Chapter 76: A Contractual Marriage

\[Gianna’s POV\]

Twenty minutes later, I stand in front of Grant, our hands clasped, a man dressed in a preachers getup, and vows being spoken though they are a lie.

It is all surreal and definitely not what I would have expected after sleeping with this man because of a bet, but here we were.

Not only us, but even the child that was created between us that was slowly growing in my stomach.

“Do you Grant, take Gianna as your lawfully wedded wife?” The man overseeing our ceremony asks.

“I do,” Grant responds, smiling, his gaze remaining locked on me.

“And do you Gianna, take Grant as your lawfully wedded husband?” The man continues, his gaze shifting to me.

For a moment, I don’t speak while wondering if this really was the best of ideas, but when Grant’s hands squeeze mine gently, I remember the reason I’m doing it.

“I do.”

I could just consider this a business transaction.

I would shield Grant from forced engagements and dates and he would help me support myself and our child until I could start modeling again.

I wasn’t a fool and I knew that this was definitely beneficial to me, but even then, the small voice in the back of my head and my inner child wasn’t fully accepting of this.

Like every little girl out there, I dreamt of my wedding, and it definitely wasn’t anything like this.

I pictured myself in a fluffy white dress, walking down the aisle with my father, while my mother cried and a handsome man watched me like I was the most precious thing to him.

So much for that. I think, focusing on Grant who despite this being a contractual thing is watching me with an odd emotion in his eyes.

What is it?

I can’t quite place it, or maybe I just didn’t want to attempt to do that since he made it clear from the start that love wasn’t in the cards.

“With the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.”

The preachers voice rings out, snapping me out of my head and it does, I have just enough time to see Grant’s face slowly closing in on mine and when our lips meet, a torrent of confusing and dangerous emotions rush through me.

“Congraluations.” The man watching us says when Grant pulls away. “Would you like to wait for your marriage certificate to be created here or would you prefer it be mailed to you when ready?”

“Mailed,” Grant responds, smiling at me. “I’m afraid that I’d like to begin my honeymoon with my beautiful wife now.”

“Honeymoon,” I repeat, raising a brow. “But I…”

“Come on,” Grant announces, cutting me off before I can even mention work and honestly, I understand why since it would give way to our ridiculous union.

However, when we step out of the large courthouse and the bright sun above attacks my eyes, Grant turns to me and smiles.

“What would my bride like to do first? Food? Shopping? Or…” He trails off, his gaze slowly trailing along my body and making my core throb.

“Work,” I breathe, trying to ignore the need starting to bubble in me. “I have a gig, remember?”

I was certain that the crew was wondering where the hell I was since I was supposed to head straight to the set upon arrival, but since we took this detour, well, I was certain I wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“Work,” Grant repeats. “You’ve just gotten married and all you can think about is work.”

“Is that a bad thing?” I challenge. “Would you prefer me to be a lazy woman who lives off of your income and not her own?”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Grant admits and I roll my eyes.

“Sorry, but I have responsibilities now,” I say, touching my stomach. “And it would be irresponsible to just stop working when I still can.”

“Do you think I’m that useless?” Grant asks and I realize that he looks slightly offended. “I said that I intended to take responsibility and I meant that. If you need a place to live, I will provide it. You want nice things? Well, I can do that too. Hell, if you never wanted to work another day of your life, I could…”

“Stop,” I hiss. “I don’t need all of that.”

I was more than capable of taking care of myself given my savings. However, when the time came and I was able to, I would have to return to work.

“I have a home,” I continue. “I can buy the things that I want. I just…”

Just what? What exactly did I want from Grant in terms of our new union?

Sex?

Could I even have sex in the first trimester?

Since finding out I was pregnant was such a shock I didn’t really ask anything and I still hadn’t been to the OBGYN to get an ultrasound and make sure that the baby was alright. I was flying blind here.

Then companionship so that I wasn’t alone while growing a whole human?

Maybe, but since Grant was a CEO, I was certain that he would be a busy man and wouldn’t be able to be by my side and that was fine.

The less time we spent together the better. It would save my heart a lot of trouble in the future.

“I agreed so that when I started showing I could at least claim that I was in a relationship.”

It wasn’t the truth and it would never be the truth, but this would look better than me being pregnant and single.

“But even then I’m certain mom and Anthony won’t agree with this.”

“I already said I’d talk to them.” Grant tells me. “You just focus on relaxing and properly taking care of yourself and the child.”

“Yeah,” I smile and then I give a stretch. “Anyway, we should really get going. I’m certain that the crew in charge of todays shoot are probably irritated by our absence.”

“Is that all you think about?” Grant asks, grabbing my cheek and making me look at him as I attempt to take in the street. “Work, work, and more work?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Maybe it was a bad thing for someone who was in an actual marriage that involved love, but we weren’t like that.

“Money makes the world go round, right?”

“Yes,” Grant agrees. “But that money won’t bring back the experiences that someone your age should be getting.”

“Way to sound like an old man,” I giggle, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy.

“It is because I’m older that I say this,” Grant murmurs. “At your age, you should be experiencing new things.”

“Well,” I sigh, wanting this conversation to end. “Since I’m pregnant, I am afraid I won’t be getting that opportunity.”

“You will,” he tells me. “Just leave everything to me.”