Chapter 5
FIVE
Speeches, food, dancing, happiness—it was all too much for Leo. He found himself stealing glances down the long table at the front of the room to the maid of honor’s chair. She ignored him so thoroughly, it was almost impressive.
Even more impressive was the way she managed the proceedings, consulting her tablet every once in a while and darting around the room to make sure everything was in order.
Maggie and Emory didn’t appreciate her nearly enough. Their wedding was perfect, and Leo saw that it was because Amelia didn’t stop working for a second. She didn’t even eat her meal. A waiter whisked it away, untouched, so the cake cutting could proceed. Once the cake cutting was done, Amelia was at the bar, making sure they had everything they needed, organizing a delivery of limes when she noticed they were getting low. A minute later, he saw her by the DJ’s table, deep in conversation, trusty tablet in hand.
“Careful,” Marlon’s deep voice said from behind Leo’s back.
Leo spun around and arched a brow at his brother. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Amelia Darcy isn’t one of your women, Leo.”
“‘One of my women?’” he repeated, rearing back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Marlon studied him from beneath thick, dark brows. He let out a long sigh and scrubbed the stubble on his cheek, finally shrugging one large shoulder. Taller than Leo by a couple of inches, Marlon took “dark and brooding” to another dimension. “Emory won’t like it if you touch his new sister-in-law.”
Leo glanced across the ballroom to where his best friend was deep in conversation with some aunt or another. He scowled. “I’m not touching anyone.”
“You’re thinking about it.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Never seen you run out of a room as fast as when you saw Amelia darting across the lobby.”
“You know what? I’ve heard enough of this.” Leo made to step around his brother, but Marlon stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Leo, you know I’m right. Amelia deserves better than a quick fuck in a hotel stairwell.”
Shame burned Leo’s throat, because Marlon knew him better than anyone. How many events had he been to where he’d ended up in a stairwell, or a closet, or a hotel room? It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibilities that Leo would be looking at Amelia like she was his next conquest.
Except she wasn’t . He didn’t want to drag her to a dark corner and?—
Okay. That was a lie. He definitely did want to drag her to a dark corner and have his way with her, but that was different. He wanted…
He didn’t know what he wanted! He wanted Amelia to eat another cinnamon bun somewhere he could hear the little noises she made. He wanted to finally make her laugh. He had an unbearable itch under his skin anytime he looked at her, and the only thing that fixed it was when she met his gaze.
There was something wrong with him.
“I’m not going to sleep with her,” he growled at Marlon.
Marlon dropped his hand from Leo’s shoulder and dipped his chin. “Good.”
“I’m not an animal.”
“Debatable.”
“Fuck off, Marlon.”
Marlon laughed, then clapped his brother on the back. “Just making sure you’ve got your head on straight.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Leo grumbled, then walked toward the dessert table— away from the corner of the room where Amelia stood.
Because Marlon was right. Leo’s reputation had been well-earned, and he knew just how much he deserved a woman of Amelia’s caliber: not at all.
It didn’t matter if he was attracted to and intrigued by her. She deserved better than someone who only had his body to offer. Leo was good in bed, but he wasn’t relationship material. He’d learned that many times over.
Long tables were draped with thick white tablecloths and covered with all manner of sweet things. There were cake pops, bite-sized brownies, mini cupcakes, tiny cream puffs, little jars of creme br?lée, and a few well-presented trays of fruit. Many of the desserts had been picked over, but Leo still grabbed a plate and started wandering down the table, grabbing a few choice pieces of fruit and a center-cut brownie.
“Not an edge man, I see,” Amelia said as she sidled up beside him, plucking a corner piece of brownie for herself.
Leo should’ve walked away, but instead, he found himself turning to face her. He looked at the gooey brownie on his plate, then at her crispy corner piece. “I’m not a heathen.”
“I beg to differ,” she said. “Only uncultured swine eat the middle pieces. The edges are obviously superior both in flavor and in chew.”
“If I wanted chew, I’d have beef jerky.”
She pursed her lips, which Leo suspected was to hide a smile, then took a bite of her corner piece brownie. Bliss overtook her features for a moment, and she made one of those beautiful noises that seemed to have a direct connection to Leo’s cock.
“I really shouldn’t eat this,” she said, brushing crumbs off her fingers. “But I’m so hungry.”
“Well, you didn’t eat your dinner.”
Her gaze sharpened as she lifted it to his. “Keeping tabs on me, were you?”
“Just being a dutiful fiancé.”
Amelia’s shoulders dropped an inch. She glanced over her shoulder, then wrapped a slim hand around Leo’s wrist, just below his cuff. Her skin was warm and smooth, and he let himself be led out of the room.
This was exactly what Marlon warned against, but what was Leo supposed to do? She was leading him away.
Okay, that was a weak excuse. He could break the hold any second and walk away—but he’d die before doing that.
Amelia stopped in an empty hallway and faced him. She dropped his wrist and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. “We need to talk about what happened at the bakery. I’ve been thinking about it, and I really don’t think you took me seriously enough when we left. I’m not going to pretend to be your fiancée. Ever. In fact, I think it’s pretty crappy of you to put me in that position in the first place.”
Leo didn’t need another reminder of what a piece of shit he was. This was exactly why Marlon had cornered him and warned him off. Had the situation been reversed, he would’ve done the same.
He ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath, still holding his little plate of desserts between them. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
Amelia blinked at him, her gray eyes widening slightly. She rocked back on her heels and blew out a breath. “Fine. Good. I’m glad we had this talk. Enjoy the rest of the wedding.”
He watched her walk away, still feeling the ghost of her touch manacled around his wrist.
The next day, Amelia dragged her sorry self out of bed at seven o’clock and made it to a bootcamp in the park, arriving only three minutes late, which had to be some kind of miracle. Her feet were covered in blisters from her stupid lilac high heels, and her body felt like she’d run a marathon. Her mind—her mind was a mess. Thankfully, Maggie was her only sister, and Amelia would never have to go through the hellishness of helping to plan a big wedding for anyone else. Ever.
The bootcamp trainer, a big, buff man named Chet, made her do ten pushups as a punishment for her tardiness, which was a bit extreme, even though she deserved it. But she did the pushups from her knees, then found Camilla and their friend Lucy near the back of the pack.
“Hey, girl,” Camilla said, beaming. “Ready to sweat?”
“How are you so chipper?” Amelia grumbled. “It’s unnatural.”
“I run a bakery,” Camilla answered. “I’m up at two o’clock in the morning to start making bread. This is my midday.” She grabbed a big weighted ball and tossed it to a bleary-eyed Lucy, who stumbled back at the impact.
The shrill, piercing sound of a whistle interrupted their conversation. “Okay, ladies!” Chet called out. “Let’s form two lines. We’re going to start with some bear crawls.”
“Bear claws?” Amelia said hopefully, looking for one of Camilla’s bakery boxes that might be stashed behind the nearby tree.
“I wish,” Lucy grumbled while Camilla laughed.
The three of them dragged their way through the workout, then collapsed on the grass. This was a four-times-a-week routine for them on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It had been Camilla’s idea, obviously. The nutter.
Still, Amelia always felt better by the end of the workout. Except today. Today, she still felt angry and off-balance. When the rest of the group had wandered off to get a coffee at the little coffee truck parked at the east end of the park, Camilla sat up and leaned back on her palms.
“So,” she said, arching a brow at Amelia. “Are you going to tell us what the heck was going on yesterday?”
“Were you really out on a date with Leo St. James?” Lucy turned onto her side, her black hair plastered to her forehead. “You know he’s a huge player, right?”
“It wasn’t a date,” Amelia said, sounding a little snippier than intended. “We were picking up Maggie’s wedding cake.”
“He was ready to vault over the table and ravish her,” Camilla cut in. “Only that Fred Goodhew walked in.”
“He was not .” Amelia felt hot all over. She scowled at her friends, who beamed at her. “He’s not interested in me at all.”
“He said you were his fiancée.”
“ What? ” Lucy bolted upright, eyes wide. “Since when?”
“Since never! He lied!” Amelia huffed, then started at the beginning. By the time she told the girls about her interlude in the hallway at the wedding, they both had thoughtful expressions on their faces.
“I wonder how much he’s willing to pay,” Lucy mused.
“Stop it,” Amelia grumbled. “I’m not doing it.”
“Wish he’d said I was his fiancée,” Camilla cut in. “I could use the cash.”
Amelia collapsed on the soft grass and threw an arm over her face. She was sore, and tired, and she had three clients waiting on her to update their sales and KPI dashboards with this week’s numbers. Running her own business was rewarding, but she hadn’t expected it to be quite so relentless. As her friends chattered to each other above her, Amelia remembered the way Emory had looked at Maggie, and she realized she was lonely.
Even here, feeling the morning rays warm her skin and the dewy grass prickle her back, with her two best friends close enough to touch, Amelia was alone. She should be happy; she had everything she’d ever worked for. Her data analysis business generated more than enough money to live, and she had a nice little nest egg. She’d made it.
But…
The moment in the bakery played on repeat—those few seconds when Leo had dragged his thumb over her lips. She brought her fingertips to the spot, as if her own touch could mimic the fire that had blazed across her skin when his hand had made contact with her lips.
Yes, it was loneliness seeping through her veins like poison. It was the old refrain in her mind, that familiar voice telling her that she was unlovable. She was a terrible kisser. She was a dead fish in bed, except when she tried too hard, which was apparently worse. She never did anything right when it came to men, so after a while, she’d cut them out of her life entirely.
While she built her business, it had been easy to throw herself into the project. There was so much to do, and no time to think about men and sex. She had goals . Ambitions. Direction.
Now, she felt oddly aimless. Going home to sit in front of her computer to deliver her work to her clients didn’t hold the same appeal. Grinding for grinding’s sake was pretty depressing when there wasn’t an end goal.
She dropped her arm down to her side and let out a deep breath. “I think I want a boyfriend,” she announced.
Lucy and Camilla stopped talking and stared at her. Lucy was the first to move. She reached over and squeezed Amelia’s forearm, softness suffusing her features. “Yeah? That’s good! You haven’t wanted to date in so long. You think you’re ready to put yourself out there again?”
Camilla squealed excitedly. “Have you signed up for any apps?”
“Ugh,” Amelia replied. That was not an enticing prospect.
Lucy made a sympathetic noise. “You don’t need to use an app if you don’t want to. The right guy will come along, Amelia.”
“Someone who understands you,” Camilla added. She brightened. “What about Ben? You think he’s cute, right?”
Amelia groaned. “Remember when I asked him for his number when he first started working for you? He was confused and gave me the bakery number, then explained the lead times for baked goods. He thought I wanted a cake, Camilla. He didn’t even understand that I was trying to flirt with him. It was humiliating.”
“That was two years ago.” Camilla beamed, undeterred. “You just need to get back on the horse and try again.”
“We’ve barely spoken more than two words to each other since then other than me asking him for coffee and him grunting out an acknowledgment. And I turn as red as a tomato whenever he’s in the same room as me.”
“Aww,” Lucy added, utterly unhelpful.
Bitterness sluiced through Amelia’s stomach. Ben was cute. She’d love to go out with him. She knew he worked as a barista part-time while he tried to develop a mobile app game. He was smart and brainy and loved data, just like Amelia.
But he wasn’t interested in her.
Amelia stared at a fluffy white cloud on a journey across the sky. “I’d settle for someone who doesn’t find my personality revolting. He doesn’t have to understand me. Someone who doesn’t care about sex too much, so they’re not disappointed by me.”
There was a short silence, then Camilla let out a growl. “I’d like to find Josh and wring his stupid little neck.”
Amelia bunched her lips to the side, snorting at the sound of her ex-boyfriend’s name. They’d broken up six years ago. It had been rough, but a lot of time had passed. “It’s not just him,” she said. “I haven’t been on a date in over a year, and before that, they were all disasters. I’m just not good at it. Dating. Guys. Sex. I’m just not…attractive.”
Yesterday, she’d felt attractive for a moment, with Leo. He’d even told her he found her beautiful, though he obviously said it to annoy her. But then she’d seen how easily he lied about her being his fiancée, and she began doubting everything.
“You are amazing, and beautiful, and kind, and smart, and the best friend ever,” Lucy said, still gripping Amelia’s forearm. “You’re sexy as hell in your own spreadsheet-loving, data-analyzing way.”
“And don’t ever forget it.” Camilla nodded once, like it settled everything.
Amelia felt that sliver of space between her and her friends grow. She wanted them to understand that it wasn’t that easy for her. She couldn’t flirt. She couldn’t act all doe-eyed and cute. She just wasn’t… It just didn’t work for her! Guys were simply not interested.
To her horror, tears pricked her eyes. She squeezed them shut to hide the evidence until Camilla let out a low whistle.
“Sit up, Amelia. There’s a Grade-A hottie jogging toward us. You want a boyfriend? You want to flirt? Here’s your chance. That horse is galloping your way, and you just got to get up there and ride it, baby.”
Amelia snorted, sitting up and scanning the park to see who Camilla was talking about. “What, I’m supposed to just wave my arms, and he’ll come begging me to saddle?—”
“Hey,” Leo said, jogging to a stop in front of them. “I thought that was you.”
He stood before them wearing a pair of black athletic shorts and a sheen of sweat. The sun stroked his muscular body like even its rays loved to touch him. He glistened, the muscles over his ribs shifting as he reached up to push a strand of damp hair off his forehead. His eyes were as green as the grass beneath Amelia’s body, and they were currently occupied studying the lines of the sports bra that dug into her chest.
“Did you just do a workout?” he asked after a pause, which Amelia belatedly realized she’d spent shamelessly ogling his sweaty, beautiful body.
She rolled her tongue back into her mouth. “If you could call it a workout,” she answered, shading her eyes with a hand. Gosh, he was gorgeous. Shadows played over his chest and abs, highlighting all the carved lines of his muscles. She hadn’t realized people could actually have bodies like that outside of movies and magazines.
“What would you call it?” he asked, a grin playing over his lips.
“Torture,” she answered.
Lucy and Camilla watched the exchange like a game of tennis, their heads shifting from one to the other. Camilla cleared her throat, and Leo blinked, looking at her for the first time.
“Leo, you remember Camilla, from the bakery,” Amelia said, her voice slightly dazed. She introduced Leo to Lucy, and he shook their hands.
Then his gaze landed on Amelia again. “You give any more thought to my proposal?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Listen, I?—”
“We’re going to The Shed tonight,” Camilla cut in, standing up to grab her little duffel bag, pawing for her phone. “You should come. Amelia will be there. Let me give you her number.”
Amelia started. “What? No.”
“Camilla…” Lucy hissed.
Camilla made a little motion with her hand near her hip, like she was telling them both to calm down. Leo watched, calculations happening behind his eyes. Then he took Amelia’s number from Camilla and promised to come to The Shed that night. He jogged away and the three ladies watched him go in silence.
Well, she wasn’t sure what her friends did, but Amelia watched him go. The view was even better from the back. Apparently, people had muscles there too. All she’d ever seen on her own back were those little bulges above her bra strap.
When Leo disappeared from sight, Amelia remembered she was outraged and rounded on Camilla. “What the hell?”
“He is perfect ,” Camilla said, falling to her knees to grab Amelia’s hands.
“What are you talking about?” Lucy screeched. “He’s a player! I’ve heard all about him. He was a party animal in college, and then he started working for Goodhew almost right after graduation. They plan insane, luxury events for the rich and famous, which means all he does is party for work. He’s probably drowning in poon?—”
“‘Poon?’” Amelia arched a brow.
“He’s the last person Amelia should date. She needs someone who will treat her right, not bang and dash.” Lucy harrumphed.
Amelia opened her mouth to respond, but she realized what she wanted to do was defend Leo. There was a lot more to him than just partying…but what did she know? She’d only met him yesterday.
But Camilla’s eyes were shining as she shook her head. “No, ladies. He’s not perfect for Amelia to date. He’s the perfect guy to teach Amelia how to date.”
Amelia frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What’s the one thing a man like that is good at?” Camilla asked, then didn’t wait for a response. “He’s good at flirting, seducing, and sealing the deal.”
“Those are three things,” Amelia grumbled.
Lucy sat back, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You think he can help Amelia find a boyfriend. But Leo isn’t known for relationships. How is he supposed to help?”
“Amelia doesn’t need help with the relationship part. She’s thoughtful and caring and amazing. Any guy would be lucky to have her as a partner. But she needs help getting guys to realize how amazing she is.” She pointed down the path where Leo had disappeared. “He can help with that.”
“You might be onto something,” Lucy said, tapping her index finger on her lips.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Amelia climbed to her feet and planted her hands on her hips. She scowled at her two friends, but despite herself, the seed of Camilla’s suggestion germinated.
Leo would be able to teach her how to make herself more attractive to the opposite sex. After all, seduction was seduction. He had oodles of experience attracting women. He knew what worked and what didn’t. Plus, if they were going to pretend to be engaged, they’d have lots of time to go over the basics.
Amelia turned the suggestion around in her mind and considered that maybe he’d be able to give her advice of a more carnal nature. Her ex-boyfriend, Josh, had been very clear about how bad her bedroom skills were. Leo St. James had had sex with five women in one night! He’d probably bedded a thousand women. He could write a handbook on sex—he would write a handbook on it! Amelia would make sure of it! She’d have her own personal sex book, and no one would ever accuse her of being too enthusiastic, or not enthusiastic enough, or too wet or too dry or too stiff or whatever other complaint Josh had had about her. She would be a sex queen. She just needed to collate the right data to figure out how to do it.
“Yeah,” Amelia heard herself say. “This could work.”
In exchange for her presence at Leo’s work retreat as his loving fiancée, Amelia would squeeze every bit of information she could out of him. The man was a veritable treasure trove of knowledge on sex and seduction.
Data analysis required data, and Amelia would mine Leo for all he was worth.