Chapter 14 Rules? 😳

Chapter 14 Rules? 😳
After some minutes have passed, Sophia ends her call and takes her seat back in front of Callum just as a server arrives and knocks on their door. Callum nods for him to come in before he does. The server walks in and takes their orders before leaving again.
“Thank you very much for the money.” Sophia says as soon as the server was gone.
“So … can we discuss business now?” Callum asks, his eyes on her.
Sophia nods. “Yes.” She puts her phone down on the table, her eyes on him to. “Tell me everything I need to know. You said this contract will last for a year, right?” Sophia asks him.
“Right. One year, that is all. In that one year, you will need to live with me. We do not have to share the same room. In fact, the moment we step into my house, you can pretty much do whatever you want to do. But outside the house, we will have to put up the perfect picture of a perfect couple. We married for love. That must be our headlines. PDA is at all time necessary.”
“PDA?” Sophia asks him.
“Public Display of Affection.” Callum points out.
“Oh.”
“You can do that, can you not?” he asks, his eyes narrowing at her.
“How far or deep can the PDA be?” Sophia asks.
“How far can you entertain?” Callum asks her.
“Considering that we will be faking a wedding too, I guess we will have to include kissing, and touching. I can go that far, but do not take it extreme. There should be limits to how frequently it should happen.”
Callum nods. “That is fair. Do you have any one I should be worried about? Someone sexually involved with you that may pose a problem?”
Sophia looks back at him. “Why?”
He shrugs. “In as much as I would appreciate a scandal after a year as our excuse for ending the marriage, I do not appreciate it now. I do not mind paying him off if that is what it will cost to buy his –
“You do not have to worry about anyone. I am unhinged in anyway.” She sees the way his eyes held questions. “I ended it nicely.” She lies. “Besides, he is not here.”
He nods. “Good. One less thing to worry about.”
“Do you already have a story in mind?” Sophia asks.
His brows furrow. “A story?”
Sophia shrugs. “Of how we met, how we fell in love, and how we finally decided to marry each other? Every relationship have one of such stories. People will ask. And if you are as popular as I assume you may, then the tabloids will be all over us for that story like mosquitoes in July. So, do you have one ready?”
Callum runs his hand through his hair. No, he had none. He had not even thought of such a thing. Thank goodness for her mentioning it. At least it shows she has some brains in this game too. “No, I do not.” He says to her. He watched as a smile seized her lips. “I take it you do?”
Sophia smiles. “I did not, but as we speak, one is taking place in my mind.”
“I will not like it, will I?” Callum asks.
“It will sell.” She tells him.
Leaning back in his chair. “Spill it then.” He says picking up his wine glass again.
Smiling brightly, “It was love at first sight –
“That is grab! No one will believe that, not even Ethan.”
“Ethan?” Sophia questions.
“My friend.” Callum explains. “He knows I do not do love.”
“Like I said last night, there is a first time to everything. Everyone gets to love one way or another. Say this was your turn.”
“Must we go with this story?” Callum asks.
“Except you have a better one in mind. Do you?”
He looks away and sighs. “No.” the server arrives with their meal and begins to serves them. “You may leave.” He says to the server who stands back in case they would need something else. “We can handle the rest.” Nodding, the server bows and leaves. He looks up at Sophia just as he picks up his cutlery. “Continue.” He says.
Picking up her cutlery too. “Mention a place you went on a business trip to three to four months ago outside Spain?” Sophia asks him.
“Washington DC.” Callum says just as he begins to chew on his food.
“That is even perfect.” Sophia says. “So, we met four months ago in Washington DC. You were there on a business trip, I was there … I was there. I lived there.”
“You do?” he asks looking up at her.
“Yes.” Sophia answers. “Somehow, I was there four months ago. So, we met there while you were carrying out business. You were a snub, I was an angel and somehow we just kept running into each other. Deciding it was fate, we hit things off. Three months later, I forced a proposal out of you.”
His brow raise at her. “How?” he asks.
“I was sad.” Sophia says looking away. “I had lost someone, someone very dear to me, a family, so I was very sad.” She looks back up at him. “You flew back to console me, you could not bear seeing me broken, and so you proposed without really meaning to. But you never regretted it, turns out you actually wanted to and my situation at that time just provided a perfect opportunity.” She scoffs. “To make it even more believable we could say you had proposed without a ring, and that you only got to buy me one after I moved down here to Barcelona almost a month ago.”
“Is that when you really moved down here?” Callum asks.
Slowly, Sophia nods. “Yes.” She says with a smile. So we have proofs in case they need it.
He nods. “And the part about losing someone, a family, is that true too?” he asks.
She chuckles. “Yes. I am trying to base our story on real life facts so even if someone tries to dig it up, they will find it hard to.”
“And you just thought of this, now?”
She shrugs. “I have always been very active with making up stories or telling one.” Sophia says still putting on a smile.
“Hmm!” he says dapping his mouth.
“What do you think? It is solid enough and convincing, is it not?”
He nods. “I can work with that.”
“Good. So, all we have to do now is get a ring. When is the wedding happening?” Sophia asks.
“Tomorrow afternoon. I will have a priest ad everything we will need ready.”
“A priest?” Sophia asks.
“A fake one.” He says remembering her concern from last night.
Sophia nods. “Alright.”
“Give me a moment.” Callum says picking up his phone and dialing some commands to Max. “We will have a binding contract.” Callum says to her putting back down his phone. “One that will help us both to understand fully well what the other is w
illing to do and not willing to.”
Sophia nods. “Okay.”