“I have a few conditions, too,” Leo added.

“Okay,” she said.

“No furry animals, just to make that clear. And I like things tidy, so I’ll clean my mess and you clean yours. And sometimes I can have my friends over for sports and stuff.”

“So you’re a neat freak?”

“No.” He paused. “Okay, maybe. I’m not embarrassed to admit I like order.”

Now was probably the time to tell him about Cosette. But…well, she was just a sweet little cat. She hardly coughed up any hairballs, so Mr. Neat and Tidy would barely know she was there. Tessa would mention her later. Because leaving her behind was out of the question.

Her eyes narrowed. “Tell me about the sports and stuff.” She imagined a gaggle of his raucous friends drinking and eating and yelling at the television, scaring poor Cosette into hiding.

“Every month, my friends and I get together and play cards, smoke some stogies, watch a game—you know, that kind of thing.”

Well, whatever. Compared to her list, this was a piece of cake.

He stepped up close. So close she could see the defiant glimmer in his eyes. “You’re going to buck me at every turn, aren’t you?”

“Only when you’re completely out of line.” She gave a good long pause. “Which seems to be ninety-nine percent of the time.”

“This is a roommate situation,” he said. “Equal partnership, equal respect.”

“Sure. But just so we’re clear, I’m not one of your girlfriends with a sparkling personality who will smile and nod and fawn all over you. If that’s what you’re looking for in a fake wife, that’s not me.” His expression told her he recognized that and more.

He held out his hand. She was expecting a pinch my nose and down the hatch look, but instead he grinned and held out his hand. “I’m not quite sure what fawning is, but somehow I don’t think you’d be into that anyway. Shake on it?”

She looked from him to his outstretched hand. Okay, well, this was it.

She could put up with his grinch-like sarcasm and his awful one-liners because a few months of suffering would buy her freedom. Precious, wonderful freedom.

She took his hand. Which was big enough to wrap fully and firmly around hers. And then he shook it. Firmly, purposefully, businesslike.

Except inside, it felt different. Warm, tingly, and charged, her pulse accelerating with the contact.

It was just because he wasn’t hard to look at, that was for sure. Her body’s reaction to pure male chemistry. That’s all.

For what seemed like a long time, they stood there, locked in that handshake.