was a simple matter, really, in Ethan’s mind. He’d chosen the actress and scheduled a meeting with her under the guise of hiring her for a promotional campaign for his company. If he found her to be acceptable and unencumbered he’d have her thoroughly investigated by Benton Worldwide’s Head of Security, Chip Foley.
While Chip was completing a background check and every other kind of probe there was, Ethan and his stand-in fiancée would get to know each other and create a history for their relationship. Their engagement would be announced at the gala.
Penelope would also sign numerous non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. She’d understand that if she were ever to reveal the arrangement she would be sued. Benton lawyers played hardball. They never lost their cases.
For her services, this performer would be paid generously.
It was a solid plan.
* * *
“Clean at last.” Holly emerged from the bathroom while towel-drying her hair. A fresh tee shirt and sweatpants made her feel cozy after the day’s journey. “Traveling makes you so grimy, you know?”
“Yes. I showered on the plane before arrival,” Ethan agreed.
“You showered on the plane? How does someone shower on a plane?”
“I have a corporate jet. It does have a number of creature comforts.”
Holly whistled. Highfalutin’. “I haven’t flown that many times in my life. I’m still excited to get free soda and peanuts.”
“Yes, well...perhaps you would enjoy all the amenities on private planes.”
She tilted her head to one side and squeezed a little more moisture from the tips of her hair onto the plush towel. Sure, she’d like to be on a private plane, with a shower and enough room for her legs not to feel cramped into a ninety-degree position the entire flight. But that wasn’t something that was ever going to happen, so she didn’t see any point in discussing it.
“You have a little bit of an accent. And a kind of formal way of talking.” Holly had a sometimes bad habit of blurting aloud everything that came into her mind. She called ’em as she saw ’em. “Are you American, or what?”
That left side of his mouth quivered up again in the start of a smile. “Boston-born. Oxford-educated. I would be the complete cliché of an entitled rich boy save for the fact that my father died when I was nine and I was raised by my aunt and uncle.”
“What about your mother?”
The landline phone on the desk rang. Ethan turned to answer it. “Thank you. Please send him up.” He headed toward the door. “Our pizza is here.”
With his back to her, Holly was able to take in the full height of his slim, hard build. Probably about six foot three. Much taller than she was, and she always felt like a giant rag doll.
Ethan moved with effortless authority and confidence. Of course this was a man who showered on planes. This was a man who had been born to shower on planes.
Speaking of showers...it had been weird to shower in the apartment with him there. She knew there was no way he was an axe murderer who was going to hack her to bits. But she couldn’t be a hundred percent sure that he was a gentleman who wasn’t going to come into the bathroom while she was undressed.
A devilish thrill shot through her at the thought that he might have.
Attraction to a man during her first evening in New York was not on her itinerary. Especially not a man who had put all her plans in jeopardy.
She’d just have to make it through the night. In the morning her brother would help straighten things out about the apartment.
Staying here for a few weeks was meant to be the leg-up that she desperately needed. It would buy her time to find work and decide whether New York was where she should be. It had been two years since she’d kicked out Ricky the Rat. Two years was enough time to move on and move forward.
It was her brother, Vince, who had finally convinced her to take a chance. To take a risk. To take something for her own.
Maybe someday a man would fit into the picture. Not any time soon. She needed to concentrate on herself.
“Join me.” Ethan gestured for her to come sit on the sofa after the delivery. He laid the pizza down on the coffee table, then dashed into the kitchen, returning with two plates, a stack of napkins and two bottles. “Will you have a beer?”
She took one from him and popped the cap with a satisfying twist.
As they sat down beside each other Holly winced involuntarily and moved away a bit. Being close to him felt scary. Strange. Strangely great...
He noticed her sudden stiffness. “I do not bite.”
Pity. She held back a laugh. It wasn’t fear that he’d bite that was bothering her. It might have been fear that he wouldn’t.
Ethan flipped open the box and a meaty, cheesy, tomatoey aroma wafted up to their noses.
“I do not believe I have ever seen a pizza with this many ingredients on it.”
As if performing a delicate procedure, he used two hands to lift one hefty slice onto a plate and handed it to Holly. Then he served himself.
“Ah...”
They groaned in unison as the first bites slid down their tongues. Unable even to speak, they each quickly devoured their slices.
Holly was the first to reach for a second. Then she sat back on the sofa and put her bare feet up on the coffee table.
“‘Everything’ is now officially my favorite pizza topping,” Ethan confirmed, after taking another slice.
Observing Holly stretched out and seemingly comfortable, he did the same. His leaned back against the sofa. Tentatively he extended one leg and then the other onto the coffee table, and crossed them just as Holly had hers.
And there they sat, both barefoot, eating pizza, as if they had known each other for eons rather than minutes.
She thought of something to ask. “Where did you fly in from?”
“Dubai. Before that I was in Stockholm. I have been out of the country for a month.”
“Where do you live?”
“I keep a small apartment in Boston, near our headquarters. Although I travel most of the time.”
“Your company has properties all over the world?”
He nodded and washed down his pizza with a sip of beer. “Yes. Some we build. Some we buy and refurbish. In the last couple of years I have been spending a lot of my time on affordable housing for low-income buyers.”
“Vince told me about the development you built in Overtown. He said he was so proud to have been part of a project helping people in one of Miami’s neediest areas.”
That left side
