Marriage Of Convenience: A BWWM Billionaire Love Story (6 page)

Leila turned to study
him, “What could you and my mother possibly have to chat
about?”

Jonathon smiled and
shrugged, “You?”

Leila narrowed her eyes
at him, opening her mouth to order him to stay away from her parent
when the MC began to speak again, outlining the program for the
evening. Leila fixed a smile on her face and turned to face the
front, resolving to get through this with a minimum of fuss. It
wasn’t like she had to see him again after today.

*****

Jonathon
studied Leila from the corner of his eye, taking in everything from
her braided hair to her bandaged ankle with impersonal appreciation.
If someone was to be his wife, this Nubian beauty would do just fine.
He liked the way she held her head high as if she was a queen and
humanity was not worthy. And she had a sharp tongue in her head that
was true, but then again so did he on occasion. It was nice to know
he didn’t have to walk on egg shells around her for fear she
would break. Hailey had given him that impression often. Plus she was
bright, a lawyer she’d said; but working for an organization
that did some good in the world. It could indicate she was a bleeding
heart type of person so he didn’t intend to lead with the fact
that he needed to be wed by thirty in order to keep his grandfather’s
billions. A more subtle approach would have to be taken. Maybe he’d
pass by the hospital tomorrow and settle her mother’s bills.
Jonathon nodded to himself in satisfaction, yes, that would be a good
start. Get her beholden to him; the investigators had indicated that
her mother’s insurance was not willing to pay for her current
treatment. Something about pre-existing conditions. He’d also
learned a very interesting tidbit from her mother’s very own
lips. She’d been a first responder at 9/11…hell her
current illness was probably a result of all the toxic air they had
breathed in those horrible weeks after it happened. They had that in
common at least. His father had died saving people, her mother had
gotten sick. Yes. Get her beholden to him, and then establish
commonalities. And
then
bring up the advantages of marriage to him. It was a solid plan.
Jonathon was very pleased with himself for thinking of it.

He turned to her with a
smile. “Enjoying yourself?” he asked.

*****

Leila
was most definitely not enjoying herself. Her nerves were
wracked…
wracked
!
They were running late for one thing; dinner should already have been
served by now. The band was warming up, playing a few covers, but
there was no sign that India Arie was about to get on stage. There
should have been a sign by now. And on top of that, James Maitland’s
grandson was Jonathon Leary…who was sitting next to her,
trying to flirt. Leila had googled him after he’d dropped her
off at work, out of perfectly normal human curiosity nothing unusual
in that. She’d seen the stories of his women and the
shenanigans he got up to, the fact that he was a business man who
bought and sold innovative apps for business and entertainment. He
was said to have his fingerprints all over tinder, grand theft auto
as well as a number of celebrity game apps. This surprised her, he
looked more like the night club owner type who liked to Leilaple his
own wares. One thing she knew though, judging by his very public
shenanigan filled affairs; she was not his type. So she didn’t
know why he was bothering with the flirting and attention. Maybe he
thought she would sue him…

“
Do
you think I’m going to sue you?” she asked turning to
face him. He looked pretty amused at the thought.

“
Why
would I think that of a nice girl like you?” he asked.

Leila shrugged, “Just
trying to figure you out.”

“
Nothing
to figure out. I’m just a guy, standing in for his
grandfather,” Jonathon replied with a shrug; then he leaned
forward to whisper in her ear, “How are you getting home by the
way?”

Leila gave him the
thousand yard stare but he didn’t seem at all perturbed, just
continued to look inquiringly at her.

“
I
have a cab coming to get me,” she said at last.

He opened his mouth to
say something but just then the MC announced that everyone should
rise and welcome Ms. India Arie!

Leila struggled to her
feet, clapping enthusiastically. She loved India Arie’s music
and she’d been the one to propose her for the function. But her
leg was killing her and she would have much rather been home with her
foot up than at a function wearing shoes that while comfortable, were
also still very new and therefore not broken in. Jonathon stood up
next to her and clapped as well but she could feel his eyes still on
her.

They sat down again and
waiters brought in the first course as India sang about how she
wasn’t her hair. She expected Jonathon to attempt to continue
whatever it was he was going to say to her but he just concentrated
on his soup and the performance with seeming absorption. Leila didn’t
know why she was disappointed.

After the main course
had been eaten and removed, Jonathon sighed with repletion, leaned
back and then suddenly turned to her and said, “Oh these are my
friends Niall and Ken. Pointing first to the dark haired dude and
then the red head. Leila smiled at them and nodded.

“
Pleased
to meet you,” she said.

“
We’ve
‘eard a lo’ abou’ you,” the red head…Ken,
said.

“
Oh?”
Leila asked not sure she had understood him correctly, his cockney
accent was so thick.

“
Yeah…Jonny
here’s been rabbitin’ on abou’ you all day,”
he said with a naughty grin.

“
Is
that bad?” she asked making both Niall and Ken laugh.

“
Nah.
It's bonkers tho’ yeah? How you guys met?”

Leila wanted to say she
didn’t know those words but didn’t know how to without
causing offense. So she just smiled non-committally and offered them
more wine.

“
What
have you been telling your friends?” she asked Jonathon out of
the side of her mouth. Apparently she was a comedy act because he
laughed at her as well. It would help if someone told her why she was
so funny.

“
Nothing.
I just told them how I hit you with my car, that’s all,”
he said leaning in to whisper to her. Somehow she didn’t think
his leaning ins were accidental. At some point, she could have sworn
he was smelling her skin.

“
So
you going to let me take you home tonight?” he asked. She
lifted her eyebrows at the implied innuendo.

“
Not
like that!” he protested. “I know your mama’s
waiting for you. At your home. Where I will be taking you. Without
detours. Unless you maybe want to get some late night snacks or
something…”

Leila stared at him,
“Are you still hungry? I’m sure the kitchen will serve
you another plate if you are.”

Jonathon laughed again,
“I really like you.” He sounded pleasantly surprised by
it. Leila didn’t know whether to be insulted or not.

The musical portion of
the night was done and now the speeches were to begin. As project
manager, Leila was first on stage to give a run down of the projects
so far completed this year. She tried her best to keep it short,
interesting and fun, not only for the sake of her guests but also her
leg. She made it interactive, using the big screen behind her to air
some of the project beneficiaries’ experiences in their own
words through video. She gave a short power point presentation about
how funds had been used and their sources while print copies of the
same were to be circulated to all contributors. Then she introduced
their patron, Mrs. Elkins to escalate the fundraising bit of the
evening.

She told them about her
childhood, growing up in the poorer sections of the city. How her
mother had scrimped and saved for her to attend a private school so
she’d have a better future than their current reality. How a
good Samaritan had offered a helping hand, enabling her to afford to
attend one of the foremost private schools in Atlanta; which led to
her acceptance at several Ivy League colleges. She explained how she
just wanted to pay that forward and that is why she was the patron of
Venture-GRAD. She urged everyone to give generously so that another
child like her would have the opportunities she had to get ahead. As
she spoke, donor forms were placed in front of the guests for them to
fill out.

Leila crossed her
fingers hoping for the best. Finally, Mrs. Elkins introduced
Jonathon, to speak about the participation of the Maitland Foundation
in the Venture-GRAD project. Jonathon stood up, buttoned up his
velvet Armani jacket and sauntered gracefully to the podium. He
smiled at the crowd and then fished his written speech out of his
pocket. He took a deep breath and then began to speak.

“
Ladies
and Gentlemen, first I’d like to apologize for my grandfather.
He would have so wanted to be here on this occasion but his doctors
have advised him to refrain from traveling for a few months.”
He said, thinking ‘
Sure they did,
after he told them to.’

“
He
urged me to impress upon you how proud he is of the work this project
is doing and pledges the support of the Maitland Foundation toward
helping as many students as possible complete their education
successfully. To that end, I have here with me the keys to your new
premises.”

Jonathon held up a
dramatically big bunch of keys to loud applause. He smiled at
everyone as if he knew them all personally then leaned forward toward
the mike.

“
If
Ms. Masters would come and receive the keys,” he said staring
at Leila expectantly. She looked toward Mrs. Elkins who nodded at
her. Leila sighed inwardly and stood up, walking slowly toward the
podium amid the applause. She received the keys in both hands and
then curtsied awkwardly with a smile. Jonathon leaned toward her and
then kissed first one cheek and then the other. Leila froze in shock
but then turned quickly to smile at the audience, holding up the keys
for everyone to see. She could do exhibitionist too.

She turned, nodded to
Jonathon and then returned to her seat. He finished off his speech
with some acknowledgments and then came to sit next to her.

“
What
was that?” she asked from the side of her mouth.

“
What
was what?” he asked leaning toward her.

“
All
that ‘I call on Ms. Masters’ stuff. You were supposed to
give the keys to Mrs. Elkins,” she bit out.

“
But
you’re the project manager,” Jonathon said as if he
couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Leila decided to keep
her mouth shut and just not waste her energy. Soon after Jonathon’s
speech and an encore performance from India Arie, the MC gave the
vote of thanks and guests were free to leave at their leisure. The DJ
began to play dance music after that however, and Jonathon leaned
toward her.

“
Will
you dance with me?” His two friends had already disappeared
somewhere.

“
No,”
she replied with a glare.

“
Why
not?” he persisted.

“
Because
you ran me over the other day and now my leg hurts,” she
informed him. He was instantly contrite.

“
I’m
sorry. You’re right. Would you like me to take you home now?”
he asked.

“
I’m
perfectly capable of getting myself home thank you,” she
snapped.

“
I’m
perfectly aware of that. It's just…I know I’m
responsible for your injuries and I want to help. Why won’t you
let me help?” Jonathon wheedled.

“
Don’t
you think you’ve ‘helped’ quite enough?” she
asked.

“
Okay
look, there is something I need to discuss with you. I have an
ulterior motive. Is it possible we could go somewhere and talk?”
he asked

Leila sighed; she
really wasn’t interested in whatever he wanted to say.

“
Sure,”
she said. “Let me just go visit the ladies first.”

Leila stood up and
left. She didn’t visit the ladies, she went to the foyer and
had the doorman call her a taxi. By the time Jonathon realized she
wasn’t coming back, she was halfway home.

*****

“
Honey!
I’m home,” Leila exclaimed as she came through the door.
There was no response even though the hall light was on. “Huh.”

Leila walked down the
hall and peered into her mother’s room. She was passed out on
her bed, obviously fast asleep. Sheila lay sprawled on the couch on
the other side of the room, also fast asleep. Leila crept away,
setting the alarms and switching off lights before getting ready for
bed. She took a long shower to wash away the day and relax her tense
muscles. It had been a stressful few days but at last, the function
was done, it was relatively successful…they would not know how
much they had raised until probably Monday morning but still…

And she didn’t
have to see Jonathon Leary again. She emerged from the shower, put on
her blue flannel robe and went to inspect her bike. It was leaning
beside the front door and looking as good as new. Leila grasped the
handle bars and walked the bike up and down the hall. Everything
seemed great so Leila parked it and went to bed.

Sheila woke her in the
late morning on Sunday, wanting to hear all about the function and
whether or not Leila had met a guy.

“
Actually,
I did meet a guy. I told him to stuff it though,” Leila said
with a wide smile.