All Chapters of Adopt A Guy: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I finally made it to the office.After turning off the engine, I sat in my car for another moment, studying my reflection in the rearview mirror. I checked my lipstick, smoothed my brown hair, and tucked one rebellious strand behind my ear.Better.I stepped out, straightened my blouse, and gave myself one final inspection in the car window.Fitted white blouse. Leopard-print scarf tied neatly around my neck. Brown miniskirt. Black heels.Professional. Polished. Powerful.Exactly how a senior manager at a fashion company should look.You wouldn't expect the woman responsible for approving designs, managing employees, and keeping an entire department from falling apart to show up wearing an oversized T-shirt and yesterday's jeans, would you?Actually, considering some of the people I worked with, that wasn't entirely impossible. But I had standards. I had worked too hard to let a bad outfit ruin my reputation.With my confidence restored, I headed toward the building, my heels clicking

“Get in the car.”Toby stared at me as if I had just asked him to jump off a bridge.“W-Where are we going?”“Your new home.”“Isn't this my new home?”“Not if I have anything to say about it.”I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the parking lot.“Hey! Slow down!”He stumbled after me, struggling to keep up while I marched toward my car with the determination of a woman on her way to save her entire financial future.Which, technically, I was.My $52,000 was still missing. My apartment had been invaded by a man I apparently owned through a contract I barely remembered signing, and I had a headache that felt like it had been personally designed by Satan.Something had to be done.And I knew exactly where to start.H.E.X.Harlan Ezekiel Xavier.The weird man behind Adopt-a-Guy.The man who had taken three years of my savings and handed me a twenty-five-year-old stranger with excellent cheekbones and absolutely no sense of urgency.I was going to get my money back.Even if I had to d

I wanted my boring life back.Not just an ordinary life. Not a mildly uneventful life.I wanted a painfully, aggressively boring life.The kind of life where my biggest problem was buying oat milk instead of regular milk. The kind of life where I spent Saturday mornings deciding whether to vacuum before or after breakfast. The kind of life where the most exciting thing that happened to me was discovering a new coffee shop.Apparently, the universe had decided I was getting too comfortable.One drunken night had cost me $59,274.Gone.Vanished.Murdered by alcohol and a suspiciously charming man.Fifty-two thousand dollars had disappeared into the Adopt-a-Guy contract. The rest had followed in the form of furniture, groceries, clothes, toiletries, and all the other things a grown man apparently needed to survive.I stared at the spreadsheet on my computer.My savings balance looked like a crime scene.I wanted to sue my past self for financial negligence. Unfortunately, my past self was

The shopping trip began with a lie.Not a lie told by Toby, surprisingly.A lie told by me.“I am setting a strict budget,” I announced as we entered the supermarket.Toby pushed a shopping cart beside me.“Okay.”“I mean it. We are buying necessities. Nothing unnecessary.”“Of course.”“No snacks just because you see them.”“Understood.”“No random purchases.”“Absolutely.”I narrowed my eyes at him.He looked so agreeable that I almost believed him.That was my mistake.I should have known better.The moment we entered the first aisle, Toby picked up a box of cereal.“Do we need this?”“Do you eat cereal?”“Yes.”“Then fine.”He placed it in the cart.Then he picked up another box.“What's that one for?” I asked.“Variety.”“Put it back.”He returned it to the shelf.We moved to the next aisle.He picked up a packet of crackers.“Do we need these?”“No.”He put them in the cart anyway.“Toby.”“What? You said no snacks just because I see them. I was asking you.”I stared at him.He g

There are two kinds of best friends in this world.The first kind will bring you soup when you're sick, listen to you cry over a terrible breakup, and tell you that you look beautiful even when you resemble a potato that has recently been through a natural disaster.The second kind will send you a message at nearly midnight announcing that she needs to talk about the strange man living in your apartment.Jane belonged firmly in the second category.And, unfortunately for me, she had never learned the meaning of the word subtlety.I stared at her message for a full minute, hoping it would disappear if I ignored it long enough.GIRL. I NEED TO TALK TO YOU. IT'S ABOUT TOBY.No.Absolutely not.I was done talking about Toby.I'd spent the entire day thinking about Toby, paying for Toby, shopping for Toby, and cleaning up after Toby. I'd even spent a portion of my evening explaining to Adrian why a grown man was living with me.I deserved compensation.Financial compensation, emotional comp