A Convenient Arrangement(21)

“Oh. My,” Aubrey said. “I’m thinking N. O.”

“We’re so close to the date that we’re running out of options.” Gwen bit her bottom lip. This place made an interstate gas station bathroom look upscale. There was no way they could expect A-listers to flock to a basement that smelled like a frat house and looked like a dungeon.

“What about one of the Travati properties?” Aubrey asked.

“Maybe,” Gwen said. “But I don’t know what’s available. Most the events we’ve done together have been at restaurants or in your home.”

“Right. I was worried about this, that’s why I had—”

“What’s a lady like you doing in a dump like this?” A familiar male voice sent a tremble down Gwen’s spine. Her stomach tightened. Lucky for Gwen the dungeon was rather dark, because heat flamed in her neck and cheeks. She licked her lips and spun on her heels to face him.

It had been two weeks since she’d slept with Leo—okay, thirteen days, but who was keeping track?—and every night she still saw his face in her dreams.

“Leo.” His name came out of her mouth like velvet.

“Hey Leo,” Aubrey yelled from the phone screen and waved. Leo moved around behind Gwen to look at the phone over her shoulder. “Thanks for getting over there so fast.”

“Hi, sis. So this is…quite a place.”

Gwen kept her expression neutral as Leo’s body pressed against her back. Her nipples tightened against the lace of her bra. His breathing next to her ear, the planes of his chest…like hard steel.

Gwen cleared her throat. “We can’t have the event here, obviously.”

In his reflection on the phone screen, Gwen watched his eyebrow rise. His scent was just what she had remembered, identical to the scent that still clung to one pillow on her bed. No, she hadn’t washed that pillowcase…yet. Was the room suddenly hot? She tugged at the collar of her turtleneck, cleared her throat, and took a step forward. She handed her phone to Leo with Aubrey still on FaceTime.

“I…uh…I need to find the ladies,” Gwen mumbled and walked toward the door that led to the stairs. “Be back in a second.”

The cramped bathroom smelled like old pee. Nope. If there had been any doubt that this was the absolute wrong venue for the launch party, the dirty toilets and moldy sink sealed the deal. She looked into the mirror. She could do this, she could totally find a place for the event with Leo. She was a businesswoman. She could pretend that she was cool, tough, and uninterested.

Her heart rattled behind her ribs. Who the hell was she kidding? Just his name on her lips and his breath tickling her neck had sent her scurrying away into a shithole that smelled of old pee and…was that vomit on the floor? She pulled a paper towel from the dispenser, wrapped it around her hand, and opened the bathroom door without touching a thing. Taking a deep breath, she turned the corner and walked right into Leo’s chest.

“Ah, there you are. I told Aubrey I’d find you and you could call her back.” He held out her phone. Her fingertips grazed his as she took her phone from him, and you’d have thought she’d stuck a fork into a 220 outlet.

“Since she has to be on bed rest, I told her I’d step in and help you find a venue.”

“Thanks.” She ran a hand over her hair.

“There’s a place we have over on the Upper East Side that might be right for the launch. Want to check it out?”

“Now?”

“Unless you have someplace to be. I carved out the rest of my day to be with you.”

Her lady parts tingled. Leo had carved out the rest of the day to be with her… As much as she didn’t want those words to cause her blood to thrill, they did. Damn. This man with his velvet voice and sexy eyes—she couldn’t begin to pretend to be indifferent. Just him standing there in a hallway made her knees wobble. Quick breath. Professional. Remain professional. Pull it together, woman. Remember you’re a badass businesswoman. “Of course. I have a dinner later this evening, but I’m sure we’ll be done by then, right? Let’s go take a look at the venue.”

Leo tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “Sure.” His wary expression seemed to convey that he thought she was on drugs, or perhaps mentally unstable. She wasn’t certain which would be more embarrassing. “I’ll drive.”

There was no small talk as they drove across Manhattan. Gwen preferred the silence to having to attempt to talk and ignore the memories of their New Year’s Eve together, a night that had been a heated tangle of legs and arms and tongues. She scrolled through her phone, checking notifications. A new voicemail message had popped up. She pressed the message line and listened to Leo sounding like a prepubescent boy attempting to ask a girl on his first date. A smile slipped onto her face. Hmmm… She looked across the car toward Leo, clicked the button to put her phone to sleep, and dropped it into her purse.