A Convenient Arrangement

by Maggie Marr

  “I see you’re playing this one close,” Aubrey said. “No worries, I can respect your need for privacy even if I’m dying to to know who’s sending you fabulous flowers and taking you out to dinner on a Friday night. I don’t like it”—She gave Gwen a teasing sidelong look—“but I can accept it.”

  “Thanks,” Gwen whispered.

  “Just hope this guy is worthy of you, because you’re a catch.”

  “Me? A catch?”

  “You’re beautiful, sophisticated, witty, and charming, plus you’re the owner of the hottest event planning company in Manhattan.”

  “Well, when you put it that way…” Gwen snuggled into the pillow behind her back, her gratitude for Aubrey’s friendship warming her heart. Every woman needed a friend to bolster her confidence now and again, didn’t she?

  “You’ll let me know who this mystery man is when you’re ready?”

  Gwen nodded. Guilt flickered through her chest. She couldn’t imagine ever being ready to tell Aubrey about Leo.

  “Just know,” Aubrey smiled, “that I’m ready to hear all the details whenever you’re ready to tell.”

  *

  “We’ve finished the beta testing.” Todd adjusted his black stovepipe hat to a jaunty angle atop his bright green hair. “People are digging this app.”

  The first few times Leo had met with Todd and Ilko, their clothing choices threw him. Over the last six months, however, he’d grown immune to their wardrobe oddities, although they still did, on occasion, surprise him. Today Ilko sported bright pink hair and wore a headband with cat ears and fingerless gloves that looked like paws. Because they were a brilliant tech duo, Leo had decided early on that Todd and Ilko could show up dressed in panda costumes and he’d say nothing. They were, after all, two of the most sought-after app designers in the world.

  “What the public really digs, though, is you,” Ilko said.

  “Me?”

  “You,” Todd and Ilko chorused. They nodded in tandem, as though they shared the same brain. If there was an app for brain-sharing, Leo thought, they might.

  “People are loving how the guy behind the app is the most ungettable single man in the world. Even women are buying into what we’re selling,” Ilko said.

  “Sex without strings. No attachments. Simple physical pleasure.” Todd stroked his beard.

  “All between adults who agree that this type of convenient relationship is what they want.” Ilko tapped her fingertips together.

  “No messy love, just good times. The app version of Netflix and chill.”

  A bright smile hovered on Ilko’s face. She looked as though she might purr. “That being said, this is the new campaign we’re going with.” She turned her phone toward Leo.

  His brows creased. He remembered taking the photographs, but they’d been done for the launch materials, not an ad campaign.

  “It’s like you’re a younger hipper Don Juan, but with more money and better clothes.”

  “Me?” Leo squinted. “You want me to be the face of the Convenient Arrangement app?”

  “You kind of already are.” Todd lifted his legs and bent them into a lotus position in the chair. “Everyone knows the app is a Travati product, and you’re the only single Travati left.”

  “There’s Devon.”

  Ilko and Todd exchanged a look.

  “Right,” Ilko said, “but he’s off the market, in a way, with the whole possible criminal trial thing.”

  “People follow the Travatis, and they know that that Justin and Anthony are hooked up. The only available Travati brother is you,” Todd added.

  “Suave, single, hot billionaire who’s been living this convenient arrangement lifestyle for the last decade, way before it was even a thing. Hooking up with the world’s most beautiful women.”

  “The kicker is, the whole convenient arrangement thing works. No one you’ve ever dated has anything bad to say about you. Your friends with all of the women from your past.”

  Again, Ilko and Todd looked at each other and unspoken communication passed between them. Maybe there was a brain-sharing app they’d worked on.

  “Steve Jobs did it,” Ilko said. “Embodied an entire brand.”

  “Bill Gates would if they could figure out how to input charisma.” Todd typed a note into his phone.

  “You’re the perfect spokesperson for the campaign. Plus, the app idea was yours.”

  “Actually,” Leo said, “you guys came to me.”

  “But only after you lived this life for how many years? I’m telling you,” Ilko continued, “all our research indicates that the app is doing so well, in part, because people are intrigued by you and your lifestyle and how you’ve made it work for you for so long.”

  “With you front and center, we absolutely can’t fail.” Todd peered at him over the top of his round blue-lensed glasses.

  Leo leaned back into his chair. Failure wasn’t an option. And Ilko and Todd’s pitch made sense. He’d wanted to work with them not only because they were the best in tech design, but also because they understood marketing and promotions as well as numbers and analytics.

  “Send me the campaign. Let me take a look.”

  Tapping on her phone, Ilko nodded. “Just sent it. Don’t take long. We’re meant to go wide with this in twenty-four hours.”

  “Not leaving me much room.” Leo lifted an eyebrow. “Expecting me to say yes?”

  “You’re a businessman,” Ilko said. “We expected you’d want to do whatever was best for the product and would get the most sales.”

  This app wasn’t Ilko’s first rodeo. Since she was a profit participant too, she had clearly thought about exactly what words to say to get Leo to say yes, to earn her and Todd the most dollars.

  “Got me there. I’ll look at the campaign and call you later today.”

  “Text.” Todd stood. “We never answer our phones.”

  “Text, right.” This dynamic duo not answering their phones was the sole thing he disliked about working with them. No matter what the question or the conversation, you had to text them or meet them in person. There were no phone calls.

  “Okay, we’re out. Didgeridoo lesson in twenty.” Todd took Ilko’s hand and they nearly skipped from his office.

  Leo’s computer dinged. He opened Ilko’s email and clicked on the images. The pictures had been taken in the fall. Him in a suit with an unbuttoned collar and his shirt sleeves rolled up. In the best one, the photographer, Lizzy, had captured his grin just as he’d started to laugh at a joke she’d told. Good shot and a solid campaign. Ilko would have numbers to back up her request—she and Todd always had numbers to back up everything. If they said his face, his smile, his lifestyle would sell the Convenient Arrangement app, he had no doubt they were right. So why the hesitation?

  He didn’t want to admit the reason to himself, and he definitely wouldn’t to Ilko and Todd or anyone else, but the marketing campaign made him uncomfortable because of Gwen. He’d just thrown away his convenient arrangement rules for her, had asked her on a date instead of walking away when it was clear she wanted more than just great sex with no strings. Maybe after a decade of convenient arrangements he wanted something more, something new, something with substance.

  His eyes refocused on the pictures on his computer screen. This campaign, these pictures, the Convenient Arrangement app: this was business. And even though he was willing to explore a new type of relationship with Gwen, he wasn’t going to forget about business. His business now was selling the hell out of this app, by the best method possible.

  He clicked reply and dashed off an email to Todd and Ilko, giving his okay. Their analytics said this campaign was the best way to launch a Convenient Arrangement, so he was ready for his picture, these pictures, to hit the world. Regardless of what was going on between him and Gwen, Leo Travati was now the poster boy for the single-man lifestyle.

  Chapter 9

  “Buddy, I’m hoping this goes off without a hitch.” Leo opened the oven do
or and peered in at the chicken piccata and the rosemary potatoes he’d removed from their delivery containers and placed into white dishes that claimed to be oven-to-table. Hopefully those words meant exactly what the box said. “Smells good.”

  He looked at Renley, who dutifully sat beside the oven looking up at Leo, super surprised that they were using the shiny kitchen appliances that, before tonight, were only for show.

  Leo shut the door and cranked up the oven. “Better hot than cold, right? Hope she likes Italian food.” He selected a bottle of wine and pulled out the cork. He still had five minutes, but women were always late, weren’t they? How many times had he sat and waited for a woman? Too many to count. He decanted the wine, took the carafe in one hand, and scooped up two wine glasses in the other, moving everything into the living room. The catering company had delivered a cheese tray, which he’d set on the table in front of the couch. Why was he trying so hard? Maybe to prove that he could try, or to see Gwen’s smile, maybe to—

  Knock. Knock. Knock.

  Renley’s tail thumped against the floor.

  “Showtime, buddy.” Leo rubbed his palms down the front of his jeans. Nerves? When was the last time he’d been nervous about seeing a woman? Adrenaline, sure, but nerves? Renley sat politely beside the door, thumping his tail harder and harder. “Okay, buddy, are we ready?” Renley seemed to nod, as if to say, I gotcha, boss, we’re totally covered.

  Leo opened the door.

  Breathe.

  He had to remind himself to friggin’ breathe, because there in the hall outside his condo stood the cutest lady, wearing a bright pink stocking cap with a fuzzy ball at the end, her cheeks flushed from the cold, her nose a tiny bit red. Her hair, which he’d seen down maybe twice, flamed across her shoulders in giant curls, framing her smile. The smile that had caused him to throw away his rules about relationships and necessary convenient arrangements.

  “Hi,” Gwen chirped. She handed him a bright purple bag. “I come bearing gifts.”

  He ushered her inside. Gifts? A gift for him? The women Leo dated required he purchase gifts, but never turned up with gift bags for him. Gwen shrugged her coat into his hands and he looked over her shoulder. The blue sweater she wore, paired with black jeans and high-heeled boots, matched her eyes and accentuated her lush curves.

  “Mmm. Smells good in here.” Gwen pulled the hat off her head, turned, and handed it to Leo. “Warm too.”

  He leaned in and they exchanged an awkward hug. Gwen walked toward the fireplace. Leo hung up her coat and then turned to the wine. He poured and handed a glass to Gwen.

  “Your cheeks are pink.”

  “It’s cold. Have you been out? They’re saying seven inches of snow overnight.”

  “Hmmm.” He fantasized briefly about being snowed in with Gwen. “What’s this? I don’t usually get gifts.” He lifted the purple bag that he’d set on the side table.

  “It’s tough buying for a billionaire.” Gwen sipped her wine. “I pretty much assume you have everything you want.”

  Leo grinned. “Well, maybe not everything.” He opened the bag. “At least not yet.”

  Her cheeks flushed again, and this time the color wasn’t from the cold. “I thought maybe you’d still have some outdated technology,” she explained.

  He pulled a DVD from the bag and flipped it over. “Only the best movie ever made.”

  Gwen smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”

  “Favorite movie ever.” He looked over at her. “After dinner?”

  “Sounds perfect. Food. Wine. Fire. Plus the best movie ever made.”

  “Don’t forget the company.” Leo lifted an eyebrow.

  “As if I could.” Gwen took another sip, glancing up at him through the fringe of her eyelashes. Leo’s heart thumped against his ribs. “So what’s for dinner?”

  He turned and Gwen followed him into the kitchen. “My goodness, you’re a clean cook.” Her gaze swept the kitchen. “My place is destroyed when I fix a meal. I’m impressed.”

  “Destroyed, eh?” Maybe he should’ve left some dirty dishes in the sink and dusted the counters with flour.

  “Leo?”

  “Hmm?” He pulled the glass bowl full of salad from the refrigerator. He’d been smart enough to take the dressing out of the plastic container and put in a dressing boat to use.

  “Leo, did…is something burning?”

  Leo set the bowl on the counter and turned. Sure enough, a thin haze of smoke hovered in the kitchen. “Not sure.” He leaned over the oven door and slowly pulled it open a crack. A…fire. Smoke poured out through the tiny opening. He slammed the oven door shut and turned his back to it. “Nothing, just a little…seems I might have burned something.” He turned back to the oven.

  Shit, was the smoke turning black? Leo waved an oven mitt at the growing cloud, looking around for the fan button…there had to be a fan…my God, what a disaster. He coughed. “Uh, why don’t you go on out to the living room by the fireplace and—”

  To hell with the fireplace, he had a fire here. He finally found the right button and pushed it. The fan started sucking air straight up and yet…the oven…the smoke was getting worse. He couldn’t believe the fire alarm hadn’t gone off yet, and when it did—

  “Do you have a fire extinguisher?” Gwen brushed past him and opened the cabinet beside the stove.

  “A…uh, what?” He twisted knobs and pressed buttons on the stove. How did you turn the damned thing off?

  “Fire extinguisher, do you have one?” Gwen went to the next cabinet and the next, opening, scanning, and closing them one after the other.

  “A, uh…fire extinguisher?” Had to come with the condo, right? Why would he have a fire extinguisher? He never used the damn kitchen. Now what…water? No…it might be a grease fire, and even he knew you couldn’t throw water on that. Uh…

  “Stand back.”

  Leo snapped out of his spiraling confusion and looked at Gwen. She stood in front of the oven with the fire extinguisher she’d found in hand, the hose pointed toward the oven. “When I say go, open the oven door. Got it?”

  He nodded, grateful one of them knew what to do. Damn, Gwen looked pretty badass when she was in control of a situation.

  “Okay.” She planted her legs and pulled the pin. “Go.”

  Leo threw open the oven door, stepped back, and Gwen let the white foam fly.

  *

  Not the dinner she’d expected, but she’d never say no to Chinese takeout and kung pao scallops. She popped another one into her mouth and watched the Millennium Falcon finally jet into hyperdrive.

  “So, did you actually try to cook dinner tonight?”

  Leo’s guilty but super cute smile told her that no, he hadn’t actually cooked dinner. She’d guessed when he’d pulled the two blackened Corningware dishes from the oven and one of them had melted plastic in the bottom.

  “I cooked that meal about as much as I cooked this one.” He topped off her wine. “I was trying to impress you.”

  She leaned back against the leather couch cushion. The idea of Leo wanting to impress her caused a smile to widen over her face, even if the whole thing had ended in a giant mess and a near four-alarm fire.

  “You did, actually.”

  “Oh no, lady, you impressed me with your firefighting skills. I definitely want you around if there’s ever a real fire.”

  “Um, that was a real fire.” Gwen pointed her chopsticks right at Leo. “There were flames, not just smoke. A couple more minutes and there would’ve been firemen, too.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating.” Leo plucked a scallop from her plate with his chopsticks.

  “Not exaggerating. Not one bit.”

  He took a deep breath and released it. “There are many things I feel confident doing, but cooking?” He shook his head. “Cooking isn’t one of them.”

  Her stomach wobbled and her toes curled. She knew what one of the many things Leo felt conficdent doing was and that confidence was well-placed. Good
ness, he was delicious, almost as edible as her favorite meal, which she’d nearly finished. Knowing he had a genuine fault just made her want him more.

  “I do, however, still have dessert.” Leo picked up the remote and paused the film. “But only because it doesn’t require an oven.” He stood and took her empty plate. “Want something sweet?”

  Warmth swirled between her legs and heat burst across her cheeks. Something sweet? Oh yes, she was looking at something sweet that she wanted, right now. She cleared her throat. “Sure.”

  She uncurled from the couch and followed him into the kitchen. The disaster zone looked to be contained to the oven…well, that and the stovetop. Her aim had been pretty spectacular, all things considered. Leo had declared cleanup wouldn’t proceed until tomorrow.

  “I ordered one of my favorite desserts.” He rustled in the refrigerator.

  “Cannolis?”

  “That’s one I like but,” Leo pulled a tray from the refrigerator, “this is one I love.” He opened the box and pulled out a gorgeous-looking cake, the top dusted with cocoa and sprinkled with shaved chocolate curls.

  “Tiramisu.” Gwen’s mouth watered.

  Leo liberated two forks from the utensil drawer. He stuck one right into the rich dessert. “I’ll let you have the first bite.”

  Her heart careened in her chest. That sultry voice, those eyes, the magnetism she could feel radiating from his body… How sexy to be fed a delectable dessert by this absolutely gorgeous man. A devilish smile tugged his lips and his eyes sparkled. Sex on a stick. She slowly opened her mouth and he guided the bite between her lips.

  Soft creamy richness filled her mouth. Her eyes closed in delight. The bittersweet taste of chocolate and coffee rolled over her tongue. “Oh my God, that’s good.” She opened her eyes. Leo studied her reaction, his gaze no longer playful but intense with heat.

  “Looks very good.” The rough, rich timbre of his deep melted her core.

  Sparks of attraction arced between them. Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but she didn’t have words. Leo set the dessert down, stepped forward. Her back pressed into the counter and he rested a fist on either side of her. His lips so near hers. She couldn’t pull her gaze from the mouth that weeks before had kissed her senseless and left trails of heat on every inch of her skin. His hard maleness pressed against her hip.