by P. G. Van
“The software is the next generation of personalizing a guest’s stay at a hotel.” She managed to keep her voice steady. She paused when she caught a flicker of interest in his eyes.
“What personalization?”
“The goal is to take the guest’s experience to the next level by gathering information about them which we could use to enhance the experience of their stay.” Her voice was steady while her mind raced.
“Example?” he prompted.
“As a guest, if I register in the app that I am allergic to nuts, I will never have to worry about the food I order at any of the hotels using the information from our system.” She tried hard to read his reaction but got nothing.
“What else?”
“That is all I am allowed to share, and all other information is only for our investors,” she declared.
“What if I want to invest?” He threw an imaginary sparkly monkey wrench at her.
“What?” There was no hiding her surprise. She was not prepared to have someone express interest in her software.
“I am willing to add a clause to the deal I made with your father.” He leaned back like he had made up his mind.
“No, I am not looking for an investor.” She was hoping to get the software excluded from the deal, sign the contract, take her portion of the sale and use that money to invest in the software.
“How are you planning to continue working on your software with no investors?” His eyebrow shot up.
“I have my own payout from the deal, and I will use my own money.” She held her chin high.
He laughed, and it triggered an acidic reaction inside her. His laugh taunted her resolve and mocked her dedication making her want to get up and leave, but she knew better.
“What is so funny, Mr. Kennedy?” She flashed a fake smile.
“Aren’t we on a first-name basis anymore?” he teased easing her anger only by a thread.
When she didn’t respond and continued to look at him, her beautiful brown eyes blistered, he finally spoke. “Were you counting on the payout my company would release the day you get married?”
Fuck, he knew everything, and he controlled her payout.
“Why do you control my payout?” she snapped inadvertently.
“Because I can.” His voice was cool, but she wanted to slap him. She wondered how his cheek would feel under her palm.
Her mind was in turmoil; her plan to walk away that night with a small clause added to the contract came crashing and burning to the floor. She smiled at him in spite of the crazy web that was about to wrap around her.
“Mr. Kennedy, you will need to marry me. This is the only way to finalize the contract and for you to have a piece of my software.” Her voice held a command, and she felt the glow on her face when she took in the shocked expression on his face.
She expected him to laugh, but to her surprise, he looked at her for a long moment. “I like the way you think, and I’m willing to discuss this further if you agree to meet me for dinner tonight.”
“I’m sorry, I am not proposing we get married for real.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Why should I be part of your mess?” He couldn’t help but provoke her—it fueled him, and the rush brought a smile to his face.
“Mr. Kennedy, you became part of my mess when you agreed to make a payment when I get married. Who agrees to such crap?” she blistered, and it only made it all the more intriguing.
He couldn’t understand why Kari reminded him of the woman he hadn’t thought about in seven years. They were very different, but he couldn’t help but notice the similarities. He wasn’t sure if he should avoid her or keep her close. She threatened to break through the barrier he had built, and he wondered if he secretly hoped for someone to crack through it.
“Mr. Kennedy!” She was getting annoyed with his silence.
“We will discuss this at dinner, and the deal is off if you call me Mr. Kennedy one more time.”
“We are discussing business, Blake. We talk now, or we walk away from this,” she snapped.
“It’s not just business if my personal life is impacted. I want to meet you outside this environment. I will send a car for you at eight.” His tone indicated he wasn’t asking, and she realized she had to abide if she wanted to get the funding she needed to launch the software.
“Fine, I’ll see you at eight.” She stood up gathering her things.
“I hope you have thought this through, Ms. Vora.” His voice was cold.
“Yes, I have, and it looks like you are the one that needs time to think before you pick me up at eight.” She let sarcasm weigh on her words.
“I was hoping you would show me why I should consider marrying you.” His smile was devious.
“Show you? The marriage is just another contract.” She looked down at him as he casually looked up at her while seated at the table.
“I have a certain standard for the women I hang out with and need to make sure the contract doesn’t ruin my personal reputation for my choice of women.” The words left his mouth with a certain level of cool, but it only infuriated her.
“I will show you,” she snapped and stormed out of his office.
“I know where you live,” he called out laughing as she left his office. He knew more than she had wanted him to know. The contract had to specifically list every property that was included and excluded, and she was relieved when she saw her San Francisco condominium listed on the exclusion list of the contract.
Chapter 2
Fifteen minutes later, she pulled into the underground parking lot of her condominium community. The click of her boots’ heels bouncing off the parking structure walls was only a slight indication of how pissed she was with the situation she put herself in. She was desperate, but she was going nowhere with the negotiations with Blake, and she had hoped he would back down with her ridiculous proposition.
She stood in front of her closet and pulled out the little black dress she had worn to her best friend’s bachelorette party. She shook her head and put the dress away. She didn’t need to show him her body; she needed to show him she wasn’t a geek just because she was an engineer.
After a few minutes of self-debate, she decided on a baby pink maxi dress cut from a floral print chiffon. The pleats on the bodice crowned elegantly, and the thin belt showed off her narrow waist. She ran her palms over her exposed shoulders wondering if she should wear a cardigan. The cutaway shoulders on the dress made her feel more confident and decided against hiding under another layer.
She was ready to go and make the deal of a lifetime with thirty minutes to spare. She wanted to get married on paper so the funds would be released and give Blake a certain percentage of her software company. He was worth a lot more than her company and knew he would want a prenuptial agreement, so she didn’t have claim to his assets.
Her heart raced just at the thought of entering into a contract with Blake. He seemed wild and brutal enough to very easily destroy her if he wanted. She took a deep breath and turned on her laptop. She wanted to see if she could find anything about him on the Internet.
The search engine returned more than a dozen links for his name search—the top of the page was the announcement from the Kennedy Group of Companies’ website with the announcement about Blake taking over as CEO and President of a multi-billion dollar company.
She clicked on the link to a page that had more information about him. His resume looked pretty impressive with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford and an advanced degree in business management. He was successful in expanding their hotel business internationally and returned to the United States from London less than a year ago.
She wished she had done some homework before walking into her own web of ignorance and layering in another layer of complication by proposing marriage with a complete stranger just because he held the key to her payout.
She clicked on the other links that seemed to be personal profiles of women, and Blake was shirtless i
n most of the pictures. He was sometimes on a yacht surrounded by women who looked like models, or he was partying by a pool. There were a few pictures of him at business events, but the endless pictures she saw of him with the numerous women confirmed her suspicions. He was unbelievably good-looking not to be a womanizer, and she had proposed a marriage of convenience.
She sighed, shut off her laptop, and reached for her phone. She had twenty more minutes before she needed to head out. She looked up at the ceiling trying to imagine what her parents would say if she did agree to a marriage contract with Blake. She wondered if she should tell them the real story or pretend she and Blake fell for each other at their first meeting. Her parents were way too smart, and she would need Blake’s help to make the whole deal seem like a love-at-first-sight fairy tale.
She threw her phone on the bed taking in a deep breath, and it beeped almost at the same time indicating a message.
Unknown: Hey there, getting impatient, are we?
Unknown: This is Blake, save my number, sweetheart. You’re gonna need it.
Kari: Hello, Blake. I’ll be ready at 8.
She was ready to go, but she didn’t want him to get the feeling she was waiting around impatiently, even if that was the truth.
Blake: Liar!
Kari:??
Blake: You can’t wait to see me again…
Kari: Don’t flatter yourself too much.
Blake: I can’t wait to see you again.
Her breath caught in her throat when she read the message. She shook the thread of lust that threatened to take over and reminded herself he was a flirt, and he was exercising his sharp skills.
Kari: I’m sure you are eager to take my company away from me.
Blake: We are not talking business tonight. I want to know if I can work with you before I make a deal with you.
Kari: I’m not interested in you. All I want to talk is business.
Blake: I find you interesting.
Kari: I do not want to go if this is the kind of conversation we are going to have tonight.
Blake: Fine, you get ten minutes for the deal, and then I want to talk about my terms.
Kari: Fine.
Blake: Good… why wait… meet me downstairs in two minutes?
Kari: Sure.
Blake: Liar
Kari: ??
Blake: You were sitting around waiting… for me?
She gritted her teeth and let out her favorite curse word. She knew she needed to be careful with Blake. He was as smart as his gorgeous looks—a lethal combination.
Blake: I’m here… waiting for you.
Kari: Heading down.
Blake: The car is downstairs.
She picked up her clutch and phone on her way out the door. She didn’t need her laptop for making the deal; the single pen she carried in her clutch was enough to seal the deal.
Her palms ran along the smoothness of her dress as she took one last look at herself in the elevator mirror. She poked her tongue at the woman she had not seen in almost a year. Her outfits since the day she started working on the software program have been jeans and t-shirts, and the dress almost made her feel lightweight.
She turned away from the mirror when the elevator dinged open, and her dark eyes met sea-green eyes smiling at her. Blake was standing right outside the elevator, his lips curved up into a glorious smile.
“Oh… hi, Blake.” She managed to maintain her composure.
“You clean up real good.” He smiled taking her hand in his as he led her toward a waiting stretch limo.
“A limo?” She laughed almost nervously feeling the gentle pressure on her palm from his large hand. He was tall and broad filling the dark suit to perfection.
“I’m really interested in…” He turned to run his eyes over her body in open admiration, “in your software.”
“We need to discuss terms first,” she declared and was sure she heard him groan deep inside. The next thing she knew, her chest crashed into his making her let out a surprised squeal.
He looked down into her questioning eyes. “I have my terms, too.”
She wiggled out of his hold and took a step back. “Blake, the proposal is for me to be able to get what I want…” She lost her words when he took a step toward her making her freeze in her spot.
“Do you think this is some kind of a game? What kind of a fucking proposal are you talking about? You will go out to dinner with me, sign the fucking contract, and close the deal I made with your father tonight.” His voice was gruff, his breath was hot on her cheek, and the burn in his eyes sent shivers down her spine.
“You can’t make me.”
“What makes you think you have a choice? I was nice to you for your father’s sake, and all you talk about is the software that I’m yet to find out what it does,” he snarled.
“Blake, I will spend the rest of my life fighting you, but I will not sign the contract.” Her voice wobbled with tremors running through her body.
“You’d rather marry a stranger to get your payout?”
“Yes,” she hissed. “A stranger can give me the payout immediately.”
“And you want me to agree to marry you because I will benefit from it?”
“Yes, I know my product will make it big.” She held her chin up looking into his blazing eyes as she drew the warmth from his chest through her palms.
“I need to know everything about what the crap you do and not just the marketing pitch; the deal is off if you don’t give me all the information.” He let go of her and took a step back.
“I can give you a demo right now. I have my laptop upstairs.”
“Are you inviting me upstairs?” His voice was smooth, and the shift in his tone made her body calm down a bit.
“Yes, but only to discuss business, Blake, grow up. This is America; women don’t just throw themselves at men just because…” She bit her tongue and swallowed her words.
“Just because?” he probed cockily.
“You don’t have any confidence issues—I get it, but I am not here to give you compliments.” She laughed walking back toward the elevator.
“How long do you think we need? I can move our reservation to a later time.”
“If you were taking me out to convince me to sign the contract, you won’t need to because once you see what the product is capable of, you’ll want a piece of it.” She smiled confidently stepping into the elevator. “We can order pizza if that works for you.”
“Will I be begging you to marry me by the end of the demo?” he teased.
“You might be.” She laughed feeling completely at ease.
“I might as well ask you since you look so beautiful.” His voice was casual, but it ignited something deep inside. Her cheeks burned red-hot, and her stomach clenched in reaction to his proximity.
“Do you have a girlfriend?” She flattened her back to the wall of the elevator looking at him.
“Why do you ask?”
“She might be heartbroken if you asked me to marry you after the demo.” She laughed trying to ease her raging heart.
“Very confident, are we?” He smiled holding the elevator door open for her.
“You’ll see.” She chuckled leading him toward her front door.
“Your place is awesome.” He smiled stepping into her decent-sized two-bedroom condo for San Francisco.
“Thank you. What part of the city are you from?” She walked to the table and sat in front of the laptop gesturing him to join her.
“I live on the Peninsula.”
“Peninsula? How old are you, again?” she teased as he sat down at the table.
“Keep talking, and I’ll start wondering why I should stick around.”
“Don’t give me that crap. There is no way you would have walked into my home if you didn’t think I had something useful.”
“I like that.” He smiled.
“What?”
“Your no bullshit attitude.” He winked.
“Yeah, I’
m sure you find it cute but get used to it. We will be working together and might even get married if you like the software.” She winked.
“Did you walk into my office with the marriage plan?” His voice was calm but intent.
She laughed tilting her head back. “Blake, I told you I thought I was meeting your dad. Stop asking such questions.”
He laughed, and it was genuine for the first time since she met him—his smile made it to his eyes, and they sparkled making her folds clench deep inside. There was no denying it, she was attracted to him, and it threatened to overpower her.
“Okay, down to business.” She flipped the laptop toward him and walked him through every single feature of the application that she believed was her ticket to fame and prosperity.
His expression was intense while he took in the details on every screen and every time she looked up at him, he was looking at the screen and did not make eye contact with her. She wrapped up her demo with a summary of the features and waited for him to look at her.
He finally looked into her eyes, and after a brief moment of silence, his face broke into a smile. “I like it.”
“You don’t love it? This also allows a hotel guest to rent out their home as a vacation home for others and use that money to pay for their vacation.”
“What?” he asked in disbelief.
“Is that love I hear in your voice?” she teased.
“Maybe,” he drawled. “I want the software.”
“Nice try, Blake.” She winked.
“Name your price.” He stood up and dug his fingers into his pockets looking down at her.
“Not happening. I’d rather get fake married than sell it.”
“Let me invest in it then. We can be partners, and you don’t need to get fake married,” he teased.
“I am not willing to give up more than a certain percentage even if you invest in it. I will use my payout to retain my share,” she declared. It would have been so much easier to pick a random dude for a fake marriage, but she didn’t have the time to look for someone and write contracts that wouldn’t put her in a weird spot.