Part 1 of your romantic, comedic, fantasy, modern-day-but-realistic sugar baby novella.
---
Title Page
Sweeten the Deal
A Romantic-Comedy Fantasy Novella by [NANA ANGEL]
---
Blurb
Lila Hart has two jobs, three maxed-out credit cards, and a fourth-floor walk-up apartment that smells permanently of someone else's burnt toast. She doesn't believe in fairy tales—until her best friend dares her to try "just one sugar baby date."
Enter Sebastian Vale: devastatingly charming, oddly mysterious, and more generous than any man has a right to be. He offers her a "no-strings arrangement" that comes with silk dresses, private rooftop dinners, and… the occasional impossible thing. Like dancing spoons. Or gardens that bloom only on Thursdays. Or golden tickets that lead to places that shouldn't exist.
Lila tells herself it's all just part of the game—until she realizes she's in over her head. Because Sebastian isn't just rich. He's not entirely human. And the closer she gets to him, the closer she comes to a choice that could change her life forever.
A modern-day romantic comedy with a dusting of magic, Sweeten the Deal is proof that sometimes, love really is the most dangerous arrangement of all.
---
Chapter 1 — The Dare
If Mia had never dared me, I wouldn't have met him.
I also wouldn't have learned that my self-control is apparently made of sponge cake.
"Just one date," Mia said, stabbing her fork into a plate of pancakes the size of a hubcap. "One. You need cash, and sugar babies make serious money. It's math."
"It's math," I said, "but also… human dignity?"
She gave me the look—Mia's patented you're-being-an-idiot-but-I-love-you glare. "You work at a coffee shop, Lila. You can barely pay rent. You deserve a man who'll buy you croissants and, I don't know, healthcare."
The truth was, I did need money. My "savings account" had been a single twenty-dollar bill for three months, and my credit card company had started using bold fonts in their emails.
So that night, against my better judgment, I signed up on a sugar baby dating site. I expected sleaze, desperation, maybe some guy named "Ronald" who wanted to pay me to dress like his ex-wife.
I did not expect Sebastian Vale.
---
Chapter 2 — The Arrangement
We met at a café that looked like it belonged in a French film—warm yellow light, tiny marble tables, and pastries so perfect they probably had agents.
He was already there when I arrived, wearing a charcoal suit that looked expensive enough to pay off at least one of my credit cards. His smile was quick but not pushy, his eyes a deep, unreadable grey.
"Lila," he said, standing as if this was a Jane Austen novel. "I'm glad you came."
I told myself not to melt. Then I sat down and immediately knocked over the water glass. He caught it before it hit the table, which should've been impossible given how far it had tipped.
We talked for two hours. He asked questions—about my art, my apartment, my favorite bakery—and actually listened to the answers. He didn't ask for anything gross or make creepy jokes.
At the end, he slid a small black card across the table. Embossed on it was a single gold word: Possibility.
"Call me," he said, "if you'd like to make an arrangement."
The next day, a messenger delivered an envelope. Inside was $1,000 cash and a note:
> For your rent. And perhaps, for your time.
—S
That was how it started.
---