Chapter Five
Molly’s face felt warm, all the blood in her body rushing to her cheeks. She had expected the worst, but she hadn’t expected this. The restaurant around them seemed to slip away in a quiet hush, and all she could feel and see were his sharp eyes staring across at her. He seemed unaffected by her reaction, relaxing in his white button up and black tie. She’d only taken a few sips of the beer, but she already felt foggy from the rush of adrenaline.
She crossed her legs out of self-conscious habit. She didn’t know what made her feel more uncomfortable. The fact that the distance between the two of them suddenly felt way too small, or that he seemed uncannily calm about this preposterous request. The words on the paper in front of her seemed to swarm and encompass her entirely. He wanted her to pretend to be his fiancé for four months. William Harding, multimillionaire and CEO of WTA Consulting was proposing a ridiculous scheme in which she acted to be his soon-to-be-bride.
She tried to keep her nerve and swallowed the thick lump in her throat. “Is this your version of a mid-30s crisis?”
He leaned forward, and she immediately tensed. The glint of his cufflink caught her eye as he rested his arms on the table. It was small yet probably obnoxiously expensive. It irked her to no end. “You’re free to reserve your judgement.”
“Oh, I’m judging.”
“This proposal is quite rational,” he said matter-of-factly, his grey eyes not moving from hers, “I need my family off my back, and you seem…” his eyes flickered down to her person, “fitting.”
She raised an eyebrow, “fitting?”
“Let’s just say they don’t approve of my past portfolio of women.”
Molly held herself from rolling her eyes. Oh, she could only imagine his past portfolio of women. She didn’t know whether to be mildly offended or extremely offended. “Do you want to elaborate on that?”
He shrugged one shoulder, “They want me to be with a simple girl.”
“Simple,” Molly drew out slowly.
“Nothing flashy, you know. The girl next door.”
“Your ability to compliment women amazes me?”
He gave her a dark smirk, “I’m glad I’ve flattered you.”
She choked on her drink, “hardly.”
“Shall we go over the terms?”
“What makes you think that I could stomach acting as your fiancé?”
He looked as if he was enjoying himself, “act more appalled and you may actually hurt my feelings.”
“I’m not sure you have feelings, Mr. Harding.”
“Ms. May, you’d be rejecting an incredibly valuable internship.”
“An unpaid internship,” she interjected, as her eyes flitted over the second page of the contract, “I have rent to pay, you know.”
He gave one small nod, “the terms are negotiable.”
“If I was interested, that is.”
“You can’t say that you aren’t,” he leaned back then, “what’re your reservations?”
She knew he was working her. Dissecting her like a business man would an adversary; finding her weaknesses and countering them one by one, so that he could spin the situation to work to his advantage. She wanted none of that. “My reservations are you. I don’t like you. I don’t want to spend time around you.”
“We don’t have to like each other.”
This was ridiculous. “What exactly are the roles and responsibilities of William Harding’s fiancé?”
“A convincing performance that we’re in love for a period of four months, at the end of which you will break my heart and leave me grieving. Good enough to convince my family to get off my back for a good amount of time.”
Molly cocked her head to the side. “What does a convincing performance mean?”
William Harding leaned back in his chair, “public displays of affection, touching – an arm around the shoulder, hand on each other’s thigh - a kiss if required – say, when we are saying goodbye around company. I’m not sure if holding hands is required, I haven’t done that since I was a prepubescent boy, but I can let you call judgement on that. I’ll draft a list of facts about myself that you can use to prove that we’ve spent a considerable amount of together, and I’d request you do the same. If we’re ever required to spend a night together at a family gathering, I’d make sure to arrange for two beds, and I’ll cover any related costs to this project.”
“Related costs?”
“Wardrobe upgrades, dresses –.”
“I’m not changing a thing about me.”
He waved a hand, “It’s only if you wanted to.”
“What would people at work think?”
“They wouldn’t know. This would be a private agreement.”
Molly bit her lip, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. This was all so ridiculous; she was having a hard time actually comprehending it. She looked at the neatly stapled sheets of paper in front of her and felt as if the words were swimming around her. How in the world had she gone from going in for an interview to negotiating terms of a private agreement with William Harding?
He leaned in again, clasping his hands, “What do you say?”
She looked up at him and this time, met his gaze dead on. The unwavering grey that stared back was unsettling, but she found herself steeling herself with unbridled nerve. She sighed, “I’ll think about it,” she gave him a tight-lipped smile, “if that’s all then, I’ll think I’ll get going.”
“Very well.”
“Goodbye, Mr. Harding.”
He gave her a nod as she stood up, “Ms. May.”
She collected the contract, finally breaking eye contact. She felt like she was shaking but hoped that he didn’t notice. Trying to put on one last façade of indifference, she collected her jacket, and then promptly walked out of the bar.
x.x
William watched her walk away, and then flagged the waiter to get him another beer. He’d had an exhausting week, filled with disgruntled CEOs, flights across the country, stacks of paperwork and two civil lawsuits that were being pressed against his clients. On top of all of that, his father had tried to call him twice to persuade him to go on a series of blind dates that him and his mother had scouted out for him. He wasn’t sure how many times his parents would fall for the excuse that he was fighting off a bad case of strep throat, but he’d managed to worm his way out of another set of disastrous dates. He’d been in a foul mood when Molly May had walked into his office.
The last thing he had expected was the fiery, argumentative, too righteous for her own good twenty-something that had sat down across from him. Had she walked by him on the street, he wouldn’t have given her a second glance. She was too ordinary for that. But there was something about the way that she’d told him off, and had tried to put him in her place, that had made her incredibly refreshing. Nobody would believe him when he explained it, but it was incredibly tiring having everyone kiss his ass at all times of the day. To add to that, people were messy. They had feelings, emotions, expectations. It was impossible balancing relationships with getting ahead in life. You chose one and sacrificed the other. There was no way to attend to both. It was the only way he’d made it this far in life. He’d essentially adopted a mask to keep everyone at an arm’s length without getting too involved with any of them.
He didn’t have to pretend with her, and that felt good. She assumed he was a dick and didn’t expect anything out of him. Perfect.
It was only after he’d really gotten a good look at her that the idea had sprung into his head. She wasn’t really all that ordinary. In fact, she was actually quite pretty. Her hair seemed to have a mind of its own, and her big brown eyes gave away how she was thinking despite her best intentions. He was sure she had no idea that she actually had curves on that small frame of hers, and despite having the world tell her that she was probably a few pounds overweight, the thickness around her hips and the way it curved into a small waist was incredibly pleasing to look at. Besides, it made her squirm – which was entertaining.
He would never actually date her. No, the woman he would eventually settle down with would be nothing like Molly. He needed someone who had already made it far in her career, was preferably also work-oriented like him, and had no expectations from him romantically. Sure, they would admire and respect each other, maybe have a family, but he wanted someone whose primary focus was her career and understood that sacrifices needed to be made in order to achieve that.
However, Molly would be perfect for his family. She was normal. Funny. A little spitfire that would appease their whims and keep them quiet for a while. There was something alluring about her; an energetic charm that he found entertaining. It would be better if she was a little less argumentative, but they could work on that. Lastly, he would get additional help at WTA, which would help ease the paper load at work immensely. This was a win-win situation.
He stayed at the bar a little longer, enjoying the taste of the barley in his Steam Whistle as he tried to unwind from his day. He had an early morning flight to Alberta to negotiate terms with a potential client, needed to get back to the office to finish the oil fields case that he was working on, and had to somehow fit a gym session in between all of that.
His phone buzzed, and he looked at his smartwatch to see that it was Tony calling – known to others as the T from WTA.
“Where are you?” Tony’s voice chipped as soon as he picked up, “we’ve got some developments with the China case. It’ll be an all-nighter.”
When was it ever otherwise? “Can Adam take this one?”
“His wife went into labour half an hour ago.”
“Shit,” he sighed, “Perfect timing.”
Tony mirrored his sentiment, “I know.”
“I’ll be there in twenty,” William motioned to the waiter for the bill and then returned to his call, “do me a favour, will you?”
“Shoot.”
“Could you do a runaround on HR, and get a check on a woman named Molly May, her resume should still be in our database.” William would have done it himself, but Tony had built their HR from the ground up and had access to all the security check systems they used without needing to explain why he wanted to use them.
A pause from Tony, “Who’s this Molly May woman? Are you planning on hiring her?”
“It’s a personal project.”
If he was curious, he didn’t let it show. “Alright – I’ll email you what I can find within the hour. Just get your ass here, I don’t want to be the only one dealing with our Asia team when they wake up in two hours.”
William hung up and quickly checked his notifications to see if she’d contacted him yet. He frowned. His personal e-mail showed no new notifications. He buried his irritation. He hated waiting. Inefficient use of time directly correlated with decreased productive output.
Putting it to the back of his mind, he paid the bill and walked through the bar to the main lobby of the Fairmont. He knew this place too well for his own good. 2018 had been a rough year for his work/ life balance. He’d taken countless flights back and forth between the States and Canada and hadn’t even attempted to calculate how many miles he’d travelled across the Atlantic. After a year and a half of attempting to furnish an empty apartment, he’d given up and had taken residence at the Fairmont Hotel. It was always clean, the fridge was always stocked with essentials, and they took care of any whim or impulse that crossed his mind.
He’d just pressed the call button for the elevator when his pocket buzzed.
About time.
Her number flashed on his phone, and he opened her text.
Molly: You have a deal. I’ll email you the amended contract.
He smirked, and quickly drafted a reply.
William: I’m glad you’ve come to this decision. Explain amended.
She replied immediately.
Molly: I want a pay-check.
William: Monthly stipend.
Molly: Bi-weekly pay, with benefits
William: Bi-weekly pay, without. Not negotiable further.
Molly: Fine.
William: I’ll see you at my office tomorrow morning at 9AM. Wear a suit and bring coffee. I take it black.
His phone showed that she started typing, but either stopped or decided to erase what she wanted to say because she didn’t reply further.
A/N: I’ve decided to try and write from both Molly and William’s perspective, something I don’t normally do, but want to try more of. What are your thoughts! Let me know in the comments below!