Contract marriage: My billionaire’s cure

“Your hair’s so soft”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Mmm”

I stood behind Marcus’s chair while he went through some documents.

I told him that I would massage his scalp and poor Marcus who didn’t know how evil I was, let me do so.

I took two rubber bands and gathered his hair into two small pony tails. My hands were working through his hair so swiftly that he didn’t even notice what I was doing.

It has been a week since we finally confessed to each other. Even though we had been busy with the contest we always made time for each other. Nothing further than kissing had happened yet. Today was the second elimination round so Marcus and I had come early in the morning to the hotel.

I wrapped my arms around him and bent down to hug him from the back. Nuzzling my head in his neck, I kissed him gently on his soft spot earning a groan from him. Marcus’s arm came around me to pull me onto his lap but I dodged away, making him pout.

I moved further away from him and a giggled escaped my lips when I saw the two ponytails. A loud knock on the door interrupted us and Steve came inside with a file.

He blinked deliberately as he saw Marcus and I shook my head mouthing don’t laugh. Steve bit his lip looking a like a tomato ready to explode. He quickly covered his mouth and coughed loudly, unable to contain his laughter.

Marcus looked back and forth between me and Steve, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing”

Marcus narrowed his eyes in suspicion and I tried to keep a plain face as much as possible.

Suddenly the door opened and Jake came hopping happily inside.

“Hey sis what the-”

Jake stopped midway and looked at Marcus in shock.

There was no reason for Jake to stay at the hotel but since the day he met Blair he had been staying here with us, lying that he wanted to see the competition. He had been talking to Blair a lot. Only he was talking. Not her. Jake followed her like a puppy but she just ignored him and continued with her work.

I shook my head begging him not to laugh while I was failing at doing the same thing.

Jake clipped his nose and choked on air like a maniac, clutching onto the door to stop himself from toppling to the ground. Composing himself again, he snapped his head at me and gave me a thumbs up with a wink.

“I feel like a proud brother. You did well my sister” he walked over to me and patted my back in pride. In return, I gave him a dramatic thank you bow.

“Weirdos” Marcus shook his head, his pony tails wagging on his head as went back to work.

“Well I guess we’ll be leaving now” I gestured to the door and started walking out.

“Wait. Let’s have breakfast together” Marcus stood up from his chair and I quickly hurried to the door, knowing that he had to walk past the mirror to get to the door. He would kill me for sure after seeing his reflection.

I quickly grabbed Jake and Steve by their sleeves and hurried off to the stairs.

We were halfway down the stairs when we heard Marcus shouting.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” Marcus shrieked loudly and we heard the door open with a loud bang and angry footsteps stomping down the stairs.

“Shit run run run ” All three of us jogged down the stairs as fast as possible.

We quickly reached the massive restaurant where everybody was having breakfast. It was the safest spot because the cameras were rolling as the contestants ate.

We sat at the far corner of the restaurant, away from all the cameras. I held up the menu and hid behind it, trying my best to cover myself.

“He’s coming” Jake murmured slowly.

“Get up” Marcus ordered Steve who was sitting next to me. I didn’t look up from the menu but from the corner of my eye I saw Marcus pulling out the chair and sitting beside me.

“You’re gonna hide behind that forever?”

I quickly put the menu down and cleared my throat, not meeting his eyes.

“Look at me” I slowly turned my head to look at Marcus and a small laugh escaped my lips. His hair was messy, probably because he had ripped the hair bands out.

I leaned and pecked the scowl on his lips. His shoulders relaxed and he looked at me, displeased.

“That’s not a kiss. I want a proper one. Come” Marcus wrapped his arm around me and tried to pull me towards him but I just laughed and shook my head in a no.

“Oh god this is adults only. Let’s leave Steve” Jake give me a disgusted look and stood up to leave.

“Amelia please stop” Luke yelled out and we all stared at the contestants’ table in surprise.

“What Luke? You are my partner. Not hers. Don’t you think it’s unfair to me?”

“Just because we are partners during the programs doesn’t mean I like you”

“Ooh I need popcorn” I snickered evilly, seeing the love triangle.

“You are so evil. Why are you laughing?” Marcus said.

“Because more drama means more viewers. And more viewers means more money. And if I’m so evil why are you sitting here?”

“Because I love you” Marcus said with a smirk, already knowing that he had won the argument.

“Same to you” I said teasingly to which he pinched my nose.

“Ouchhh”

“That’s not how you say it. Say it properly”

“Ow ow ouch okay okay I love you too” Marcus released my nose and pressed his lips to mine. His lips moved tenderly against mine as he tilted my head, deepening the kiss. He bit my bottom lip teasingly, making me groan in pleasure. I kept my hands on his body to stop myself from jumping on to him and underneath his dress shirt I felt his lean body.

I started touching his body, tracing and exploring his abs through his shirt while kissing him. Marcus suddenly gripped my groping hands and leaned back with a smirk on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“You have a nice body” I poked his stomach and drilled my finger into it, earning a laugh from Marcus.

“Gosh I want to take you right now” Marcus groaned, almost aroused, to which I blushed and pulled my hands back.

“There-there’s a jewelry store right across the street. Let’s go there after breakfast” I cleared my throat and said awkwardly.

“Why? Let’s go to our room” Marcus said in a husky voice as he leaned in to bite my earlobe.

“Nope. I want earrings”

…

It was already afternoon and we walked across the street to the store. It was small but fancy. Jewelry showcases were kept along the walls with golden light brightening the lustre of the jewelry.

I walked along the showcases with earrings that were too expensive for most people to buy and a white gold classic diamond earring with six prongs caught my eyes.

“Marcus buy me that” I said cheekily and pointed to the earrings and Marcus leaned in to look at it properly.

“Why, You are a Billionaire. Can’t you buy it yourself?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

I felt my blood boiling at his words. A simple gesture of love wouldn’t hurt. Why does he have to be a dick all the time?

Seeing my face contort to anger Marcus panicked and cupped my face in his hands. “Oh god Camilla. I was just joking. I will buy-”

“Stop. I don’t need you buying me anything. I will buy it myself”

I turned on my heel and walked to where the staff was. “I need to speak to your manager”

The manager came running, already recognizing us. ” I’m the manager here. How can we help you? Do you have any particular jewelry that you want to buy Mrs. Anderson?”

“Oh no. Not just anything in particular. I’m gonna buy the entire store right now” The manager and the staff all looked at me in shock, their mouths hanging wide open.

Marcus stared at me with wide eyes before composing himself to talk to me.

“Camilla I’m sorry I’m so sorry. I was just joking. You don’t have to waste your money just because you are angry”

“I want to and it’s none of your business”

“Please pack those white gold diamond earrings for me. We’re only buying that” Marcus quickly bought the earrings and led me outside.

“Why did you buy it? I was gonna buy it” I complained furiously.

“You were gonna buy everything”

“Yeah to show that I can live without a man in my life. That’s girl power” I crossed my arms in front my chest and tried to look as intimidating as possible.

“I’m sure girl power doesn’t mean buying an entire shop out of anger”

With that he tugged me closer and crossed the road. He seemed to be on edge whenever we crossed roads. He was different in so many ways and I couldn’t figure out the reasons he had for being so.

But perfection is found in accepting your imperfections. I fell in love with the imperfect Marcus and I cherished him for who he was, not what he could be.

…

Since it was the elimination day there was lot of work to do. Viewer ratings usually sky rocket today. To provide them with the best of the best, we had prepared a winter photo shoot.

Behind Marcus’s hotel was a huge grass field with pine trees which were now covered in snow. The trees were lined along the narrow path circling the frozen fountain lying in the middle. Benches coated with ice were kept along the second path which was big enough for a car to drive through. The pine trees around the field were decorated with blue neon bulbs, giving a luminous glow to the darkening sky.

I plodded through the path, rubbing my hands to warm them up. I was wearing a white trench coat with everything black underneath from blouse to pants to boots but I had forgotten my goddamn black leather gloves.

Suddenly I was yanked back by my wrist. It was Marcus and he started removing his gloves.

“What are you doing?”

“Giving them to you” he put the gloves on my hands and dug his bare hands inside the pockets of his long black coat.

“The mall is a bit far away so I couldn’t buy new ones”

“I was the stupid one who forgot the gloves. Here take them. You need to be warm” I started removing the gloves but Marcus stopped me.

He dragged me to where the photoshoot was happening. It was in front of the fountain so we sat on a cold bench, shivering the entire time. I moved closer to Marcus and kept my head on his shoulder.

Even though I was shivering I yelled out instructions to our production team when my contestants were taking the photos. They needed to be highlighted as much as possible for me to win this.

I looked at Clara and she had covered her entire body with clothes, which was a rare sight to see.

The Harringtons were cuddling each other and on a bench at the far corner, Brandon was staring at me. I smirked at him and wrapped my hands around Marcus’s left arm, snuggling closer to him.

The photoshoot and whatever else that was happening today will be recorded into an episode but the elimination will be broadcasted live. So it was a much of a busier day than the others.

“Ma’am” Sarah came running to me like a penguin with her heavy boots.

“Ma’am. I have gossip”

“What?”

“I heard that Mia kissed someone else who also happens to be Luke’s friend. So now the friend, Colton has told Luke and tonight he is going to confront Mia. The judges already told me that those three won’t get eliminated today since they had good scores in yesterday’s shoot. So that means we’re going to have drama tonight”

“Wow that’s great. I really wanna see it”

“Yes and with this our show and sales will go sky rocketing” Sarah jumped up and down and clapped her hands merrily.

“How about we put this for today’s show?” Marcus spoke for the first time after Sarah came.

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s make this live”

“Omg Mr. Anderson that will be awesome. The intensity will already be fading by tomorrow so putting it to tomorrow’s episode will be useless”

“Okay after the photoshoot gather everyone. We have many things to discuss” I ordered Sarah who nodded her head eagerly.

“Ma’am today will be busy and I guess none of us can go home”

“Oh but I didn’t bring any clothes”

“Don’t worry I will be going to the mall now to buy pajamas for me. I’ll buy some for you too” Sarah said with a small smirk on her lips. I could sense the wheels turning inside her brain, coming up with a devious plan.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion and she gave me a wicked grin.

Something was definitely fishy here and I feared for what might happen tonight.