“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.”