SAMANTHA’S POV

The sound of my phone beep jolted me out of my reverie and I stared at the screen. It was a text from Lucas. He was going to be at the restaurant in ten minutes. I readjusted my blouse quickly and removed the band from my hair, allowing it fall freely across my shoulders. I was not at all concerned about my looks. It was not like how I looked mattered to him anyways. All we needed to do was get to a mutual agreement.

I stared at the table across. Two men on leather jackets were having an intense conversation over a barely touched bottle of whiskey. I quickly averted my gaze before either of them could catch me staring and my mind drifted away to more important things – like why Lucas had chosen such an exquisite location for our meeting. I wondered how much he had paid for the reservation at the Water Gardens and I hoped that he came sooner because time was ticking away and money was counting. The Water Gardens was the most exquisite park in the whole of New Jersey and if the thirty minutes reservation he had paid for elapsed before he came, I would be walked out and he would be forced to pay another five hundred dollars for another thirty minutes. I stared at the silver plated watch on my hand. It was twenty minutes past eight already and we had barely ten minutes left.

“Ten minutes would not be enough to finalize the deal,” I muttered to myself.

I heaved a deep breath and decided to take the bold step. I walked up to the cashier’s counter at the far end of the garden and I gently tapped on the counter to alert her of my presence. The cashier took one quick disinterested look at me and continued what she was doing.

“I would like to make a thirty minute reservation,” I grunted, producing a five hundred dollar bill from my purse and placing it on the counter.

She stared up at me again and glanced across at where I had been sitting.

“Where exactly would you like to have reserved?” she asked glaring hard at me.

I could sense the sarcasm in her voice and I spun around quickly to find out that a couple were already sitting down there.

“Shit!” I cursed. “Excuse me.”

She flicked the five hundred dollar bill from the table with her index finger and I caught it before it could fly away. I walked up to the couple at the table and flashed them a smile. They didn’t seem to be excited about the fact that I had interrupted their conversation and they stared at me, probably wondering what I wanted.

“If you don’t mind, I have this seat reserved already,” I said as politely as I could.

“We met it empty,” the lady replied. “Reserved seats aren’t usually empty.”

I sighed and produced the ticket from my purse and I held it up for the both of them to see.

“Eight to eight thirty,” the man grunted and stared at the clock at the center of the garden. “You have barely three minutes left. Run along already. We’re busy here.”

My face turned bright red with anger immediately and I barely resisted the urge to kick him in the groin. Even if I had a minute left, it was my time. I paid for it and I deserved to use it.

“You met this table empty just because I had to make another reservation!” I said, my voice, a tad higher than normal. “My date was running late and I had to…”

“You’re disturbing us young lady,” the man eyed me. “If you can’t find another table, then go somewhere else for your date!”

I fumed and raged, and just as I was about to allow hell break lose, I felt a cold hand wrap around my wrist. I spun around in shock and our eyes met.

His eyes were dark, cold and calculating and I felt like in the few seconds he stared me down, he had seen through my very being. I attempted to wriggle free from his grip but he held on to me firmly.

“What is the problem here?” he asked. “Why do you harass the good lady?”

I cringed at the sound of his voice. It was rich and exotic and it had a foreign accent to it. Spanish perhaps?

“You shouldn’t go about poking your nose in other people’s businesses,” the man on the table said and stood up.

They were face to face now and I could sense the tension in the air. I really hoped a fight didn’t ensue because I doubted that the stranger who was standing up for me could match with the burly brute that had taken my table.

“What if I told you it was my business?” my guardian angel asked, staring the other man down.

“Enough guys!” I cried. “I would just wait for my date. He would get me another table when he comes.”

“He wouldn’t,” my guardian angel replied. “He paid for this table.”

I stared at him for the better part of a minute before it hit me.

“You…you’re Lucas Storm?”

“Samantha Hail,” he smiled at me.

“Fucking weirdo!” the burly man grunted and threw a punch at Lucas. “Who still goes on blind dates?”

“I do,” Lucas replied, catching his hand midair. “And the next time you harass my woman..” He twisted the brute's hand in one quick movement and he cried, probably feeling his arm begin to pull out of the socket.

“I promise I won’t trouble her again!” the man yelled. “Please.”

Lucas released his grip on his hand and shoved the man away roughly. He staggered and fell on the floor of the garden and Lucas sat down on the chair.

“You can excuse us now,” he smiled at the lady.

She stood up immediately and doubled over to help her partner who was still groaning on the floor and Lucas ushered me to her seat. I sat down carefully. The events of the last few minutes were hazy in my memory and I wondered if he would do the same to me if I stepped out of line. As though he was reading my mind, he chuckled lightly.

“Forgive my brutish and ungentlemanly behavior,” he started. “That was a very much avoidable scene. I would learn to control my anger for the time our contract would last.”

His words jolted me, and I remembered the reason we were sitting there in the first place – our contract. I nodded in understanding.

“I’ve not yet agreed to the contract,” I mouthed. “That was why I called for this meeting. I needed to be clear on certain terms.”

“I’ve got everything here,” he announced, producing a carefully folded piece of paper from his breast pocket. “Listen attentively while I read my terms to you. I would hear yours as well before we can come to an agreement.”

“Fine by me.” I looked up to see that the cashier was standing behind Lucas and when he noticed my eyes were no longer fixed on him, he turned around quickly.

“Senorita!” he smiled and kissed her hand. “Didn’t know you’d started taking the night shift.”

She pouted her lips at him and with the help of the bright chandelier light hanging above us, I could clearly make out her facial features. She was a blonde beauty.

“Your father won’t be happy when he hears about this, Lucas,” she said. Her hands worked their way across his chest and down his lower abdomen and I frowned and looked away.

“Wouldn’t be a first time,” he laughed. “He’s never happy with anything I do. That is why he wants to rob me of my right, my inheritance, what I’ve worked for all my life…”

His hands balled into fists as he spoke and I could sense the anger and pain in his voice. I knew the story all too well. His father, Javier Hernandez was a multi billionaire and the owner of the biggest automobile company in the whole of Europe, Java Automobiles. Lucas was his first son and had worked hand in hand with him since he was eighteen. He was thirty now and he had slowly started to lose favour in the eyes of his father. Javier had hinted on handing the company over to his second son, Andres, citing his reason as the fact that Lucas had refused to get married and was going to squander his wealth. Lucas, not wanting to lose out on what he had worked for had presented his girlfriend, Audrey to his father as his fiancé and his father had bluntly rejected her. She was an ordinary cashier, and worse still worked in one of his establishments. There was no way he was going to bless such a union. As such, Lucas had switched quickly to his back up plan. He had found me on an online charity site and after finding out that I had a Masters degree in Sociology, he had sent me his proposal – a six month contract marriage, and after his father signed the documents to hand over the company to him, the contract would be off. Then he could continue whoring around with Audrey, whom he had no plans to marry yet, with the assurance that he was going to inherit the company. I would get fifteen million dollars for my role for the six months. It was a perfect plan for Lucas and when I agreed to meet him at the garden to finalize the deal, he had been overjoyed. He was finally going to get his life back.

“So she is the one?” Audrey eyed me.

“Yeah,” Lucas nodded. “She’s perfect for the role. Intelligent. You know how much my dad likes intelligent ladies…”

“Yeah remind me that I dropped out of college,” Audrey rolled her eyes.

“I don’t care, senorita,” Lucas said in a low whisper. “You’re perfect for me. We just need to deceive the old fool for six months. Everything would be back to normal after then.”

Audrey seemed to be reassured by his words and she kissed him full on the lips before turning to face me. “He’s damn hot and it’s six months. Try not to get too attached.”

I nodded and watched as she laughed and walked away and as soon as she was out of sight, Lucas turned back to face me.

“Ready to hear my terms?” he asked.

I nodded again and watched as he opened the paper with shaky hands and dropped it on the table before us.