“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 “I thought maybe you’d still have some outdated technology,” she explained.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.