I corrected her quickly. “But we’ve cleared up what happened at prom, so that’s something.”

“You did? What happened?” Her eyes clouded with the memory. “I could have ripped off his balls right there.”

I hadn’t told anyone yet, but Tori was the perfect person. Mostly because I knew she’d tell Ivy and the girls so I didn’t have to. “He didn’t intend to kiss Iris. He was going to kiss me.”

Her jaw dropped. “Well, that explains why he keeps staring at you.”

“Yes, I’m trying to ignore him. It’s bad enough we have to share a room because this place is booked out. There’s no escaping him.”

“Wait. You’re sharing a room and you’re not climbing him like a tree? What’s wrong with you?”

“I have a thing called dignity,” I said dryly.

“That’s overrated.” She waved her hand. “Sex is sex. I don’t know why you’re all tied up in knots about it.”

“Tied up in knots about what?” Seb asked, rejoining us.

Tori looked up at him and said, without batting a eyelid, “Having sex with you. I volunteer as tribute if she won’t do it.”

“Tori!” Oh, my God!

Seb grinned, sliding a chair out for himself as he put my drink down. “It’s good to see you again, Tori.”

“I didn’t hear a refusal there, Seb,” she teased.

“As much as I appreciate the offer, this one takes up too much bed space as it is. No room for a third one.”

This was going from bad to worse.

“Why do I always end up in these situations?” I mused aloud.

“You’ve ended up in potential threesomes?” Seb asked, one eyebrow quirked upward.

Tori smirked. “Yeah, her, a romance novel, and a bowl of ice cream.”

“Hey, that’s one hell of a Saturday night,” I pointed out. “And it doesn’t hurt my feet.” I held up a leg and wiggled my high heel clad foot to prove my point.

Seb’s eyes dropped, and his gaze moved from my ankle all the way up my leg until it met the hem of my dress that was showing a little too much thigh.

I cleared my throat.

He jerked his head up and smirked at me, shrugging innocently.

Tori looked between us. “Okay, I’m gonna go, because this—” she pointed between us. “—is weird, and I don’t know what’s going on.” She got up, sliding her chair out from the table. “Oh, Holley, we’re having dinner at Bronco’s tomorrow. You’re coming.”

I shook my head. I was most certainly not.

A smile stretched across her face as she nodded, then disappeared into the dancing crowd.

Seb looked from her to me. “What’s that all about? Dinner?”

I picked up my drink, sipped, and said, “She wants to talk about you.”

“Used to that.” He took another sip of his beer. “She’ll have to take a number.”

“All right, Mr. Bigshot.”

He laughed, leaning back in his chair. “It’s part of the job description. But I am thankful I can live a relatively private life without being stalked by a bunch of people.”

“That, and in a week’s time nobody will be able to get to White Peak unless it stops snowing?”

“And now you see why I came home for my rehab.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. If I were him, I’d have come home, too.

We sat for a while and watched as people danced and his grandfather continued to evade his mother’s clutches. It didn’t take long for her to catch him, though, and we both laughed as Amos was led from the room by both May and Ben.

By the time he’d returned for the father-daughter dance, we’d fielded two different sets of questions about our relationship that had ended with Seb putting his arm around my shoulder to please some distant relative of his new brother-in-law and me sinking the rest of my drink far too quickly.

Kate was stunning in her dress. Her large train was clipped to the back of her dress for dancing purposes, but the lace bodice fit her to perfection and showed off all her best features. For a venue that was, essentially, so extravagant, her lace dress was simple yet still fit for a princess.

I smiled as she laughed at something her dad said in her ear as they danced. “She looks so lovely.”

“Yeah. She really does.”

I did a double-take at him.

He wasn’t looking at her.

Seb was looking at me.

I blushed and looked down.

I felt his smile rather than saw it. I’d always thought that was a weird thing to say, but I really did feel it.

I felt it in the way his fingers pressed into my upper arm just the lightest amount. In the way he pulled me ever so slightly closer to him, and in the way his cheek pressed against mine as he whispered, “Our turn.”

“Wait, what?”

The music changed to another song that was a bit more romantic, and when I looked up, I saw that Ben had passed Kate off to Spencer. The newlyweds were beaming at each other, lost in their own little bubble. Ben now had May in his arms, and Spencer’s parents took to the dancefloor, too.