CHAPTER 10—Olivia

I wake up to warmth, a luxury that I couldn’t afford in the past and snuggle deeper into my pillow.

For some reason, the pillow had muscled arms that fit perfectly around me. It was comforting to say the least.

I’d do anything to wake up like this every morning for the rest of my life.

I try to roll over, but my pillow holds me tighter, making me its captive.

A smile breaks out on my face, my pillow doesn’t want me to leave. It felt nice but I’d have to get up one way or another.

“What are you smiling about this early in the morning?” My pillow asks and I marvel at its deep voice that sends a vibration through me.

I giggle “It’s about you holding me tighter, you want me to remain in bed.” There’s no reply from my pillow.

“This feels really nice you know, you’re so warm and it makes me feel safe” I say to fill the silence between us.

“We can sleep like this all the time if you want” It offers, and I blush a deep pink.

“I would love that” I say immediately before it changed its mind.

When I finally open my eyes, I envision birds singing and cold breeze swaying softly into the room.

The light streaming through the window lets me know that the sun is almost out and that I was hungover,

I grimace at the brightness of the room and having birds sing outside the window didn’t seem as appealing.

When I try to get up from bed something holds me back. My pillow. I tug at it, but its strong arms remain around my torso.

Wait…pillow? When did pillows grow arms long enough to wrap it around my torso. I was going insane.

I turned slightly to the pillow, my heart beating.

I cuss under my breath when I see that it’s Jake. I’m about to push his arm away when he turns to me, his hair falling over his face and covering his eyes.

My fingers push his hair back to reveal his still closed eyes. “What are you doing in my bed?” I ask him.

“Can I just hold you for a little longer? I was having a really nice dream” he pouts and finally opens his eyes.

I’ve never taken the time to study the color of his eyes until now.

His eyes are the deepest shade of blue that makes you think about the ocean when you look into them.

It doesn’t help that his hair is blonde which highlights his eyes even more. I don’t realize how long I’ve been staring until he clears his throat.

“It’s inappropriate for us to sleep like that, I was drunk but this shouldn’t happen again” I warn, even though I wanted otherwise.

“But you agreed to us sleeping like this all the time” he says, squinting his eyes at me “Were you bluffing then?”

I shake my head “I thought you were my pillow.”

Jake tries to keep a straight but he’s failing gradually, it’s not long until he bursts into laughter.

“You thought that I was your pillow?” he asks, to make sure he understood me alright.

I push his hand “I was sleepy and hungover. I didn’t realize the position that they were in.”

He raises his brow “But you’re lesbian right? you shouldn’t be bothered by our closeness. Unless…” he smirks “You lied, and you’re somewhat attracted to my sexy self.”

If I could smack that smile off his face I would. “Sorry to hurt your ego handsome but this girl here?” I gesture to myself “Is not attracted to you one bit so wipe that smirk off your face before I do it for you.”

“It’s settled then. We’ll sleep together since we both like it and I’m not attracted to you too” he says and sits up on the bed, causing the duvet to fall off him and leave his abs in plain sight.

It was hard to say no to him since it was the first time that I ever slept that peacefully. I nod.

“We should try being friends while we’re at it. I mean if we’re hostile towards each other it’s going to be hard convincing my parents that we’re madly in love and looking to spend the rest of our lives together.”

I laugh “You’re right. I’m surprised they didn’t see right through us.”

“And with the way you wolfed down your food?” he laughs loudly “Holy hell!”

I cover my face with my hair “Can’t blame me, you didn’t think to feed me after knocking me down”

He grimaces “My bad.” He raises his right hand and places it on his chest, “I Jake, a noble Duke of good upbringing pledges to feed Lady Olivia the first at all times.” he says with a high-pitched voice noble men in the past probably used.

I fall back on him in a fit of laughter “You better keep to thy noble words” I managed to say.

He lifts me off him and places my feet on the ground “Let’s get you a hangover soup and breakfast into that tummy of yours before I hang for breaking my word.”

He takes my hand in his and takes me to the kitchen.

Maybe this entire contract thing could work out for me in the end. He wanted to be friends which means he wants to keep in touch with me even after our supposed divorce.

The only person that has ever stuck close enough to be my friend was Jess and it had been an accident.

But Jake, he wanted to be my friend even if he didn’t have to.

I sit at the kitchen counter as he opens cupboards making whatever was in his mind. Turning, he gives me a hot view of his back.

I’m a work out addict but Jake’s muscles beat mine hands down. I’d have to ask him for a gym around here that I can go to.

It’s just a few minutes when he finally slides a green substance in a white bowl towards me.

“Drink it and you’ll be good as new” He proclaims but instead of feeling better I want to throw up.

“What the hell is this thing?” I ask as I wriggle my nose.

He looks at me with a shy smile “I and Kyle never gave it a name, it’s just something we made up, but it works really well. You should try it.”

I’m not sure if I should, “It looks like it could kill me before it makes its way inside my mouth” I complain, holding the bowl at arm’s length.

He pushes it closer to me “Eat it”

I push it back to him “You eat it”

“I’m the one with a hangover” he teases. He pushes the bowl back to me and I reluctantly pick up my spoon and eat.

It’s the worst thing I’ve ever had to eat. The texture is strange but the moment I swallow, the slow banging in my head starts to recede.

“Okay, this actually works” I say with a mouthful.

“I told you” he winks, and I laugh.

I hear the door open and turn in time to see Kyle walk in. I move closer to Jake, there was just something about his best friend that seemed to put me off.

I’m about to give him a warm smile when I remember that he doesn’t want me here. Doesn’t even deem me fit to be a fake wife.

The nerve!

I make sure he sees the scowl on my face before I return to my hangover soup. Kyle casts me a side glance before turning to Jake.

“The company is doing bad” he tells him, without a greeting or one of those bro hugs that boys do.

“I heard” Jake says, gulping down a glass or water. I watch a stray drop go down the side of his mouth before ending up on his bare chest.

I’ve never wanted to be water so bad.

I shake my head rigorously at that, needing to remind myself that I wasn’t at all attracted to Jake. At all. I wasn’t attracted to men in general.

Then why am I beginning to find him drinking water hot?

I groan and focus on Kyle instead whose eye turns to slits when they meet mine.

“That is probably why he wants to marry you off, to make his company stronger” Kyle explains before pouring himself water.

“Why is he going through all that trouble if he’s going to hand it over to me when I get married, doesn’t make sense to me” Jake says.

I find myself nodding “Doesn’t make sense to me either.” Kyle glares at me like I shouldn’t be part of their conversation.

“It feels like he has something planned, your father isn’t one to be tampered with” Kyle insists.

“Whatever his plan is, it’s going to work to my advantage. I’ll marry Olivia in two weeks and get the company transferred to me then we can start working on the reforms we planned” Jake says, his eyes thoughtful.

“And what if something happens with Olivia?” Kyle asks in that his voice I hate so much, like he’s an English aristocrat.

Jake casts a worried glance at me “I have so much faith in her, what could go wrong?” Jake counters and I sighed in content.

He was putting his entire plans in my hands because he had faith in me. No one has ever said that about me before, so it warmed my heart.

I say nothing though, I just watch him prepare sandwich and omelet before piling it up in a plate in front of me while he resumed his conversation with Kyle.

Anyone could easily tell the two friends were polar opposites. Where Jake was playful and carefree, Kyle was uptight and never smiled like he was a mafia boss or something especially with the designer suits that he always wore.

I scoop an egg of the plate with my hand but before I could taste the no doubt delicious substance Kyle hits my hand and it falls back to the plate.

When I glare at him he glares back “Manners” he says and fixes me a stern look.

“What has manners got to do with me eating Omelet?”

I can see Jake laughing at my expense and it makes me smile a little. He should laugh all the time.

“Because at this rate you’ll never manage to impress his parents” Kyle tells me, but I have other things in mind.

Before he could process what I was doing, I take back the Omelet and throw it in his face which instantly shuts him up.

If eyes could kill then Kyle’s would kill me by now, but I don’t have enough time to defend myself from the sandwich Jake throws at me.

And just like that, there’s a food fight and I see Kyle crack a ghost of a smile.