Chapter 5: The Contract

Barbara Brown’s POV

I don’t know where we were but I know this, I have entered into Brandon Cornwall’s suite. It was nice for a hotel and expensive if by my calculation. You know how broke you were when you were in awe of everything.

“Drink?” Brad asked as I turned to look at him who was behind the bar. I shook my head as I was trying to gain my thoughts before I took my seat on the sofa. He came to me before he was carrying a thick paper that looked like a thesis.

But it was not.

I was looking at the front page of the agreement. The contract that he was agreeing with me to have a spot in his excavation before I read the terms and conditions that he put in it.

The Agreement between Mr. Brandon Cornwall with Ms. Barbara Brown: a Prenup.

1. Mr. Cornwall agrees to give a spot if Ms. Brown agreed to marry him.
2. The marriage will be in paper only, no need to make it real. Mr. Cornwall will have his needs fulfilled by someone else discreetly.
3. Ms. Brown will help him to identify the mineral and after the scientific papers have been released, the contract is invalid.
4. The two parties need to be faithful in their marriage until one of them breached the contract.
5. No mention of the contract to outside parties or the contract and the spot will be invalid for Ms. Brown.

I was stunned to look at the terms and conditions of the contract. I don’t know how to react. Should I laugh? Should I be angry? Or should I just be quiet like I was doing right now?

“So? What do you think?” Brad asked me as I was looking up from the contract to look at him. I sighed before I was reading again rule number two.

“What do you mean you will have someone else’s to fulfill your needs?” I asked him as he was looking at me, arching his eyebrow at me.

“What do you think?”

“It is absurd! You were to tell me that you don’t want to bed me?” I asked him as I stood up from the seat. He put his glass on the coffee table as his eyes focused on me.

“Do you want to?” He asked before I stopped pacing on the floor as I turned to look at him. No doubt, he can have anyone that he wanted but he chose me to be his on-paper only wife. If I was to be someone’s wife, I have a fantasy that I will be loved and give my love to my husband.

But this was not a real marriage, it was a convenient marriage for me and him.

I sighed as I was hugging myself before I turned to look outside the window. I was looking at the city buildings right now and I think I felt something in my heart and it doesn’t think it was for this man in front of me but for the spot that I will not be having if I refused.

“What will you do to get your needs fulfilled?” I asked him as I turned to look at him as he was eyeing me up and down. Again, I felt I was being undressed by him.

“Well, I will ask for someone willing to give me what I want,”

“You mean like a whore?” I asked him as he was arching his eyebrows before he chuckled.

“No, Barbara,” he said as my name rolled off from his mouth like a sweet candy that I can taste in my mouth. I wanted him to call me and when he was on high of his release when he was inside me, ready to explode…

I shook my head as I was putting that image out of my mind right now. I don’t know what to do but I was trying to stay focus on the task that we were trying to get through. I wanted to know how he will get his fill.

“I will have a mistress but with discretion. We might be married but we were merely strangers that wanted to get something out of each other,” he said as he sipped on his Chardonnay again.

“What will you get out of this marriage if you’re not even bedding me?”

“I will get my parents to rest for searching me a bride because I already have one and that itself was a reward for me,” he said as he was smirking at me. I felt something cracked inside me as if I was being thrown by this arrogant man.

I took a deep breath as I was closing my eyes. I was trying to control my thoughts and I think I was ready to do some damage to my husband-to-be.

“When is the excavation?” I asked him as he put his glass down.

“One week,”

“So, when we’ll be married?” I asked him before he looked at me in the eyes. I like to cut to the chase and I think he appreciated that I was being honest between us.

“Today,”

“Today? Why would it be today?” I asked him as I was furrowing my eyebrows together.

“Because I understand that your parents were here. In San Francisco, where you were from,” he said as he was smirking at me before I looked at him. He checked my background and I don’t have a clue for it.

“So, what do you say? Do you want the spot or not?” He said as he pushed the contract to me. I was looking at it as I was trying to control my urge to throttle him. But he’s right. I have nothing to do if I don’t have a proposal for my funding. And this was the best option right now.

At the price of my freedom.

“What about when we will go back to our ordinary life?” I asked him as he was taking a deep breath.

“You don’t mention it in the contract what we should do after we have fulfilled our usefulness,” I asked before he looked at me.

“Why don’t we go this one at a time?” He asked me before I was looking at the signature of his on the contract. I was trying to not thinking about what happened after this. My funding or rejection from graduate school. I sighed.

“Fine, I mean, I don’t have anything to lose anyway,” I mumbled before I was signing the contract on the required space. Then, Brad took something else.

“And since we will be going to your parents’ tomorrow, I think it was only fitting for you to sign this as well,” he said as he handed me the marriage registration. I looked at him before I took a good look at the registration as he already signed it.

Damn, this guy doesn’t play.

I sighed before I opened the pen again and I was signing the registration while I was looking at my surname. Should I write my maiden and not change a thing? It was a convenient marriage after all. I shrugged before I wrote my surname, not changing a thing.

“Excellent, now shall we seal the deal?” He asked as he collected the contract and the marriage registration. I arched my eyebrow at him as I did not know how else we were going to seal the deal.

“But we already have done all the signing and all,” I said as I stood up before he walked to me again. I was going to say that he was mad but he did something even madder.

“No, Barbara, we need to seal it with a kiss,” he said.

And with that, his lips crashed into mine.

Brandon Cornwall’s POV

I was having some inner thoughts when I was kissing Barbara’s lips. One: it was as soft as a marshmallow. Two: I was kissing her for fun but it turned out that I just wanted to kiss her the first time that I saw her.

Lastly: I think I don’t want to bed anyone else when I know she was this close to me and we were already married. Technically speaking not yet since I have to give the marriage registration to the city hall and we have to wait for 3-10 days for it to complete and Sabrina will be the one to send it after this.

But how can I let this opportunity to slip my fingers? It has been years since I officially wanted to kiss someone that I wanted and I don’t think it was this petite woman in flannel and combat boots.

I seriously need to get my eyes checked.

Before it can develop any further, I broke the kiss before I stepped out of her personal space. Barbara’s eyes were dilated and I think I liked that look on her. Only I was allowed to put that look on her.

“Well, not that’s done. Sabrina will escort you home,” I said before Barbara was blinking a few times before she did something.

She slapped me.