The Marriage Contract

by Natasha L. Black

  Technically I woke up in the morning, but just barely. The alarm was going off at noon, and I hit the snooze button in my grogginess. I had been awake for a few minutes but wasn’t fully there yet. A note was left on my bed, and my eyes rolled over it a few times as I tried to wake up.

  Thanks for keeping me safe. Might as well move today. Meet me at Jordan and Hannah’s and we can start. – Chloe

  Placing the sticky note on the nightstand, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Lots of things were about to change, and I didn’t know for sure how long. It was possible she would only be here for a few weeks, maybe a month or two before we figured out we were incompatible. Or, perhaps, we would be living together for years, happily continuing a sham marriage to keep our respective families quiet until one of us found someone they liked.

  It would have to be her. I knew that already. I liked Chloe more than I should, and the idea that I would be spending as much time with her as I was planning and that I would even be able to look at another woman was a thought that just didn’t settle correctly. She was too beautiful, too funny, too perfect.

  Suddenly, I realized that meant she was going to be in my apartment for the foreseeable future, and that it began when I helped her get her things over. With a dose of excitement from the idea of more time with Chloe, I made my way out of the bed, started the coffee maker, and grabbed a quick shower.

  A still-damp towel hung from the shower curtain rod, and I realized she must have gotten up early enough to get a shower herself before leaving. My body reacted to the thought of her standing where I stood, the hot water running over her naked body, and I had to stop myself. I didn’t want to take any longer before I had her there, in the flesh.

  Out of the shower, I got dressed and downed the cup of coffee in record time before throwing on my shoes and heading over to Hannah and Jordan’s. Apparently, Chloe didn’t have a whole lot to move, and when I got there, her car was full of stuff, as was Jordan’s truck, and there were only a handful of things left. I stuffed them into the car and took my load over. When I got there, an idea flashed through my head, and I pulled out my phone.

  The door opened a half-hour later, and Jordan came in carrying a few boxes first. Chloe was right behind him with Hannah behind her. They all stopped in the hallway, looking into the dining area just off the kitchen.

  “Ahh, well, that explains where you went,” Jordan said.

  “You got me flowers?” Chloe asked, dropping her bags and coming over to the table.

  “Purple pansies, your favorite,” I said. She fell into my arms, and we kissed. I held myself there in that moment a bit longer than I intended, and when we broke the embrace, our eyes lingered on one another.

  I remembered the flowers from our talk in the car on the way to Mom’s. She’d mentioned they were her favorite flower when she saw them used as ground cover at a house we passed by. Thankfully, there was a flower shop just a block from the apartment, and on-call delivery folks were pretty open at stopping there.

  “You got Chinese food, too?” she asked, looking in the cardboard box on the table. “You got me egg foo young!”

  Another notch in the memory bank for me.

  “I got enough for everybody,” I said. “Once we have everything in, we can stop and have dinner before you guys head into work.”

  “Oh, that’s right, I gave both of you tonight off, too,” Jordan said, coming back from dropping a couple of boxes off in the guest bedroom.

  “Yup,” I said. “You didn’t put that together yesterday when I said she was moving in?”

  “Never even crossed my mind,” he said, walking away and back out the door.

  An hour or so later, everything was in, and I was microwaving the food to get it warm again. Covering the table with the spread of food and handing everyone plates, we went at it buffet-style. After filling our plates and then stomachs with food, Jordan looked at his phone and groaned.

  “I am wiped out, but we need to get into work,” he said.

  “Alright,” Hannah agreed. “But Cris can close. Once last call comes, we are out of there.”

  “If not sooner,” Jordan said. “Thanks for the food, Matt.”

  “Thanks for helping her move in,” I said. “See you tomorrow.”

  Hannah hugged both of us, and then they headed out of the door. As I closed it behind them, I realized I was closing the world off from Chloe and me. For the first time, she was not only here with me, but this was her home. These were the first few minutes of her calling my apartment hers as well.

  That was cause for celebration.

  “How hungover were you today?” I asked.

  “Not very, actually,” she said. “Mild headache, but it was gone once I had some water and a shower. Why?”

  I came out of the kitchen holding a bottle of wine and two glasses. The sun had just set outside of the double doors leading to the porch. My lamps glowed yellow and warm. Comforting. She moved from the dining room table to the couch, and I followed her.

  “I figured this was cause for celebration. You were great, both last night and today,” I said.

  “You weren’t bad yourself,” she said. “Do you really think they buy it?”

  “I do. I think Jordan might not think it’s a great idea, but he buys that it’s real. What about Hannah?”

  “I think she believes, but I think she is also fielding calls from relatives asking about me. Not that she’s ratting me out or anything, if anything she’d be helping me by telling them that I am happy and taken. But she’s also a little hesitant. Everyone thinks it’s too fast,” she said.

  “Well, I think we have pulled this off splendidly so far,” I said. “If we push through, we can have what both of us want.”

  “We can?” she asked, and there was more to that question than it seemed. I could feel it.

  “To us.” I offered my glass.

  “To us,” she said, and we both took a deep sip.

  I found myself very close to her, focusing intensely on her lips. They were ruby red that day, and they looked like ripe cherries. I wanted nothing more in my life than to taste them. She sipped her wine and sat it down. Then she sat back into the couch, relaxed, and turned to look at me. I couldn’t stop myself. It was like I was falling.

  I pressed my lips to hers, and she responded with pressure of her own. Parting her lips with my tongue, I slid it inside, and she moaned as she wrapped her arms around me. We both scooted to the edge of the cushion and stood. Passion filled us, and the few sips of wine emboldened us. She ripped at my shirt, and it came off, tossed to the floor as I backed toward my room. I pulled her by the waist, and she slid her shirt up and over her head.

  Kicking the door open, I pulled her to me and tossed her onto the bed. She giggled as she bounced, and I frantically pulled at my belt. As soon as it was open, she was on her knees on the bed, pressing her lips into mine again and unbuttoning my pants. I reached behind her to unhook her bra, and it released, falling over her shoulders. She had my pants open and was moving her lips down my chest when she tossed the bra away, and I filled my hands with her heavy, perfect breasts.

  Chloe slid her fingers into the waistband of my boxers and yanked down. My cock was stiff and thick, and it sprung out at her to her delight. She giggled as it bounced like a flagpole in the wind, and she grasped it at the base, sliding her tongue along the bottom until she reached the head. I lost all sense of control at the sensation of her wet, warm tongue on my staff, swirling around the head before taking it all between her lips.

  She slid her lips down over me and bobbed on my cock, one hand stroking me and the other squeezing my balls gently in rhythm. She groaned as she took me deep into her throat. I fisted my hand in her hair, guiding her up and down on me as I stood just off the edge of the bed.

  I couldn’t wait any longer. The urge to touch her was too strong. I pulled her away from me and pushed her so she lay back on the bed. She undid the button on her own jeans, and I pulled them down and off her. There
was no hesitation in any of her movements, or any dampening of the hunger in her eyes. She wanted this as much as I did.

  With her pants off, she tucked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slid them down until they were off. I wasted no time, pulling her by her hips until she was at the edge of the bed. I slid my cock through her folds, and she cried out before I plunged into her. I held myself there, feeling her pulse around me, her body folding in half as she tried to adjust to my thickness. I clasped my lips onto hers and began to rock back and forth, increasing in speed and intensity.

  Her body was exquisite, and I took my time letting my tongue roam along it, removing myself from her to slide it through her folds and tease her clit. I felt her come as her legs wrapped around my head, and I stood, flipping her over so she was on her stomach, and thrust into her again.

  She cried out, her voice rising in desperate moans. Mine joined her, and the sweat dripped from our bodies. She got up on her knees, keeping her hips pushed back so I could continue, and I wrapped my arms around her as I pounded her from behind. Our cries joined together and were muffled by a kiss as I exploded into her, emptying myself in huge waves until we crashed into the bed together, spent and satisfied. The last thing I was conscious of was her naked body wrapping itself around mine, the covers pulled up to our chins, and her heavy, contented sigh as she fell asleep.

  18

  Chloe

  I slid out of the bed, realizing that I was completely naked, and began to patter toward the door. Matt stirred while I was walking, but I didn’t stop. I made it all the way to what was now my room and opened a bag with a bunch of my clothes in it. Pulling out some panties, a T-shirt, and some sweatpants, I slid into the bathroom and cut on the shower.

  By the time I was out of the shower and opened the door, Matt wasn’t in bed anymore. I strained to listen and heard him in the bathroom in his bedroom, showering himself. Feeling a little more relaxed, I went ahead and got dressed while the night before rolled through my head. I put away clothes into the dresser while I waited on Matt to come out of the bedroom, prepared to follow his lead on addressing last night.

  It had been amazing and I didn’t regret a second of it. But it had also been the one thing we’d said we wouldn’t do.

  Now what?

  Just as I finished putting my clothes into the drawers of the dresser, I heard the bathroom door in the master bedroom open, and Matt came into the main space, already dressed. I had to admit to myself that I was just a little disappointed he wasn’t just in the habit of wandering around in a towel, sopping wet like I found him before, but I pushed that thought deep into the recesses of my mind.

  He looked over at my room and saw me standing by the dresser folding clothes and waved.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “Morning,” I responded. “Figured I could get started on putting things away.”

  He nodded and leaned against my doorframe.

  “Good plan. I was wondering, though, if you wanted to go get brunch? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said.

  “Let me get dressed,” I said, and he grinned. Walking away to the kitchen, he grabbed the coffeepot and began brewing while I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a cute shirt I’d found at the store while I was with Hannah. When I got out, he had a mug waiting for me, and we drank our coffee while standing, both going through our phones for a few minutes of comfortable silence. When I was finished with mine and put it in the sink, he slipped his phone back into his pocket and stood.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “Was just waiting on you,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  We made our way to the diner as if nothing happened. There wasn’t any awkwardness or change in how we spoke to each other or acted. When we sat down at the diner, he joked about how he could eat everything on the menu, and we ended up ordering nearly half of it to split. Talk drifted to the visit with his mom and some of the stories of his brothers from childhood. I responded with stories that were similar with Hannah growing up, and it felt for all the world like nothing had changed.

  But it had.

  I couldn’t just deny that we’d had sex. I wanted to pretend it didn’t happen, just like he clearly was, but it was bugging me. Maybe it was because as he talked about his life, all I could think was about how last night was the most passionate, thrilling night of my life and that it was hands down the best sexual experience I’d ever had. Hands down.

  I caught myself daydreaming about the night before as we ate. Watching him roll up his sleeves to the elbow made my breath hitch. I’d seen those forearms flex like that already, when his incredible, chiseled body was melded with mine. When his cock was buried so deeply inside me that we became, for a moment, one. Watching him lick his lips to get an errant bit of syrup from the corner reminded me of how his powerful tongue felt on my clit. How hard I’d come.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, snapping me out of my trance. “You just shuddered really hard. Are you cold?”

  “Maybe, yeah,” I said, pulling my arms across me as if I were. “They keep it chilly in here.”

  “Here,” he said, handing me the light jacket he had worn. “Wear this.”

  I slipped it on, and the smell of his cologne surrounded me. I squirmed in my seat. I felt like I could rip his clothes off right then and there. I wanted him to toss all the food onto the floor and fuck me on the table.

  This was why I didn’t want to have sex in the first place. What if it was as good as I thought it would be? Now I knew that not only was it as good, it was far, far better. I was insatiable. And now I was living with him. I had to see that gorgeous body and that sexy face every single day, and somehow try to keep my pants on.

  He was going to keep seeing other women, though. That was bothering me. I knew it shouldn’t, but it bothered me. I was jealous of fictional women, any woman he could bring back to the apartment. It was another reason why giving in last night was such a terrible idea. But our chemistry was off the charts, and I couldn’t deny it. Every time we made eye contact, it was like the world disappeared, and all I wanted was to be naked and in his arms.

  After brunch, we headed back to the apartment, got changed in our separate rooms, and went to work. Both of us were due at the same time, and we came in together. As we neared the building, he took my hand silently. It was part of the act, and I knew that, but it still felt special. I felt like I was his girl. Even if it was all pretend, it filled me with excitement and pride and all sorts of emotions I didn’t know how to process.

  I decided to just shut everything off, focusing solely on work. I was getting so much better at the actual job, and I felt proud of myself for it. I was working hard, for the first time in my life, and the accomplishment of knowing I was doing a good job and keeping up with the bar when it got busy and was wall-to-wall people was worth celebrating. My parents had no idea what I was capable of, and it drove me to work harder.

  By the time I got a chance for a break, it was late and I was feeling worn down a bit. I looked forward to stepping outside, leaning against the wall, and closing my eyes for a few minutes.

  When I got out there, Jordan was already there. He was looking through his phone and sipping on a glass of water. I smiled at him as I sat heavily on the stoop, leaning my back against the wall. He leaned against the far wall from me and stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

  “You know,” he said, “I’m really glad you came into my brother’s life. I don’t know if I have ever seen him as happy as he is now.”

  I smiled, trying not to let it go to my head. He was referring to the pretend relationship and how Matt was acting. But I couldn’t deny that he made me happy. Was it so crazy to think maybe some of the act wasn’t an act at all? Wouldn’t his brother know the difference? It was one of my main concerns with the plan in the first place. Surely Jordan would figure it out.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “I’m just happy as hell that he’s so happy,” he said.

>   “Well, I should tell you thank you for giving me a job and a place to stay for a bit,” I said. “I came up here not knowing what I was going to do and terrified out of my mind. You guys saved me.”

  “That’s what family does. How is living with Matt?”

  “It’s only been one day,” I said, smiling. “But it’s been great so far. Amazing, really.”

  “Good, good,” he said, then grinned. “Don’t let him hog the remote. He’s gotten used to watching what he wants. Put your foot down once in a while, just to keep him in line.”

  I laughed. “Will do.”

  “Alright, I’ve got to get back,” he said. “I’ll see you inside.”

  He waved and went back in the bar, leaving me alone with my thoughts. My mind raced with everything going on and how I felt about it. I knew something was happening, something more than just two friends putting on an act. But how much of that could I trust? Why did I feel such jealousy at the barest thought of him with another woman if we were truly just pretending?

  Why couldn’t I get last night off my mind?

  Frustrated that not even the fresh air helped clear my mind, I stood up, brushed myself off, and headed back in. Stopping in the kitchen to wash my hands, Matt and I made eye contact briefly while he fried some onion rings. He smiled, and I returned it. We hadn’t really talked all night. I didn’t know if I could.

  When the shift was over, we went home together. I kept the conversation light and focused on the night of work. The jealousy that brewed in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him with anyone else went ignored. With great effort, I refused to acknowledge anything other than our friendship and how tired I was after work.

  19

  Matt

  The alarm was going off on the nightstand, and it woke me up. I kept the volume low, but the vibration was enough to jostle me from my sleep. It had been another dreamless sleep. Peaceful. Restful.