Pretend To Be Mine Read online

  Pretend To Be Mine

  (A Marriage Contract Romance)

  By

  P. G. Van

  © 2018 P.G. Van

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

  Blurb

  Dheeraj does not believe in marriage, but given the circumstances, he is not left with much choice. He needs to move fast to make sure everyone around him believes he is getting married for real and to the right woman, even if it’s for only two years.

  Anjali never expected a complete stranger to propose a marriage contract as if he were offering her a job with a salary and benefits package, especially the first time they meet. What he offers is tempting enough for her to give in, so she can fulfill her dream and keep the promise she made to a loved one.

  For their friends and family, Dheeraj and Anjali are a loving couple who fell in love at first sight, but they both have an agenda. Their reasons for the marriage contract were different, but what they never expected is what happens when two people start living under the same roof pretending to be a couple.

  Sparks fly and butterflies flutter between stolen kisses, but when they start to find out more about each other’s reason for the fake marriage, will they still honor the contract? Will love make its way into the contract as a clause?

  Note: This is a stand-alone romance with a passionate couple who finds their HEA. This book is recommended for mature readers.

  Chapter 1

  Dheeraj sat at the bar waiting for her. His informer texted him she had left her apartment ten minutes ago and was headed to the bar where he sat with his thirty-year-old single malt whiskey. The conversation he was about to have with the woman needed his drink to be neat. He looked at the envelope in front of him and knew he was going to make a deal she could not refuse—she was in no position to say no.

  He took a sip of his drink and enjoyed how smoothly it went down his throat giving him the much-needed heat on the inside. What he was about to do was insane even for his standards, but he had to accept the fact that he had no other choice.

  Less than two months ago, he had a completely different set of challenges to deal with that felt like measly molehills compared to what he had mounting up in front of him. He had to move fast. And even if it meant he had to charm her into agreeing to his proposal, he wasn’t going to back down.

  Charming women wasn’t his style, and for that matter, he didn’t need to, but in this case, whatever it took to get her to agree to his terms, he was willing to do. His eyes fell on his phone screen when it lit up with a message. It was an indicator that she was in the building.

  Showtime!!

  “What are we celebrating? Me getting fired?” Anjali snorted as she followed her friends into one of the happening places in the city.

  “It’s the hospital’s loss. Their rules were silly… you were only trying to help,” her friend, Lekha, growled.

  Anjali worked in the hospital’s pediatric department as a nurse specializing in premature babies. She was on her late-night shift checking on the babies when one of the mothers had showed up crying, wanting to hold her baby just for a moment. It was against hospital rules to let the premature babies out of the incubator rooms unless it was to feed them, and it was against policy for anyone to visit after the set hours.

  She looked at the sad mother and took the baby out of the incubator and held the baby close to the glass wall, so the mother could see her child if not hold him, and that sent alarms to her supervisor. She was escorted out of the building that very night for being compassionate.

  “You’ve been in your apartment for the past two weeks. You need to get out,” her friend Lekha said, and the rest of the group agreed.

  “I need a job… I spent the last two weeks looking for one, and it’s been a challenge without a reference from my past supervisor,” Anjali mumbled.

  “Stop thinking about finding a job just for tonight and enjoy.”

  Anjali knew her friends were right, but she knew she had to get back into the workforce as soon as possible. She wasn’t running out of living expenses or worried about paying rent. She was thankful to have inherited an apartment in the heart of the city and never having to worry about paying rent. But she did have a bigger goal and promise to keep.

  She took a deep breath and decided to leave her worries outside the door of the lavish bar she stepped into with her friends. The music was booming loudly in the dimly-lit room with the stage set up for live music.

  “Yes, I am going to enjoy tonight and not think about anything else.” Anjali laughed putting her arm around her friend, Sonia, as they settled into one side of the lounge area. The four women she was with knew her from college, and they were her rocks. They were always there for her when she had no one to look to for comfort, and from time to time she felt guilty about keeping one secret from them. The one single detail that, in a way, dictated her life.

  It was a ‘situation,’ and Anjali knew she alone had to deal with it. Sharing it with her friends would only cause them alarm and concern, and she didn’t want them to worry about her. Her friends were all she had after losing her parents at the age of five and then her grandmother when she had barely started college. Her grandmother had raised her after her parents passed away and was the only family she knew.

  Anjali and her friends were in a deep and important conversation about ‘What Men Really Want’ when they were interrupted by one of the waitresses.

  “I have your drinks, ladies,” the waitress chirped.

  “Did we order drinks?” Anjali scrunched her nose.

  “These drinks are for you lovely ladies from one of our patrons.” The waitress turned to look at a man sitting at the bar. He was not too far away, and Anjali realized he was looking right at them—at her.

  Anjali’s friends let out squeals of excitement when the man’s mouth twisted up on one side, and he tipped his glass of whiskey toward them.

  “Thank you!” Her friends cheered in unison and reached for their drinks.

  The waitress leaned closer to Anjali. “Ma’am, sir would like you to join him for a drink.”

  Anjali smiled at the waitress and averted her eyes to look at the man who was staring at her. She gave him a polite smile and mouthed ‘No’ before turning away to look at her friends. Buying her a drink didn’t give him the right to talk to her.

  “It’s been a while since we’ve had free drinks… I guess we are not that old.” Lekha laughed.

  “Just old enough… the twenties are perfect,” Sonia chimed in.

  “I will drink to that.” The chatter continued amongst her friends, but Anjali had an annoying feeling creep up her neck. She didn’t have to look up to know the man was eyeing her but decided to ignore him.

  Multiple streams of conversations happened at their table and were yet again interrupted by the waitress who had brought them drinks earlier.

  “Ladies, sorry to interrupt, but I come with good news. We would like for you to join our elite members in the VIP lounge. The drinks are on the house, and the live music is best enjoyed from the lounge.”

  Anjali saw all her friends go into an alert mode. She bit her lip and was thankful for their presence of mind even after three rounds of shots.

  “Why?” Sonia questioned bluntly.

  “It’s a special inv
itation by one of our elite members.” The waitress’s smile did not falter.

  “Okay, this is too good to be true. Which elite member?” Anjali sat quietly as her friends interrogated the waitress, and when she finally pointed back to the man who had sent them a round of drinks earlier, they all smiled at him politely before looking at the waitress again.

  “Who is he really interested in?” Sonia asked the waitress, point blank.

  The waitress looked uncomfortable as she moved her eyes to look at Anjali, and one of her friends let out a catcall.

  “Anjali?” Riya winked.

  “We are fine where we are,” Anjali almost snapped.

  “Hang on.” Her friend, Neeta, stopped the waitress who was about to turn away.

  “Do you know him, Anjali?”

  Anjali frowned. “No.”

  “The guy seems decent, and he is the hottest dude here. Go talk to him,” Neeta suggested.

  “Just for the fancy lounge? Not happening,” Anjali said adamantly.

  “You promised you would have fun tonight. Go do something different. The guy is not being creepy by sending drinks just to you and asking you to join him in the fancy lounge. Right, girls?” Neeta winked.

  Anjali knew she was in trouble when all her friends nodded in agreement.

  “You know how many times we’ve tried to get on that VIP list. Go have a drink with him, chat for a few minutes, and we can have fun in the VIP lounge,” Lekha urged, but Sonia was quiet, looking skeptical.

  Anjali looked at Sonia. “Sonu, I think this is a bad idea, right?”

  Sonia was silent for a moment. “Lekha and Neeta are right. The guy looks decent, and you are single. Why not him?”

  Anjali rolled her eyes. “What if he is creepy?”

  Riya looked at the man. “He doesn’t look creepy to me, but you never know.”

  “If he turns out to be weird, then we all leave the bar and go somewhere else,” Lekha stated.

  “Okay, sit tight. I’ll go talk to him first before we take up the offer of the VIP treatment.” Anjali stood up and walked away from their booth, her friends cheering in the background.

  The last thing she needed was another interruption to the wonderful time she was having with her good friends. She walked up to the stranger knowing exactly what to say, but her annoyance simmered when he stood up from the barstool smiling, and stretched his arm holding his hand out.

  Anjali was taken aback at such a formal gesture at a bar from a person who seemed to be hitting on her. She took his hand and shook it gently, her eyes locked with his.

  “Hi, I’m Dheeraj. Please have a seat.” The man gestured to the empty barstool next to him before settling back on his barstool.

  “Thank you,” she mumbled before sitting next to him.

  The man took a sip of his drink and looked at her. “What would you like to drink?”

  “I’m fine.”

  The man leaned close and whispered, “I need to talk to you for five minutes without interruption. All I ask is that you listen to what I say before asking me any questions.”

  She looked at him, her eyes filled with confusion.

  “Are you willing to step outside onto the patio, so I can actually hear myself talk?” His voice was calm.

  Anjali nodded and turned to look at her friends who had their eyes glued to her. She smiled at them and held up two fingers as she followed him out of the bar toward the patio. Her friends giggled and started talking amongst themselves, and she could only imagine what they would say after she went back.

  Dheeraj led her out to the patio, and she felt the fresh, cool breeze making her long, silky hair flail. She ran her fingers through her hair to tame the wild strands that blew on her face. There were several other couples in the patio area which was dimly lit to match the ambiance inside the bar.

  She was surprised that he walked past the empty table to sit on a low concrete bench set to one side of the patio. He gestured her to sit next to him and leaned onto the metal backrest looking straight ahead.

  Moments passed, and she waited for him to talk. She wasn’t the one who wanted to talk, and she wasn’t sure how long he was going to sit there and look aimlessly in one direction. Just when she had enough of the weird silence, he cleared his throat and turned to look at her.

  “As I said, five minutes, and then you can ask me questions.”

  “Okay. What is this about?”

  “A job offer. A two-year contract. A payment that will work for you…”

  “A job offer?” She scrunched her nose.

  “Like I said, I want you to let me finish talking and then ask me questions.” His tone was borderline rude.

  “Fine.”

  “What we discuss here is not to be repeated anywhere, there will not be anything in writing, but I have a way to penalize you in the event of a breach of our agreement.” He paused, and she swallowed nervously.

  “Your job is to be my wife for two years. The payment is double the loan amount you were hoping to get from the bank.”

  Her mouth went dry not because he mentioned her futile attempts to secure a loan but at a memory from her past—an unpleasant one.

  “You will be my wife in the eyes of the public, and I do not expect any other relationship between us. I have a lot riding on this contract, and I will not try to downplay how badly I need you to accept my offer.” He reached for his phone and pulled up the calculator app and started typing.

  Anjali’s eyes widened when she saw the number of zeros next to the number five on his phone screen.

  “You may take a picture of this figure if you’d like for your records, but I need to know now if you will be accepting my job offer.”

  She was still staring at his phone, dumbfounded.

  “Geetanjali.” The name that rolled off his lips shook her out of her shock. It’s a name no one used to address her. Only her grandma used to call her by that name.

  “How do you know my name?” she blurted out the first of the million questions she had running through her head.

  “I know what I need to know. I don’t care why you are applying for a loan, but let me be your bank, and you be my wife.”

  “Is this some kind of a joke?”

  He smiled, a devious tinge to it. “I do not have time to joke around. This is strictly business. You will pretend to be my wife for two years.”

  “Why me?”

  “You’ll know soon why you. Trust me when I say you are the most qualified for this job.”

  “Because I am desperate?” she asked and realized her question was in a way very rhetorical.

  “That’s makes two of us.” His open admission surprised her.

  “What if I don’t want any of this because… this is madness.”

  “Name a number in any currency that would make this less of a madness.”

  “It’s not about the money… are you doing something illegal? How do I trust you?”

  “Nothing illegal. And I have no time to earn your trust.”

  Anjali’s mind started to reel replaying every word he said, and none of it made sense, but the number that flashed on the screen was unbelievable. That amount is her ticket to fulfill wishes and keep her promise.

  “I need time to think.”

  “You have four hours to think. If the answer is yes, we start to put on a show. Build the perfect love-at-first-sight story.”

  “If I say no…”

  “I will not let you say no. Whatever it takes.” His words screamed desperation, but his tone held a command. “Even if I have to put a brake on you getting a loan.”

  “How can you do that? You are not the bank,” she retorted.

  “I’m in real estate and trust me when I tell you it doesn’t take long to get a set of fake papers for the property you intend to use as collateral for your loan, and that would stall any loan, if not put an end to it.” His manner was cool and composed.

  “But why would…” Her voice trailed off when he turned to look
at her.

  “I don’t intend to… Not that I haven’t pulled such deals in the past, but with what I am dealing with, I do not want to play dirty games.”

  “But…”

  “Geetanjali Devarakonda, marry me.” His tone held no emotion.

  Was it an order? Why wasn’t she infuriated or scared about the situation?

  She had no other choice. That’s why.

  Chapter 2

  “I need more than four hours to think.” Anjali knew any amount of time wasn’t enough to think through the situation.

  “How about this? You and I start the show tonight and give it a week before you decide if you want to get married or not.” What he said seemed like a great suggestion, but she felt the quicksand-like situation engulf her.

  She took a slow, long breath and lowered her eyes to his phone. The phone screen still showed the number that was her offer. It was a matter of two years, but she didn’t know what it meant giving up that time of her life to pretend to be a wife to a complete stranger.

  “What does it mean to pretend? What would I need to do?” Her voice was weak.

  Anjali’s eyes were lowered observing his slow movements. Dheeraj put his phone away and turned his body to face her. The arm that was resting on the backrest of the bench moved slowly for his finger to touch the tip of her chin. He raised her chin forcing her to look directly into his eyes.

  “I will touch, hug, and may even kiss you in public to show affection, so our relationship is believable. Behind closed doors, as my wife, you will do nothing other than share my bedroom… again just to create the right image.”

  “Who is going to be watching us?”

  “Let’s just say there are people who have ways to find out if a couple is sleeping in the same bed or not.” His words sent chills down her spine.

  “Who are you, and why do you need me to be your wife?”

  “My name is Dheeraj Prakash Varma, and you will know why I need a wife… soon. Unlike a regular job, you will not have a five-day work week, you will have a seven-day, twenty-four-hour job to do.” He maintained a monotone voice, and she made a mental note to look him up online.