Chapter 3
When they met next, it was at her father’s house again. She’d given Scott the choice and he’d chosen neutral ground. He’d never expected to be attracted to his future bride, had in fact expected her to be flawed in some terrible way. But the woman he’d met last night was a well-mannered, if flamboyant young woman. If he’d done some research, he would have discovered that she was also very attractive in that voluptuous way that was so out of style these days but to him was exactly what a woman should look like.
Over the past few days, he’d been thinking a lot about Marissa and that voluptuous body, a new experience for him since he seldom gave the women he was interested in much thought besides what they could give him. But the simple truth was that she intrigued him. He’d spent hours on the internet looking for information about her and in the end decided that she was simply seeking attention. He didn’t believe for one minute that she had a drinking problem. In fact, he could see how carefully calculated every escapade she’d gotten into had been.
Her fashion business was pulling in profits and seemed poised to go international in only a few years. All in all, she seemed nothing like the woman her father had portrayed her to be. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know. There was more to this story than met the eye, and he was going to find out what that was. He had nothing else to do with his time, a good mystery was just what he needed.
The fact the mystery involved Marissa made it all that much more appealing. If she was hiding something, it wouldn’t be that hard to find out what that was, after all they’d be living together for at least a year. As he thought about all the other stipulations he’d put in the contract, it occurred to him that they’d be spending a lot of time together over the next few months; the thought actually made him smile.
He’d never had to pursue a woman before, had never found one he wanted to pursue, but Marissa had awakened something vital in him that had been dormant his whole life. Just the thought of her made his blood heat a little as it shot straight to his groin, never had a woman had that kind of effect on him. It was thrilling and intoxicating, and he had no plans to fight it in any way, in fact thoughts of seduction were on his mind more than anything else as the date for their next meeting approached.
When he got to the house, he was shown to the study, a much more formal room than the last time he’d visited, which made him wonder why this visit already seemed different. He wondered if he should have dressed better, the jeans and tee shirt he’d thrown on that morning looking out of place in the formal room. But when Marissa walked into the room, he was relieved to see that she was dressed just as casually in leggings and a long sweater, a colorful scarf wrapped around her neck.
“Hi, Scott. How are you today?” Marissa said, handing him a sheet of paper.
“I’m good. How are you?” he replied politely, waiting to see how she was going to manage this meeting.
“I’m fine. Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, that would be nice,” he said, trying not to smile at her ultra-polite behavior.
After she’d gotten them both coffee and sat down, she looked at him, pausing for a second when his green eyes met hers, then said, “Let’s get right to it, shall we?” He nodded, sipping his coffee to hide his grin. “I realize that we have to live within the tenants of the contract and one of those is that we have to live together for at least a year, so you’re going to have to move in with me. I’m not willing to give up my house, at the least I figure that you’ll have to spend four nights at the house a week.”
“I’ll just move in with you so no worries on that front. I don’t really care where we live,” Scott said, trying to be agreeable. “I don’t have much stuff, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
“We’re not sharing a bedroom, which brings me to my next point. Just because we’re married don’t think that sex is part of this bargain. I’m only doing this because I have to, so we’ll have separate bedrooms,” she said, bravely meeting his eyes.
Scott sat stunned for a second. This was a side of Marissa that he hadn’t seen yet, a side that was even more enticing than her polite, good-mannered side. He wanted to jump up from the chair and pull her into his arms, but instead only held her gaze for long seconds, watching the desire flash through their chocolate depths, giving him the answer he was looking for.
“That’s fine, I’m not used to sharing a bed anyway. I might hog the covers, and just to warn you I like to sleep naked,” he said, suppressing a smile when her eyes got big. He’d never been much of a flirt, but teasing Marissa was proving to be quite entertaining.
“Well, that’s uh... good,” she finally managed to stammer. Then taking a deep breath, she got control of her racing heart, noticing that her palms were sweaty. “I also think it would be best if we made a few appearances together before we get married, just so there’s at least some back story to tell. I don’t know about you, but I’m not telling anyone that my father forced me to get married.”
“I have to agree, but what did you have in mind?” he asked, not having thought about all the questions they would have to face.
“Well, we could say that we met at a coffee shop and it was love at first sight. We’ll make a few appearances at social functions together, and then at Misty Bishop’s birthday party, we’ll show up with rings on our fingers,” she said, ticking off each step on her fingers.
“You seem to have put a lot of thought into this. Why Misty Bishop’s birthday party and who’s Misty Bishop?”
“Misty and I have hated each other since I took her boyfriend in fifth grade. Ever since then she’s been trying to ruin my life. She hasn’t succeeded, but she’d done some pretty terrible things to me over the years. I just want a little payback, you can’t blame a girl for that,” Marissa said, shrugging her shoulders.
“That’s a little viscous,” Scott said, marveling at this other side of Marissa.
“She deserves it. Don’t even get me started on all the things she’s done to me over the years,” Marissa said, defending herself.
Scott held up his hands. “Hold on, I’m on your side. Remember?”
She scowled at him, then took a deep breath. “Sorry, I just get carried away when it comes to Misty. Anyway, there’s a list of functions we could attend together on that sheet. Pick a few, I don’t really care. I hate them all equally.”
“I’ll pick any of them that Misty won’t be attending,” Scott said, a serious look on his face.
Marissa stopped fussing and looked at him, then burst out laughing. “Okay, point well taken. I’ll pull in the claws, but Misty will be at most if not all of those functions. We’ll have to put up with her. Don’t be surprised when she comes on to you. She’ll be hoping to get between us. Of all the people we have to convince, she’d probably the most important.”
“Well, then I guess we’ll have to make a believer out of her, won’t we? I don’t really care what we do. I’m not really much for all those social functions, meeting movie stars and all that,” Scott said, waving his arm in the air at the Hollywood sign that could just be seen in the distance.
“Oh, you’re not likely to run into any movie stars in this crowd, they’re much too sophisticated for that. They barley even let me into their circle. Some of the things I do aren’t exactly considered proper to these people,” she said, shaking her head.
“You’re making it sound so appealing,” he said, laughing. “I have a feeling that I’m going to need some new clothes. Got any plans for the afternoon?”
Marissa considered this for a second. Her attraction to Scott had only grown over the last hour, her attempt to approach this from a professional standpoint falling flat every time he made her laugh. It was refreshing to discover that he didn’t care about social standing and getting in good with the in crowd; it had never been her thing. In fact, it had been nearly two years since she’d been to any of these social functions. Her idea of fun was very different from people like Misty. She would much better be at a birthday party at one of the shelters.
“Okay, we’ll meet at the coffee shop by the mall after lunch, it’ll be perfect. Hopefully, someone will see us, that would be even better,” Marissa said, getting up.
Scott followed her lead, getting up from the chair he’d been sitting in and following her into the foyer to the front door. “I’ve got to go see what I have in my closets here. I might need some new clothes too,” she said, her mind already sorting through her closets.
“Okay, I’ll see you after lunch,” he said, then impulsively kissed her, his lips lingering just a moment on hers. Then, without a word, he walked out the door.
Marissa stood rooted to the spot, her fingers raised to where his lips had touched hers and the tingle that was still there. Her heart was beating heavily in her chest as she watched Scott close the door behind him. That kiss hadn’t been part of the bargain, and if he kept doing things like that, she’d have a hard time remembering that this was all for show. The man was too attractive for his own good, why someone hadn’t scooped him up before now was a mystery to her, but then again she hadn’t known him long enough to discover his flaws.
Realizing that it was time she found out some more about her fiancé, she went straight to the library and spent the rest of the morning searching the internet for stories about Scott. What she discovered only increased her belief that they were definitely not right for one another. Sexual attraction or not, Scott was the kind of man she hated. He’d probably been responsible for the some of the pain and devastation she found around the country in those communities where the factories had closed leaving people without a way to make a living.
When she came across the story about his fight with his father, some of her questions about why he was here were answered. She finished her session on the computer with a new understanding of who Scott Terrell was and an even deeper conviction that getting involved with him was a colossal mistake. A year was all that was required and a year was all she was going to give. This new knowledge had quickly stilled any desire she felt for Scott. He was far from the kind of man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Cursing her father once again, she looked at the list of functions she’d compiled. Starting from the top, she choose four and then put a big circle around Misty’s birthday party. That would leave three weeks to have a whirlwind romance and get married before the party, then the days would start counting down until she was free of this ridiculous situation. She just had to protect her heart until then because as different as they were, she felt something for Scott already and that was not a good thing.
She got to the coffee shop first that afternoon, grabbed a coffee and a table for two, thrilled when it began to get busy in the shop. With perfect timing, Scott showed up, and after getting his own coffee asked her if he could join her. There were at least three women in the shop that she knew, so she and Scott played their meeting up, finally making it loudly known that Marissa was going to help him buy new clothes.
They were both giggling for real by the time they left the coffee shop. They’d put on a good show and they both knew it. By the end of the day, their meeting would be all over town, exactly like Marissa had planned. “That couldn’t have worked out better. Did you see the look on Michelle’s face when we left together? I bet she was on her phone before we were out the door,” she said, looping her arm through his.
Scott was a bit surprised by the contact, but pulled her in a little closer, enjoying the feel of her so close to him. He discovered as they walked that she smelled like flowers and something a bit spicy like cinnamon or cloves. The temptation to bend over and smell her hair was so strong that he had to take a deep breath and force himself to concentrate on what she was saying.
“I sent you an email with all the dates I choose, including...” She hesitated for a second then added, “The wedding ceremony.”
Scott’s heart leapt at her words, but he calmed his nerves by remembering that this wasn’t permeant and he had not only a mystery to solve, but a beautiful woman to seduce. He’d never tried to seduce a woman before, but after that kiss the other day, he was looking forward to the chase. Marissa had already proven to be an intelligent woman, who knew how to plan well, but he could also sense the desire in her and he was going to expose that.
“Okay. Don’t worry, Marissa, we’ll just take this one day at a time. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but we’ll make it work,” he said, reaching up to squeeze her hand where it rested on his arm.
Marissa hadn’t even realized that she’d grabbed a hold of him and started to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. Giving her a smile that made her heart start hammering in her chest, he quicken their pace, forcing her to hang onto his arm. To her relief, they reached the formal wear store and Scott was forced to let her go, but to anyone observing them, it looked more like they hated to let go of one another.
Marissa had never been clothes shopping with a man and found to her chagrin that it was a ridiculously intimate process. The fact that Scott was made to wear a tuxedo didn’t help matters. It also didn’t help that each time he tried one on, he came out of the dressing room with his shirt hanging open, his muscular chest exposed. Then there was the agonizing process of seeing if the pants fit right. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that Scott was making it take longer.
Scott was indeed enjoying the process of buying new clothes for the first time in his life, watching Marissa squirm in her chair every time he came out was worth all the effort. He’d known almost as soon as they walked thought the door what he wanted but was drawing out the process just for the opportunity to watch Marissa pretend that she wasn’t attracted to him. But finally, he had to put her out of her misery and ordered three new suits as well as two new tuxedos.
“Well, that was more fun than I thought it would be,” he said when they finally walked out of the store.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Marissa said, looking a little flushed. “How about we get something to drink, I’m thirsty.”
Scott laughed, then said, “You look a little more than thirsty to me.”
Marissa shot him a dirty look. “I didn’t think...never mind. Stop flirting, there’s no one around to see,” she said, a scowl on her face.
“So, I’m only allowed to flirt with you when there are people around?” he asked, trying to sound serious.
“Exactly, none of that stuff unless we have an audience,” she said, walking farther away to make her point.
Scott laughed, then said, “So, let me get this straight, no touching or kissing unless we have an audience?”
“Kissing? I don’t think I agreed to any kissing,” she said, her mouth gaping open at his words.
“Oh, I definitely think there should be some kissing if we want to make it look real. Which I have been wondering about. Why is it so important that we make this look real anyway?”
Marissa was still thinking about the kissing, but managed to explain, “If we make it look real, then everyone will accept it sooner and stop asking questions. The less mystery, the sooner the talk will die down.”
“Hmm, I see,” he said, looking around the mall, then spotted a mother with two toddlers sitting by the fountain. Pulling a surprised Marissa into his arms, he kissed her, his tongue sneaking into her mouth when she gasped in surprise.
Marissa was shocked and pushed back against Scott’s broad chest, then had no choice but to lean into the kiss when it was clear that he wasn’t going to stop his exploration of her mouth. Sliding her hands up his chest, she wrapped them around his neck, completely lost in the way his smelled and tasted. But when his hands skimmed her ribs to pull her closer, she remembered where they were and managed to pull away.
Panting, she looked up at him, her hands on his chest feeling it rise and fall with his heavy breathing. “There’s no one around,” she managed to say, trying to shoot him a dirty look, but failing when she saw the desire in his green eyes.
“I just wanted a practice kiss to make sure we did it right,” he said, taking her hand and entwining her fingers with his, amazed at how small it felt in his large one.
Marissa followed him out of the mall in a daze. That kiss had been explosive and strangely addictive. In her limited experience with men, she’d never been that aroused by a simple kiss and that had been nothing more than a simple kiss. But the power in that one kiss had only shown her what was possible if she let her guard down, a temping but dangerous thought, one that could only complicate an already complicated situation.
He walked her to her car in silence, but when they got there and she was safely buckled in, he said, “I’ve been thinking, if we want this to look real then maybe we should go out on a date. I mean, isn’t that what we would normally do?”
She thought about that for a second. “Yeah, I guess that’s true, but we have to go somewhere that we’ll be seen,” she said, trying to remember that it wasn’t a real date.
“You pick the place and the time and let me know. I’ll pick you up,” he said, smiling at her, making her heart pitter patter and a tingle of desire form deep inside.
“Okay, I’ll let you know,” she managed to squeak, then drove away before she embarrassed herself.
Marissa wanted to bang her head on the steering wheel. How had this gotten so out of hand? They’d just been kissing in the mall, and what was worse she’d enjoyed every second of it and would have happily done it again. This wasn’t going how she planned. She’d hoped to keep Scott at a distance, a working relationship of sorts, but he was making that impossible. If she’d known that this was going to happen, she might have made a different decision.
Keeping her other activities was going to be impossible if they became involved with each other, especially since something told her that Scott wouldn’t think it was such a good idea for her to be hanging out in some of the places she did. Then she’d be fighting with both her father and her husband for her freedom. Just that thought of that was enough to make her desire go cold. Her only choice was to keep her distance from Scott, no matter how hard that was going to be.
Scott watched Marissa drive off thinking that today had gone much better than he could have ever imagined. He was beginning to like this free lifestyle, no emergency phone calls to worry about, no board meetings to prepare for, just the mystery of the woman he was about to marry and the delicious thought of coaxing her into bed. The invitation to dinner had been the first step, and if her reaction to his kiss in the mall was any indication, he might actually get lucky on his wedding night.