My contract love story

Seeing the situation, Ashleigh was about to move back in embarrassment but was immediately grabbed by Adrian and drawn to his side. The group of people watched the two of them in curiosity and looked amongst themselves for who would speak up. A lady dressed in a simple gown smiled casually and spoke up.

“We were all wondering on what would make a man like Mr Cagliari keep us waiting for over 20 minutes. Turns out he was tending to his guest” she suggested, everyone there nodding in agreement.

“I apologize for the interruption. This is my wife, Ashleigh Cagliari. We recently got married” Adrian said, raising up their interlocked hands and rubbing it gently with his other palm.

“Amore, these are my clients who have come for contract signing ” he leaned and whispered in her ear, his hands leaving their interlocked ones to rest on the small of her back firmly. In front he painted a somewhat intimate relationship between them but behind he was firm in how he wanted her to respond and behave.

The clients on hearing from Adrian who Ashleigh was to him had a more receptive countenance and greeted her curtly, surprise being evident on their faces. Ashleigh leaned into his embrace a bit and said a few words of greetings to the clients as well, she looked up at him and smiled as warm as she could, because her current state of embarrassment was nothing compared to how she felt initially.

“I thought I managed to pacify you earlier. Obviously not because you followed me here with no shoes” he stared at her bare feet with a slight frown, signalling his assistant who knew exactly what to do.

In a minute he exited the room, went upstairs to Ashleigh’s room and grabbed a pair of slippers; he returned to the living room and placed them in front of her. Adrian then assisted Ashleigh to wear the slippers.

“Babe, you should not go anywhere without a pair of slippers on your feet. I do not want you to catch a cold suddenly” he cautioned with a somewhat sweet tone, making Ashleigh blush furiously.

“We are very pleased to meet you Mrs Ashleigh. We did not know Mr. Adrian is capable of doting on someone this much” a man spoke up from the group and Ashleigh lowered her head to hide her face that was practically red at that point.

A lot of things had happened in a few minutes but what was somewhat unbearable was Adrian’s attitude, part of her felt he behaved extra to fluster her but for the most of it she was stunned by his words, the name calling and the Oscar worthy behaviour.

She was worried because she liked it. Her heart skipped several beats since the moment he called her amore, drew her closer and had a doted on her. Not that it was true, but in the moment it seemed to real for her. In order to avoid anymore embarrassment she had to leave, and she had to leave fast.

“I was not aware that Adrian had guests so I barged in rudely. I apologize for taking up much of your time, I will leave you all to it” she said, reaching for Adrian’s hand and prying it of her body.

They all smiled at her in response, signalling they had no issues with her being there. As Ashleigh turned to leave she was stopped by Adrian and she gave him a quiet glare.

“My love, it would be rather rude if we let them come all this way without hosting them properly. Don’t you think so?” He asked, the clients shook their heads in an attempt to refuse.

“Please join us. I know my wife is a bit shy to tell you but we planned to have a celebratory dinner. At first it was only going to be the two of us but seeing as you all are here you are invited to join us” he announced generously, pulling Ashleigh to stand besides him again. Ashleigh could not hide her emotions this time as she glared openly at him, he was pushing her to the limit.

Amongst the clients was a rather elderly man who had been silently watching and observing everything. Mr. Turner stood closely besides him during all this and answered the questions that was asked. On hearing Adrian’s invitation dinner, he finally spoke up.

“We will be honoured to join you and your wife for dinner Mr. Cagliari” he accepted the invitation, and Adrian smiled curtly at him.

“Amore, I trust you will arrange a lovely feast with the chef. Instruct the chef accordingly” he said, leading her to leave the room.

At the door, he leaned and whispered in her ear

” Won’t you my love?”

After the scene Adrian created about them having a dinner to celebrate their “love”, Ashleigh found her way to the kitchen to oversee the preparations being made. The only thing is, she had no clue as to how and what she needed to do to host a dinner party of worthy of her new status. She strolled in to see the preparations ongoing for dinner by a group of chefs and assistant which were divided amongst the kitchen.

The kitchen like other rooms in the house is wide spaced with a neutral colour scheme. There were two cooking stations at opposite sides of the room and a large counter top table with bar stools placed underneath. The counter top was currently filled with ingredients being prepared by the chef assistants. The station close to the door is mainly for all types of cooking of the main dishes while the other station is dessert preparations. Each side had an array of high class gadgets and cooking equipment that Ashleigh had not heard of before.

Overseeing everything was Tara who stood with a clipboard in her hand, she discussed seriously with an elderly man who wore the chef clothes. They both looked up to see her coming towards them and immediately took a somewhat serious stance.

“Mrs. Cagliari welcome to the kitchen. Currently as Mr. Cagliari has ordered, the menu for this evening’s client dinner is underway” Tara informed her, and the chef besides her nodded calmly in agreement.

“This is the resident chef, Mr. Frank. He is the one in charge of running the kitchen and arranging the daily menu. Mr Frank this is Mrs. Ashleigh, Mr. Cagliari’s wife, be sure to carry out her instructions as well” Tara explained and his eyes lit up in acknowledgement. He quickly wiped his hands on his apron and extended his hand to shake hers.

“I am honoured to meet the Mrs of this home, after a long wait Adrian has finally brought his companion home” he spoke in a rushed tone, with subtle signs of an accent. Ashleigh smiled sheepishly at his comment and brushed it off.

“I apologize for not making an introduction earlier, I had to settle down properly before going around to meet everyone” she apologized and he was quick to refuse the apology, stating that she should take as much time needed. Tara gave a slight glance at her with an arched brow. Once their pleasantries ended she handed over the clipboard to Ashleigh.

“This is the menu curated by Chef Frank for this evening’s dinner, please go through it and make any adjustments needed” she explained to Ashleigh. Ashleigh looked at the clipboard; the handwriting was somewhat in cursive so it was unreadable to her, she also did not understand the words written.

She handed the clipboard back to her as she was clueless of what was going on. Ashleigh barely had organized a birthday party, she just ordered a bunch of pizza, buy a cake in a store close to where she stayed and called it a day. Now, she is being expected to host a dinner for Adrian and his clients.

“I barely understand what you have written, I do not know what to do as well. Since you’re doing a good job, carry on” Tara gave a long look at her in response and nodded.

calmly.

She turned to the chef and they discussed for a few minutes, the chef then left to continue his duties while Tara led Ashleigh to a corner where she would sit quietly for the next hour, watching as they ran around in a hurry. The dishes were already being set and moved to the outdoor dining from the kitchen.

“The dinner will start in a while, you can go and get ready now” Tara echoed over her thoughts, bringing Ashleigh back to her consciousness. She looked up to see the kitchen empty, in front of her stood Tara a slight frown on her face. She then shoved a small piece of paper in her hand.

“I have written down the dishes prepared for the evening in that paper. You can go through it while you are changing. I do not want to have Adrian go on about not putting you through” she taunted, leaving Ashleigh surprised. She was sure that Tara was nice to her earlier when she came in with Adrian, she showed no signs of hostility to her like she is showing now.

“Excuse me?” Ashleigh took a double take, standing up to face Tara who looked at her with a slight scowl on her face.

“You are excused. Originally, I thought Adrian had brought a lady worthy of his status, but now I know looks can be deceiving. It’s only a matter of time before you are not here, so until then just be a good pet to him. Do not try to prove anything to him, and maybe you can get a fair compensation for your hard work” she said in a demeaning tone, looking at her with clear disdain in her eyes.

Ashleigh quickly pulled her close up to herself and glared back.