Contract marriage: My billionaire’s cure

Two weeks passed and I had been avoiding Marcus. I slept on his bed every day, snuggling closer to him but that was it.

He asked me several times what the matter was but I just said that I was busy with the upcoming contest. He had been nothing but kind to me and I had been an asshole.

I hadn’t realised that my insecurities were slowly hurting him. I avoided eye contact with him when we worked together in the same room. I always had lunch with my staff. We talked only a few words each day and it was mostly work related.

These feelings conjuring up inside me were hard to restrain day by day. I wished that I had the confidence to go and talk to him about this. But me being the miserable human being I was, could never muster up the courage to go ahead with it.

“Okay that’s it” Marcus slammed his files on the table with a loud thud.

I jumped back in my seat, surprised by the sudden outburst. Marcus turned and looked at me while fidgeting with the pen in his hand.

Anger was clear on his beautiful face. And his anger was directed towards me.

“Tell me what’s wrong with you right now and don’t you dare lie to me about it” he ordered with irritation laced in his voice.

“I told you it’s the conte-”

He suddenly stood up, his chair flying back. His handsome, chiselled face contorted with ferocious anger as he glared at me with his piercing eyes.

“No it’s not. I know it’s not. Tell me what’s bothering you”

He was the reason why I was feeling this. But I couldn’t blame it on him. He didn’t show any signs that he loved me and it angered me. What was so wrong with me that he couldn’t even feel any love towards me?

I stood up from my chair and replied back.

“It’s none of your business. We are gonna divorce anyway. Why do you care?”

His jaw tightened and his fists clenched at his sides, turning his knuckles white. He strode furiously towards me and held me harshly by my wrist.

“It is my business. And I told you not to lie to me” he spat angrily.

His grip tightened around my wrist, bruising it. I whined in pain, trying to yank it back. I struggled against his strong grip but he was too strong for me.

“Marcus you are hurting me” I whined, crying out in pain.

He quickly pulled his hand away and looked at my wrist in shock. He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling a few strands, annoyed with himself.

His gaze fell on my wrist and worry filled his eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you ” he held my hand and massaged my wrist with his thumb, making small circles to soothe the pain.

He leaned his forheard on mine and whispered an apology in my ear.

“Marcus”

“Hmm”

“I’m sorry”

He leaned back, surprised at my words. His eyes search mine for answers and I bit of lip, embarassed under his scrutinizing gaze.

“Can you tell me what’s been bothering you?”

I wish I could. But it was not the right time. I needed to know if he liked me so that neither of us would get hurt. All I needed was time to figure everything out.

“Can you give me some time? Then I will tell you” I looked into his eyes pleadingly. He exhaled a long breath in defeat and nodded his head.

“Fine. But please tell me when it’s the right time” He searched my eyes for confirmation and I gave him a small nod in return.

“Are we good?” He asked hopefully.

“Yeah we are” I said with a small smile and he mirrored my action.

“The contest starts next week and we will be boarding the ship tomorrow morning for preparations”

…

We were both waiting at the harbour for Clara’s arrival.

Marcus’s arm was draped around my waist as we leaned on the car, expecting her majestic entrance.

It had been an hour and all our staff were starting to get irritated. The staff of the Bolton’s were also here and they looked equally frustrated.

My breath hitched as Marcus closed his eyes and rested his head on my shoulder. I didn’t know what to do so I kept my head straight, ignoring the tingling feeling inside me.

He tugged me to his chest, pulling me closer , inhaling my scent. His head nuzzled in the crook of my neck eliciting a deep desire in me as his tender skin made contact with mine.

“You smell so good”

I was rendered speechless. I looked to my left to see Sarah giving me a cheeky thumbs up. Her face was pulled into a huge playful grin as she cheered me on.

I narrowed my eyes at her and gestured her to quit it. She chuckled and nudged Steve who looked equally delighted too see me and Marcus together.

They had been cuddling together for these past two weeks and I didn’t want to think about what they had been doing in detail.

A bright red car pulled up and one of the most annoying person on earth stepped out. She had a flashy grin on her lips but soon it darkened in anger seeing Marcus’s head on my shoulder.

“She’s here” I whispered quietly and Marcus groaned in irritation.

“Don’t put a loving husband act in front of me Marcus. I know you more than she does”

“Just because I was with you for one night doesn’t mean you know me. And please can we not drag personal matters in to this right now?” Marcus asked with anger lacing his voice.

With an eye roll she huffed and walked past us.

“You were only with her for one night?” I asked surprised, since I had thought that he was a playboy who just seeked pleasure.

“Did you think I slept around?” He asked equally shocked at my question.

“I don’t know. It’s just- it’s not possible to love her so I thought you hung out with her for sex” I tried explaining but it only made things worse.

“No I don’t do that. She was there in my hotel that night and she- uh can we just drop this? I don’t want to fight with you again”

I nodded, looking down. The past few days I had been like a pregnant woman with frequent mood swings. All because of one simple yet dangerous feeling.

Love.

“Come! Let’s go” He dragged me and we boarded to the ship with the others.

The designers I had recruited while I was in Germany were already here. The media would also be here soon to have a conference regarding the contest and I was more than eager to see the moment they question Clara.

She would probably try to dodge every question and I would love to see her squirming in embarrassment.

The staff in the ship showed us to our cabin. We walked in and saw a king size bed placed by the window while a narrow wall separated the bed and the blue couch. The tall glass windows filtered sunlight into the room giving an ambient glow to the high end furniture.

(Picture above)

I pulled my hair into a bun and sauntered towards the comfy bed by the window.

“You and the glass windows!” I laughed pointing to the windows overlooking the sea.

“You realised?” Marcus asked, surprised.

“Of course! There are always huge glass windows in every room you go” I said teasingly.

“I don’t like closed places. You could even say that I have a slight case of claustrophobia”

“Why?”

Marcus didn’t answer and glanced at the sea with a glint of pain in his eyes. I didn’t want to pressure him if he didn’t want to tell me. My heart ached in pain, realising that he didn’t trust me enough to tell me his personal matters.

Marcus sat on the bed and leaned his head on the headboard looking exhausted.

“Let’s take a nap before going to the press conference”Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“No you take one. I’m going to watch TV” I pointed to the TV and turned to walk away from the bed.

“No. You come here” Marcus ordered mischievously.

“What? There’s plenty of water for you to look at” I said in a mock tone pointing at the bright green sea.

Before I could say anything else he pulled me to the bed by my wrist. I landed on top of him with a loud gasp. Our faces were inches apart. I looked at him to see a smug look plastered on his face along with a victorious shine. His hand traveled to the back of my head and unclasped my hairtie, allowing my soft curls to fan around us.

Marcus’s eyes glowed brighter as he tucked a loose strand behind my ear.

“Beautiful” he whispered softly and I blushed a deep shade of red.

He chuckled softly seeing me blush and stroked my chin evoking tingling feelings inside me. My hands were on either side of him, balancing my body so that I wouldn’t fall on him.

“What are you doing?” I whispered sceptically.

“I’m preventing you from watching TV”

“You can’t stop me” I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.

“Why not?”

Before I could stand up, he wrapped an arm around my back, tugging me to his chest. His arm tightened around me protectively, crushing me against him as I struggled to get up while laughing hilariously, but he wrapped both of his hands around my back and held me tightly, providing me no escape.

He took my chin by his fingers and tilted my face upwards. His eyes sparkled with desire as he stared into mine. The touch of his tender skin on mine caught me breathless as I stared at his mesmerising eyes.

He leaned forward slightly as if to kiss me but a loud knock on the door interrupted us.

“Mr. And Mrs. Anderson, you are needed at the lobby, immediately”