My heart begins to beat quickly as he approaches me. He places a hand on my waist and leans down to kiss my cheek. I'm unsure what to do with my hands or, frankly, any other part of my body, so I just give him a small smile.
"Hello Mr. Whitlock," I say warmly. I can feel Grace's eyes on me, watching intently.
"Amelia," Mr. Whitlock purrs before he stands back, with his hand still on my waist. "I only have an hour, shall we get started?" Lory jumps into action and leads me to one side of the table, gesturing for me to sit down beside her as she takes the place next to me.
She leans down to her side and slips out a pile of papers, placing one stack in front of me while one is placed in front of her. I look up and watch as Rhodes intently stares at me, smiling as I catch his glance before reaching into his suit jacket and taking out a pen.
"Okay, Amelia. We're all going to read through the contract, and you can both add which points you would like to include along the way. Some points will be negotiable, but some won't, and we will both need to be as accommodating as we can if we want this to work," she pointedly tells me. She should be telling this to both of us, but I don't feel like he's going to be very accommodating.
I nod my head and smile softly. My heart is racing as I look down at the page. I don't understand a word of it; the first page is a whole bunch of legal mumbo jumbo to me.
"This first page is mandatory that you sign, Amelia. This is the non-disclosure agreement. What it basically means is that you won't tell your family, your friends, or anyone how you and Mr. Whitlock met. And in the event that things don't work out between you two, you are not to sell your story to any media outlets." My mouth dries up as she talks. I didn't realize that Mr. Whitlock was so well-known that he would have to worry about things like this. I am partially glad that this is included; I'm not super fond of how this is all starting either. I open my mouth to ask a question before Lory cuts me off.
"It's alright that Poppy knows; she has signed a similar piece of paper." I nod my head and click my ballpoint pen before scribbling my signature next to a blue tab at the bottom of the page.