The Billionaire and His Fake Wife

Chapter Nine

I look up from my phone and sure enough we are outside my house. I was so focused on my work emails, I didn't even notice we had arrived back home. It seems like we were only in the car for a couple of minutes.

"Oh, thank you, Keith. I will see you in the morning." I say, as I get out and make my way inside my large, empty, to quiet house. Soon enough this house will have a beautiful young woman roaming the halls. Something I'm sure will take some getting used to.

I have spent so many years here alone in this house, aside from my staff. I'm not even sure how it will feel to have another person living here. Hopefully, she is as independent as she seems. I do not have time to babysit someone. If she needs something, she will just have to figure it out for herself.

I go straight to my in-home bar and pour myself a glass of whiskey, before going to my in-home office to continue working. Flopping down at my desk, I log into my computer and resume working. Since I left a little early today, I have a lot of work to catch up on. I will probably be working most of the night.

-Ashlyn’s POV-

“What did I do? What was I thinking? This is insane. I am insane. Why did I agree to a contracted marriage?” I ramble to myself, as I pace back and forth from the wall to the door of my small dorm. “I can’t do this. I have to call him and tell him I can’t do this. I shouldn’t have agreed. I should have just told him he was nuts and took some time off to save up money. That’s what a normal person would do.” I continue rambling.

The door opens and Lena pokes her head in. “Is it safe for me to come back in now?” She asks, looking around.

“Yeah, he is gone.” I say, huffing.

Lena gives me a curious smile. “So, how did it go? Are you going to be the next Mrs. Williams?”

“I don’t know about the next Mrs. Williams. I don’t think there has ever been a first one. He said he doesn’t date. Doesn’t date? Who in hell doesn’t date?” I say, still mostly rambling to myself.

Lena laughs and looks at me like I am crazy. “Honey, you don’t date.”

“Yeah, but that’s because I am busy. I don’t have time to think about dating.” I retort.

Lena smirks, shaking her head. “I think you are scared of dating, but let’s say you aren’t scared and you are just too busy to date. Maybe Mr. Williams is busy too. He is the owner of a huge company, I’m sure that keeps him pretty busy.”

“Don’t defend him.” I say, stopping in front of her, with my arms crossed over my chest. “He doesn’t date because he is crazy, and to blunt, cold and, I don’t know what else. Nobody wants to be with a man like that.”

Lena gives me a soft smile. “Ashlyn, listen to me. You won’t know what he is really like until you are actually around him all the time. He might be the sweetest man in the entire world. You should just give him a chance and see what happens. Even it turns out to be the worst year of your life, at least you will come out on the other side with a million dollars.”

I laugh, unable to stop myself. “Look at you, always trying to look on the bright side of things. There is a possibility of having the worst year of my life, but I will get a million dollars for my pain and suffering.”

Lena laughs. “Well, I wouldn’t put it exactly like that, but yes. I guess technically it would be a payment for your pain and suffering. Sooo?” She asks, smiling at me.

“Sooo, what?” I ask, already knowing where this is going?

“So, does this mean you said yes to his proposal?” She asks, sounding a little more serious now.

“It wasn’t a proposal. It was a contract offer.” I say, huffing a little.

Lena sighs. “Stop stalling. Seriously, did you say yes?”

I nod my head. “Yes. I said yes, but I don’t know why I said yes. I shouldn’t have said yes. I need to call him and tell him that I changed my mind.”

Lena’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head. “What? No. No, you can’t do that. Ashlyn, this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you don’t do this now, you will never get another chance like this.”

I flop down on my bed, covering my eyes with my arm. “Lena, I don’t know. I don’t think I can fulfill all the requirements of the contract.”

Lena lays down on the bed beside me. “You are worried about the s*x part right?” She whispers.

“Yes.” I whisper and I feel my cheeks heat up. I know I am being immature about this. I am twenty-one years old; I shouldn’t be nervous. I just can’t help it.

“Don’t worry about it. How long do you have before you become a wife?” Lena asks.

“We start this whole fake marriage thing right after finals.”

“One week?” Lena asks, sounding shocked.

Her shock is not helping my nervousness at all. “Yes, Lena. Now you see why I am so nervous.”

“No, don’t be nervous. If you want, we can go out to a club or something. I will help you meet a guy. You know someone that can help you with the whole s*x thing.” She whispers.

Sex with a stranger. Is that really better than having s*x with my fake husband? Either way it’s not like I know the person. The only real difference is if I am terrible in bed I won’t ever have to see a stranger again, but I will see my fake husband every single day. There will be no escaping.

“Let’s do it.” I whisper.

Lena grabs my arm, moving it off my eyes. “Wait, really? You really want to go to a club and find some random dude to fool around with.”

“Yes, I do. I don’t want to be a virgin on my fake wedding night.”

Lena squeals excitedly, clapping her hands. “Oh my god! This is so exciting. We will go tomorrow night. So, pick out something sexy.” She says, winking at me.

I laugh, shaking my head. “I can already tell I am going to end up regretting this.”

Lena laughs. “We will just have to make sure you drink enough that you won’t regret anything.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t know if that is possible, but we can try.”

Lena smiles, giving me a hug. “Everything is going to be great. I promise, Ashlyn.”

“Thanks Lena.”

When she pulls out of the hug she goes to her desk. “I have got to finish studying for my final. For some crazy reason the teacher decided we didn’t need an outline or study guide for the test. So, literally everything we learned this semester could be on the test.”

“Yeah, I better start studying too. If I fail my finals I won’t have to worry about paying for my last year of schooling, because they won’t want me to come back.” I say, half joking, half serious.