Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (34 page)

I heard him say, 'I’ll hold you to that.”

Great, now I had unintentionally agreed to
hang out with him. Oh well, it couldn’t be that bad. I was far too invested in
Zayden to be won over by Dick-Rick’s attempts to get me back. And it really
sounded like he needed a friend, so whatever, I could handle an afternoon
coffee or something. I’d deal with him when I dealt with him. Right now, I had
to rush home, change into sexier clothes, and go see Zayden. I couldn’t wait.

---

Stacey was waiting for me in the living
room when I got home. We hadn’t really talked since our last fight, regarding
her helping Zayden. We said hello here and there when we ran into each other in
the kitchen, but mostly communicated via Nick, who was getting increasingly
frustrated with what he called our girlish ways.

“Hi,” she said awkwardly as soon as I
walked in through the front door.

“Hi,” I said back, not looking at her.
Stacey and I hadn’t fought in a long time, so I wasn’t quite sure how to
approach the situation now. There was also the tiny inconvenience of timing: I
was supposed to meet Zayden almost ten minutes ago. Which I couldn’t tell her
because I had yet to tell her about my sexcapades, for the fear of the
inevitable I-told-you-so.

“I’m sorry,” we both said in unison. And
then I just wanted to hug her and have my best friend back and tell her about
the amazing things that had happened to me. I didn’t even care about the I-told-you-so
anymore, I had missed her too much. I jumped on the couch next to her and
hugged her against her will. Stacey wasn’t a touchy-feely person, but over the
years started secretly enjoying being forced into a hug by me. She’d never
admit it, though.

“You were right,” were the first words
that came out of my mouth. “You were absolutely, one-hundred percent right.
Zayden makes me happy. Thank you for seeing it before I did Stace.”

“No no no,” she said, shaking her head. “I
mean, I am glad you think so and are happy now, but I shouldn’t have went
behind your back like that, solely based on what I thought was best for you.”

“Come on, Stace, let’s be honest, when
have you been wrong about what’s best for me?”

“Never,” she said and grinned. “But that’s
not the point.”

“It is though. You were right about
Ricky-Dick and you were right about Zayden.”

After a few moments of gathering courage,
I said, “There is something I have to tell you about Zayden.”

She immediately jumped upright upon
hearing that her eyes widened to the size of walnuts. “Aria Roberts, you
didn’t!”

“I haven’t even told you what it is that I
am talking about!” I exclaimed, even though by now we both knew that nothing
needed to be said.

“What? When? How? Where? Tell me
everything,” she shrieked.

“Can I give you a quick summary? I kind of
have plans to go see him.” I checked my watch. “Like fifteen minutes ago.”

She gasped. “So you’ve been doing it this
whole time?”

“No, no no, only once. In his office. Last
week. Maybe tonight.” I started thinking back to that night and hugged my own
knees. “It was amazing! He was…incredible. If that is what real sex feels like,
I am surprised people ever get out of their houses.” I surveyed her from top to
bottom. “Like, I am surprised you’re out here with me and not jumping Nick’s
bones right now.”

She laughed. “Oh you poor, child. I hate
to be the one to ruin Christmas, but it’s not always perfect and amazing and
wonderful. Especially not the first time, not for most girls, anyway. You got
lucky. Zayden must’ve known what he was doing.”

I was still hiding the fact that I lost
virginity to a random guy after Rick broke up with me. She’d never let me live
it down if she knew.

“Are you saying Nick doesn’t?” I teased.

“Of course he does. I mean, we are great
and everything and I love him. It’s not perfect every single time though. And
after dating for as long as we have, it kind of gets old a little bit.”

My face fell. “Are you guys having
trouble?”

“No, no, no. Not at all! Like I said, it’s
still pretty good, just not the same as what you described. Nick and I keep it
interesting by doing new things—“

“I didn’t need to know that,” I laughed.

“Not like that. I mean we are saving
ourselves for our anniversary now. It’s been almost a month, and that kind of
stuff makes it exciting. What I am trying to tell you is that you shouldn’t let
yourself think that sex is always going to be like perfect every time. It gets
both better and worse with time, and since Zayden sounds like he is pretty damn
good, you might be disappointed in other men,” she said and hastily added, “if
there ever are any. I mean if this doesn’t work out… I mean, I’m sorry, I
didn’t mean to go there.”

I felt a strange bubble of sadness start
to build in my chest. “It’s okay, I know this is not going to work out. I mean
it’s still just a contract and after six months all of this will be over. I
have pretty much accepted that.”

She hugged me this time, which was such a
rare occurrence that I let out a slight chuckle. “Please don’t get hurt,” she
said.

“I don’t want to and I’ll try not to.” I
shrugged. “But—“

“But you’re falling for this guy?” She
asked.

I was not ready to accept this and the
question made me feel heavy in my chest. I was not supposed to be. I knew what
the deal was, I knew what I was getting myself into and this was never a part
of the plan. There was no reason in the world that I should be letting my
emotions get out of control, given the possible consequences, but here I was,
completely and utterly gripped by the charms of a man who I knew from the
get-go was never going to be mine to keep.

“I’m falling hard, Stacey. Ugh. I just
want to be able to have fun for now and deal with what happens when it happens.
If only I could make these feelings stop.”

“Then have fun! You haven’t freely enjoyed
your life like this in a long time. You don’t know what he’s thinking! Maybe
he’s feeling the exact same way. You trust my intuitions, right? I have a great
feeling about this guy, I think he’s going to be around for a long time.”

“But what if he’s not? What if you’re
wrong?”

“Then I will buy you ten gallons of
ice-cream and we’ll eat it all and watch Friends marathons until your heart
heals. Even if that means we are confined to this living room forever.” She
smiled.

I giggled. “You’re the best friend ever. Thank
you, Stace. I’m sorry again. I really missed you!”

“I did too,” she said pulling me off the
couch. “Now go put on a sexy dress and have what you call amazing sex. There
will be a long interrogation about it later.”

Interrogation? That wasn’t going to
happen.

---

When I finally made it to the bank, I was
ridden with excitement. This would be the first time we were alone together
since we had sex. Outside the bank I removed my travel mirror from my purse and
checked my appearance. I looked decent enough, and had a lingering suspicion
that he would think so even if I showed up in a rag. I walked into the bank and
rushed towards Zayden’s office but halted right outside. He was on the phone,
yelling at somebody.

“I just can’t fucking deal with this right
now, don’t you get it?” He was shouting. I had never seen him so angry before.
He was holding a stress ball and looked about ready to squish it into tiny
little pieces.

“I understand that,” he snapped on the
phone. “How many times do I have to explain myself though? I know, I get it,
but I can’t deal with this right now, what don’t you get?”

Feeling suddenly nervous, I wondered if
this was a good time at all. Maybe I should have stayed home and cancelled;
maybe he should have cancelled. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meddle with…whatever
it was that was going on.

“We will talk on Tuesday. No, next
Tuesday. I am hanging up now,” he barked, almost crushing the stress ball.

I waited a few minutes before striding in,
convincing myself that I would make him feel better, regardless of what was
bothering him. He had helped me with my mother’s bills, I couldn’t run now when
he seemed to be having such a rough time.

With that determination, I entered
Zayden’s office, startling him.

Chapter
4

Zayden

I jumped when Aria walked in. I should
have been more careful and not answered the phone when she was supposed to
arrive.

“You’re late,” I said icily. She looked
terrified, so I added more softly, “Is everything okay?”

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, walking over
to sit next to me and gently putting her arm around mine. “Is everything okay
with you?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“How long were you standing there?” I
grinned. “I’m just kidding. Everything is fine.”

“That’s not what it sounded like.” She
looked like she immediately regretted saying that. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry…
I just meant, is everything okay?”

“It is now that you’re here,” I said,
leaning in to kiss her, hoping it served as a distraction. She backed away
after a few seconds. I hadn’t done a girl twice in a long time, but she was so
damn intelligent, I couldn’t help but want more of her.

“That’s sweet, but I am worried about you.
I’ve never seen you like that. Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes, just quit it,” I snapped.

Her eyes widened and eyebrows rose.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap—“

“But you did,” she said, her voice
trembling. “I think it’s best I leave since you’re in such a shitty mood. You
won’t tell me what it’s about so I can’t even help you, which makes my being
here pointless.”

“Why would you think that? Your being here
has made this day slightly better,” I said, thinking up the best lie to tell
her. “It’s work, it has been really shitty today. More protests, and someone
filed a complaint against one of my loan officers.”

“Wilson?” She asked eagerly.

“No, not Wilson,” I said before she could
email him or do something stupid. “Someone from the Nashville branch. You don’t
know him.”

“Was that him on the phone just now?” She
raised her eyebrows.

“Yes,” I sighed, feeling glad that she
literally walked into a solution. “He is threatening to quit and I’ve been
trying to explain to him that it will just make him look guilty—which I
wouldn’t give a crap about, except that it gives the whole bank a bad
reputation. I don’t want scandals, I hate dealing with scandals.”

That merited a laugh. “Really? Sleeping
with your employees would be your fault,” she said with mischievous grin.

“Me screwing around with some tellers is
hardly a scandal. They’ve all been of age and don’t work here anymore because
they can’t handle that it was a one-time thing.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Not you. You know better than to think
you’re just a one-time thing,” I said, trying to save myself.

“What am I, then?” She challenged.

What had gotten into her today? This was
not at all like her; she was usually graceful, intelligent, and charming. It
was stupid for me to have answered Gina’s call just when Aria was scheduled to
come.

Gina was my ex-wife and the bane of my
existence. She was the daughter of my mom’s oldest friend, and they had decided
Gina and I would be married the second we were born. By the time I realized how
wrong they were, we had already been married for five years. I was just lucky
we never had any children; if it were up to Gina, though, we would have had
quite a few. I suppose she thought I would never leave her if kids were
involved. And perhaps I wouldn’t, and I must’ve known that deep down inside
because I always turned down the idea of having kids until I was more settled
with the bank, my first child. Truthfully, I had been settled with the bank
years ago and just kept convincing her and myself that we weren’t ready to have
kids. We had filed for divorce last year, and although it hadn’t completely
gone through yet, she was still out of my life.

Not according to my mother though. That’s
the real reason I had gone to New York: to deal with this bullshit. My mother
had attempted what I was convinced was a fake suicide at a hotel room in NYC,
drinking half a bottle of whiskey with some painkillers—just the right amount
for her to pass out dramatically, but not quite enough to cause any permanent
damage. I saw right through it since she used to pull crap like that with dad
all the time. Yet when I went to the hotel and saw her, pale and weak and
miserable, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

Leave it to Eleanor Sinclair to milk my
sympathy for all it was worth; she quickly went on a long rant about how my
divorce was taking a toll on her, how Gina was the perfect girl for me, and how
my happiness was the only thing keeping her alive. I tried to explain to her
that Gina did the precise opposite of making me happy: for one, she had cheated
on me more times than I could count, and I was pretty confident that she loved
my money more than me. And most importantly, I had never quite loved her. I
thought I did at some point, but it was an illusion built on lust and inspired
by her beauty, not to mention my parents insisting that she was perfect for me.