Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (29 page)

“How?” It came out as a little squeal.

“I sent your abstract to the Economics
Journal.”

“The Economics Journal?” She was
practically shouting.

“Yep, it’s published at my alma mater.”

“Of course!” she exclaimed, realizing
where I had gone to school. “But, but, would they just like-“

“Not usually,” I said slowly. “But they
review anything that comes from me directly and they were blown away by your
ideas. And when I say blown away, those were the words used by the editor in
his email, which I have forwarded to-”

I cut myself short because she lunged on
to me and gave me a very tight hug. I could hear her sniff as she grabbed my
body with her tiny little hands. I tried to control myself, but just feeling
her smooth skin against my hands, her perfectly perky breasts against my torso,
and her soft skirt rub against my crotch was enough to make me forget what the
conversation was about, what was happening right now, or even what day of the
week it was. All I knew was I wanted to rip her dress up right there and shove
my hands into her panties, shove my fingers deep inside her as I kissed her
breasts until they were sore. Then I would throw her on the couch and fuck her
like she had no idea was possible, deep and fast and I would come inside her
sweet-

She jerked apart from me, probably able to
feel my excitement through her skirt.

“Okay, that’s all for hugs, I guess,” she
said, her voice almost shivering. Wow, was she…

I studied her face; it had turned a very
deep shade of red. Her right arm was tugging nervously at the hem of her skirt
and she was looking squarely on to the ground. She wanted it too! If there was
anything I knew about women, it was the look of desire on their faces, and
right now, Aria’s face was nothing if not complete and utter longing. Should I
say something? Was now my only chance?

If a simple hug could cause her to react
this way, wait until I kissed her; she would melt. I felt a slight
disappointment at the thought of the game getting easier, but knowing Aria as
much as I had gotten to know her, just because she wanted it didn’t mean she
would just give it up. The odds that she had been wanting it all along were
always very high; what made her stand out from all the other women was that she
resisted, not that she didn’t feel. I knew she felt it, every woman did.
Somehow she had managed to convince me through her tough exterior that she
didn’t for a little while, I realized, feeling idiotic for ever entertaining
doubts. This was definitely going to be much easier than I had been
anticipating, but the fact that she just jerked away meant that it would still
be a challenge. I simply had to teach her to succumb to her desires. I would
show her the things she was capable of feeling and teach her to accept the
greatest pleasures of life. I couldn’t wait. For now, however, I had to play it
cool.

“I’m sorry about that,” I said, feigning a
look of genuine remorse. “But it tends to do that. I can’t really control it.”

She tried speaking a few times but her lips
were visibly trembling. She took a deep breath and tried to conceal it with a
cough. Finally she said, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Of course she didn’t, I internally rolled
my eyes. She would have felt my rock hard cock if she were wearing a space
suit.

“Oh, never mind then,” I played along. She
knew. I knew. What was the fucking point of this?

“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed, trying
to change her expression to that of delight.

For what? For my hard on? It took me
almost an entire minute to realize what she was talking about. I had completely
forgotten the conversation that led up to that moment.

“Oh, my pleasure entirely.” I gave her a
crooked smile. It would be my pleasure soon enough. I could not wait much
longer. More hugs like that and I would forget all about the contract and the
challenge and seduce her right away. “And you don’t really have to thank me, it
was your hard work and intelligence that got them to accept the paper. I was
merely the middle-man.”

“A middle-man that pays to run that whole
department,” she said with almost a hint of envy. “Let’s be honest, if the
email had not come from you, they would never ever give an undergrad the time
of the day and my abstract would go straight to their virtual bin.”

“Yes,” I had to say. There could be no
confusion about the fact that this would have been impossible without my help.
But I also thought it important to add, “But they could read it and turn it
down with ease if they didn’t like what they saw.”

“Seriously, Zayden.” I liked the way she
said my name. Zay-den. It sounded intoxicating. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. That was simply
the abstract. You have a whole paper to write,” I reminded her. “We have a
paper to write.”

I killed it with the “we.” I could see the
joy in her face. “You’re a really good friend,” she said.

Friend? Did she think of me as someone she
could call a friend? That was a weird sensation, hearing her call me a friend;
and not necessarily in a bad way. Of course, I wanted to be more than that
physically, but I wondered if it was worth keeping her around as a friend after
I got what I wanted? I didn’t really have any friends aside from Ned, and if I
was going to allow a girl in my life in any capacity, that word seemed to
nicely describe it. Her intelligence was obvious, and maybe if we could remain
friends, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to have her work for me. I
knew I could gain a lot from her talents, and she could make more money than
she would anywhere else. I definitely needed to consider this in more depth: it
all depended on how she would react if – when – we eventually have sex. There
was a good chance that she would hate me forever for taking her virginity and
not wanting anything more. Would it, though? She seemed like a very rational
and together girl. I wasn’t entirely sure she would want to get emotionally
involved with me if she knew that the alternative would grant her the career of
her dreams. Her ambitions almost reminded me of myself in my college years. In those
days I would never have let anything stop me from my aspirations, and I
suspected that Aria Roberts wasn’t the kind to either.

“If you really think so,” I said smiling
at her. “Then do me a favor.”

“Anything!” she exclaimed immediately and
hurriedly added, “Anything other than, you know.”

I laughed. “That wasn’t what I was going
to ask. Have I asked that of you since our contract started?”

She looked like she was raking her brains
for a moment and shook her head. “No, you haven’t.”

“Didn’t think so. What you could do for me
is join me to a gala on Saturday I have to go to.”

She looked confused. “You didn’t have to
ask me that, it’s part of our deal, I go with you to that kind of stuff.”

“I know, but I am giving you the option to
say no. This isn’t about the contract. I want you to join me to the event if
you want to. If not, no problem, it won’t affect our contract.”

I knew she needed to go but it was going
to be much more satisfying if she said yes of her own choosing.

“Don’t be silly.” She gave me a look that
said I was being ridiculous. “Of course I’ll go.”

“You don’t even know what it is. What if I
take you to a dark alley and-”

“Zayden, I think we have by now
established that I feel completely safe around you. So I would love to join you
at this ambiguous gala thing, okay?”

The way she said that made me laugh. “I
will send you the details to the ambiguous gala thing to your email. Do you
wanna go shopping before it?”

“What? No! I have clothes,” she sounded
deeply offended.

“Everybody has clothes, that’s not why
people go shopping-”

“That’s not remotely true; there are
millions of poor people in the world who don’t have clothes.”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t know, I
am used to girls enjoying activities like shopping, so I assumed you’d find it
fun too. Didn’t mean to offend you. It’s a black-tie event so dress
accordingly,” I shrugged and slyly added, “And honestly, you would look good in
just about anything.”

A faint blush embraced her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. “Do you want to get started on the paper now? I have a
publication to look forward to.”

CHAPTER
7

ARIA

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Stacey
was hyperventilating, like she was the one going on a date with Zayden Sinclair
to a fancy gala. “What are you going to wear? You don’t have fancy gala
clothes!”

“We will go shopping,” I said with a mouth
full of popcorn. Regardless of how haughty I had acted in front of Zayden, I
did not, in fact, have clothes for the event. He had sent me the flyer and it
was some kind of a vintage auction that he was attending for a business
partner. Frankly, I was rather surprised that he wanted me to join him for this
instead of some supermodel.

Oh wait, I had forbidden him from sleeping
with supermodels as a part of the contract. It made sense that he wouldn’t want
to take one to the Gala if he couldn’t take her clothes off at the end of the
night. Chauvinists, I shook my head. At least I could safely say that he wasn’t
taking my clothes off. I’d make sure to purchase a dress with extra-complicated
zippers, just in case. And wear my granny panties.

Why was I thinking like that? Like someone
that doubted herself? I had consciously made the decision not to sleep with him
under any circumstances, and I did not need the aid of complicated garments in
order to keep my restraint.

“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!” Stacey
had a second round of hyper-ventilation when Nick walked in.

“What’s the occasion that we are
remembering the Almighty for?” He sat down, grabbing a bunch of popcorn from
the bowl. I moved the bowl and made a pretend shocked expression that said
“mine!”

“Aria is going to a super fancy vintage
auction with the most good looking guy in the world!” Stacy said.

“Ouch!” Nick made a mock-hurt expression.

“Sorry baby, you are the handsomest guy as
far as I’m concerned,” she said air-kissing him. “But I meant in a more
objective sense.”

“Don’t bother, Stace. I am not deluded
enough to compare myself to Zayden Sinclair.”

Stacey looked like she was now feeling
genuinely bad, even though Nick didn’t really care, so she walked up to him and
locked him in an embrace. It was an adorable sight, since Nick was over a foot
taller than her, but balled up inside his arms like that, they looked like a
couple from a poster advertising happiness.

“I am just excited for Aria, you know
that, right?” she asked, kissing his cheek.

“Nope, I was convinced that you are
secretly having nightly dalliances with this billionaire playboy.” They both
started laughing.

“Aria is!” she was almost too quick to
chime in.

“You already told me about her deal,” Nick
said, not sounding particularly interested.

“Care more,” I said, stuffing a new batch
of popcorn into my face. “Please.”

This was why Nick was one of my best
friends: he jumped off the couch and started dancing while screaming, almost
singing, “Aria is dating a billionaire!!!”

I threw a pillow at him and went back to
my bowl of popcorn.

---

On Saturday afternoon I changed about
ninety-five times. I had tried everything in my wardrobe, but nothing seemed to
be appropriate for a date with Zayden Sinclair. The shopping trip never
happened because Stacey managed to catch the flu and I had no sense or
intention to embark in such an activity without her, which I now regretted
immensely. I looked at myself in the mirror after taking off yet another dress.
I was wearing my red lacy bra and matching panties. Just because. There was no
harm in looking and feeling good, it didn’t mean anything. I sighed as a tiny
voice inside me began to send warning signals. Fine. Granny panties it is. Looking
freshly eighty-years-old, I started going through my entire wardrobe when the
doorbell rang and I shuddered.

I had at least four hours until the date,
it couldn’t be….

“I got it!” I heard Nick’s voice from
outside and quickly threw on a sweater and jeans to greet whoever was at our
door. By the time I stepped out, Nick was standing with a giant package in his
hand.

“It’s for you,” he grinned. “From your
lover.”

“What on Earth could he possibly have sent
me four hours before our date?” I approached the package and almost didn’t want
to open it because of how perfect it looked. It was wrapped in teal and white
paper with a beautiful mauve bow tied on to the top. I wished I could just keep
the wrapper and not open what was inside. The wrapping itself was the perfect
present.

“Open it!” Nick was getting impatient.

Very carefully I removed the bow and set
it to the side, then I slowly started to bring apart the paper wrapping, hoping
to do it perfectly and save the pretty paper, but Nick jumped in and tore the
thing apart too soon for me to stop him.