Chapter 17
17
brIAR
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Leo’s green eyes look so wild.
“I have something to ask you, and I need you to be chill about it,” he says, his hand rubbing the stubble lining his chin.
When I walked out of my room this morning, I wasn’t expecting him to look as hot as he does right now.
I’m not going to pretend like he isn’t. Leo is a heartthrob for a reason, and I’m not blind.
A girl can look, just as long as I stay far away.
I don’t need his particular brand of trouble in my life.
Suspicious, I place my hands on my hips. “What the hell do you need, Warner.”
He takes a deep breath. “I need you to sign a contract.”
“For?”
“To agree to fake date me.”
I chuckle. “I think I heard you wrong, can you repeat that?”
He sighs dramatically, tossing his arms into the air. “They’re forcing me to do a PR relationship in order to repair my image. I don’t want to be in it with some random person. I told them I wanted you. ”
I wanted you.
Not going to think about how that line made me feel.
“I—”
“Briar, I'll kneel on this ground right here and beg you.”
“I think I would actually really like to see that,” I say.
He shakes his head. “Please.”
“Leo I don’t know. I have a lot of things I need to think about. That means that I’m going to be in the press, right?”
He nods, his eyes wide.
“Which means that Tony is going to know. Which means that whatever he decides to do to make my life a living hell is just going to be worse and worse.”
Fury passes over his eyes before he looks away, as if just looking at me reminds him of Tony.
“I want to help you Leo, I do, but I’m not sure it’s what’s best for Elara and I.”
“I’ll pay for her college,” he says softly. Almost too soft. I almost miss it.
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll pay for Elara’s education. I’ll pay for you to do whatever it is you do. I’ll literally owe you anything you want, whenever. Please, Briar. Just think about it.”
I consider it for a second. Making sure Elara is taken care of is my number one priority, which means that I’ll do anything to make sure she’s set up for her future.
It’s been bad enough that I considered selling photos of my feet in the past, only deciding not when a man dared to say hello to me on one of the sites.
Pleasing men is not something I want to do. Especially not men who call themselves things like FootSlaveCarl41.
“Fine,” I hear myself saying, but it hasn’t quite registered in my heart yet. What does that even entail? What do we have to do? “But I hope you know that you’re not getting anything weird out of me. I don’t need any funny business. I’m not sleeping with you. ”
He shakes his head. “Not required,” he says, his eyes drifting down to my legs as blush spreads across his cheeks. “But?—”
“No buts,” I tell him, holding my hand out to stop him. “I’m not having sex with you, Leo.”
But I’m not quite sure I’m telling him that or trying to convince myself.
“Thank you for meeting with us, Ms…”
“Crosby,” I tell her, taking her hand.
The woman in front of me is drop dead gorgeous. Her mahogany skin absolutely glows against the yellow of her dress shirt.
“Great to meet you. My name is Zhuri. I assume Leo has told you why you’re here?”
I shoot a look his way, watching as his eye twitches. He’s leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed lazily as he stares at the wall.
Sometimes I really wish I could read minds, because what I wouldn’t give to find out what’s going through that little brain of his.
“Yes, we spoke about it and came to an agreement.”
“Perfect. You’re exactly what we were looking for I think. We just have a couple of questions for you.”
“Great,” I say, settling into my seat, unsure of how long this is going to take.
Zhuri shuffles through the papers a man on her right hands her, holding it up so she can see it better.
“Have you been convicted of any serious crimes?” she asks, starting off the questioning strong.
I shake my head. “Squeaky clean. ”
“Wonderful. Do you have any individuals in your life we should know about?”
I feel Leo’s eyes snap to me, and if I thought I could get away with not telling her about Tony before, I definitely can’t now.
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I take a second. “I have an ex-husband, but he’s not really in the picture,” I tell her truthfully. Should I tell her that he likes to torment me a bit? Probably. But I also don’t want to screw anything up for Leo.
I’m sure if they didn’t approve of me, Leo could find someone else he would end up being okay with. He would have to. But I don’t want him to need to, and for some reason the thought of having to manage someone else’s calendar on top of his makes me want to cry.
So I’d much rather I do this than anyone else.
“Okay, thank you,” she tells me before continuing on with more questions.
“Do you understand that this is not a mutual PR relationship, and although you may receive some benefits from media attention toward you, your main purpose is to give Mr. Warner positive PR?”
I nod, biting my cheek.
Obviously it sounds bad.
“Fantastic,” she says. “Do you understand that your obligation to Mr. Warner does not exceed what is listed here,” she pushes a stack of papers toward me, a list of things typed out.
Public outings.
Public dinners.
Conveniently timed walks.
And although we must look very much in love in public, that doesn’t carry over into our personal lives.
Well, for the sake of this business deal.
“Although it is none of our business what individuals do in their own time, for the sake of this relationship and what it is intended to do, intimacy in private is not required. We just want to make that clear.”
I nod, stuffing my hands between my thighs as I look down, unsure what to say.
“Great. Are you okay with signing an indefinite NDA?”
I nod again.
“Fantastic. Okay, We just need a little more information to conduct a background check and we’ll get everything signed, okay?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I tell her. Sitting back, I puff out my cheeks before draping my arms over the seat.
What am I getting myself into?
Leo is silent the entire way out of the office, but speeds up when we get to his car, opening my door for me.
Manually this time.
I place my hand to my chest. “Oh wow, what did I do to deserve this type of treatment?”
He rolls his eyes. “Get in, Sunny.”
Crawling into the ginormous leather seat, I grab for the seatbelt, but when I pull it, it doesn’t budge.
“What the hell?” I mumble, pulling it over and over again. Nothing happens.
“What?” Leo asks as he climbs in, the engine roaring to life.
“What’s the point of having an overly expensive car if you can’t even buckle yourself in?”
Leo chuckles before leaning over, his hand grabbing for the seatbelt, and while I feel a suspicious throbbing feeling down south at the movement, I smack his arm away. Hard.
“What are you doing?” I ask, sitting back to look at him .
“Uhh,” he says, scratching the back of his head. “I was going to help you get it unstuck.”
“You can do that without getting all up in my space, Leo,” I hiss with an eye roll.
But that’s not the issue I’m having.
The issue I’m having is that the action is so incredibly hot, that I’m not sure I can keep Leo firmly in my Absolutely Not file in my head.
It’s a list of all the men that I will absolutely not fantasize about.
At the very top of the list is Willem Dafoe. I don’t really know why he even has to be on the list to be honest, but I caught myself thinking some weird things late one night when my friends got me high and the next morning he was filed away on my Absolutely Not list.
Right next to him is Henry Cavill. I stand by that decision, and that’s all I’ll say about it.
But under him? Leo Warner.
Fucking. Leo. Warner.
I’m not a stupid woman. I know I’m treading in dangerous waters.
Firstly, I’m living with one of America’s sweethearts. A heartthrob, so to speak. Someone people love enough that cameras everywhere watch his every word. If he wasn’t so loved, we wouldn’t be in this position right now.
Secondly, I now have to be in a fake relationship with him. Which likely means he has to touch me. In public. Around people.
I don’t even remember the last time I was actually touched by a man. If I’m honest, I think it was a couple nights after my divorce, and I definitely don’t remember what that man even looked like.
The simple fact is that no matter how strong I think I am, proximity cultivates feelings. And I will not allow any type of feelings, no matter what they are, for Leo Warner within ten feet of me.
So no, he will absolutely not be doing incredibly hot things I’ve absolutely fantasized my celebrity crushes doing to me in my dreams.
Leo Warner will not be buckling me in. Not today, not ever.
His hands go up in surrender. “Okay! I’m sorry, was just trying to help.”
“Hands to yourself, buddy,” I mumble as I give the seatbelt one last tug, finally getting it to come free.
Finally buckled, Leo puts the car in reverse, and we’re off to his apartment.