Meredith turned to Brayden after their lunch guests had left. She had a stern look on her face and meant business. She was so frustrated with herself for having allowed Brayden to come ruin her lunch with Ben.
“You set me up.” She said to Brayden accusingly and annoyed.
“What?” He looked at her with a mock innocence.
“Don’t try to act like you didn’t. Tagging along to lunch, the matching outfits, Babe?”
“Well, I am your husband. I have the right to make sure no other man taints what’s mine.” He told her matter of factly and grabbed her hand to lead her through the throngs of clustered tourists and locals navigating around them. Meredith pulled him back. She wasn’t finished. She was furious. Mostly, s
“This is amazing,'' Meredith said mostly to herself between bites. She savored the creamy sauce that slid over her tongue with the fettuccine noodles. The tender medallions practically melting in her mouth. She had never eaten better than the times she was with Brayden. He really knew his food and to have found such an amazing housekeeper that could make these gourmet dinners, he was a talented scout.Maybe that’s why he had scouted Meredith to be his wife. She took a sip of her red wine and sighed deeply thinking about it before taking her next bite. She then noticed that her dishes from her apartment were displayed around the table against the wall on glass shelves as though they were bone china. The mismatched collection of plates, bowls, mugs, and serving dishes were all artistically arranged and presented on the shelves. It brightened up the otherwise dull corner where the table sat.
Meredith woke to her phone alarm. She reached toward the sound on the bedside table where it was charging and shut it off. She yawned as she blinked a few times and her vision cleared. Meredith was looking out a floor to ceiling window of downtown Chicago. She scrunched her eyebrows together wondering what rabbit hole she had fallen down. Then it dawned on her. She remembered she was married to billionaire Brayden Charles Maxwell, the second son of Grant Maxwell, CEO of the company she worked at.Every morning she woke with a slight startle wondering where she was and what had happened. She had to remind herself that no this wasn’t a nightmare it was her life. She really was forced into marrying the boss’s son in hopes that he would become the next CEO. Every morning she would sigh as she recalled her fate to live a long loveless married life of luxury. Meredith never was one for luxury b
Meredith saved the project she was working on and sighed. Her co-workers had finally stopped staring at her everytime they walked past but the day was far from over. It was time for lunch. Meredith closed out of her computer, took a deep breath, and let it out before heading to the elevator. She knew Taylor was going to bombard her with questions and she wouldn’t be able to be truthful with her answers. She had signed a NDA along with her death contract. Meredith walked past the other departments on the floor with her head held high and ignored the stares on the elevator. She got off in the lobby where Taylor was waiting.Meredith stepped off the elevator with her Balenciaga shoes which cost more than her entire previous wardrobe combined. She walked over to Taylor who she towered over barefoot and even more so in those pumps.“H-Hey.” T
Meredith had gotten through the rest of the day by simply ignoring everyone around her and focusing on her work. Since she had won the bid for Edward Maxwell’s project and brought on a large luxury car company she was very busy expanding the ad campaign to include all aspects of the business. There was a lot of work to do between her and Karen. Mr. Hubert had also added on another designer to help them out and was looking to add a second intern. She wanted to continue for a few more hours but she wrapped up her work for the day.It was almost 5 p.m. Meredith usually stayed later but Brayden would be waiting for her. She would have to take him up on that offer to get some things to work from home. Her laptop at home didn’t have enough memory to handle the designs she worked on. She usually worked on brainstorming and ideas from home, not the actual projects. But if she was going to be leav
Meredith didn’t understand Brayden’s looks nor what he was sighing about. She assumed he must not be pleased with her frame of mind. She figured she had to play the role all the time like some actors do when they’re doing a movie, never coming out of character. But that would mean true death to herself. If she was always playing a role and this role never ended, when could she be able to be herself.Brayden did tell her she could tell one person the truth but she didn’t want that to be her friends or family. She didn’t want to burden them with her secret. She needed someone to unload all this on. But not someone to give this burden to. She needed someone to help her see perspective and not go insane playing the same role all the time for the rest of her life.“Brayden,” She started as he was about to begin the nig
Meredith woke up the next morning alone in the large luxurious bed. She had taken a shower the night before hoping to shorten her morning routine. Also she was trying to wash away her worries and her fears regarding her heart possibly shattering again. She knew she had to steel her heart and just remind herself that she was living in a world of make-believe. She was playing house with a billionaire. She did think it was a good idea if they could get along well enough and maybe enjoy each other's company to an extent. She hated the idea of living her whole life with some guy she couldn’t stand. She knew he wasn’t all bad but it was hard to figure out what was real and what was pretend. Meredith rolled out of bed and padded to the dresser in another amazingly comfy pajama short set. She was finally starting to sleep better, which could be attributed to th
Meredith wrapped up her work and rushed to the elevator. She thought that the stares and whispers on her floor would have at least died down but after the stunt Brayden pulled the day before things only got worse. Meredith mentally ducked and dodged all the stares and whispers about her and pushed the button for the elevator hoping it would hurry up.The elevator finally opened and it was full of people. Meredith squeezed in and could immediately feel the eyes on her. She took a deep breath and tried to think of anything other than those eyes. Waffles, Beaches, Unicorns, Brayden just after he’s taken a shower…Her cheeks heated up and she mentally slapped herself. Why would that be helpful to think of in this situation.She stared straight ahead and began to count backwards in her head from one hundred. She hoped that would help keep her mind
Meredith headed to the elevator with Taylor bouncing behind her still giddy with excitement. They got on the elevator together and Meredith glanced over at Taylor, who looked up at her with a large grin.“Really?” Meredith rolled her eyes.“I know you don’t like the attention but I’m loving it.” Taylor beamed.Meredith just sighed and rode the rest of the way to Taylor’s floor in silence.“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Meredith said her goodbye as Taylor got off the elevator.“Yep tomorrow.” Taylor still had that silly grin from ear to ear and Meredith was glad someone was getting enjoyment out of her marriage. She tried to remain invisible in the back of
Meredith was thoroughly enjoying the garden party. There were immaculate flowers, greenery and shrubs delicately sprinkled around the greenest lushest lawn Meredith had ever seen. She had gotten so many compliments on her outfit. Of course, she gave all the credit to Brayden who had picked it all out. Brayden charmed all the women without even saying anything, when he did they were almost faint.Meredith shook her head at it all and went about the party trying every bit of the au d'oeuvres that were presented. If she found one that was exceptional she would pop it in Brayden’s mouth. Brayden didn’t complain because he loved watching Meredith doing this little dance of the foodie.The Baxton’s finally caught up with Meredith and Brayden near the sushi station where Meredith was trying a mini dragon roll. Brayden was talking to a well known architect and promising to stop by and take a look at his home designs.“I see you two made it okay,” Dave Baxton greeted he chuckled watching Mere
Meredith and Brayden had finished their fourth and last jump of the day. They had been at the Chicagoland Skydiving Center for nearly the whole day. They were having so much of a fun time it felt like time flew by and before they knew it they were on jump four and starting to wear out a bit.They thanked Steve and scheduled to come back in a week to go over more ground training and get some more jumps in. Then they headed on their way.“I’ll drive. You’re exhausted, babe,” Brayden said and he opened the passenger seat for Meredith to get in.“It’s just an excuse to drive my car.”“Maybe”“Did you like it really?” Meredith asked with a yawn as Brayden slid into the driver’s seat.“I loved it! I think we should do jumps on Saturday and Sunday. Eight jumps a week and we can get to two hundred in no time.” Brayden looked like he was grinning, which to anyone else would look like a small smile. Meredith knew her husband was excited and so was she. Brayden drove towards Schaumburg and foun
Meredith woke up earlier than usual for a Saturday. She had a long night and had only managed to squeeze in a few hours of sleep. Still she felt refreshed and with excitement that her husband was slightly afraid of. He of course had been up long before she opened her eyes.Brayden recalled the kayaking date, which was fun with a hint of danger being him falling into the river with Meredith laughing. But that was nothing compared to her jumping down the Swiss Wall. And while they were separated Brayden had no idea what Meredith had been up to. Jacob had been very vague with his reports.Brayden, who wasn’t sure how to dress for wherever Meredith was taking them, opted for casual attire. He wore a pair of Bruno Magli Italian leather sneakers in a dark burnished chestnut color. He had on a pair of Brunello Cucinelli navy cashmere creased sweatpants and a white Tom Ford t-shirt under a black The Row cashmere zip up hoodie.He followed Dino into the kitchen where he first fed Dino then pre
Meredith and Brayden took the elevator down to Brayden’s office. Brayden seemed to be deep in thought so Meredith decided not to interrupt. Finally just as they entered Brayden’s office he turned to her and raised an eyebrow.“What?” Meredith asked, confused.“What’s going on tomorrow?” Brayden asked in a serious tone.“I just decided to pick up a new hobby and thought it would be great if you came with me,” Meredith gave her best I’m-an-angel smile and puppy dog eyes.“As long as you aren’t planning on jumping off the side of a mountain again.” Brayden moved in close to his wife and searched her eyes.“Not at the moment,” Meredith smirked. Brayden leaned in to kiss the smirk off Meredith’s face. She reached around his waist and he wrapped her in his embrace as they both sighed a calming peaceful sigh simultaneously.“If you want to move back to the condo let’s make it happen.” Brayden conceded. “I don’t care where I live as long as I’m with you.” Meredith looked up into Brayden’s sin
Meredith was on her way out the office to have lunch with Brayden before they went to see his father to talk about the CEO position. Brayden had felt very strongly about securing the title. So much so that he had coerced a random stranger in the elevator into marrying him. Meredith sighed in relief as she walked out of her building and saw Sean waiting with the familiar Mercedes to take her to the Maxwell Sharpe building. She had on her black belted pleated short sleeve Burberry dress and her strappy Louboutin stiletto sandals. “It’s good to see you, Sean. Thank you.” Meredith said as she reached the car. “It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Maxwell.” Sean responded. Meredith smiled and got into the car and they were soon on their way. Meredith was slightly nervous about
Meredith felt that familiar thumping and the pounding through her body as her feet hit the treadmill mat in her building’s workout room. She looked out the window at the natural light shining in the already bright workout space and smiled. She no longer needed to run as an escape or to be strong enough to push things down in order to be a perfect Maxwell. This time she had chosen Brayden and they truly were a united team going into things. As she was running she remembered her parents’ had been suspicious about her relationship with Brayden. Maybe they should look for a new home. It would be weird if Meredith had told her parents that they were getting a new place and they just kept the old one. Meredith shrugged to herself, and started her cooldown. Technically her apartment was a new place for them. And t
Meredith woke up in her husband's arms and didn’t want to get out of bed. She sighed and picked up her phone and pressed the button to light up the display flashing the time before her eyes. Another sigh and a light groan later and she was getting out of bed and headed into her shared walk-in-closet and chose something to wear from her work wardrobe.She picked a Tommy Hilfiger pencil skirt with front faux zippered pockets. She paired it with a pair of BCBG black pumps and her Eileen silk top. Meredith got washed and dressed and grabbed her Michael Kors bag and headed out for work.She texted Jacob as she walked from her apartment to her job and made sure that was going to send Brayden home on time and make sure that he ate lunch. Meredith decided she was going to nag about this for the week.She d
“No secrets, Mere.” Taylor was looking Meredith up and down and her outfit. She knew Meredith had kept her ‘billionaire wardrobe’ at Brayden’s for whatever reason but was now suddenly wearing them. “I can’t wear them?” Meredith tried to feign ignorance to no avail. Taylor just gave her a look and Alyssa was still confused. “Isn’t Brayden your husband?” Alyssa asked, having never met him but heard stories. “I don’t understand. Do you have separate homes?” “Yes. Sort of.” Meredith responded and Taylor raised an eyebrow as the server dropped off more drinks. “We separated.” “What!” Alyssa gasped while Taylor casually picked up her drink and waited for Meredith to get to the part she was interested in; why Meredith was wearing clothes that were at Brayden’s. “We missed each other. He's moving in my place and we are working things out.” Meredith shrugged then began to sip her drink as well. She had gotten a lemonade so she wouldn’t have to worry about Clinton popping up and carrying he
Brayden wanted to help Meredith get rid of her Christian problem. Meredith didn’t really want Brayden involved at all. If she had needed help she would have called Jacob but she wasn’t ready to go that route. In all actuality, Meredith was hoping Christian would get the clues and bold hints she had for him that she wasn’t interested.“If it gets too much for me to handle, I’ll let you know.” Meredith told Brayden over some twenty-three layer chocolate cake that she had picked up earlier. Brayden picked the dessert wine and as always Meredith was loving the combination and they accented one another.“I was worried you would say that. Meredith, I want to be with you. Hopefully that’s a little more obvious by me moving in but for this to work I think we are going to need some sort of structure.”