Choices and Commitments

Pov

Cora

I returned to my cubicle, stumbling. My head was spinning with everything that had just happened. This morning, I left home in a panic because I couldn't keep a roof over my head. Now, I was engaged. Sort of.

In reality, it didn't count as an engagement—my agreement with Bryce was more of a business transaction. But still, suddenly I was about to get married.

When I reached my desk, I sat down and closed my eyes. I focused on my breathing, on how it entered through my nostrils when I inhaled and exited through my mouth when I exhaled. "In, out. In, out."

"Are you okay?" Avery asked.

I opened my eyes and started to nod, but suddenly tears welled up in my eyes.

"Oh, honey," Avery said, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I can't talk about it here," I said.

Avery looked both ways before answering. "Dana will have our heads if we sneak out now, but as soon as lunchtime comes around, we'll grab something outside the office, and you can tell me everything."

I nodded. I wasn't sure if I could tell Avery. But she seemed trustworthy from the moment I met her. And I had to get this off my chest. I couldn't talk to anyone else about it.

Especially not my mom. I knew what she would say if I told her I had just agreed to be someone's wife for a ton of money. She'd say no matter how bad things got, they'd never be that bad. But she was wrong.

Things had really gotten that bad, and I wasn't going to let us end up on the streets. I hadn't been able to fix things for my mom. We were drowning in bills, and our house was about to be auctioned off. This was my way out.

It wasn't exactly what I had hoped for when I wished for something big to happen—I had something like getting a new job in mind instead of getting married. But this was what the universe gave me.

When lunchtime came around, Avery and I sneaked out of the office. She insisted on going to a trendy café, though I wanted somewhere cheaper. Like an angel, she offered to pay for our food when I said I was short on cash.

Soon, I'd have more money than I knew what to do with, and could repay all the people who had helped me.

"Okay, spill," Avery said when we sat down at Fresh Roast Bistro two blocks from the office. "What's going on with you?"

I began to tell her what had happened, how I let the bills get away from me because I couldn't pay them all, how I stole toilet paper—a new low—and how Bryce gave me money.

"He's a dream," Avery said, stars in her eyes.

I snorted. "It gets better."

I told her the rest of the story—the foreclosure on the house and Bryce's demand that we get married. After I told her everything, she blinked at me, mouth agape.

"Yeah, I didn't know what to say either," I said.

"Cora, this is crazy," Avery said. "Are you serious? You want to do this?"

I sighed. "I don't have much of a choice. I mean, what's the alternative? Not only will I be fired for stealing, but my mom and I will be on the streets, and there's no way she'll be okay if we don't have a home. She's getting better, but it's a slow process. I can't do this to her, Ave."

Avery nodded slowly. "You're the most selfless person I know."

"Stop," I said, feeling silly. "You would do the same for your mom."

Avery nodded. "Yeah, I guess I would. But this is big, Cora. Although... I doubt being around Bryce Hollis all day could be too terrible. Oh my God, the guy is a dreamboat."

I laughed and shook my head. "Yeah, he's a dream alright. But it's not like I imagined Prince Charming sweeping me off my feet. He's not even interested in me. It's purely for what I can do for his image."

"Wait. You think he'll back out and not give you the money?" Avery asked.

I blinked at her. "I hadn't thought of that. Surely, Bryce would keep his word?"

"You better get that in writing. Just like any business deal. Because that's exactly what this is."

I thought about it. "I don't know if this is a deal we can put on paper," I said. "I think it might compromise what he's trying to do if there's any proof of what it really is."

"Yeah, I guess so," Avery said. "Just... you know, be careful."

I nodded. I was going to marry someone for money. This wasn't about love. As long as Bryce kept his word—and I suspected he would—there wasn't much that could go wrong.

I just had to make sure I kept my heart out of it. Which I didn't expect to be a problem. I had no illusions about what this marriage meant.

No matter how handsome Bryce was, and how nice he could be sometimes, he was a player who used women to get what he wanted. He was using me too. Just not in the same way.

But then again, he had hinted that the door to his bedroom would be open...

"What if he wants me to sleep with him?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't you want to sleep with him?" Avery asked. "God, every woman in the world wants that, and you'll have access to him twenty-four seven. You're the luckiest person I know."

I tried to see it that way, but Bryce wasn't the love of my life. I wasn't planning on spending the rest of my life with him.

I was still a virgin because I'd never dated a guy special enough to be my first. I didn't expect that to change with Bryce.

No matter how wonderful he was.

I was grateful Avery had taken me out for lunch. When we returned to our desks, I felt much better. And determined to make it work somehow.

It was for my mom, if nothing else.

An hour later, Bryce called me to see him again. It annoyed me—was I going to have to jump every time he snapped his fingers?

"I have work I need to do," I told him as I walked into his office. "You can't keep calling me away from my desk. If Dana thinks I'm lazy, she won't give me the job I need."

"Don't worry about Dana right now," Bryce said, grabbing his blazer from the hanger and shrugging into it. "You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

I frowned as I followed Bryce to the elevators.

Home?