A Bride for a Merger
Chapter 23

I had been awake for more than two hours since morning but I had refused to left my room any at all. I was afraid that I would run into Christopher and I honestly didn't know how to react when I saw him or how he would react. The night before was just a spur of the moment thing that almost got out of control and so I didn't know what to expect.

However, that was not the only reason I was hesitant about going downstairs and seeing Christopher. Apparently as a result of our little session the previous night, my neck and collarbone area was decorated with bright love bites. I had noticed them this morning when I went to the bathroom to shower.

Avoiding Christopher was inevitable, I know but it didn't mean that I couldn't delay seeing him for a few more minutes. While I tried to mentally prepare myself for what was to come soon, I decided to video call Tori on Skype, praying she was online or at least near her computer. It seems that my prayers were being answered because it wasn't long before I saw Tori's face appeared on my screen.

"Hey babe," Tori smiled. "What's up?"

"Not much, I'm good." I sighed smiling back at her.

"No, you're not. I know when something's bothering you, what's wrong?" Tori asked.

"A lot Tori, trust me. Last night a lot of things went wrong." I sighed.

"Oh no, last night was the business event that you went to with Christopher wasn't it? I was hoping that would at least go well." Tori said to me.

"It went well for a while but then things got messy in the end." I replied.

"What happened?" Tori asked.

"Well for starters, I got mad at Christopher for leaving me waiting in his car while he went to chat with his ex." I replied. "I drove home his car without him."

"Oh my God Allison. He must've wanted to kill you." Tori said as she started laughing hysterically.

"Come on Tori, stop. It is not funny." I said trying to hold back the laugh that was threatening to escape from me as well.

"Give me... Give me a minute....to compose myself." Tori breathe out in between laughter.

I couldn't help but join in with her. After about a few minutes of laughter we were both able to stop and composed ourselves.

"Admit it, it was funny." Tori chuckled.

"Okay, so maybe it is a little funny, at the time." I chuckled. "But that's not the worst part."

"So what happened? How mad was he?" Tori asked.

"He was pretty mad but I didn't care I was mad first. But then somewhere along the line, I didn't even noticed it at first but this happened." I said to her pulling back my hair and moving closer to the webcam so she could see my neck and collar.

"Holy shit!" Tori said shocked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "This happened. "

"Damn girl, I am so proud of you." Tori laughed excitedly. "You guys didn't did you?" "What? No! Of course not. I stopped him before things went any further." I said to her. "Okay then, so what is so bad about what happened then?" Tori asked.

"That's what I was getting to. The worst part of it all was that I liked it." I said sheepishly.

"Hey, Alli. You don't need to be embarrassed about it okay? It's completely normal to get caught up in a moment like that." Tori tried reassuring me.

"I know Tori, but it was with Christopher. The same guy who had been an ass to me for the past couple month we've been married. He only stopped being so extra a few months ago." I said to her.

"I know, but you said he was trying right? Plus he's your husband, things and moments like that is normal among married couples." Tori replied.

"Yeah real couples. Christopher and I are only... business associates so I don't know if that would be classified as normal." I said to her.

"Allison, you need to chill and let your guards down at least once. You deserve to be happy and have fun-- intimate fun. Plus wouldn't it be best to at least have that with Christopher, someone you know, your husband-real or not? Instead of with a stranger?" Tori asked raising a brow suggestively.

"Oh my God Tori, I can't believe this. You're supposed to be on my side here." I said to her.

"I am on your side." Tori replied with a laugh.

"No, you are not. You're basically telling me to go and sleep with Christopher Tori. " I said incredulously, glaring at her through the screen.

"No I didn't." Tori said chuckling." I implied really. I didn't exactly say go ahead."

"Yes you are." I said to her. "I told you he's an ass, last night was a mistake."

"Okay maybe I am. But all I am saying is that you deserve to be happy. When every other teenager was out dating, or sneaking out to go meet up with the boyfriend and such, you were in mourning and closing off yourself from the outside world. So it is natural to be having urges now and having those feelings." Tori replied. "And maybe it could be good exploring those feelings with Christopher."

"Tori I am not listening to you anymore. You're definitely a bad influence." I told her rolling my eyes.

"You know that I'm not." Tori chuckled. "I'm just saying that all the tension and issues between you and Christopher would probably go away if you guys consummate your marriage. Who knows, maybe that could be the start of your marriage getting real."

Before I could reply, Pluto had come to the side of the bed at my feet and started whimpering. I was such a bad owner. He was probably hungry and felt neglected, yet here I was being selfish. I was worrying about myself and what was going to happen when I run into Christopher, while the poor thing was probably starving. Especially since I hadn't left my room from morning to get him his food or take him for a walk or let him out to pee or anything.

"Tori, I'd love to listen to your advice and talk more but Pluto desperately needs my attention now okay." I said to her.

"Aww, I miss him. Could you let me say hi to him?" Tori asked.

"Okay fine." I said to her picking up Pluto so he could see Tori on my laptop screen.

"Hey boy, did you missed me?" Tori asked as if she was talking to a real person.

Pluto started wagging his tail when he saw her face on the screen. He began licking my screen and I had to pull him away before my entire laptop was smelling of puppy breath.

"Yep, I think that he definitely miss you too." I chuckled. "I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Okay later," Tori smiled. "Bye Pluto."

After closing my laptop, I got up with Pluto still in my arms.

"Okay boy, let's go get you some breakfast." I said as I went to my door and headed downstairs.

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I didn't know if it was fate or bad luck but it seemed as if Christopher was waiting for me in the kitchen.

"Uh morning," I said awkwardly without looking at him as I went to pull out Pluto's dog food from the lower cupboard.

"Hey." I heard him answered.

I didn't know what was happening at the moment but it was like things chose to get out of hand. The bag of puppy chows which I always take out of that cupboard with ease, was stuck this morning. Even when I continued pulling, the damn thing just wouldn't budge.

"Let me help with that." Christopher said coming behind me.

"It's okay, I got it." I replied still trying to pull out the bag.

"Allison, let me." Christopher replied putting his hand on the bag causing me to withdraw mine.

I took a step back allowing him to pull out the bag with ease.

Great, so the stupid bag only wanted to give me trouble.

"Thanks." I said holding out my hands for him to give me the bag but he just ignored me and went to Pluto's bowl filling it with puppy chows.

In the mean time, I got the other bowl filling it with water.

Christopher folded the bag before returning it to the cupboard.

"Thanks again." I said looking at Pluto who was more than happy to have food in his bowl.

"No problem." Christopher replied before heading over to the coffee maker and pouring coffee into two mugs and stretching one to me.

"Thank you." I said taking the mug from him.

"You're welcome," Christopher replied. "So I've made breakfast this morning, you want?"

"What? You cook?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, I'm capable of doing that you know. I'm not all worthless Allison." Christopher chuckled. "Well I had no idea." I replied.

"What?" Christopher asked looking at me weirdly. "You thought I was worthless?"

"That's not what I meant. I meant I didn't know you could cook." I replied shaking my head.

"Oh, well I can do a little thing." Christopher replied. "So breakfast?"

"Okay," nodded. "Let's see how good you are at cooking, or not."

*****

"So what do you think?" Christopher asked after we've finished eating. "Am I any good at making breakfast?"

If you're loving the book, nel5s.org is where the adventure continues. Join us for the complete experience-all for free. The next chapter is eagerly waiting for you! "Well..." I said wiping my mouth with a napkin. "...don't go getting a bigger head than you already have, but yeah I definitely think you can help yourself around the kitchen." "Thanks, I think?" Christopher replied but saying it more like a question though.

"It is a compliment Christopher." I said to him.

"Oh. And by the way, I told you, you can call me Chris you know." Christopher said putting an hand on my shoulder before rubbing it down my back before withdrawing his hand. "I'm fine with calling you Christopher." I smiled awkwardly. "It's more professional."

"Professional? Allison you say that like were business associates or something." Christopher chuckled.

"Actually we are, that's what our marriage made us wasn't it?" I asked him curiously.

"Really? That's how you see us?" Christopher asked in disbelief.

"What us? And yeah. Don't you see us like that?" I asked.

"No. And I don't want to see us as business associates either Allison." Christopher said to me before taking putting one of his hand over mine. "What do you mean?" I asked confused looking directly at him.

"What I mean is I don't want us to be business associates, I'd like for us to be at least friends right now then possible more." Christopher replied. "More?" I asked looking at him.

"Yeah, as in maybe this..." Christopher said pointing between us. "...you and me, could be real."

"Christopher you're not making any sense." I shook my head. "You're saying you want us to be more? Like a real couple?"

"Well...yeah." Christopher nodded. "I like you Allison and I'm..."

"You like me?" I asked surprised. "Since when!? You could hardly stand the thought of me since we've met. So what could have possible changed now?"

"Look Allison, I know that at first I had been a jerk and hated this idea of marriage thing, but for the past months I've became attracted to you. And I could only hope that after last night you're somehow attracted to me too. So why fight this?" Christopher replied.

"Last night have nothing to do with anything and that was just a spur of the moment thing that got out of hand because you attacked me." I said before getting up. "What!? I didn't attack you. I kissed you and you kissed back, and I'm sure you enjoyed that little session as well. So why say I attacked you?" Christopher asked irritatedly.

"You know what? I'm not staying here and listen to you be a jerk once more after trying to seduce me last night." I said as I started to walk away.

"No, wait Allison." Christopher stood as well before grabbing my hand. "I'm sorry okay, I didn't mean to sound like an ass. And last night I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was trying to seduce you. I wasn't, really. I just got caught up in the moment just as you did. But for the record, I don't regret it. I liked kissing you and I like you."

"I don't get it. Why?" I asked.

"I'm honestly not sure what to tell you. I just know that I like you and I think you're awesome. So once again, I'm gonna ask you to please forgive me for being an ass, and again for that second chance. Please? What do you say?" Christopher asked. "Okay." I sighed nodding. "Just one last chance."