Page 29 of The Dating Contract

Which was why he’d been lucky Liam had texted him.

“Come on in,” Liam said when he arrived. “Oliver and I are playing with ideas. And you have been moving and shaking.”

“I have?”

Liam nodded, gesturing to his phone. “You won’t believe the text I got last night from a very giddy Evan Lefkowitz who wanted to congratulate me, for getting me to persuade you to agree to the logo, and for him to congratulate himself for meeting you.”

“You met Evan Lefkowitz last night?” Oliver asked.

Samuel nodded. “I went to a party with my girlfriend.”

“I was wondering about that girlfriend of yours,” Oliver said.

Samuel smiled, slowly getting over the fact that Oliver Goldsmith had gone from being an inspiration to a guy who was asking about his girlfriend.

The fake girlfriend he wanted to make real.

“Yeah,” he managed. “It was nice to spend a night watching her shine at one of her professional events.”

“He’s not telling you the details,” Liam said. “The party he’s so casually referring to is that sports party…the sports agent who invites a select number of movers and shakers? So your girlfriend…”

“Is a sports agent,” Samuel confirmed with more than a little pride. “And works with the guy who hosts the party. Bruck? I think.”

“Yeah,” Liam said. “That’s the guy. Anyway, you’re bringing this girl to the party I’m hosting for Oliver over here.”

Samuel nodded. “I am. I’m also bringing her to Comic Con.”

“You’re doing Comic Con?” Oliver asked. “Very cool. Me too.”

“Yeah. Signing posters for MoviePix.”

“Soon you’ll be signing other things,” Oliver said, before giving Liam a look that made Samuel nervous.

“If I have my way,” Liam said, breaking through the thoughts running through Samuel’s head, and gesturing toward the kitchen table. “But we’ll keep you posted. But for now, give me a few ideas in terms of letter design for this logo.”

Letters. Logo. It was as if a light went off over his head. “Right. When do we need this by?”

“Why?”

“Because my girlfriend is getting me into a Unicorns practice this weekend.”

“Excellent,” Liam said. “Let’s start working and we’ll conference on Monday so we can get this done.”

And as Samuel took out his pens and sat down next to Liam, he let himself prepare, and maybe get a little more excited, about what his future held.

*

Leah was stillslightly off kilter when she arrived at the office on Friday morning, but she was ready to tackle most everything that came her way.

As she sorted through her schedule, there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” she managed before catching a glance at the individual who had requested entry.

Of course it was Bruck. Casual, shirt-sleeves folded up to his elbows, the hazards of white dress shirts in this part of the summer.

“Morning, Leah,” he said.

“Bruck. Hi…I’m sorry…”

Bruck raised an eyebrow as he walked into the office. “Why are you sorry?”

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