Planning Bliss (Bliss Series Book 1)

The Contract

The Contract

"Wake up, sleepy head," Chase's not-so-soft voice pulled me out of a deep slumber.

Fluttering my eyes open, I groaned at the overly cheerful sight, which I was weary of since Chase did not do cheery. I tried to lift my hands to cover my face so that I would be able to get some more snooze time. Then I realized how much of a mistake that was. Everything ached. Even my eyeballs were too painful to move.

It had been almost a week since I returned from Paris. And during the week, Chase had turned me into her number one project. She had accused Jake and company of undernourishing me. She claimed that I had wasted away. The scale in her office had proved her right. With the whirlwind of excitement and stress, tension and pain, I had lost a few pounds. It wouldn't have been horrible if I had done it properly.

After waking up bitterly hungover on Tuesday morning, Chase had decided that I needed a fresh new me. I had been dragged out of my fuzzy slippers and pink pyjamas to join a prestigious gym and enlist in a boot camp called Torture. And it hadn't been a misnomer. Every single morning at the unholy hour of five thirty, Chase shook me out of my bed, poured me into exercise clothes and trainers, shoved pre-workout smoothie into my mouth and dragged me to (be) Torture(d).

The only cherry on top factor was our trainer, a sexy man named Diego, whose gluteal muscles were possibly firmer than marble, and whose skin looked as smooth as silk the color of milk chocolate. And he always smelled like coconuts.

Today was only day three.

I garbled a response at Chase's intrusion.

"What'd you say? Come on, up and at 'em. Diego waits for no one." She bounced on my bed.

Her movements caused trembles that my body did not appreciate. "Go to hell, Chase!"

"Oh, so we're getting cheeky now! I like it."

I hoped she relented.

"Use that anger and get your ass out of bed. Let's go!" she continued. I had hoped too soon as she got on all fours and bounced harder.

I realized my first mistake was giving her a copy of my apartment key. There was only one way to get rid of her. And unfortunately it was to go with her.

"Can I at least sleep for another ten minutes? I promise I'll skip lunch to save calories."

"What? No way! Today is pizza day."

It sounded counterproductive, and truly, it did not make sense. Chase's motto was to 'exercise brutally and eat excessively'.

"I can't anymore. Just leave me here to wilt and die," I begged her.

"You're so melodramatic. Get up, let's go see Delicious Diego, and I'll tell you about our newest, biggest contract on the way there." She nonchalantly added that last part.

It got me up. "Newest and biggest?" I scrubbed the sleep out of my eyes, squirming at the soreness I felt with every movement. Even the muscles that had no business of being sore were sore!

Chase nodded. She stood up and held out her hands. I grabbed them and slowly stood up.

"It will blow your mind." Chase loved to exaggerate, but she also knew what kept me going. I thrived on big events. The countless possibilities. The numerous ideas. The glamour in the details. The rush of adrenaline with the planning. I could use an upper from being so down in the dumps these past few days.

After a few more protests from my body, I managed to head to the bathroom to change, grabbing an old college shirt, sports bra and shorts along the way. I faced myself in the mirror, ignored the dark circles under my eyes while I brushed my teeth. It might have been partly the jet lag, but since Paris, I hadn't gotten a decent sleep. Too many memories. Too many thoughts of him.