Jade was grateful that of all the things that could go wrong, her lights were still on. Sometimes, the power just went off and she would spend the rest of the time in utter darkness till it was fixed. Being in utter darkness with Levi Reynard was not something she was looking forward to.
"I do not want to beat around the bush with things." Levi started after taking the last sip of his coffee. "You know I need a wife and things did not originally go as planned but, I still very much want you to fill that role."
"I can understand your situation, but why me?" Jade asked.
"Why not you?" Levi replied.
"I'm sorry but it all seems so funny. You could have any girl you want right now, but you want to get married to your housekeeper. I usually like fairy tales but I'm no Cinderella, life is as fucking real with me as it gets." Jade said.
"I could make you Cinderella. All you need to do is just sign a marriage contract with me and get paid till we get a divorce."
Jade scoffed, of course, Levi Reynard was gracious enough to be both Prince Charming and a freaking fairy godmother.
"And when is that supposed to be?" Jade asked.
"Let's say we stay married for five years…"
"That's a lot of years." Jade cut in. "I have to live a life too you know and I would love to meet and fall in love with someone at some point in my life. If I stay married to you for that long, I won't be able to achieve that when I want to."
"I want to know first of all why you don't want to just agree to this. You've got nothing to lose and it would be beneficial to you in the long run." Levi asked. If she brought forth a strong case then he might just let it go and have Keith work her butt off to arrange a backup plan.
Jade sighed, it was stupid but in all her life, she had wanted to feel loved so marrying someone she wasn't in love with did not sound right to her. "It's just that if I ever got married I always felt it would be for love." Her cheeks were stained with blush from her embarrassment.
Now she was going to be a poor loser in his mind. She shouldn't care what he thought about her. But she did.
"Love? Don't be naive Jade, we both know that love is the real fairy tale. True love almost doesn't exist and even if it did. It's harder to find than real pearls." Levi replied. He was right, but a girl could dream.
"I know that, but still I can't accept this marriage thing with you. It's too abstract. You are you and I'm me, we don't belong in the same worlds as you can clearly see."
"I set the standard Jade, if I say you belong. High society will welcome you with fucking open arms." He replied reassuringly. Another she had noticed about this man sitting before her was that Levi Reynard was a smooth talker. He knew all the right things to say and had no problems saying them.
"It's easy for you to say. I know you are bent on this because somehow you pity me and feel like you should help me like some charity case. But I don't want your pity."
Levi laughed, he did feel pity for the way she lived but he was confident in her, that she would somehow survive whatever life was willing to throw at her. Not everyone would be proud to be a housekeeper, but she was and she did whatever task she was given with competence. "Consider getting married to me as a job. We don't owe each other anything, just two people living together, we'll attend social events together and smile for the media."
"Well, that's one hell of a job," Jade replied.
"I'm going to leave the ball in your court Jade, but you have two days to decide." He was willing to wait but well he was in a time crunch too. If they were really going to do this, they both needed to be on board fast.
"To be honest, I can't trust you. You say you want it to be me now but what if you meet someone better and decide they are more worthy of that role? What would become of me then?" Jade said, eyeing him suspiciously.
"If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't have come all the way," Levi replied looking at her deadpan. "Levi Reynard wants you, you should feel honored really." He added on a lighter mood.
She smiled, "Cocky much." She said under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Jade replied immediately.
They both fell silent. Jade knew that if she took the hand he was offering, it would change her life forever. But still, it felt like a dream. First of all, Levi Reynard, the most eligible bachelor, was sitting on her floor drinking instant coffee, trying to get her to marry him for his benefit.
Not that she wouldn't benefit anything from their marriage but, he did say she would be paid till they got divorced. She needed to see the numbers, but that would make her thirsty especially since she wasn't sure if she was taking the offer. In reality, she had nothing to lose.
She took one look at Levi, he was every woman's dream. Tall, muscular, dark hair, silver eyes, a sharp jawline, and a killer smile. Men weren't supposed to be this beautiful, it's supposed to be a sin to be good-looking as he did.
If she was going to do this, she needed to see him as a rock. It's going to be impossible, but she had made a vow a long time ago to never fall in love with a man who would never love her and that vow might be just what would save her from Levi's irresistible charms.
"It's getting late, I should leave now, " Levi said standing. Jade got too so she could get him his coat.
"Uhm… thanks for coming I guess," Jade said, handing him his coat.
He stretched his hands to shake hers. Jade took it and they shook on it. "Thank you for having me." He said looking into her eyes.
"You're welcome sir," She replied.
He frowned a little and she raised her eyebrows, "Are your hands always this cold?" Levi asked.
Jade quickly retrieved her hand from the handshake. "It gets pretty cold at night. Have a safe drive home, sir." She said dismissively.
He didn't understand why she was being weird, but then again the whole situation was weird so he just turned and walked out her door. He was sure that if anyone pushed too hard, her door would give way. For her safety this time around, he hoped that Jade would not say no to his proposal.
Jade drew in a sigh of relief. Amongst the list of things she didn't want Levi Reynard to know was the fact that she had severe low blood pressure and had to take medications almost all the time for it. For now, she was going to keep it to herself and that meant fewer handshakes.
Monday came too soon for Jade.
She had thought about the little meeting she had with her boss all weekend, she had been tempted to tell Claire all about it when they talked on the phone later but she didn't know how to say it and Claire might judge her so she kept it to herself.
Levi had already left for work by the time she reached the penthouse, well it was okay for her because she didn't exactly want to see him first thing in the morning. Jade followed her usual work routine which included lunch with Claire at the diner which had become their favorite hangout spot.
By the time the day was coming to an end, she had made her decision.
So she stayed and waited in the penthouse till Levi arrived, Jade pulled out one of the stools near the kitchen counter and made herself comfortable till her boss appeared. She decided to use her spare time to continue her house hunting.
Levi walked in a little after midnight, all his meetings had run late that day. He had planned to meet with Jade if he had finished earlier but he was sure she must've gone home and probably left him a message. But to his surprise, when he walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water he saw Jade sitting on a stool, head resting on the kitchen counter. She must've fallen asleep while waiting for him to return.
As she heard footsteps approach, she immediately woke up from her nap only to be face to face with her boss. He was looking down at her and his hand was caught mid-air like he was about to wake her up before she opened her eyes.
"I'm so so sorry, I fell asleep and…and… first of all I wanted to tell…" Jade was scrambling to find the perfect words to make an excuse.
He threw his hands up, "Jade calm down, I'm not going to crucify you for falling asleep on the kitchen counter, besides it's really late."
Her eyes widened.
Fuck she overslept, she mentally slapped herself before she spoke up, "I should get going. I will see you tomorrow sir." Jade said turning around to go pick up her stuff but he held her back.
"I would be a real jackass if I let a woman out alone by this time," Levi said, still holding her hand. Her hand still felt cold and it was concerning because at least the heaters were on and working here.
"What time is it?"
"It's past midnight." He replied almost immediately.
Jade closed her eyes and whispered," Fuck."
"I would've offered to drop you off at home but, I'm spent so I'm afraid you'll have to stay the night here," Levi said, getting a glass of water from the refrigerator.
"You want me to spend the night here?" She said in shock.
He shrugged, there's no big deal here. "Yes, is that a problem?"
"A huge one, I work here and I really do not want to spend time at my place of work. Plus what would people say if they saw your housekeeper spent the night over." Jade replied, hands on her hips. It made her look cute, it was hard to pay attention to what she was saying.
"Look if we're going to be married, we need to start practicing how to tolerate each other in the same space. Your presence doesn't affect me so it's okay if you spent the night." He said, then he took a drink from his glass of water.
"Your presence doesn't affect me either," Jade said. "Liar," Her mind replied. She was extremely nervous whenever he was near and she always thanked God that he was too busy to be around while she worked during the day.
"Good, so about the arrangement. What's your reply?" He set the glass on the counter and walked towards her so he was standing directly in front of her.
"I waited to tell you that I accept your proposal but terms and conditions apply," Jade replied.
The corners of his lips lifted in a slow small smile, and Jade averted her eyes. She did not want to see him smile at her like that.
"Of course. Listen, Jade, I cannot promise to love you but I can promise to take care of you and give you stability for all the years we would be married. You can count on that." Levi said.
Looking at the silver depths of his eyes, she knew he meant every word and that was enough for her.