“So,” he said, meeting her gaze. “Ready to hear my terms?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Eva said with a faint smile.
“I have a meeting coming up,” Ari explained. “It’s to discuss a potential business partnership with a huge company—a Middle Eastern outfit that I’ve been trying to connect with for years.”
“Okay,” Eva said, nodding. “Where do I come in?”
Ari smirked. “Since you’ve clearly done your research on me, you know what my reputation is,” Ari told her. “I need to convince these guys that I’m a respectable, settled, mature businessman.”
“That’s going to take some doing,” Eva said tartly. “Though it has been a few months since you were last in the tabloids.”
“That’s deliberate,” Ari said. “I’ve been trying to repair my reputation a bit. What would really sell them on this idea, though, is me having a wife.”
Eva’s eyes widened. “And you want me to play the role of Mrs. Christodoulou? We just met yesterday and you only learned my real name today!”
“It’s doable,” Ari countered. “You’re a smart woman, Eva—you’d have to be, to have done some of the things you’ve accomplished. Hell; you’ve been a con artist for longer than you’ve been a hard-working employee.”
Something about his words—accurate as they were—stung Eva.
“The schemes I’ve done were work,” she told him firmly. “Maybe not entirely honest, but I worked hard to be good at it.”
“Which is exactly why I’m proposing this to you, and not someone else,” Ari said, smiling. He took another sip of his wine. “You’re smart enough and motivated enough to actually pull this off.”
“What do you know about my motivation?”
Ari tilted his head to the side. “I know I’m good in bed, but I doubt I’m good enough to have made you forget what you came to me for,” he said. “I would think that avoiding a multimillion dollar lawsuit would be very good motivation indeed.”
Eva chuckled and picked up her glass of water. “Yeah, that is definitely enough motivation to make me want to make this work,” she admitted. “I just don’t know how likely it is that we can pull it off.”
She considered the idea that Ari had proposed: it wasn’t as though she’d never done anything remotely like it before, but she’d always had more lead time than Ari had implied they would have at their disposal. “How much time do we have?”
“About a week,” Ari told her.
Eva shook her head. “Impossible,” she said, gulping down some water and setting her glass aside once more. “If we had a month we could pull it off, but a week?”
“Like I said: you’re intelligent, experienced, and motivated.”
“What kind of money are we talking about? What kind of a business deal is this?”
“It’s worth billions,” he replied nonchalantly. “The shipping company in question is owned by members of the royal family of Al Akanish.”
Eva’s eyes widened; she didn’t know much about the small Middle Eastern country, but she knew it was home to one of the largest shipping empires in the world.
“I just don’t understand why you would lie to them about what you’re like? It’s not like your reputation is entirely made up—they’re going to figure it out eventually.”
Ari scowled. “Lying about yourself is how you got here,” he pointed out. “Don’t act as though you’ve got some kind of moral high ground.”
Eva bit back an angry retort and took a slow, deep breath.
“I’m just saying—with all due respect—that a week is not nearly enough lead time for a con this big,” she said quietly. “And I can’t believe that if this is a company you’ve wanted to get on the hook for years, you didn’t figure out this plan until just now.” She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the heat in her cheeks as she remembered that she was naked—they both were.
“I’ve been thinking about this for months,” Ari admitted. “But I haven’t found anyone I could trust to make it work.”
“No? Not with all the women you’ve been seeing? Surely one of them would be a better candidate than me.”
“None of them would give me the kind of respectability I need for this contract,” Ari said, shaking his head. “Your name hasn’t been connected to mine in the tabloids; you’re a safe option. Then too, you have every reason to go along with it and keep quiet.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “That much is obvious,” she agreed. She licked her lips, wishing—fleetingly—that she hadn’t had sex with him. It was a good idea at the time. Don’t let it cloud your reason: it was just sex. She took a deep breath and sighed. “How are we going to make this happen?”
“Obviously, we’re going to need a cover story,” Ari said.
Eva nodded; they would need to explain how they had met, why she hadn’t been in the tabloids, why Ari was suddenly married.
“You realize that we have so, so much to explain, right?” Eva raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t even remotely acted like a married man—do you think they won’t have done their research? I mean, if you’re worried about them thinking you’re a woman-chasing party boy…” she shrugged.
“Clearly you’re more well-versed on plots like these than I am,” Ari said dryly.
Eva pressed her lips together. “I want an agreement on this,” she said, keeping her voice level. “If I’m going to pretend to be your wife, you’re going to need to pretend to be my husband, too. And you need to be able to treat me with respect and genuine affection by the time we’re playing this out.”
“Understood,” Ari said, inclining his head towards her.
“To that end: you stop making snide comments about my past.” Eva held his gaze, knowing that she was at a disadvantage in their current negotiation; but she had to stand her ground—just as she had with the irate caller—even if it meant that she lost out.
“Fair enough,” Ari said after a moment. “Anything else?”
“We’re going to come up with our story together,” she told him. “It needs to be as organic as possible.”
“That makes sense,” Ari agreed with a nod.
Eva sighed. “I think we can make this work,” she said. “I sure as hell hope we can make this work.”
Ari grinned. “If nothing else, it’ll make for a great story—sometime years from now.”
Eva laughed. “That it will. I can tell my future kids—if I ever have them—about how I pretended to be a billionaire’s wife so he could seal a business deal.” She glanced down at her naked body and sat up, climbing out of the bed.
“Where are you going?”
Eva collected her underwear from the floor where it had fallen, slipping into the panties and pulling the bra on in a few quick, practiced movements. “I’m staying right here,” she said. “But I think that if we’re going to pull this off, we’re going to need to keep things completely businesslike between us.”
“Why?” Ari watched as she pulled her dress on and then came back towards him.
Eva spotted a chair tucked away underneath a side table in the bedroom and pulled it over to the bed where Ari sat.
“Because we need to focus,” she told him firmly. “We need to devote as much time as possible to inventing an entire relationship, and if we have sex again, that’s just going to make it weird.”
Ari held her gaze for a moment, and Eva could see the thoughts churning behind his eyes.
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “I can see that.”
“So,” Eva said, taking a deep breath and exhaling it in a sigh. “We’re going to have to rehearse and practice every day until this meeting.” She licked her lips and considered. “What kind of meeting is it?”
“A welcome dinner,” Ari said. “The night before the paperwork is due to be signed.”
“You’re going to have to pay for a dress,” Eva told him. “Nothing I own will be appropriate to play your wife.”
“I figured I would need to supply the wardrobe fo
r the evening,” Ari said with a shrug. “I’m not a total naïf.”
“Okay,” Eva said, nodding slowly. She could feel the lingering slickness between her legs, and the sight of Ari’s tantalizing, naked body distracted her. “Can you put your clothes on, please? Not that I’m not enjoying the view, but…”
Ari raised an eyebrow but stood, finding his pants on the floor. “I can meet with you tomorrow at Central Park,” he told her.
Eva considered that and nodded. “That’s good,” she said. “We’re going to need to work at this hard—you know that, right?”
“I do.”
“We’re going to have to know everything possible about each other,” Eva continued. “Tiny things. Details that people don’t even usually know about their spouses, we’re going to need to know.”
“If people don’t know those things about their spouses, why would we need to?”
Eva chuckled. “Because we have no idea what kind of questions are going to come up in conversation,” she pointed out. “And we don’t want to end up in a position where we’re confused or panicked.”
“Makes sense,” Ari said with a nod. “I look forward to it. Unless you want to get started tonight?”
Eva considered that; they didn’t have much time, but she knew her mind was too fogged from alcohol and sex to really focus.
“Tomorrow,” she said. “Let’s both get some sleep first.”
“Give me your number,” Ari suggested. “I’ll give you a time to meet with me once I know when I’ll be free.”
Eva stood and scribbled down her phone number on a pad the hotel had provided.
“Good night, husband,” she said, giving him a wry smile.
“See you tomorrow, wife,” Ari replied.
Eva smoothed her hair before leaving the hotel room, reflecting on the odd situation she’d found herself in. In little more than twenty-four hours, she had gone from a straight life to a brand new con; she had been fired from her real job, met a billionaire, put herself in hot water, and now she would be working with someone to pull the wool over a major company’s eyes.
As she rode the elevator down to the ground floor, Eva thought about the task ahead. She was going to have to do her best to forget completely about the sex she’d had with Ari; just thinking about it sent a jolt of heat through her body that she couldn’t ignore. Even as she’d been sitting in the chair, fully dressed, it had been impossible not to look at the gorgeous Greek. This is going to be the most difficult scheme of my life, she thought frankly.
She would have to keep her mind on the plot—not on the feeling of Ari inside of her, the taste of his lips. She chuckled to herself as she left the hotel and headed back to her apartment; even if she’d felt insulted by Ari’s frank assessment of her erstwhile career, she had to admit that he had chosen his pretend-wife well. She had convinced businessmen of more difficult sells on more than one occasion. Just think of them like another set of marks, she told herself, skipping down the steps to the subway.
She thought that the fact that she knew what Ari looked like naked, what it felt like to have sex with him, would work in her favor, as long as she didn’t let it distract her. It would, at least, lend some physical chemistry to their interactions. You’re going to spend the entire week wishing you could go at it again, Eva thought.
She took a deep breath and stepped onto the Brooklyn-bound train, glancing around at the nearly empty car. You need to be careful, Eva. Ari Christodoulou is your partner in a scheme; he’s not someone you can trust. Not really.
The thought sent a chill through her spine; she knew that Ari wouldn’t do anything to harm her—but she also knew that it would only be too easy to develop real feelings, at least of a temporary kind, while she was pretending to be in love with the man. She had to do whatever she could to keep things purely business, right up until the dinner; after that, she would probably never hear from Christodoulou again, and she could move on with her life.
Not that I have all that much to look forward to, Eva thought, watching lights flash past the window as the subway picked up speed. If nothing else, at least the scheme with Ari would fill some time before she had to figure out how to live without a job.
Chapter Eight
Eva looked around the southern entrance to Central Park, trying to suppress the rising sense of anxiety she felt as she waited for Ari to appear. If there was one thing grifting had taught her, it was that few people were to be trusted; even if she knew Ari’s motivation, even if she trusted that it was in his best interest to follow through with the plan, there was still a little voice in the back of her mind that whispered that he would fall through. Something was going to go wrong: he wouldn’t take the preparation seriously enough, or she would forget some particular and end up flubbing an important fact about his life—and then their lie would come tumbling down.
A week isn’t enough time. Not nearly enough. This is crazy. And yet, she knew she had little choice; Eva had no doubt that the realtor would do her best to bring a suit against her without intervention from Ari.
He had sent her a message that morning, telling her to meet him at noon at the park; Eva had wondered how a businessman like Ari Christodoulou was going to manage to dedicate the amount of time that their charade required, but apparently he was able to manage his time more or less how he liked.
Eva glanced around her again, watching people entering and leaving the park; Ari was going to be late if he didn’t show up soon. We’ll soon see just how committed he is to this, she thought, taking a deep breath.
Just when Eva was convinced that Ari was going to be a no-show, she spotted him. He was striding along, bags in his hands, and Eva frowned in confusion at the sight. The next moment, Ari saw her, and quickened his steps, smiling.
“I know—I was almost late,” Ari said as he approached. “But I thought that a little lunch was in order.” The markings on the bags were foreign to Eva’s eyes, but the scents that wafted up from them were appealing. “My favorite Greek place, about three blocks from the office,” he told her.
“Greek, of course,” Eva said with a smile. “I should have expected it.”
“I thought it would be apropos for our meeting,” he said with a shrug. “Let’s find somewhere quiet—if we can.”
They walked deep into the park, until they came to a secluded enclave, far away from the screaming children, the Frisbee players, the musicians. Ari brought out a blanket and they both sat down.
“These are a few of my favorite things to eat,” Ari explained as he began to take containers out of the takeout bags. “Zucchini flowers, stuffed with cheese and herbs. This is eggplant dip, similar to baba ganoush.” Eva nodded, watching as Ari served out bits of the different things as he spoke. “These are fried smelts—doesn’t sound very appetizing, I know, but they’re actually delicious.”
Eva laughed. “If they’re a favorite food of anyone, I’d assume they can’t be bad,” she pointed out, and Ari grinned.
“I also bought us some lamb—the story behind this dish, as my mom told it to me, was that the Klephts, a group of bandits with no flocks of their own, would steal lambs from the respectable herders. Since they didn’t want to be caught cooking stolen animals, they’d cook their meat in a sealed pit so there was no smoke to lead someone to them.”
Eva grinned at the fanciful story.
“Did your mother cook?” she asked.
Ari shrugged. “She did when she wanted to, but mostly she hired in a woman to do the cooking.” He finished divvying up the first servings of the food, and they began eating. Eva savored the different flavors, the richness and brightness of the food, the balance of the sweet and savory.
“Let’s get started,” Eva suggested after a minute. “Tell me about your childhood—and remember: I need to know as many details as humanly possible.”
Ari chuckled and put his plate aside, taking a sip of his drink.
“I have three siblings,” he began. “Two sisters and a brother. M
y mother promised my father that she would give him two boys and two girls. As soon as she had my younger brother, she informed him that either he could accept her getting her tubes tied, or she would divorce him.”
Eva laughed. “She was serious about that, it sounds like.”
Ari nodded. “Her mother nearly died from having too many children too quickly—that’s what she told me,” he explained. “Greeks are used to living in large families, so she thought that at least giving my father four children was fair.”
“I have an older brother and a younger sister,” Eva volunteered. “I’m not really much in contact with them, though Jessica calls me from time to time. Alex always kept to himself, but I get the occasional Christmas or birthday card from him.”
“Eleni is two years younger than me,” Ari said. “Nico is my baby brother, six years younger than me, and Xanthe is three years younger than I am.”
“What was your childhood like?” Eva returned to her food, unable to quite resist the tempting flavors; Ari had been right about the fried smelt.
“It was interesting,” Ari said, smiling fondly. “We were always in competition; my mother wanted us to be the best.”
“Competition against each other, or against other kids?” Eva raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Ari said, his smile deepening.
“Both?” Eva tried to imagine growing up like that; she had known that Alex—as the only son—was her father’s favorite, even though her parents tried to make sure that all of their children felt equally loved. “That seems…” she shrugged.
“It definitely gave us plenty of motivation,” Ari said. He picked up his plate and ate a few bites of the zucchini flower. “Whoever got the best grades in school, whoever was the most on top of things, got the best gifts, the most attention, the most freedom.”
“Let me guess,” Eva said drily. “You were generally the best?”
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