Fourteen Arya #3
“Save it?” Ben sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
Arya gave Ben the short version, leaving out that Mitchell was probably drunk at the time. That was Mitchell’s business, even if it was becoming Arya’s problem.
“So unless you know a good-sized company that needs a new production company, I don’t think there’s anything you can do,” Arya finished with a sigh.
Ben tilted his head to the side, tapping that little spot between his upper lip and his nose as he thought.
“What about the Holbrooks?”
Arya’s heart started racing. “What about them?”
The Holbrooks owned Holbrook Labs, a huge pharmaceutical company out in Overland Park. They were one of the largest businesses in Kansas City. If Arya could land them as a new client…
“My parents know them. They’ve been buying Phoenix Mountain forever. They visit the winery every year. My parents always take them out to dinner. They’ve got a huge allocation.”
“Holy shit.” Arya rubbed his head. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. If you help me deal with Justin, I’ll help you get a meeting with them. Deal?”
Arya shouldn’t. That was crossing way too many streams. It was a disaster waiting to happen. It would blow up in both their faces.
But shit. It would solve his problems at MME. And Ben’s problems with Justin.
And Arya did like Ben. As a friend. He wanted to help.
Ben must’ve seen Arya’s resolve crumble in real time, because he started to grin.
Arya held up a hand.
“We need ground rules.”
“Of course.”
“First, and most important, no sex,” Arya said.
Ben laughed. “I didn’t even know that was on the table.”
Arya shrugged. “It’s not, but I figured we should both be sure.”
This was going to be complicated enough. Arya needed to keep his head clear. It would be easier if Ben wasn’t so fucking sexy. If his mind didn’t keep drifting back to that evening they spent together, late at night when he wrapped his hand around his cock to try to help himself fall asleep.
If his eyes hadn’t spent every minute of kickball practice seeking Ben out. If he hadn’t just spent the whole meeting tracing the contours of Ben’s arms and shoulders in that damned waffle shirt.
“All right,” Ben agreed. “That’s fair. What else?”
Arya opened his mouth and then closed it. He wasn’t actually sure what else.
“I don’t know.”
Ben chuckled. “Okay, two. We have to go out once a week.”
“Why?”
“So we have a history to show when people ask. It doesn’t have to be serious. I like to eat out; you like to eat out. They can be friend dates. We just need to make them look like real dates.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” Arya said. Some proof would be useful.
He ran down a mental list of places they could go.
Actually, since Ben was new to Kansas City, there were a lot of things they could do that would look like dates, even if it was really just Arya showing him around town. “Three: No falling in love with me.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “No danger there.”
Arya shrugged and held up his hands, but he couldn’t help grinning. “Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time. But don’t worry, I don’t do love. I’m a total slut.”
Ben laughed. “Okay, but four: No seeing other people while we’re doing this. Not even hooking up. You never know what might get out.”
Arya grimaced. Fuck, he hadn’t considered that. Ben was right, though: One hookup with the wrong person and the whole thing could come crumbling down around them.
He sighed. His balls were going to be so fucking blue. He hadn’t hooked up with anyone for weeks before Ben, and he hadn’t hooked up with anyone since. It was his longest dry spell in… well, forever.
But what choice did he have?
“Agreed.”
“Oh, and five,” Ben went on. “It’s just until after the PhilBall. Then we can have an amicable breakup.”
“That makes sense,” Arya said. By then Ben would be able to avoid Justin again. And Arya would either have landed the contract with the Holbrooks, or be in such deep shit that it didn’t matter anymore.
Arya was out of suggestions for rules, but he did have one question.
“What do we tell our friends, though? I mean… like, our close friends? Are we trying to fool them, too?” Arya thought of Farzan and Ramin. “I don’t know if I can lie to them.”
Ben pursed his lips. “The more people know, the worse off we are.”
“I know. Farzan and Ramin will be the only ones, I promise. Fuck, I’d lie to my own mother before I’d lie to them.”
“I guess it can’t be helped,” Ben said. “And you had better lie to your mother. And mine. My parents are going to be extremely invested in us.”
“Oh really?” Arya couldn’t remember his own mother ever taking anything other than polite disinterest in his dating life. She always told him she wanted him to be happy and then left well enough alone. “Noted.”
“Right. Well. Anything else?”
Arya sucked in his lips. He couldn’t think of anything else.
This thing was fucking messy, but at least they had some rules in place. Boundaries. That was healthy.
He shook his head.
“Me neither,” Ben said. He offered Arya his hand. “So. Deal?”
Arya took Ben’s hand. Ben really did have nice hands. “Deal.”