The Billion Dollar Contract

Chapter Two

Mia

My heart stopped. Almost literally.

The waitress had come to serve our food as I stared blankly at my boss. The one who had sent me into mental torture, the one who had never smiled at me, the one who had never laughed at my stupid jokes. Suddenly, he had the audacity to lie to his mother and said we were engaged.

"When did this happen?" Jean gasped, as she began to clap her hands in joy. "I knew it! From all the late nights and long weekends, you two were bound to fall in love. I just never thought it was going to take you this long to get married."

What the hell is going on. My mind was completely filled with endless thoughts as I tried to pull my hand away from Adam's grip, but he kept holding tightly as the sides of his lips curved up into a smile or more likely, a smirk.

"I was trying to find the right moment to tell you," he replied.

I shook my head, still trying my best to pull my hand away. He had been gripping my hand underneath the table ever since he dropped the engagement bomb, "Actually, I think this is all just too much and what Adam was trying to say is that—"

Adam managed to cut me off as he grabbed my thigh, turning to look straight into my eyes. To others, it may seemed as if we were two lovers but to me, I knew better than to believe that. He was trying to shut me up and if I bothered to utter a single word, he was going to end me.

"How much we never expected to fall in love but we did," he continued my words which was different from what I had planned to say. "All those late nights, long weekends and time alone at the office had really made us took a huge step forward."

Jean smiled, "Why didn't you tell me sooner, sweetheart?"

"Mia was afraid you wouldn't approve."

Bullshit! I didn't even have a say in this.

I couldn't even stop thinking about his grip on my thigh, even near my centre. He probably didn't realise how it felt as I sat quietly in my seat—he probably thought I was complying. I glanced down at his hand, it could even leave a mark if he somehow managed to grip harder.

Adam was constantly turning to look at me and I couldn't look away.

"Nonsense. I've always loved you, Mia. There's no one else better for my son than you," Jean responded before making her way towards me, pulling me in for a hug. I stood there awkwardly as I slowly returned the hug. "You've been there for Adam and if there was any other woman who knew him more, it would only be you. In fact, this is wonderful news. We have to tell your father,"

"Please do, he might leave me alone for once." Adam replied.

"I'm going to call him," Jean chuckled as she walked away, leaving Adam and I.

As soon as she was out of sight, I turned to look at Adam in shock. My eyes widened and I was growing furious but Adam barely had an expression as he leaned back on his seat, "Would you mind telling me what the hell just happened? You told your mother that we were engaged!"

"Keep your voice down."

"No, what the hell?"

"Incase you've forgotten, I'm still your boss and if you want to keep your job, you'll just play your part."

"As your lovely fiancée?"

"Exactly. You catch up quick,"

"Mr. Auclair—"

He leaned in, our faces were inches apart as he stared straight into my eyes. If one of us were to move forward, our lips were bound to meet which was why I stayed still. It was my first time seeing his hazel eyes up close. I knew they were slightly golden and mixed with green but looking at him this close only gave me confirmation of how beautiful he was. His smooth and almost pore-less looking skin, his thick and long eyelashes, and even his luscious lips, he was the definition of perfection.

The kind of perfect I had tried to ignore.

"Ms. Madden, if you could try to calm down for a moment. That would be very helpful,"

"How do you expect me to calm down? What are you trying to do?"

"Let's just get through lunch and we'll talk."

"But—"

"No buts. Now, my mother is on her way here and I don't want her to think that something is wrong." Just as I glanced behind him, his mother was in fact making her way towards us.

Instead of leaning away from me, Adam continued to lean in until his lips came to meet my cheek. I blinked a few times in confusion but as soon as I felt his hand staying still on my thigh, I knew this was part of the act. I didn't move nor did I do anything except being frozen like ice.

Adam leaned away, leaving me breathless. I felt as if I had been holding my breath ever since he kissed my cheek.

His lips was barely touching my skin but it felt warm and gave me a weird feeling in my stomach.

"Your father is excited for you, Adam. He can't wait to meet you," Jean sat down, grabbing her son's hand.

"The feeling's mutual, mother."

The mother and son continued to talk as the three of us ate our lunch. During the whole conversation, I had kept quiet and only answered whenever questions were being asked—I had to pretend as if I was the loving fiancée but I had a hard time focusing because Adam hadn't stopped touching my thigh nor my hand.

It was my first time seeing this side of him and I was terrified.

Terrified of how natural he made it looked like. The way he kept glancing at my direction with a smile plastered on his face or the way he rubbed his thumb on my thigh, all of those actions didn't go unnoticed by Jean. She was eyeing us like a hawk and she couldn't stop talking about how happy she was. Adam on the other hand, kept his cool and continued to pretend.

Maybe, if he had told me earlier about his plan, I could have prepared myself better.

Now, I just wanted to hide under the table and waited for everyone to leave.

"Isn't that right, sweetheart?" Jean asked, causing me to break from my trance.

"Excuse me?"

Adam raised an eyebrow, "Is everything okay? You seem a bit pale,"

I shook my head, "Everything's fine. I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed,"

"Oh, sweetheart. You don't have to worry about anything. I was just asking if you two were keeping the relationship a secret or not." Jean continued to speak, waiting for me to answer. She didn't seem like she was trying to figure everything out but more like a concern mother who wanted us to fill in the details—Jean was always nice and it felt awful lying to her.

"We didn't want the office to find out." I replied, my answer short and simple.

"Mmm, the right thing to do. They would gossip,"

Adam cleared his throat, "It wouldn't matter."

The next thirty minutes felt like another round of torture but as soon as we were leaving, Jean had pulled me in for another hug before she stepped into her car. It felt weird faking a smile and waving to her as her chauffeur drove her off the street, until she was finally out of sight and Adam immediately dropped his hand around my waist.

I took a few steps away from him, trying to catch my breath.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell just happened?"

"Were you not there the whole time?"

Adam was being as sarcastic as ever. The straight face yet he wasn't being as serious as I expected him to.

We were standing on the street outside of the restaurant as people were passing by. He had his hands both in his pants' pockets as he stood tall, looking at nothing else but me while I tried to stay calm before I could attack him with more questions. As I kept staring at him, he was just waiting for me to explode.

He knew I couldn't keep it in.

"Mr. Auclair, you just told your mother that I'm your fiancée." I breathed.

"I know. I was the one who said that,"

"Why would you do that?"

"She has been asking me to marry for years now. I'm just giving her what she wants,"

"Not by lying to her face. Not by dragging me into this. I'm your employee,"

"Which is why you're perfect for the role. You've been with me for the past five years and you've known me longer than any woman ever has. You wouldn't question my motives, you wouldn't expect feelings to come along and you wouldn't try to take advantage. At least, that is what I think would happen if we were to continue this act." He spoke, calmly.

"You never discussed this with me. I—I just don't understand,"

"We're discussing now."

"It doesn't work that way."

He took a few steps forward, "Look, Mia. This isn't anything personal and you don't even have to worry about anything."

"That's easy for you to say. This is very weird for me,"

"Then, I'll drop by your house after work with my lawyer. We'll go further into details and draw up a contract. How does that sound?"

"Actually, I—"

The sound of his phone managed to cut me off and he didn't bother to continue listening as he picked up, immediately talking. The call sounded important as he nodded his head, gesturing for me to call David and pick us up.

David was our chauffeur, who had been working for us even before I came into the company. He knew almost everything about Adam Auclair, on how he was always punctual, on how he was always working and in meetings, on how he was never the womaniser. He never had the time to know anyone and at this point, I was sure the only woman he ever talked to more than twice a day was me.

I stared blankly at my billionaire boss, wondering what was going on in his head.