Arranged

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Julian swore under his breath. Why had Hayley come to his office?

She was his wife and had every right to be here, but she couldn't have chosen a worse time. No, worse timing would have been a couple of minutes later when he wasn't wearing his pants.

At least he was still fully clothed. His shirt was unbuttoned, but it was still on him.

He sighed. For a moment, he'd braced himself for some sort of explosive tantrum. But as always, sweet, submissive Hayley simply smiled and let his nonsense pass.

Over the past month, he had been the worst kind of husband. He spent as little time as he could with Hayley. When he did find himself in the same room, he made sure he let her know that he wasn't excited to be there.

Over the few dinners they had, he had worn a permanent frown while his eyes stayed glued to his phone or iPad. He said nothing except to answer her questions, his answers always short and curt.

When he did open his mouth, it was to complain about Hayley's choice of food. She probably never said a word to his in-house chef, and the food hadn't changed a single bit, but he blamed her for the non-existent problem anyway.

Julian hated being married. He hated that he had been forced into this by his parents.

"It's the only way to keep the business in the family," his father had said.

But it wasn't. Surely there was a way to push the Espels out. So what if they owned the majority of the shares? They hadn't done much for the company. Julian had been the one running it. He didn't just keep the business going; he was the reason why their empire had expanded so quickly.

He despised everything about Hayley. He despised the fact that she was so submissive, so willing to do whatever he wanted. He despised how she didn't have any opinions of her own. He despised how willing she was to go along with whatever her parents had planned.

It had taken a combination of threats, unrelenting pressure, and underhanded methods from his parents to push Julian into showing up for the engagement party and wedding.

Now, he hated that his bathroom smelled like flowers after she had her baths. He hated getting wafts of the same smell when he went to bed. He hated the sexy silk pajamas she wore to sleep and the way her long ash-brown hair spilled over her pillow.

Julian knew Hayley was trying to seduce him, to get him wrapped around her finger. But he would never trust an Espel. Not because his father told him so—Julian didn't trust him either.

The Espels and Nicholsons might appear the best of colleagues, but both families were trying to gain control of the company. The Espels had more shares, but Julian was the one running the company. The two old men who founded the company together were always fighting to put their own people on the board of directors.

Julian wasn't interested in playing their games. He had a job to do, and he made sure he was so good at it that the directors—regardless of whose side they were on—couldn't find any fault with him.

And he wasn't going to fall for whatever Hayley had up her sleeve. She still controlled the shares though they were married. They'd signed a pre-nuptial agreement to make sure her stake in the company would always belong to her. She was only here to make him bow to her will so he would become Mr. Espel's puppet.

Julian crooked his lower jaw to the side. So there was no reason for him to feel bad about what Hayley had seen. She shouldn't have entered his office like that.

He tucked his shirt back into his pants and headed back out of the office to see his best friend and the company's Chief Financial Officer, Colin Wells, sitting on the dark gray leather couch. "What are you doing here?"

"My secretary informed me that Hayley was in the building. I thought I would come by and give you a heads up. It seems I was too late."

Julian shrugged. This wasn't the first time he'd had company during lunch hour, but it was the first time since he'd gotten hitched. He was frustrated with his parents, and he wanted to do something to irk them.

Which was why he had gone for it though he wasn't interested in Charlene. His new secretary was a complete bombshell, but Julian hadn't been interested. Not out of duty to Hayley. He simply wasn't interested.

"I saw her heading to the elevator. She was all sweet and smiley when she greeted me."

And that's the proof Hayley doesn't care about the marriage. What woman wouldn't be upset if she caught her husband cheating?

He returned to his leather-lined office chair and pulled his suit jacket back on.

She was only pretending to be nice to soften him up.

Was she trying to wriggle her way into his heart and take over the business? He made a mental note to be more watchful of Hayley. The quiet ones were always the most dangerous. "Finally something good comes of her sickeningly submissive ways, I suppose."

"Is she really that bad?" Colin stretched an arm across the back of the couch. "You could try and make things work. She's a beautiful woman, and you've always liked beautiful women."

"I abhor her." Julian despised the fact that her large green eyes drew him in like a moth to flame, despised the fact that she plagued his dreams. "She's nothing but her parents' pet."

And Julian had worked his entire life to get out of his parents' clutches. He had been acquiring shares secretly so he could become the largest shareholder.[ MD: what happened to this scheme? ]

It was taking a lot longer than it was supposed to since he had to keep his plan under wraps, and he'd run out of time.

This marriage was a reminder of how he really was nothing but a caged bird and how underhanded his father was willing to be to make Julian do things his way.

"She seems nice to me."

Julian shot his best friend a glare.

"What? I thought you abhorred her. Now you're jealous?"

"I'm not jealous," he snapped. "She's the enemy."

"All the more interesting." Colin brought an ankle to his knee. "If she's really as bad as you say she is, she must be a world-class actress. She always seems so nice and sweet."

"Just stay away from her."

"Because she's the enemy?"

"Why else?"

Colin shrugged and patted his hand against his knee. "Since there's no fire to put out, I'm going back to my office."

Julian swiveled his chair around to stare out of his full-length window. He looked out at the metallic high-rise buildings of Manhattan. Espel and Nicholson Holdings owned one of the tallest buildings in midtown Manhattan.

Espel and Nicholson Holdings. Julian shook his head. Nicholson Holdings sounds much better. Perhaps Colin was right. He could try and make things work—in his favor.

Two could play at that game.

If he could charm Hayley, he could get her to fall for him. She was already so submissive. It wouldn't be difficult to get her to do whatever he wanted. She might be a good actress, but he knew how to charm a woman.

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