The Taming of the Billionaire

by Jessica Clare

  He’d thought of flowers. He’d sent dozens.

  She sent them away.

  Jewelry? Nope. Returned.

  Cars? Real estate? He’d have bought all of it if it would prove to her that he loved her. But he suspected that they’d be returned as well—or worse, somehow end up in Bianca’s hands, so he held off.

  He sent a band to serenade her with love songs. She had Hunter throw them off the grounds.

  He thought about buying up all the shelter cats in New York City. That would make Edie sit up and pay attention. But . . . then what would he do with hundreds of homeless cats? She’d hate him even more if he ruined the cats’ lives more than they already were.

  So he kept thinking. And working. And sneezing.

  The cats were good company, at least. Lady Daredevil was curled up in the chair against his thigh, purring. Since she was blind, she was less playful than Lady Cujo, and tended to find a spot near him and sleep. She was the ultimate cuddler, and he found he . . . kind of appreciated that. He’d never been much of a cat person before, but now he found that the two cats were pleasant to have around and he enjoyed their antics.

  Edie had converted him to a cat person. Actually, she’d opened his eyes in a lot of different ways.

  Now if he could just open hers to the fact that he was crazy about her.

  Because really? He had the new apartment and complete control of his new project and freedom from his brother’s dicking around and a new confidence in his own abilities and . . . it didn’t mean a thing if he didn’t have her.

  So he simply had to get her back.

  His computer chimed with an incoming message. Magnus’s heart thudded until he saw the Skype message box pop up with Bianca’s name. What the hell? He clicked on it, and a picture of Bianca’s face filled his screen. “What do you want?”

  She sniffed, delicately rubbing her nose with a pink tissue. “Magnus, do you have a moment to talk?” Her eyelashes fluttered, as if she were fighting back tears.

  “Depends on what we’re going to talk about. If it’s you fucking around behind Edie’s back, I’m all ears.”

  Bianca stared at him, hard. For a moment, the sweet, helpless facade pulled away and he got the distinct impression that she was pissed at him. Then she recovered, and gave her nose another touch with the tissue. “I’m not really sure what you want me to say to that—”

  “The truth would be nice.”

  “The truth is I didn’t do anything!” Bianca swiped at her eyes again, even though they didn’t seem all that wet to him. “It’s all a horrible misunderstanding.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yes! If Edie would just talk to me—”

  “Did you sleep with Edie’s then-boyfriend?”

  Again, the lash-fluttering blink. “That’s not—”

  “Not what? Not the truth?”

  Her lower lip stuck out. “Magnus, you’re judging me without hearing my part of the story.”

  He made a grand gesture, then ruined it by sneezing. “Please,” he said, nose stuffed. “Tell me your part of the story and I’ll compare it with the truth.”

  Her mouth opened, then shut again. “That’s not fair.”

  “You know what’s not fair? Dragging me into your stupid little games and then fucking up the good thing I had with Edie. That’s what isn’t fair.”

  “She won’t talk to me,” Bianca started again, and this time the tears seemed genuine. “She doesn’t want to speak to me at all.”

  “Can you blame her? She trusted you. She trusted me, too, and look where it got her. A whole fuckton of betrayal.” He was so fucking pissed at Bianca. If he’d known the truth about what she was like, he’d have never agreed to deceive Edie. Never. “And as for people she wants to talk to, I’m not exactly high on that list, either. So you’re going to have to keep looking.”

  She gave a fragile little tilt of her head, then sighed. “I’m just trying to bounce ideas off of you.”

  Her words reminded him that he needed someone for that very thing, too. “I need help, too. You got a moment?”

  Bianca licked her lips and her lashes fluttered. She leaned in, giving him a shot of her cleavage in the camera. “Of course I do. You can trust me.”

  He’d sooner trust a fucking tarantula. “I need a big gesture.”

  “Gesture like how?” She gave him one of those tiny, coy smiles. “You have big hands. Any gesture you do will be a big one.”

  That fucking bitch. Was she flirting with him? Did she think that he was led by his dick like Levi was? “I mean when it comes to Edie. I need a big gesture to prove to her that I’m in love with her.”

  “Oh, I’m not sure—”

  He turned down the volume on her as she continued speaking and stared at her face for a moment, brainstorming. Then he went on. “Just buying her something won’t really prove to her that I care. Buying something is too easy for a guy like me. So it has to have meaning, and it has to have meaning to someone like Edie.” He rubbed his chin, thinking. “She loves her cats. She loves all cats. I’d love to do something that involved cats on a big scale that would show that I mean what I say, that I understand who she is and I love her. So it has to be big.” He leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment, as Bianca kept silently talking, a puzzled look on her face in the camera. “Finding homes for all of the old elderly cats at shelters was my initial thought, but I keep getting hung up on how to find them homes. It’s almost like I’d need to build another shelter, but getting people to come to it is the problem. I’m just the computer geek . . .” He paused, thoughts spiraling through his head.

  An app. He could build an app of some kind that would advertise cats to be adopted. But how to draw people in? Make it a game, of course. “Of course,” he murmured aloud. “A crazy-cat-lady game. Draw in the user, then send them to the location that you want. If they’re anything like me, once they meet the cats, they’ll fall in love.”

  And then he had it.

  Magnus snapped his fingers. “Thanks for the help, Bianca.” He clicked off the Skype and switched windows, sending a message to an old programmer buddy that was a whiz with creating apps on the fly.

  Project: Romancing His Cat Lady was underway.

  ***

  Three weeks later

  Edie flipped over a couch cushion, upsetting a lounging cat. Sneezy meowed at her, gave her an indignant look, and then hobbled away to the bed. She finished turning over the couch, then dug through the laundry basket full of dirty clothing. After that, she checked the nightstands, under the bed, and in the bathroom that Gretchen had designated as “hers” until she moved out.

  No phone. Where was it?

  Edie had been reading a book in her room, curled up with her cats, when she realized that the day had been awfully quiet, and she felt rather . . . down. Today was the first day that her phone hadn’t rung off the hook with calls and texts from Magnus, and she was feeling a little neglected.

  Okay, a lot. Didn’t the man care that she was hurting? Or had he just given up because it was too hard to win Edie back?

  And why did the thought of that hurt even more?

  Of course, once the thought was in her head, she couldn’t let it go. Her book no longer held interest, and the cats lounging on her lap made her twitch instead of relax. So she’d reached for the normal place that she kept her phone . . . only to find it missing.

  That had started the grand phone hunt.

  On one hand, she was glad it was missing. That meant she hadn’t been forgotten, technically. Maybe she’d find her phone and it’d be full of texts from Magnus. More sweet pictures of Lady C, whose pregnant belly was swollen with kittens. Or Lady D, curled up against his leg while he worked. More of the simple I miss you, I wish we could talk messages that melted her heart.

  As long as her phone was missing, there w
as still hope.

  It wasn’t in her room, though. Edie searched everywhere, and then searched the entire place again. When that turned up nothing, she backtracked her steps. Maybe the library? The gardens?

  She ran into Gretchen in the main kitchen. She had a large knife and a cutting board out, and was dicing shallots. “Hey Eeeds,” Gretchen called out happily as she appeared. “You in the mood for quiche for lunch?”

  “Sure, whatever. Hey, have you seen my phone? I’ve lost it.”

  “Oh. Your phone?” The look on her face was a little too wide-eyed. “Gosh, I don’t know.”

  Edie paused. A familiar cat-sticker-covered case was on the counter next to Gretchen’s cutting board. “That’s not it?”

  “This?” Gretchen held it up innocently. “Is it yours? I found it in the library.”

  Edie did her best not to snatch it from her friend’s hand. “Thank you.” She plucked it away and then ran a finger over the screen immediately, looking for new texts.

  Nothing. Her heart sank. “Has it been ringing?”

  “Nope,” Gretchen said. “So. Quiche? Do you like mushrooms?”

  “Mushrooms are fine,” Edie said, pulling up a barstool and sitting at the kitchen island. She didn’t understand it. Not one text from Magnus? Really? She stared at her texts, willing something new to pop up. When it didn’t, she sighed and reduced the window on her phone.

  Something on her phone . . . was different. She paged through the list of apps, then realized there was something new on the last page. The icon was the picture of . . . a cat head. Edie glanced up at Gretchen. “Were you using my phone?”

  “Me? No. Why?”

  “There’s a new app on here—one I didn’t install.”

  “Gee, that sure is weird.” Gretchen’s face was the picture of innocence. “What is it?”

  Edie clicked on it, then made a face at the cartoony title that came up. “Cat Lady Café? Seriously? Is this a joke?”

  Gretchen just gave a high-pitched giggle.

  Okay, that was totally fishy. She peered at her friend, then clicked on the Start button of the app.

  Immediately, a loading screen appeared. As it did, it flashed up messages.

  Did you know that there are thousands of pet-friendly apartments in New York City? Click here to find one!

  Next, came a picture of a sweet-looking tortie cat with a bow on its neck. An adoption profile for the cat came up, and it was cleverly set up to look like a dating profile.

  Name: Fiesta

  A/S/L: 6, Female, Midtown Café

  I’m a sweet, furry girl looking for my forever lap. Could you be the man (or lady) of my dreams? I’m open to Mr. Right Now as well as Mr. Right. I’m a sucker for seafood dates, long naps in sunshine, and a scratch behind the ears. To speed date me, go to the Midtown Café and come say hello.

  Edie smiled at the screen, wondering at the mysterious Midtown Café that was mentioned. Then, the game started, and Edie was offered the ability to choose her cat lady. One had two braids like she liked to wear her hair, and she picked that one, a niggling suspicion starting to form in her mind. The game started, and as Edie thumbed through the controls, it seemed to be all about matching up cats to prospective owners through the use of puzzles, blocks, and trivia. As the screen loaded to the next level, she was shown another “dating profile,” this time for a beautiful Turkish Van cat named Moxie that only had one eye. Edie played a bit longer, but she eventually failed at the level, and instead of another cat picture, this time, she was shown a picture of a cafe.

  Want to speed date a kitty or just come in for a cup of coffee? Feel the need for some feline company? Come check out Coffee N’ Cats, the first chain of cat cafés in NYC. We have two locations open and four more opening next month. Come in for coffee, pet our feline friends, and take an adoptee home with you. Coffee N’ Cats—Peace. Love. Paws. Coffee.

  The logo of the café flashed up, and then was quickly followed by a Sullivan Games logo as the app closed.

  Edie’s heart squeezed, hard.

  Was this . . . Magnus? She looked up at Gretchen, her mouth open in shock. Gretchen had a ridiculous, huge smile on her face. Oh. Oh . . . This was him. This was Magnus proving that he loved her. Her game wizard was showing her that he was in this for the long haul. Her heart gave another squeeze again, and she felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Instead, she loaded the app once more, watching as profiles of different cats paraded through the game. The cats were never kittens, but older or “special needs.” Her heart felt as if it was going to burst in her chest when the Sullivan Games logo pulsed onto the screen again.

  She looked up at Gretchen, her eyes misty and full of wonder. “When can we go?”

  “Now, if you want to,” Gretchen said, and then gave a girlish squeal of excitement.

  Edie felt a little like squealing herself. Instead, she just hugged her phone to her breast.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Coffee N’ Cats was located on a busy street corner, a temporary sign hung over the awning. It was easy to tell where it was—a crowd of people peered into the windows. A sidewalk chalkboard proclaimed the specials of the day, some of it coffee, and a picture of today’s “cat of the day.” Edie moved toward a window, peeking in. Sofas and tables were everywhere, and the place was crowded. Cat perches and carpeted cat jungle gyms filled the window, and everywhere she looked, there were cats. Cats being petted, cats lounging in the window appreciating the sunlight, cats chewing on a small flowerpot full of cat grass, and employees supervising things. As she watched, an employee in a Coffee N’ Cats T-shirt showed a toddler how to pet one of the cats while the mother took pictures with her phone.

  Gretchen nudged Edie. “Let’s go inside and see what it’s like. Want to?”

  Did she ever. They got in line to get in (There was an actual line! To see cats!) and waited their turn to get through the door. As they did, they were met at the entrance by an employee who was monitoring the busy doors to ensure that no cats got out. He handed them a coupon. “Hi, ladies. Today’s bachelor is Jiffy. He’s a neutered male orange cat. You’ll find him with the yellow collar on.”

  “Thank you,” Edie murmured, taking the coupon. When the employee opened the door, she stepped inside. Immediately, a cat raced past her, chased by another cat. A ripple of laughter erupted from the patrons, and she glanced around. Everywhere, cats were being petted. Being loved. People sipped coffee, and in the corner, there was a booth labeled Adoptions and people were holding cats and waiting their turn to adopt.

  It was . . . wonderful.

  “All of this because of an app?” Edie asked, her throat aching around a knot that had formed there.

  “Not just an app,” Gretchen told her. “An app plus stores plus everything else. I’m guessing the stores will cost a bit of money to set up, but it looks like they might end up being profitable. And if they’re not, I don’t know that Magnus cares. His main goal was getting people in front of the cats so they could see them to fall in love with them. He wasn’t a cat person until he got his first cat, and then it changed his mind. He thinks it’s sad that when people go to shelters, they pick out the young and the cute without regard to a slightly older cat that needs just as much love.”

  “Really?” Her eyes were getting all misty. “How do you know all this?”

  “I’m reading the back of the coupon,” Gretchen said, holding it up.

  Oh. Edie flipped hers over.

  Welcome to Coffee N’ Cats, the first chain of cat cafés in the United States! If you haven’t downloaded our free game, Cat Lady Café, check it out. What is Coffee N’ Cats about, you ask? Well, once upon a time, there was a man who had a problem. He fell in love with a lady who had a soft spot for shelter cats. Not just any shelter cats, but the old, the ugly, the special-needs cats. The unadoptables. This guy wanted to prove to his lady that he loved h
er, and he knew that finding loving homes for all these cats would surely melt her heart.

  His main goal was getting people in front of these wonderful cats. He knew if they saw them outside of a shelter environment, where cats are scared and unhappy, that they would see the wonderful, funny personalities that these “unadoptables” have and they’d find new homes. Our hero wasn’t a cat person until he got his first cat, and she changed his mind. He thinks it’s sad that when people go to shelters, they pick out the young and the cute without regard to a slightly older cat that needs just as much love. Or maybe there’s a cat that needs a special medication and they can’t be bothered. These cats deserve a second chance.

  That’s where Coffee N’ Cats comes in. We rescue the cats on “death row” at the local shelters. We feed them and give them a warm, secure place to stay and we slowly integrate them into the main dining area by creating a transition room. Once these cats are around people and not so scared, they’re welcome to prowl anywhere in the café.

  Want to adopt one of our feline friends? At Coffee N’ Cats, all we ask is that you make a donation. All proceeds from donations go back to local shelters. We don’t make a dime off of our furry companions, only our coffee. So come in, pet a new friend, and maybe take one home with you.

  There was some legalese at the bottom of the coupon, but her eyes were blurring with tears too much to read the fine print.

  “You know what? I think I need a cup of coffee,” Gretchen said, hauling Edie forward by the arm.

  Edie sniffed, swiping at her nose. “Okay.” She wanted to read that stupid coupon over and over again, memorize the words into her heart. Everywhere she looked, there were cats and people enjoying the cats. The adoption booth remained busy. Everywhere she looked, it was . . . perfect.

  Utterly thoughtful, and utterly perfect.

  “Hi, ladies, welcome to Coffee N’ Cats,” the barista chirped as Gretchen dragged Edie with her. “Our special of the day is Jiffy, a loving orange tabby who totally loves sleeping in laps and chasing a laser pointer. And the coffee’s pretty good, too.”