The Tie That Binds: A Marriage of Convenience Novel

I follow Daniel into his building. The security is definitely over the top. Daniel swipes his access card and the doors swing open automatically. There are two security guards standing by the doors who both smile at him.

“Welcome home, Mr. Devereaux.”

He nods at them and pauses, placing a hand on my lower back as they take our luggage from us. “This is my wife, Alyssa. She’ll be moving in with me. Please treat her the same way you treat me.”

My heart skips a beat. This is the first time he’s ever introduced me as his wife, and I’m surprised by how much I like it. It gives me an odd sense of security and makes me feel all giddy.

The security guards nod at me politely. If they’re curious about me, they don’t show it. Daniel walks into the lift and grabs my hand, startling me.

“Biometric scanner,” he says. He pushes my finger against the scanner and the lift starts to move up automatically. I look around but can’t find any buttons except for an emergency call button. He answers my question before I even voice it.

“Guests need to sign in at the reception desk downstairs and are then escorted up. My mother is the only other person besides us that has access.”

The doors open right into the apartment, revealing a large entrance hall. I follow Daniel inside, barely able to contain my curiosity. I’ve never been here before and for some reason I always imagined it as a small cute apartment. It’s nothing like that at all. It’s far bigger than I could’ve imagined and decorated tastefully. It’s nothing like the bachelor pad I was expecting to find. It does indeed look like a home.

“I love it. No wonder you’ve missed this place so much.”

He shows me to the living room and I sigh in delight. His sofa is large and comfy looking. There’s so much natural light coming in that the space looks even bigger than it is. One entire corner of the room is made of glass, overlooking a magnificent skyline. His open plan kitchen is a dream come true, with every single appliance I could imagine. He’s even got a waffle maker. I can’t wait to rummage through the cupboards and find out what else he might have. Each room Daniel shows me is more stunning than the last.

“There is one guest room that my mother usually uses, but you can have that one now. Unless you prefer the master bedroom?”

I peek into the room he points out and can clearly see Mary’s touch all over it. The wooden bed frame and the daisies on the bedsheets don’t suit the modern apartment at all, but it’s so her. Daniel has already moved past the guest room and walks into another room. I follow him in curiously.

“This is my bedroom. I think you might be more comfortable in here, so you’re welcome to have it.”

He walks into the room and sits down on his bed as I take it all in. The master bedroom is huge. He’s decorated it in dark colours while maintaining a modern, state of the art feel. Even the lamps on his bedside table look as though they were carefully selected. Similar to the living room, one of the walls is made entirely of glass.

He’s silent as I explore his bedroom, unable to suppress my curiosity. His walk-in wardrobe is much bigger than mine at home. He’s even got a little dresser in there with aftershave and other cosmetics, every single thing in its own place. Much to my surprise, he’s got two photos on the dresser, right behind his little collection of perfume bottles. One is of Daniel, Dominic, Mary and me last Christmas. I remember my dad taking this photo, but I didn’t realise he even sent it to Daniel. The other photo is of my dad, me and Daniel on the last birthday we got to celebrate with my dad. It was his 58th birthday. I barely remember taking the photo. I think we went out for dinner to celebrate and afterwards we got some dessert. All I remember is that my dad and Daniel spoke about buying Daniel’s new car most of the night.

I touch the photo with my fingertips and walk through the other door in his bedroom. His bathroom consists almost entirely of marble. It looks luxurious and inviting. There’s a large jacuzzi in one corner that I’m dying to try out. Just Daniel’s bedroom, wardrobe and bathroom must take up at least a quarter of the total size of this apartment, if not more.

“God, I can see why you’d miss this place. It’s wonderful. I wouldn’t dare take your room though. I’m happy with the guest room, but I may have to sneak into your jacuzzi one night.”

Daniel’s eyes darken, and I realise what I said. “I — I mean… when you’re not there, I mean.”

Daniel smiles and shakes his head, thankfully disregarding my awkwardness. “You’re welcome to use anything here, my bathroom included. We’re married, Alyssa. This place is yours as much as it is mine.”

I bite down on my lip and nod. It’s been easy to forget that we got married, especially because we’ve been living with Mary. While there, we didn’t spend that much time together, so it never felt like we were married. I guess it’s what we both wanted, though. It’s a marriage of convenience after all.

I jump when I hear footsteps nearby and Daniel stands up. “Suitcases,” he tells me.

“How many of the staff have access?”

Daniel shakes his head. “Not many. Two designated security officers, one housekeeper and a cook. The housekeeper comes once a day, and the cook comes whenever I ask her to. It’s up to you when you want them to come. Would you prefer for us to do our own cooking?”

I nod. My dad and I always cooked for each other a few times a week. It was kind of our thing; our way of showing appreciation for each other. We’d sit down and have dinner together. My dad never missed it, even if it meant he had to work overtime in his home office. Our little tradition meant that Daniel often ended up eating with us and spending the evening in my dad’s office. My heart aches at the memory. Knowing I’ll never taste my dad’s food again breaks my heart.

“Maybe we can just cook ourselves a few times a week? If you don’t want to, then I can do the cooking?”

Daniel’s expression softens, as though he knows what I’m thinking. He walks up to me and cups my cheek gently. “Of course. I’d be happy to do that. Though you’ll have to promise you’ll make it home for dinner every day like you did with your dad. I’ll do the same. If we have to work overtime, then I have a big enough home office to facilitate us both. I’ll get you a desk chair so we can share my desk.”

My heart melts. How does Daniel always know the right thing to say? “Yes, of course. I promise.”

He smiles at me, and my heartbeat accelerates. His entire face transforms when he smiles like that. It’s oddly intimate, especially because he rarely smiles.

I drag my eyes away from him and take a step back, hoping he doesn’t notice that I’m blushing. “I — I’ll go unpack,” I tell him, rushing away to my new bedroom. I hear him chuckle as I close his bedroom door behind me and rub my chest to try to calm my raging heart.

Since when has Daniel impacted me so much? I guess it’s been easy to ignore how hot he is since he always used to keep a certain boundary between us. My dad was always with us too. I don’t think I’ve really spent any alone time with Daniel in the last couple of years.

The room I’m in doesn’t feel like my own at all. It’s clearly Mary’s room. There are even some spare clothes of hers in the cupboards. It almost feels like an intrusion to be in here. Even after unpacking I still feel uncomfortable.

When I’m sure I’ll be able to keep my erratic heart in check, I head to the living room. Daniel is sitting on the sofa, legs outstretched. He’s changed into pyjama bottoms and a tight t-shirt. He’s got black framed glasses resting on the tip of his nose as he goes through a stack of documents, and my heart does it again. It freaking skips a beat.

The way his t-shirt stretches over his muscles barely leaves anything to the imagination. I wonder which is worse, the tight t-shirt or nothing at all. Both are torture, that’s for sure. Daniel looks up and catches me staring at him like a total pervert. I look away and pray my cheeks aren’t flaming as I walk towards the sofa.

“You changed,” he says. I look down at my outfit and clutch my fluffy robe. I showered and put on some of my favourite jammies, but I wasn’t sure if it would be inappropriate for me to walk around the house half-naked, so I threw on my trusty old bathrobe.

“Ah yeah, so did you,” I say, my eyes lingering on his muscular arms. It’s a shame he covers them up with suits every day.

I sit down next to him somewhat awkwardly. The sofa is huge and I’m not entirely sure where I’m supposed to sit. Sitting too far away from him would be awkward and potentially rude, but so is sitting too close.

“I — I like the glasses,” I stammer. Daniel blinks as though he forgot he was wearing them and pushes them up. He looks at me and smiles, and my heart skips another beat. How can a man be adorable and hot at the same time?

I clear my throat to distract myself from my own thoughts and peek at what he’s working on. He shuffles closer to me and throws his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to his side. I glance at him in surprise, but he keeps his eyes on his documents. I lean into him and get comfortable, putting my feet up next to his.

“What’s this?” I ask, not recognising the documents.

He turns to look at me, his face far closer to mine than either of us expected. He pauses, his eyes dropping to my lips for a second before he turns back to the papers in his hand.

“It’s for Devereaux Inc. My mother can hold her own as CEO, but every once in a while I actually have to put some work in as the CFO. This year I want to focus on tightening our internal controls, but it isn’t easy. I’m thinking of hiring a team from DM Consultancy to implement the strategy I have in mind.”

I look at him in awe. I remember he used to come in around noon when my father was still his co-CEO. I guess he spent his mornings working for Devereaux Inc. while he spent his afternoons at DM. Since my father passed away, he’s been handling DM all by himself. He’s usually the first to get in and the last to leave, so how has he been getting everything done for both of his jobs?

“How can I help?” I ask, suddenly feeling guilty. Daniel hooks his arm around my neck and pulls me closer to kiss the top of my head.

“You can help me by training as hard as you can. Within one or two years you’ll be able to take over as my co-CEO. Who knows, you might even want to be the sole CEO.”

I frown. Me becoming Daniel’s co-CEO means our marriage would come to an end. If the idea of that happening is already unappealing now, then how will I feel in two years?