chapter 2

The day had finally come; he was going to promise to be dedicated to her for a lifetime.  As he watched walk down the aisle, he almost felt sorry for her she looked miserable. The poor girl didn’t know what she signed up for. If she felt she could fool him into falling for her or believing her to be innocent she was in for a shocker. He had seen that look one to many times and he was not about to let it get to him again.  Lainey had the same face and yet she had joyfully jumped into bed with his cousin without thinking twice. He wasn’t about to be fooled twice. 

In a few minutes she would be walking down the aisle to a man she has never even met until recently and she did not know a thing about. She had seen him only once during the family gathering in preparation for the wedding and he had been cold to her. She knew he didn’t want the marriage, that made two of them but why was he agreeing to it?

 "I, Anais Nora Sterling, take thee, Alexander Bennett, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

“Now the groom", the officiating minister said.

"I, Alexander Bennett, take thee, Anais Nora Sterling, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my faith." He said those vows knowing he was not going to keep them.

“By the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride”.

Alexander tensed up at the sound of those words. He just wanted it all to be over. He leaned down and saw her eyes were already closed, and in one swift move he kissed the side of her lips and moved away like they had burnt him.

Everyone was happy as the newly wedded couple left the church together arm in arm, talk about picture perfect couple. They got into Alexander’s car and drove off. They were heading to a hotel to spend the night. Alex was quiet he was going to be civil till they got to the room. There was no need to give the driver any reason to believe they weren't the loving couple they had led the world to believe. It wouldn’t be weird that they were not talking; they both had a long day and were exhausted.  

Once they got to the room and were alone, Alex offered her the contract and asked her to go through it.

“Here, these are the conditions of our marriage. Read them and make no mistake of doing contrary to the instructions written there”, He said not even looking at her.

She looked confused but took the envelope and went through the document.

“What is this?” She asked 

“I assume you are literate and can read, it’s a contract Miss Sterling. It states out clearly the term and conditions for this marriage. I am hoping you keep up your end of the contract and we will not have any problems. If you were expecting a fairytale marriage then you are sorely mistaken”, He answered still not looking at her. 

“You are aware this is a marriage of convenience. I do know know you nor like you and I have no interest in changing either. If you think I would be fooled by your innocent look you met the wrong person, I know better than anyone that looks can be deceitful”, He added looking at her directly this time.

“To save both our time, I will summarise the content of the contract for you, Mrs Bennett”. He said the words Mrs Bennett with so much venom.

 “I don’t want you in my business or affairs. You can do whatever you want as long as you are not getting caught and it has no effect on me or my company. My name is all you will be getting from this marriage so do not expect anything more”, He said with no emotion.

She looked like she was about to cry, he felt a pang of guilt but shook it off he was not going to be fooled by her tears either. 

He continued

“We are going to be flatmates, when we return back to the house my father bought for us as a wedding gift. You will have your own room and I will have mine. You do not enter my room for any reason. You don’t have to cook for me, if for any reason we need to show up for a social event together I will inform you, so you can prepare yourself and for the sake of my father we are to act as happy as possible in their presence. Other than that we do not owe each other anything.

“That would be all Mrs Bennett, I need to use the bathroom, and you can call the reception to send someone help you get out of that dress”. With that been said he left her and went to freshen up in the bathroom. 

Anais could not believe her luck; she just went from having a father that hated her to having a husband that hated her for no reason.  She had barely spent 24hours with him and she was signing a contract already.  

“Wow, just wow”. She wasn’t going to cry, she has cried enough because of the men in her life and crying would not change anything. It never had. He wanted them to be flatmates so be it, she would do just that. She did not waste any more time trying to read the contract, she knew enough already she signed it and left it on the side table. She wish could move to a different room, she didn’t want to stay in the same room with him. But that would raise brows; they were supposed to be a newlywed couple who were in love. Well she was going to sleep on the couch; she went into the bathroom after him.

While lying on the bed, he felt like a bully, was he too harsh? He did not even know her and he was treating her bad because she shared a resemblance Lainey. 

“No self-respecting woman would agree to marry a man she barely knows”, he thought. 

He observed her as she came out of the shower, wearing a robe. Her ash-blond hair was actually long now that it wasn't wrapped in a bun like it was earlier, how come he didn’t notice it before, she had dark grey eyes, with long dark lashes, her lips were quite full and looked inviting while she was drying her hair, he shook himself back to reality. 

This was why be needed to keep his distance from her, he wasn’t about to be seduced by her looks. He turned away and faced the other side of the room and tried to sleep even though he couldn’t as his blood was pumping a little harder because of the young lady at the other side of the room. He wasn’t naive and inexperienced, he has had his fair share of sex and wild parties . He got up and left the room, he needed a whiskey or two so he could sleep peacefully.  When he returned 20minutes later she had converted the couch to a small bed and was sleeping on it, she looked comfortable and she fitted into perfectly, was she that small?

The bed was big enough to contain the both of them but if she was going to sleep there, it was her choice.  They just had to spend three days here before this sham of a honeymoon was over and he could get back to his normal life. He knew he could easily call his father and tell him, he was ending the honeymoon tomorrow, so he could resume work and start working on the final paper work and quicken the announcement of the merger.  His father would not have it, he wanted the marriage to be as normal as possible. He wanted them to spend enough time together before returning, he had suggested a week and he had refused immediately knowing he would loss his sanity if he spent more than three days in the space with this little she devil.

He was up the next morning and he realised he was the only person in the room.

 “Good, she left already”. 

He felt the need to relieve himself, probably get the alcohol out of his system, he got up and headed to the bathroom.

How did he not hear the sound of running water? Still sleepy, he has assumed she had gone down for breakfast. Yet here she was in the shower.

He opened the door and he froze. That woke him right up. He stared at her; he couldn’t take his eyes of her.  She turned, saw him and screamed. While she was trying to cover herself up, he hurriedly left.

 He was mad at himself, this was not the first time he was seeing a naked woman, why was she having such an effect of him? He wasn't even attracted to her. And if it weren't mortifying enough, she has screamed like he wanted to take advantage of her. He quickly reminded himself why he had married her in the first place but chuckled when he remembered her hurry to cover herself up. 

She was taking too long in the bathroom, it had been 30minutes already, and he still needed to use the bathroom. She finally came out already dress, with water still dripping down her hair and would not make eye contact with him.

 In a quiet voice she broke the silence, “I would appreciate it, if you knock next time before entering the bathroom. You’re not alone anymore. The least you could do is respect my  privacy as well”.

He was taken aback that she had actually spoken back to him.

“What do you mean by that? I don't know what you have planned in that head of yours but it won't work on me. If your privacy was so important to you, you should have locked the door. I assume you know how locks work, Mrs Bennett. Obviously you wanted me to walk In and see you in that state so stop acting like you’re the victim here”, he responded coldly.

“What?” She said looking more angry than shocked. 

“How could you imagine something as crazy as that? Why on Earth would I want you walking in on me? I thought I locked the door and I didn’t plan any of this? Besides you made it very clear you want nothing to do with me”.

Her voice was breaking like she was going to cry any moment. He wasn’t going to feel bad knowing fully well she planned it all. She was a really good actress, he walked away.

When he returned from the bathroom, she was not in the room. He changed into more comfortable and went downstairs for breakfast. Much to his satisfaction, she was not there either.

Whatever, He wasn’t going to get worried she was an adult and wouldn’t get missing. She probably needs time to re-strategize as the previous plan failed. 

He spotted her sitting by the pool and was shocked to realised he felt relieved. At least now he knew where she was.  Regardless of his cold exterior, he also feared that she might leave. That would ruin everything he was working so hard to achieve.

The remaining two days passes with both of them avoiding each other as much as could. It was probably the only time they would have to actually be alone.

She was up really early and would leave the room, sit by the pool side and returned when it was really late. He didn’t mind too. It gave him enough time to get rid of the naked image of her he had in his head. Also he had enough time to rest; once this was over he would be very busy with work.