AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Later that night, Olin lay in bed thinking about Meegan. Her eyes were bluer in person. And she was tall. He liked that she was tall. She smiled a lot and he liked that too. She was easy to talk to. He could see why she and Xeni were friends. He was glad she’d agreed to help him out, that their plan was settled. He told himself it was nothing that he couldn’t wait to see her again.
* * *
Meegan had to admit it, Olin was fucking efficient. Over the next week, he took care of everything she needed to pose as his new boo. The day after their yogurt adventure, which they decided would count as their first date, Olin sent her a pretty tame NDA, just asking that she keep any business information she overheard private and asking that she did not go to the press about one element of their relationship when it ended; that it was fake. Meegan could handle that. If Olin did anything crazy, she was going to the cops, but she had no problem keeping their arrangement a secret. He also agreed to pay her for her time, as a “lifestyle consultant”. She would have given anything to be in the room as he ironed out that verbiage with his money guys.
When he sent over his initial offer, she almost fainted. It was double her yearly salary. She’d be a fool to turn him down, but since Olin had it like that, she countered. He had to spend the next six months anonymously helping out strangers online. If someone needed a few hundred dollars paying their rent, she wanted Olin to help. If someone was asking for a few bucks to pay for their meds, he could. She also sent him the names of a few grassroots organizations that would appreciate some financial support. She knew he couldn’t solve all the world’s problems, but he could do more in the material day to day than attend galas and candidate brunches in Malibu.
They had no plans to see each other again until the night of the gala. Olin arranged to have her hair and makeup done at the Ritz-Carlton downtown. A car service would pick her up at her house and a stylist would meet her in the room with a variety of dresses to choose from. She sent her sizes and a short list of her favorite colors to Olin’s assistant and they promised to handle the rest. Meegan had to admit she was excited by the prospect of getting the full princess treatment.
The following Monday, she was back at the Song-Kenney residence for another viewing of the best reality dating show ever. Everyone stood around the kitchen island grabbing all of their snacks, including one of the caramel apple cupcakes Shea contributed to the evening. Meegan grabbed a cupcake as Sarah finished cursing her out.
“I just can’t believe I saw you in your classroom as Xeni was setting you up on a date with a millionaire and you didn’t say anything.”
“I didn’t mean to betray you, but now you know. I had a cute little date with Olin Breivik.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t set you guys up sooner,” Xeni said, laying it on a little thick.
“Well, we’re going to the arts gala this weekend. I will let you guys know if there’s going to be a date three.”
“How was the first date? What’s he like?” Keira, their resident nerd asked. Meegan was pretty sure she was the only one in the room who knew he founded Depot before he started hanging out with Xeni.
“It was good,” Meegan answered honestly. “He’s an absolute gentleman. Very sweet. Ten out of ten. Will date again.” She glanced over at Daniel, who was leaning against the far end of the counter on the other side of the room. He’d retreat to his bedroom soon enough. For now though, he was listening.
“If I had known Xeni would hand a millionaire to the last single gal in this room standing, I would have never married Antonio,” Sarah said.
“Sorry, dude,” Xeni laughed. “I’ll keep an eye out for a very wealthy man to ruin your relationship.”
“Thank you.”
“Okay, let's get back to these walking disasters on the beach,” Shae announced and led the way to the TV. She probably just wanted to sit her very pregnant body down. Meegan topped off her champagne and tried to bring up the rear, following her chatty friends to the other end of the house, but Daniel stopped her with an arm around her shoulder.
She looked up at him, a slight chuckle slipping out at the serious look on his face. “Can I help you, sir?”
His eyes narrowed as he looked down at her. Meegan knew what he was going to say. She had to remind herself that Daniel thought this whole thing with Olin was real and that made it a big deal in his eyes. Meegan had technically never dated anyone seriously since she was in college. When she joined The Club and found shelter under Mistress’s tutelage, she’d mostly dealt with fellow members. She’d tried dating outside of the lifestyle a few times over the years, but it always ended badly. Daniel knew how Meegan had been coping—or not coping—with everything that had changed in the last eight years after their Mistress had left town. He knew that she was still looking for the right person to take care of her, in every way.
He held up his body-powered prosthesis. In the context of his day job, the hook was very scary. “If this Olin guy messes with you, he’ll have to answer to me.”
Meegan’s gaze softened as she kissed him on his clean shaven cheek. “I promise. You’ll be the first to know. Right after Xeni. You two can beat him up together.”
“I’ll bring Keira too. She can kick him a few times. Maybe get an atomic elbow in there.”
“Sounds amazing.”
Daniel kissed her on the temple before letting her go. She joined the girls on the sectional, ready for all the petty dating nonsense. As an argument broke out amongst the female contestants on the screen, part of Meegan just hoped this Olin situation went smoothly.
five
Olin had never been good at waiting. Especially waiting in a tux. He’d done his primping, gone to see his barber before his tailor dropped by the house with his suit to make sure he was good to go. He never thought he’d have a tailor that made house calls, but Michael and Duke had talked him into it. Sevan was worth every penny to keep Olin from looking like a penguin in short pants. He glanced around at the people coming and going from the lobby of the Ritz Carlton. Fascinating stuff if you liked people watching, but it was too much activity for Olin to take in when he was trying to relax. He tucked himself out of the way and looked at his phone as another message from his brother popped up in the group chat.
Alex: You tell dad yet?
No details. I figure I’ll wait til we get to the meet
the parents stage, if that ever happens.
Alex was finishing his surgical residency up in the Bay Area and Wes was living with his girlfriend in Brooklyn. Olin missed them a lot. He was glad they’d kept their text chain going. He felt bad for lying to them, but he knew if he and Meegan were gonna pull this off for six months, they might have some questions.
