The Boyfriend Arrangement

Harper beamed. She was pleased to finally place this guy in her mind. When she’d caught a glimpse of him earlier, he’d grabbed her attention. He’d looked so familiar when he’d held the door for her that she was certain she’d known him from somewhere. Unfortunately, Violet being so hell-bent on running up the street to pick up Aidan’s wedding present had meant she couldn’t stop.

Once she’d split from her best friends, Lucy Drake, Violet Niarchos and Emma Flynn, she’d stealthily circled back to Neiman Marcus to return everything she’d just bought. She couldn’t have that weighing down her credit card for long. She hadn’t expected to run into the familiar man again. Certainly not literally.

Real smooth, Harper.

“Okay, well then, I think it must’ve been one of the hospital benefits this past winter.”

He nodded. “I do think I went to one of those. Finn tries to get me out every now and then.”

Sebastian West didn’t have a face she could forget, even if she lost context. He had a strong jaw, a nearly jet-black goatee, eyes just as dark, and a crooked smile that stirred something inside her. No, she’d remember him for sure. If she had a type, he’d be it.

It was a shame he wasn’t one of the rich CEO guys her brother associated with all the time. She didn’t mean to be shallow, but meeting a guy with his act together financially would certainly benefit her current situation. It would also make her feel a little better about how things would be handled once it all changed on her birthday.

The last seven years had been one long, hard lesson learned for Harper. One in the value of money the spoiled little rich girl she’d once been had never really experienced before. She would be the first to admit that her father had basically given her everything she’d wanted. After her mother died, he’d spoiled her. And continued to spoil her until he’d no longer had the resources.

Harper had never imagined that the well would run dry. When it had, she’d made a lot of necessary adjustments in her life. At least secretly. It was embarrassing enough that she’d blown all the money she’d inherited when she’d turned eighteen—especially since she was an accountant—she didn’t need anyone else knowing about what she’d done.

After falling from the top of the world to her current spot near the bottom, she’d earned a whole new appreciation for money and for the people who were good at managing it. And soon, when she had money again, she intended to be very careful about how she handled it. That included triple-checking every guy she dated. Not that she intended to date Sebastian...

“Well, I’m glad we bumped into each other today,” Sebastian said with a sly grin.

Harper chuckled. As her gaze broke away from Sebastian’s for a moment, she saw Quentin—her ex, of all people—walking toward them. Grabbing Sebastian’s arm, she turned them both toward a display of men’s shoes, hoping maybe Quentin hadn’t seen her. “I’m sorry,” she muttered under her breath. “I’m trying to—”

“Harper?”

Damn it.

Harper turned to face the ex-boyfriend she’d done her best to avoid for the last two years. She stepped away from Sebastian, leaning in to give her ex a polite but stiff hug. “Hello, Quentin,” she said in a flat, disinterested tone she knew he wouldn’t pick up on. He never did.

“How have you been?”

Lonely. Anxiety-riddled. “I’m great. Never better. How about you?”

“Amazing. I actually just got engaged.”

Engaged? Quentin was engaged. The one who didn’t want to commit. If Harper hadn’t already been feeling crappy about being the last single friend in her social circle, this moment would’ve been the straw that broke the camel’s back. She pasted a fake smile on her face and nodded. “That’s great. I’m happy for you.”

Quentin didn’t notice her lack of sincerity. “Thank you. Her name is Josie. She’s amazing. I can’t wait for you to meet her. I think you two would really get along.”

Harper had to bite her tongue to keep from asking why his ex would have any interest in hanging out with his fiancée. “I’m sure we would.”

“So, Harper...” Quentin said as he leaned in to her. His arrogant smile made her shoulders tense and the scent of his stinky, expensive cologne brought to mind nights with him she wished she could forget. “Will I be seeing you at Violet’s wedding? It’s the event of the year, I hear. I can’t believe she’s flying all the guests to Dublin for it. And renting out a castle! It’s wild. Maybe I should’ve dated her instead of you.” He chuckled and she curled her hands into fists at her sides.

“I am going,” she said with a bright smile she hoped didn’t betray her anxiety over the upcoming trip. “I’m one of her bridesmaids.”

“Are you going alone?” Quentin cocked his head in a sympathetically curious way that made her hackles rise.

Why would he assume she was going alone? They’d been apart for two years. He’d moved on. Surely she could’ve found someone to replace him by now. She hadn’t, but she could’ve. “No. I’m not going alone. I’m bringing my boyfriend.”

The minute the words passed her lips she regretted them. Why had she said that? Why? He mentions a fiancée and she loses her damn mind. She didn’t have a boyfriend. She hadn’t even committed to a houseplant. How was she supposed to produce a boyfriend in a couple days before the trip?

Quentin’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Oh, really? I hadn’t heard you were dating anyone lately.”

Harper was surprised that he’d been paying attention. “I’ve learned to keep my private life private,” she snapped. After their messy, public breakup, it had been another lesson hard learned. She hadn’t even considered dating for six months after they’d ended due to the trauma of the whole thing.

“Well, who’s the lucky guy? Do I know him? I look forward to meeting him at the wedding.”

A name. She needed a name. Harper’s mind went completely blank. Looking around the department store, her gaze fell on Sebastian as he perused a nearby display of dress loafers.

“You can meet him now. Sebastian, honey, could you come over here for a minute? I’d like you to meet someone.”

Sebastian arched his brow inquisitively at Harper as she mouthed the word “please” silently to him. He wandered over to where she was standing. “Yes, dear?”

“Sebastian, this is my ex, Quentin Stuart. I’ve mentioned him, haven’t I? Anyway, I was just telling him about the two of us going to Ireland for Violet and Aidan’s wedding.”

Quentin stuck out his hand to Sebastian. “Nice to meet you, Sebastian...?”

“West. Sebastian West.” He shook Quentin’s hand and quickly pulled his away.

“Sebastian West as in BioTech?”

“Actually, yes.”

Harper didn’t recognize the name of the company, but then again she didn’t know much about Sebastian because they weren’t really dating. She remembered a brief discussion at a party about him working in medical supplies and how he didn’t get out very much. She’d figured he’d sold wheelchairs and hospital beds or something. Maybe she’d been wrong. Quentin wasn’t the type to waste brain power on remembering things that didn’t impress him.

“Wow, Harper. Quite the catch you’ve got in this one.” An uncomfortable expression flickered across his face and quickly disappeared. “Well, I’ve got to run. I was on my way to meet Josie and I’m already late. I’ll see you two lovebirds on the plane to Dublin. I look forward to speaking with you some more, Sebastian.”

Harper watched Quentin walk out of the store. Once he was gone, her face dropped into her hands. She just knew she was bright red with embarrassment. “I am so sorry,” she muttered through her fingers.

Sebastian surprised her by laughing. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

She peeked through her hands at him. “Um... Quentin is my ex. It was a messy breakup, but we still hang in the same social circles from time to time. When he asked about my date for the wedding we have coming up, I panicked. I told him you were my boyfriend. It’s a long story. I shouldn’t have dragged you into that, but he put me on the spot and you were standing right there.” She gestured toward the display and shook her head. “I’m an ass.”

“I doubt that,” Sebastian said, a twinkle of laughter still in his dark brown eyes.

“No, I am. I’ve made the whole thing ten times worse because now I’m going to show up at the wedding without you and he’s going to know I lied. And I just know he’s going to show up with his beautiful, new fiancée and I’m going to feel even more like crap than I already do.”

Harper knew she should’ve just owned that she was single. How bad would that have been? To just state proudly that she’d been dating and not interested in settling down or settling on the wrong guy. She was almost thirty, but that was hardly the end of the world. In fact, her thirtieth birthday couldn’t come soon enough. It brought a twenty-eight-million-dollar payout with it that she was desperate to get her hands on.

“Don’t worry about what he thinks,” Sebastian said. “He seems like a schmuck.”

“I’m no good at the boyfriend thing. I have questionable taste in men,” Harper admitted. “It’s probably better that I just make up boyfriends instead of finding another real one.”

Sebastian nodded awkwardly. “I’m glad to help. Well, I hope the wedding goes well for you.”

“Thanks.” She watched him leave. But with every step he took, the more panicked she became. She had no easy way of contacting this guy once he walked out the door. She didn’t want to let him get away quite yet for reasons she wasn’t ready to think about. “Sebastian?” she nearly shouted before he got out of earshot.

He stopped and turned back to her. “Yes?”