Chapter 4

MARI

I didn't plan to stay in Pelican Bay for more than a day or two while Pierce and I worked out the conditions of our agreement on funding. I never expected him to ask me to be his fake fiancée. In order to get through the next six months, I needed to message my aunt and see if she held on to any of the boxes I tucked into a corner of her basement when I left the United States two years ago.

Life might be more fulfilling now, but I started out on this planet growing up in luxury in San Francisco. From my first day on Earth, my family trained me to take over a portion of the Chambers' family business. Then, after a situation of my making, life thrust me into a completely different arrangement with a life of poverty in a small village in Guatemala. But now I was back, and even if my life was mostly a lie, I would spend the next six months sleeping in a comfortable bed in my private room in Pierce's home.

It wouldn't be so horrible.

I flopped backward on the bed, letting my head rest on one of the comfortable pillows. This bedroom alone was bigger than the entire apartment I stayed in while in Guatemala, plus it had a en suite bathroom with running water. In my years away, I'd forgotten the small conveniences so many people take for granted. A flushing toilet never looked so good.

I may have been granted a small reprieve, but I refused to take my eye off the prize. Not only had I gotten myself caught up in a fake fiancée plot, but I'd settled myself between two men. One I was pretending to be engaged for the next six months and the other I found hot and incredibly engaging. Somehow, regardless of what happened, I always ended up in the most confounding situations.

Two quick knocks sounded on my door and then it opened.

"We are going to dinner at the bed-and-breakfast," Oliver said as he tipped his head in my room. I sat up on the bed. It seemed Pierce was ready to get to work on my first official day since gaining a fiancé.

"Are we scoping out the place?"

Oliver laughed. "No, that place hasn't changed in over a hundred years. We're going out to show you off to everyone in town."

I didn't miss the way he emphasized you or that he said we. As if I belonged to him and Pierce.

My heart thumped.

I slipped off the bed and walked to the door with my eyes cast downward, and then I caught a glance of my outfit—a simple pair of jeans and a gray college t-shirt. I didn't bring much with me to Pelican Bay. My expensive clothing had either been sold when I lost everything in San Francisco or left behind at my aunt's home. The only things I brought in my carry-on bag were jeans and t-shirts and the one skirt. I hadn't purchased any new clothes besides wrap-around skirts or t-shirts in the last two years. There wasn't much use for formalwear in Guatemala.

Oliver caught the slip in my face and stepped further in the room. "What's wrong?"

"I can't go out dressed this way. People need to believe I am marrying Pierce." I'd worn my only respectable the outfit to our meeting that morning and quickly changed in midafternoon when he brought me back to his estate and helped me settle into a room.

In San Francisco, I spent my day in work clothing. I wore four-inch stilettos like they were gym shoes, but many things changed since then. For the first time in two years, I realized I had changed too.

Oliver laughed as if he found my comment hilarious. "You are with the Kensingtons now. No one will care what you're wearing. And no one would dare to comment, even if they did."

He acted as if Pierce owned the town, but I knew the truth. When you had a certain amount of money, everyone always looked to you. Gossiped about you. And, you were absolutely expected to maintain a presence, which happened most often by your appearance.

"I'm just not used to it." How easy would it be to slip back into my life of rich and famous? Had my move to Guatemala changed me at my core?

Did I even like high heels?

That's a stupid question. I loved high heels. They were gorgeous. Sure they made your feet hurt like a bitch, but power heels made me feel… powerful. A beautiful pair of heels held the potential to change your life.

Oliver leaned up against the doorway and stared at me almost as if he had pity, but it wasn't quite that. Something else lurked behind his eyes. "Pierce would prefer the jeans and t-shirt look, but I bet we can take a trip to the city and properly outfit you later."

What? Isn't it wrong to spend somebody else's money, but I would love a new outfit? Years had passed, literally, since I'd been able to shop. That's a long time not to enjoy a favorite pastime.

"My bank account is a tad short." Our host company provided most of our food and lodgings in Guatemala. I'd been living off my little savings account for the last two years.

When I was flying high in San Francisco, I never expected to need a large nest egg. Saving for retirement was something I'd do when I hit thirty. I spent most the money I made and now with my account so low it left me cautious with spending cash.

"Don't worry. As Pierce's fiancée, you have access to the Kensington accounts now. Shop away. In fact make it look good. Any fiancée of Pierce would want to spend his money. Really stick it to him, for me," he said with a quick wink.

I practically swooned right there, but instead I bit my bottom lip to stop the smile from giving away my reaction and nodded once.

I could definitely spend a small amount of my fake fiancé's money if it meant a few more pieces of clothing. Not as much as Oliver wanted, but an outfit or two. When I finished with my six months in Pelican Bay, I'd sell them on eBay and take the money back with me to Guatemala.

"So you agree to dinner and new clothes?" Oliver asked, for clarification. He liked to make sure he had things lined up and neatly agreed.

I nodded. "So far I haven't heard anything too horrible."

Honestly, I hadn't figured out everything yet and my mind whirled with what happened. I walked into a meeting this morning to ask for money and somehow ended up a fake fiancée to the richest man in Pelican Bay. A girl needed time to process that in the quiet of her room. In a bath. I'd live in the bathtub every moment I could while in America. I missed baths.

Oliver stepped further into my room and stuck his arm through mine pulling me out into the hallway. "I find you the most agreeable fake fiancée. I think you'll do, Mari."

Not sure agreeable had ever been used as an adjective to describe me before, so Oliver immediately won brownie points.

Hopefully the townspeople of Pelican bay would agree. If I could make them see Pierce as more than the rich playboy villain they'd made him out to be, he would get his bed-and-breakfast, I would get my two million dollars, and the people in Guatemala would get fresh water. It was a triple win for all of us.