The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)

"The landlord is on the line," the realtor said, holding his phone toward Isabelle. "You can talk to him." When Isabelle took the phone and turned away, the man gave Jacob a wink-a sign that everything was going smoothly.

"Hello, I'm looking at an apartment here and I understand that the rent is only three hundred bucks?" Isabelle said into the phone.

"That's right," the man on the phone replied. "I know it sounds shocking, but I'm about to move abroad and wanted to get tenants before I leave. I figured I would get a tenant quickly if I lowered the rent." "Oh," Isabelle muttered. That kind of made sense, she decided. If the landlord was moving abroad, it made sense that he would lower the rent to quickly attract a tenant. She still thought the rent was too low, but as long as the landlord had confirmed it, she was willing to let it be.

"Feel assured and take the house," the landlord continued. "I was very happy to get a call that someone wanted the house. Please don't worry about the condition of the house. The last tenant moved abruptly without giving me notice, so I didn't have enough time to look for a new tenant. That's why I have to lease it out at such a low rate to attract new tenants quickly. I wanted to make sure that all the houses have a lease before I moved."

Isabelle nodded. "Okay, thank you for clarifying."

As Isabelle handed the phone back to the realtor, she wasn't sure whether she should believe the landlord's explanation or not. Even if someone had died in the house, he wouldn't have mentioned that, right? "What did he say?" Jacob asked her.

"He is moving abroad and wanted to rent out the house quickly, so he lowered the rent to attract a tenant. The last tenant didn't give him a notice before moving, so he didn't have a lot of time to look for new tenants."

"So, what do you think?" Jacob asked, giving her an amused smile.

She walked up to him and in a low voice said, "I still think it's haunted."

He arched his brow. "Should we look for another one?"

Isabelle shook her head quickly. "Even for a haunted house, the rent is too low. We are lucky to find it, we'll never find another place as good as this one for such a low rent."

Jacob chuckled, not having expected she still wanted to stick with the house despite her fears. He was relieved too, because he was running out of tricks to convince her that he was actually paying three hundred dollars for the house. It wasn't like he could use the same excuses twice.

"Besides," Isabelle said, walking towards the window of the living room and looking towards the outside. "I'm not afraid of ghosts. Are you?"

Jacob walked towards her and gazed outside the window too. It had a nice view of the city skyline outside-it was truly a good place. "You're the one who started the entire thing about dead tenants." She laughed and shook her head. "Sharing a three hundred buck two-bedroom apartment in the city centre with a ghost or two doesn't sound too bad."

"That's the spirit," Jacob praised, laughing along with her. He was happy that her misgivings were gone. Now, they had a new, better house, and she wouldn't be so tired going to and from work every day. Not only that, but he had to admit, it was going to be a very nice change from their small old house. And if he could move them into a new house while still making her believe he wasn't spending thousands of dollars, it was all good.

"It helps that the view so good," Isabelle said. "I'm going to love it here." She looked up at him, a soft smile on her face. "Thanks for this, Jacob. I never would have managed to find such a place for that amount even if I looked for years."

He nodded, her radiant expression making him feel warm inside. He could see her gratitude on her face and also hear it in her voice. "In my line of work, I get to know a lot of people in different fields. All it took was a few calls and I found this offer."

She nodded. "You have good friends."

"I'm glad you love it," he told her. As he focused on her face, he couldn't help but notice the sweat that was still covering her forehead and nose. He curled his fingers into his palm, curbing the urge to reach up and wipe the moisture away. He didn't want to freak her out... but damn, was he high on something, or was her nose really too cute?

Isabelle looked away from Jacob and back to the view outside the window. It was the only thing she could do to escape his scrutiny-but even now, she could feel his eyes on her face. Was he staring, or was she overthinking?

She hadn't checked the view outside the bedrooms-maybe this was a good time to go check it. It would give her an excuse to get away from him for the moment. She turned back to him to excuse herself, but went still when she saw that he was bending towards her.

Her lips parted as her heart began beating wildly. Why was he suddenly getting closer to her? And his eyes were focused on her face... She wanted to move back, create some distance between them, but her legs didn't want to comply. She remained rooted to the spot as he got closer, her eyes stuck on his face.

He was truly handsome, she thought. Very handsome. It shocked her that even after being around him all these days, his good looks still caught her off-guard. He had it all-the looks, the height, the frame, and those dark eyes that seemed so relentless as they stared back at her...

Her face flamed red when she realised she was staring into his eyes unabashedly. Her embarrassment finally worked to make her step away, but she didn't get far as Jacob reached forward quickly and wrapped a hand around her waist.

His action caught her off-guard and struck her speechless. What did he think he was doing? She turned her head to look around the room-the realtor was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to him, she finally found her voice. "What are you doing?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

Yes, she should be angry, she chanted in her head. She was going to ignore the fast racing of her heart and the tingles running up and down her entire body at their close contact. She couldn't show that the effect he had on her had nothing to do with rage. Or that mere seconds ago, she had been mindlessly appreciating his good looks.

She waited for him to say something, anything, but he didn't. He didn't let go of her either. And the longer he kept her in his arms, the more she became aware of his muscular body pressing up against hers. Of how his hand held onto her waist, his fingers grasping her side... And of how his intense gaze remained on her face.

She couldn't for the life of her begin imagining what was going on in his head at that moment. But it wasn't the time to try and read his mind. Maybe some other time, when her brain could actually form coherent thoughts...

She swallowed and tried to get out of his hold. "Let me go," she told him.