All Chapters of I Signed a Marriage Contract, Not a Love Triangle: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Some people woke up to birds.Some people woke up to sunshine.Irene Potter woke up to three alarms.The first screamed at 4:10 a.m.The second joined in at 4:25 a.m.The third, scheduled for 4:40 a.m. and she finally rolled onto her stomach, found her phone under the pillow, and silenced that it.Across the room, Mr. Mustard stared at her through his tank.“How I envy you. You sleep whenever you want.”Mr. Mustard slowly paddled toward the side of the tank.Irene sat up and immediately regretted it. Four hours of sleep sat behind her eyes like extra weight.She checked the time. It was 5:00 a.m.Technically, she was ahead.She got dressed in the dark because the bulb near her closet had burned out two days ago, and replacing it was currently below groceries, laundry detergent, and the minimum payment on her credit card.Her coffee-shop uniform was clean enough. Black pants. Plain shirt. Hair pulled up because there was no reason to spend time making it look nice when she would smell l

“Excuse me?”The stranger looked almost as irritated by his own question as Irene was.“What are you wearing?”Irene stared at him.They had been alone in the elevator for maybe twenty seconds, so that might have been a personal record for getting insulted by someone she had never met.“Clothes.”His eyes narrowed. “I mean the scent.”“I've been cleaning for four hours.”“That isn't it.”“Well, that's good. I was worried the bathroom cleaner had become part of me.”He looked at her again, and Irene became more aware of just how large he was in the small elevator. Not bulky, exactly. He was leaner than that, but tall enough that she had to tip her face up slightly when she looked at him.The tattoo on his right arm disappeared beneath his pushed-up sleeve. His hair was dark, a little messy, and his eyes were an unusual golden brown.Very attractive, but unfortunately, he was utterly rude.He inhaled again.Irene's patience thinned.“Are you seriously smelling me right now?”“No.”“No? W

“You’re asking a lot of personal questions for a job you still haven’t explained.”Celeste looked down at the form between them.They were sitting in the back corner of a quiet café Irene would never have chosen for herself. The coffee cost almost as much as lunch, and nobody behind the counter looked rushed.Celeste had arrived exactly on time.She was mid-forties, maybe. Dark hair, fitted coat, clean nails, expensive watch. She looked like someone who had never had to check her bank balance before ordering food.Irene had come straight from work.She had almost canceled twice.The first time was after Celeste called exactly forty-eight hours after the phone screening and told her where to meet.The second was after Irene searched the address and realized the place had a dress code listed online.She came anyway because three months of rent had a way of making people flexible.Celeste tapped the page with her pen.“I need to finish the preliminary questions before I can explain the po

“I need you to understand that I’m not quitting my jobs.”Celeste was quiet for a second.Irene was now sitting at her kitchen table with a notebook open in front of her and Mr. Mustard’s tank behind her.She looked at the conditions she had written down, checking if she missed out on anything or if there’s anything she should add. She knew herself well enough to know that once someone started talking about money, she was more likely to compromise things she shouldn’t.“I understood you the first time,” Celeste said.“Good.”“I’m telling you that Lord Valcieri may have his own conditions.”“That’s fine. He can have them.”Celeste paused then said, “I’m sensing a second half to that sentence.”“He can have them. But, I mean, I don’t have to agree to them.”That earned Irene a short silence. Then Celeste said, “Fair.”Irene looked down at her notes.“Weekdays stay mine. I work mornings at the café and evenings at the convenience store. If he needs me somewhere during work hours, he asks

“Lord Valcieri.”Celeste stood when the private dining-room door opened.Irene turned. And for the first few seconds, she forgot she was supposed to do anything else.The video had not prepared her for Ares in person. Neither had the photographs.He was tall, probably a little over six feet, dressed entirely in black without looking like he had tried very hard. His silver hair was pushed back loosely, not perfectly styled, and without the sunglasses his eyes were even stranger than they had looked on Irene’s phone. Very light blue. Almost icy.Then there was his mouth. Red enough against his pale skin that Irene noticed it immediately.She had always known vampires were supposed to be attractive. People talked about it. There were whole corners of the internet devoted to people who thought sleeping with one should be on some kind of bucket list.Irene had never paid much attention.She understood it now.There was something openly sexual about him even while he was doing nothing more i