Page 37 of (Un)Expected

“This is a job, Miss Green,” Theo said firmly. “There is little room for romance in these arrangements. It would lead to…complications.”

“Fair enough.” I read through the page, tapping my finger at the bottom. “What about other people?” I turned to Adam. “What if you find someone you want to date for real?”

“Then we would come back to the table and renegotiate,” he said. “It is important to note that there is a clause in our contract that states neither of us will be with anyone else for the duration of our relationship.”

Oh shit. That made my palms sweat a little. I tried to ignore it, but a little thought nagged at the back of my mind, hating that this shut the door on whatever was happening between Cole and me. Then again, there was nothing to wonder about. What did he call it this morning?A mistake? Being Adam’s fake girlfriend was one thing; Cole calling me a mistake was another.

Pushing aside my schedule and any thoughts of Cole, I looked over the NDA. It was tempting to call Calla to help me decode it, but there was no way Theo would let her in the room. Instead, I did the best I could to read through all the legal jargon, but some of the terms and language went over my head. Was this all a huge mistake? As Iread it thoroughly, my palms started to sweat, especially when I got to the last section.

My eyes bulged out of my head. “I gethow muchif I complete our deal?”

“Half a million dollars,” Theo said.

His tone was downright dismissive, as if he was offering me basic scraps. Maybe to him, five hundred thousand dollars felt like that. Considering that Adam made at least ten times that for each movie, they were used to dealing with ridiculous amounts of money.

I, however, felt nauseous.

Pushing the contract back across the table, I shook my head. “No. I can’t accept that. It’s too much money.”

Adam placed his hand on top of mine. “Yes, you can. This will cover any missed salary or expenses along the way. Please let me compensate you for your time.”

“It feels like I’m taking advantage,” I said. “I’m not doing this for the money.”

“I know,” Adam chuckled. “Which is another reason why you’re perfect. It’s standard for this type of arrangement. If I’m asking you to be available for six months, the least I can do is make it worth your time.”

When he put it that way—well, it still felt like way too much. This would not only cover my daily expenses, but I’d be able to pay off my house, maybe even take that vacation I’d been dreaming about forever. I reluctantly nodded, returning to the NDA. “And the only people who know about this deal are the three of us?”

“And my assistant,” Theo added. “When it comes to contracts like this, discretion is of the utmost importance. The public doesn’t like to imagine relationships as transactions. However, in this business, it’s sometimes the best way to achieve your goals. We would hate for any of this to leak and mess with Adam’s reputation even more.”

Adam squeezed my hand again as I nodded, a quiet comfort to remind me we were in this together. It was nice having him at myside. I still hated that I couldn’t tell my friends, but having him in my corner made it a little less lonely.

“And if I slip?” I nervously asked.

“Don’t,” Theo said sternly.

“I’m not going to do it intentionally. What if I mess up and say something to one of my friends or something like that?”

“Depends on the damage,” Theo answered. “In an instance like that, we would need to know so we could get the other person to sign an NDA as well. However, if it was to make it to the press, we could pursue punitive damages.”

“You’d sue me?”

Theo said, “Yes,” as Adam frantically shook his headno, glaring at his agent. “That is the most extreme situation. We wouldn’t do it unless we had no other choice, like if you booked yourself on the Late Show and tried to sell your story.”

I almost snorted at the idea. However, as Adam passed me the pen, I hesitated. Signing this paper was literally signing my privacy away, a right I’d fought hard to keep over the past few years. What if a reporter dug into my past and brought all those dirty details to light? It would take some serious sleuthing, considering most of my closest friends didn’t even know the full extent of what happened in the city. If watching procedural dramas had taught me anything, nothing stayed buried forever.

Chewing on my lower lip, I debated telling Adam and Theo about what drove me up to Saint Stephen’s Lake, but acid burned in the back of my throat at the thought. Not only was it painful to relive, but that girl was a far cry from the person I wanted to be. Leaving her in the past was the best thing I’d ever done, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to think about her again.

As I toyed with the pen, Adam spoke to Theo. “And there’s nothing else we have to worry about, correct? Once the contract is signed, we’re good to go?”

Theo nodded. “Yes. Everything else looks good. The story is stilltrending positively; Alex’s background check came back clear, so we are all set.”

My what?My eyes darted up, meeting Theo’s dark ones. I tried to keep my face from slacking, not wanting him to see the confusion and relief in my gaze. “You ran a background check on me?”And it came back with no red flags?

“Of course,” Theo said calmly. “We needed to make sure nothing would pop up that could hurt Adam’s image.” He leaned forward, staring at me more intensely. “Unless there’s anything else you need to tell us?”

I thought about sharing my secrets with them, knowing that it might change everything. Maybe it was time to have it all out in the open, to finally try to let go of some of the fears that had been weighing me down.

But to give them a voice would mean giving them life, to dredge up a past I desperately wanted to forget.

---