Joel leaned over the table to grab a pen, flexing his lean biceps in the process. It bulged a little through the linen shirt he had on, and Rina’s glances lingered a little too long. Catching herself, she pulled his gaze away, grabbing her phone and scrolling through nothing in particular, until she heard him speak again.
“I prepared the contract this week,” he explained, trying not to sound like he had been super excited drawing out the terms to both of their benefits. He wouldn’t reveal that it was the most important thing for him in the process the terms being favorable enough to Rina.
Most employers wouldn’t have done that, as realizing profit was the end goal in the long run. And maybe Joel would have been that way if he was dealing with a random model he barely felt a flicker for.
But this was Rina. No part of him wanted to do anything that wouldn’t be beneficial to her.
Sliding the papers over to her, he watched her face as she flipped through each page diligently, her eyes giving nothing away. He could see how she’d made it big as an actress. Joel couldn’t tell if she was okay with the conditions or if she had reservations about them.
With his dealings with humans, Joel loved to think that he could read people quite easily, especially when it came to forming a contract of this nature. But Rina had him questioning his previous thoughts.
Anxiety coursed through him as he squirmed in his seat, still waiting for her to say something. Rina went through it a second time, and Joel thought he was going to combust from the wait.
Finally, she put the paper down and looked up at him. “This sounds fine,” she said, her smiling eyes searching his face. “But I have one more term to add.”
Joel wondered what it could be. He’d thought he covered every part, even including medical expenses and vacations.
“I want to do this anonymously.”
He sat up suddenly and peered at her. Wasn’t the whole idea to pull people in with her face? How was he going to drive in the traffic he intended if no one knew who she was?
But Rina explained it the way Zayn had done, leaving nothing out. And when she was done, Joel thought it was the most brilliant thing he’d ever heard.
“Where has this thought been all along?” he asked, greatly impressed. Rina’s lips fell open, about explaining how it was the thought process of someone else, but her lips snapped shut again. She was grateful she caught herself in time, as even though she knew Joel wouldn’t form any opinion about her personal life, she doubted he would still leave that invite to his home open if he found out she was about to get into a contractual marriage with the richest and most feared man in the country.
Rina could vividly picture him backing away from all that drama and intensity because, in truth, he didn’t stand a chance.
“Let me just add it here,” Joel muttered, powering on the computer mounted on the desk. The whirr of the printer reverberated after a few minutes, birthing an updated copy of the resume.
“All you need to do is sign here.” Joel leaned over to point out the space to her, invading Rina with his scent. She breathed in, allowing the scent to travel through her, memorizing its details just because she had no other choice.
Joel reminded her of when she was growing up. They used to live not far away from the beach, but that was beside the point. It was the furniture maker that had his workshop a stone’s throw from their home. Rina tended to attribute smell to most points of her life, so the smell of wood took her back to those days.
The man used to allow her to stay in his shop every day after school, and she would ask him a million questions about where wood came from, and how they were processed into something that pretty. Rina had found it a remarkable skill and often said she wanted to become a furniture maker when she was older.
And even though the man laughed at her each time she said it, Rina never gave up on her words. She’d even learned a few tricks from him during her breaks and had been enjoying it until she found something she loved far more than furniture making.
That brought a sudden awareness to Rina. Although she didn’t want to think about it, it plagued and invaded her mind at will, pulling her under. It was a story of what she’d thought was best for her. Furniture making was just like Joel alluring, beautiful, mesmerizing. It held her spellbound for as long as its charm could possibly go until something else came along.
The phrase ‘something better’ rang in her head, but Rina shrugged it off. What else could be better than Joel? And she didn’t even have to think about it on the spot. She had all the time in the world. It was one thing her marriage with Finn had taught her.
No matter the explosives and chemistry threatening to consume one, it was better to wait it out until the high dried out.
“Can I take it home tonight to go through it again?” Rina asked, remembering Zayn’s request. Even if she had not considered it at the time because she knew Joel couldn’t do anything against her progress, something had changed during the course of the week.
Although Rina couldn’t exactly point it out, it was there in the air, wrapping its arms strongly around her. It compelled her to remember every bit of Zayn, including the parts she wished she didn’t have to, like the time he’d walked in on her in the bathroom because she’d screamed out in the middle of a horror show.
She couldn’t forget how she’d felt when his eyes caressed her body slowly, how she’d almost forgotten how to breathe.