Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (52 page)

“Aria,” he spoke eventually, still holding
me. “Are you okay with what happened today?”

“It’s a little too late to ask that
question, don’t you think?” I giggled and it was a giggle made of jest. He
jerked upright, looking completely wounded by what I had just said.

“I – I am sorry,” he said looking nervous.

I had never quite seen him like this
before, in such a compromising position. He looked as though he hadn’t been
more remorseful about anything in his life and needed desperately to give me a
reasonable explanation for what had happened.

“I lost control. You don’t know how good
you feel. You don’t know the things that happen to my mind and body when I am
inside you. It’s like, it’s like the whole world ceases to exist and my mind
just becomes completely incapable for any real thoughts or feelings. All it can
see, think, or feel is you. All rationality and logic goes out the window. And,
and, I know that’s not really a very good explanation. There is no good
explanation. I just wasn’t—”

“Zayden,” I cut him off, trying to make a
visibly amused expression on my face. “I was joking. I don’t mind what happened
at all, relax. I don’t know if you noticed but I came pretty hard too.”

“I did, which is why I thought it was
okay, but—”

“No but. You thought right. It felt good.”
As relief seemed to run through his whole face, I added, “Really good. Really,
really good.”

“So you would do it again?” He grinned and
I was glad to notice that all tension had vanished from his face.

“Maybe.” I smiled mischievously. “Maybe if
you help me out first.”

He raised his eyebrows and made a
quizzical expression as if to say “Aren’t I already helping you enough?”

“What? Don’t make that face! It’s just, I
have this paper due tomorrow. And as you can imagine, between the stress with
my mother’s bills and the contract and…well, us…I have hardly been able to
concentrate on schoolwork. I have to do it tonight no matter what. And your
help would be appreciated.”

“Hmm,” he said, smiling from the corner of
his mouth. “If you aren’t careful you are going to make me think you’re using
me for my brains.”

“Well, of course I am,” I said
matter-of-factly. “I would be an idiot not to, wouldn’t I? But if it took you
this long to figure that out, your brain is obviously not all that I thought it
to be.”

He looked affronted for a split-second
before catching my eyes, which must have been twinkling with the mirth that I
felt because we both burst out laughing.

“This, right here, Aria. This is why I am
so smitten. You are fucking extraordinary.”

Smitten? He was gripped by me? That sounded
oddly like saying he was, I don’t know, in love with me, didn’t it? Why didn’t
he just say that? I did not let it show on my face. Nor did I let it show even
a hint of the profound joy that I was currently feeling. Instead, I nodded
simply, bidding for time so that when I spoke I would say something sensible
and wise, instead of squeaking.

“You got awfully quiet, did I offend you?”
He asked, looking concerned.

“No, not at all,” I jumped to say
immediately. “I was just thinking of how to thank you for your complement.”

“Have you figured out a way, then?” he
asked smiling.

“Oh I can think of many, but we have both
exhausted ourselves enough so that will obviously have to wait. But don’t
worry; you will be handsomely rewarded for your flattery.”

“It’s not idle flattery. I really mean
those things.” After looking like he was deeply considering whether to speak
these next set of words, he added, “Sometimes I wish I didn’t. You frustrate me
so much, you haven’t the slightest idea. Nobody in my living memory has made me
feel the roller coaster of emotions you put me through and I hate it, but I
can’t help be drawn to you.” He gently ran his fingers through the small of my
back. “I don’t think you know this, but you are a really special girl.”

I rolled my eyes, even though I knew he
couldn’t see me. “Sure.” I chuckled. “I am so special, I go to college and work
on an hourly wage and have regular people friends. Yep, I am so special.”

“That’s one of the things that makes you
so special. You think of yourself as ordinary, even though you are the most
exquisite girl – woman – that I have ever met.”

I snorted involuntarily and tried to turn
it into a cough. “If I am so very exquisite, then, why don’t you help me with
my homework?” I said that mostly to change the topic, as his increased
description of my merits were starting to make me feel uncomfortable,
especially since I had no clue what the appropriate response was.

“What do I get in return?” he teased.

“An opportunity to spend time with me, of
course.” I giggled. “I mean that is obviously worth a lot to you. Word on the
street is that you are paying tens of thousands of dollars just for that.”

He grunted and said, “Don’t bring that up
right now.”

“Sorry.” I shrugged. “Only joking. And you
don’t really have to help—”

“No, I want to help with your paper,” he
cut me off. “But I do have one condition.”

I turned around to look at him so that we
were no longer spooning and surveyed his face feeling slightly nervous. What
could he possibly want now?

“What is it?” I asked carefully.

“I would like to meet your mother.”

Immediately, I burst out laughing. “You
are really funny, Zayden. But seriously, what can I do for you?”

“Why is that funny?” He raised both his
eyebrows. “I am serious. I would to meet your mom.”

“That is the worst idea you have ever
had,” I said with a smile. “Right after the first worst idea of making me this
contract.” As his face began to look dismal, I hastily added, “I am joking
around. Seriously though, it’s not a very good idea. Maybe we should wait a little
bit longer before—”

“Don’t you think I have the right to get
to know the person for whose medical bills I am investing so much money?” He
looked annoyed now. He was right, after all. He did deserve to know whom he was
making these payments for. If I argued with him, I wouldn’t get the help I
needed with my paper and we’d just spend time arguing back and forth. Plus I
could always tell my mom that Zayden was simply someone I worked with, rather
than letting her find out that I was sleeping with my boss.

“Just tell me when and where and I’ll
arrange for it,” I said, giving up. “Now, we have a paper to write.”

---

When I woke up the next morning, the world
was suddenly a different place. I felt as though I had awoken from a fantasy so
deeply etched into my subconscious that I didn’t even know it existed. Groggily
I turned around on the bed and reached for Zayden, but he wasn’t there. From
the sound of the shower running I could tell he was in the bathroom.

I looked around the room and took a deep
breath. As of last night, I was in a real relationship with my boss. The
thought sent a shiver of excitement and happiness through my entire body. I was
going out with Zayden Sinclair. I was going out with handsome, incredible
Zayden Sinclair that every girl between the ages of eighteen and seventy would
give up an arm and a leg to spend just an evening with. How had this happened?
How had I not only managed to attract the attention of such an incredible man,
but also make him fall for me? He had said he was smitten, hadn’t he? I only
realized how hard I had been grinning when my cheeks started hurting. It was
too good to be true.

I could dwell on that later. For now, I
fancied a nice warm shower and fresh comfortable clothes. I slowly got up and
gathered whatever items of my clothing I could find discarded all over the
floor and started walking towards the shower that was in the hallway since I
didn’t feel like interrupting Zayden.

As soon as I got out of his room, however,
I almost had a heart-attack. An older looking woman was walking alongside the
other end. I had thought there was nobody but me and Zayden in the house. With
great embarrassment, I tried to cover myself up with whatever bits of my dress
I could grab, but it was probably neither timely nor very effective. The woman
had already caught a glimpse of my face and was smiling in what seemed to be a
very sinister manner.

“So,” she said in a scornful tone. “You’re
his latest conquest?”

“Excuse me?” I looked at her in confusion.

“Zayden’s newest arm-candy.”

“Um, no. Who are you?”

“Never mind that. I have to say I am not
very surprised he picked such a young girl. That’s just his style. You are of
legal age, right?”

Was this woman suggesting I was a minor
and Zayden was committing a crime? What the hell was her problem?

“I turn twenty-one next month, not that
it’s any of your business.”

“Oh wow, you’re feisty too. That’s right
up his alley. Congratulations! Zayden is quite a beneficial catch for you.”

“I don’t know who you are or what you are
talking about, but I don’t have time to address your needless concerns about
things that to my knowledge do not pertain to you in any way shape or form.”

I turned my heels around and walked into
the bathroom, feeling pissed. Who the hell was that woman and why was she being
so judgmental? Suggesting I was a minor and some kind of an object of Zayden’s
fantasy – well that part was, in a way, true enough, but what did she mean
“beneficial”? Was she suggesting I was using Zayden for his money?

The thought gave me an uncomfortable
feeling in my chest. In some ways that was exactly what I was doing, wasn’t I?
I was using the resources he had to my own advantage. But I was going to pay
him back eventually for all the medical bills. That was for certain. No matter
what happened between the two of us in terms of our romantic relationship, I
was never going to forget what he had done for me and would always be grateful.
Even if I wasn’t, even if I ended up hating him somehow, I would pay each and
every penny he spent back. It might take me a few years, but I was determined
to make it happen.

I turned on the shower and stepped into
it. Feeling a little better, I let the warm water run over my body, letting all
my worries momentarily evaporate. But a part of me was still wondering who the
heck I had just talked to…

Chapter
3

Zayden

Ned was driving the Limo on the day I was
to finally meet Aria’s mother. Despite her many protests, I had decided that
there was nothing wrong in displaying how affluent I was. If anything, it would
perhaps help her feel a little less badly about my investment. It always
worried me that Aria thought that the money was worth more to me than it really
was and I did not want her mother to start feeling so indebted too.

“Do you think I did the right thing
getting the limousine, Ned?” I asked, unsure, more to hear some kind of a
reaffirmation than anything else.

Ned didn’t speak for a while, which was
rather odd.

“Ned?”

“I am sorry, Zay, I want to agree with
you, I really do, but come on, a limo? To see your girlfriend’s mother?” He
made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a chuckle but hid it with a cough,
so as not to offend.

“Shit. What do I do now?” Ned’s honesty
had scared the shit out of me. “She is going to hate me, isn’t she?”

“You are spending sixty thousand dollars
to help out this woman, she couldn’t hate you if you landed on her backyard in
a helicopter. A limo is a bit much, yes, and you should keep that in mind for
next time, but this won’t hurt your impression much. Don’t worry.”

“If you say so.” I sighed as we pulled
outside of Aria’s apartment building. Some college girls walking outside were
pointing at the car and giggling so I presumed that they had never seen a limo
in the area before.

“We are here,” I said into the phone to
Aria and hung up. She arrived shortly, dressed in jeans and a casual navy
t-shirt, making my heart sink. I was wearing a suit, as I almost always did. It
hadn’t even occurred to me to dress down.

“Hi,” Aria said moving into the car. Her
face made it obvious that she had wanted to burst out laughing and it was
taking a lot for her to keep a straight face. “Limo,” she said, the sides of
her mouth twitching.

I felt the strangest sensation in my
stomach, something I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t anger or frustration or
– I realized with a jolt that I was embarrassed. Not used to such a feeling at
all, I wasn’t sure what the appropriate reaction was.

“I’m sorry,” I said, hoping apology would
cut it.

“No, no, why are you sorry?” Her face was
starting to look pained. “It’s—” she gestured around the car. “It’s quite –
exclusive. And you look, uh, you look very professional.”

We both burst out laughing at the same
time.

“Oh God, Zayden, what were you even
thinking?” she said between laughs. “We are going to the suburbs to see my mother,
in her house. This isn’t some business meeting where you have a client to
impress.”