"Have a seat, Sienna" CEO Dante offered, and he was sounding rather polite, which seemed surprising to me.
I took a seat without any further talk.
Silence engulfed the room for a moment and there he was again, staring directly into my eyes and I couldn't look away. His eyes were so charming, I couldn't resist but look back into them. His stare was uncomfortable but soothing at the same time, it threw me into my wildest fantasies.
"Here you go", he said, dumping an envelope on the table.
I was hit with an immediate flashback of the night with Marcus, the divorce papers and all that. I took deep breaths to ease off but I couldn't help it. Everything felt fresh in my heart again, I felt a tear drop down from my eyes and I immediately wiped it off with the back of my sleeve hoping Dante hadn't noticed but it was too late. He was looking at me, but this time, concerned.
"Are you alright?"he asked, reaching out to hold my hand on the table.
"Yes sir, I'm very fine thank you", I responded trying to fake a smile and pulled my hand off the table.
"It's okay if you don't want to share. This can wait for another day, take your time off and go home and get some rest",
"No sir, it's really not a big deal. I'm very much alright, nothing to worry about", I said. I was curious about what was in the envelope, maybe I wasn't getting fired after all.
"Are you sure?", he asked
"Yes sir, I am"
"Alright, here, read through this", he said, taking out the papers from the envelope and handing them over to me.
I took them from him and the caption struck me. 'MARRIAGE CONTRACT' written in bold capital letters. 'Was he getting married? If yes, what did that have to do with me?' I wondered. I read through carefully and realized it was a fake marriage contract offer. I was still confused about it.
"What's this about sir?", I asked, confused.
"Sienna, well there's a protocol that requires me to attend certain functions with a plus one and most expectedly with my wife. It's a code of conduct that I have breached over the years. But now my company and I need the publicity and considering that I have no intentions of getting married, I figured I could give the audience a show instead. All you have to do is sign the contract and pretend to be my wife and I promise to fulfill all the terms stated there".
"Sir, me? Why? You could pick anyone else", I said perplexed.
"Yes I know I could pick anyone and that's why I pick you, you'd be a perfect fit, plus you're already pregnant, it'll make a whole lot of sense. Please Sienna, just agree to this", he begged.
I was in awe. I sat and thought for a while. I needed the money and I needed the support, but this was crazy. The plan coming to California was to just be low-key and take time to build a life again and this would demand a lot of media attention, I wasn't ready for any of that.
"Please Sienna, consider it. You'll be doing this company a really huge favor", he further persuaded.
Jess advised me to do spontaneous things to fill up my time so I won't go into depression from being stuck in my own head. I guess this was an opportunity for that.
"Fine, I'll agree to this on one condition".
"Okay go on, what's it?"Dante inquired.
I took a deep breath and let my words out. "We will have no form of sexual relationship no matter what"
He burst into a really loud laugh and was almost tearing up. I was consumed with confusion and embarrassment. 'Why was he laughing?'.
"Excuse you Sienna, respectfully you're not the type of woman I'd ever be sexually attracted to, not to think of being sexually involved with. So you most certainly have nothing to worry about", he said and continued to laugh loud and hard.
I was really embarrassed at that point. 'What did he mean by that? Was I not good looking enough?'I was irritated by his ego. He must think very highly of himself.
I read through the papers again before signing to make sure everything was clearly stated.
"Thank you so much Sienna. And one more thing, this is strictly for the plot, strictly business. One year and we're done. Falling in love is not an option here, with me that would never happen", Dante clearly stated and obviously I couldn't care less. Love was not even a word in my dictionary anymore. I was too broken to be thinking of falling in love.
"You'll have to meet my mom later today, I'll plan a surprise proposal, she'll be there. Just come looking pretty. If you want to shop for the dress you'll wear tonight, I can take you to the mall or just send you some money to go get it yourself or we could just order online and have it delivered to your house, what do you say?"
"Wait, what? Meet your mum?"
"Yes, Sienna, my wife-to-be has to meet my mom of course" he said demonstrating with air quotes.
I was already nervous.
We sat in front of his computer and looked through dresses online and how fast they could be delivered and we were stuck between two options, a black bodycon dress with silver beadings and a red sleeveless flare dress. I really liked the black dress simply because it was black but the red dress was also very pretty.
"I think you should take the red dress, it'll suit you better considering how highlighted your shoulders are and the color would suit your lips well, the cherry pop effect of your lips would be really breathtaking if paired with the dress" Dante said.
Silence swept through the atmosphere and I tried my best not to look away from the computer but I could feel his eyes staring lustfully at my lips.