Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (53 page)

“I do have a client to impress, though,” I
said matter-of-factly. “I doubt your mother will allow me to continue dating
her daughter if I don’t impress her.”

“Yes, but there is a huge difference
between your business partners and my mom. You can’t employ a one-size fits all
approach to dealing with human beings.”

She shook her head, still giggling, but I
wasn’t laughing any more.

“Do you think I don’t know how to deal
with people?” I was taken aback.

“No, no, no. That’s not what I meant at
all!” She looked horrified by my reaction. “Of course you’re fantastic with
people. You have built and expanded upon a wonderful business by winning people
over. Dale Carnegie would be so proud of you—”

“But?” I said impatiently. “Just get to
the but, Aria.”

“But you’re a businessman,” she said
meekly. “You think of every interaction as a business opportunity. Like there
is always a give and take involved. Like you must ensure certain advantages of
having the interaction in the first place.”

“Well.” I frowned. “What else am I
supposed to do?”

“With my mom, don’t worry about impressing
her. She’s already impressed with you based on the fact that you, you know,
paid off her hospital bills without even so much as ever meeting her just
because you cared about me.”

“So I shouldn’t try at all?” She was
really confusing me.

“No, but try less intensely. If you really
want to get along with her – and notice I said get along, not ‘impress’ – then
you have to find out what she is like and what interests her. Limos and suits
are not those things.”

“What does she like, then? What is she
like?” I was genuinely curious at this point. I had assumed that the woman who
gave birth to the force that was Aria Roberts was bound to be no less fierce.

“She is very simple.” Aria shrugged. “She
is an everyday woman. Very loving, enjoys feeding her children and everybody
who visits her house. She likes puzzles and board games.”

“Wow,” I said thinking back. “I haven’t
played any board games since I was ten years old.”

She looked shocked upon hearing this and
her eyes widened twice their size. “What? You never play board games?”

“Is that something adults do regularly?”
It was strange to think that there was a whole other world out there where
people participated in activities like board games. Perhaps families spent time
together that way, I wouldn’t know. My had been unique compared to Aria’s. I
wanted to be part of her life.

“Yeah, me and my roommates play them all
the time. And card games, they are fun too. You never get too old to huddle
around the people you love and get extremely competitive over things that don’t
matter in the long run.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I said
ruefully with a little smile.

 
“Don’t be like that. You know what us regular
people don’t get to do? Fly to the Bahamas in a moment’s notice. So don’t sit
there feeling all sorry for yourself. And if you really like, we can play some
scrabble with my mother tonight, but just know that she likes to win. If you
don’t let her, it’s not going to go well.”

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to try too
hard,” I said, now grinning at her.

“You know what I meant. Now can we please
stop by a store on our way there so you can get into some regular people
clothes? The limo we can deal with but you really want to get more comfortable
if you don’t want her fussing about how hard you must work that you came to
visit her straight in your work clothes.”

“One condition,” I said. “You pick out the
clothes for me.”

Shopping with Aria was an exciting affair,
mostly because she picked out items of clothing that I would never in a million
years deem appropriate for a meeting such as the one that was about to
transpire. I didn’t understand how her mother was going to approve of me with
the slightly ripped jeans. Aria matched them alongside a navy blue T-shirt that
supposedly made my eyes pop out. I shrugged since she probably knew what she
was doing.

When we were back in the car Aria looked
much more relaxed then when she had first walked in. Even Ned seemed to be
pleased with what she had picked out as well to my utter confusion.

“How do you feel?” Aria asked me happily
as we continued to drive along.

 
“I
can’t really feel my muscles tighten as usual,” I joked.

“That’s called being relaxed and
comfortable,” she joked back. Aria laughed endearingly. “You should get used to
it.”

“I suppose.” I shrugged. “Anyways, I
bought your mom a bottle of wine. Does she like wine?”

“She loves wine. Red.”

“Perfect, I had a bottle of Pinot Noir
ordered from the most expensive Vineyard in Napa Valley. It only arrived
yesterday and I think your mom is going to love it because it’s seasonal and
not available for retail. Members of the Vineyard club are the only ones
allowed to purchase it.”

“She drinks ten dollar Yello Tails. I
highly doubt she can tell the difference.” She must have noticed the
disappointment in my face cause she immediately added, “I mean, she will most
definitely appreciate the thought though. I didn’t mean – that was very nice of
you, Zayden.”

“It’s no big deal.” I waved my hand
nonchalantly. “I just hope she likes it. I didn’t know what else to get her. I
should have probably asked you. I don’t know why that didn’t occur to me.
Perhaps I was a little nervous. I haven’t met a girlfriend’s parents in very
long time to be honest.”

For some reason, that made her blush and
she looked away, not helping my nerves whatsoever.

“Everything okay?” I frowned.

She looked back at me. “Yeah, I just
haven’t gotten used to you calling me your girlfriend yet. It feels nice.”

I pulled her into me in a tight embrace
and lightly stroked her hair. “Well you better get used to it.”

She let out a soft giggle. “Look how far
you have come from being a womanizer. You are really sweet.”

“Shh,” I whispered. “We don’t need anyone
to ever know that at the office.”

So we rode in a silent embrace all the way
to her mother’s house. Meanwhile, I pondered upon what she had said and all the
things that had happened this evening. I couldn’t quite believe I had so
eagerly let Aria change me into a different set of clothes. Only a couple of
months ago, if someone had so much as suggested such a thing I would have been
completely outraged.

When Aria looked like she was about to
laugh at me, I would have done just about anything to not embarrass her like
that again.

When we finally got close to her mother’s
house, I recognized it immediately because of the huge banner in front of house
that read: “FORECLOSED PROPERTY. OWNED BY BANK. CALL 1-800-DEBT FOR MORE INFORMATION.”

I looked at Aria but she pretended that we
hadn’t just seen the sign. As Ned pulled over she quietly hopped out of the
limo.

“Park this as far away from her mom’s
house as possible,” I instructed Ned. “Make sure there is no way she sees it.
Feel free to drive it around town if you want.” I handed him two hundred
dollars. “For dinner. Thanks for making this long drive.”

“Don’t be silly, Zay, I’m literally just
doing my job,” he said, taking the cash, probably because it was much easier
than arguing with me that he was never in a million years going to spend
two-hundred-dollars on dinner. “But don’t worry, Aria’s mom will never see the
limo. Just text me about where I should pick you guys up from. Maybe I will
send a taxi to get you there. I don’t suppose you would like walking very far
in the middle of nowhere.”

“We will see. I will keep you posted. You
have a good evening, Ned.”

“You too,” he said and gave me a fatherly
smile. “And don’t be nervous. She will have to be stupid not to love you.”

Ned was gone and I looked at Aria standing
a few feet away from the house waiting for me. “Ready?” she asked and started
walking away.

I ran after her and grabbed her by the
elbow and pulled her towards me. Then I planted a deep and passionate kiss on
her mouth. Not sexual, as much as it was sweet. I opened her mouth only
slightly and caressed her tongue softly while also stroking her hair with my
right hand.

After a few seconds I pulled away and
whispered softly into her ears, “Listen, Aria. I am not going to let anything
bad happen to your family, okay? Your mother will be fine no matter what. I
promise you that.”

Her eyes began tearing up and she kissed
me back with fiery passion. She held on to my shoulder so tight I thought her
nails were going to dig through my skin. When she pulled away, she gazed at me
with amazing intensity and said something that shook the ground from underneath
me.

“I love you, Zayden,” she whispered
audibly. “I love you.”

I knew I was supposed to respond right
away, more importantly, I was supposed to say it back wasn’t I? But for some
reason, I couldn’t move or speak or do anything whatsoever. She loved me? What
did she mean she loved me?

The back of my hand was shaking slightly
in shock and I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. This was not something I was
expecting, nor was I prepared for it in anyway. I had gotten myself into a
relationship without thinking too much about it and I was only just realizing
how deep I had managed to get myself in. She was most certainly waiting for me
to respond to her confession with a very particular answer. I opened my mouth
in an attempt to try to say it back but felt physically incapable so I closed
it again.

Why was she choosing this particular
moment to tell me she loved me above all else? She had so many other
opportunities. Hell, if she really felt the way she said, perhaps that evening
in my balcony when I had the whole place decorated for her would have been a
more suitable opportunity. Yet she had chosen now. Didn’t this mean it was entirely
possible that she felt more gratitude than love and she was merely confusing
two separate positive emotions?

Had I not been paying her mother’s
hospital bills – and had I not said what I had said about not worrying about
her mother’s finances just now – would she have still felt that she was in love
with me? In fact, would she have ever even given me the time of the day if I
wasn’t paying her mother’s medical bills? If it wasn’t for the contract?

I remembered when I used to hit on her
before the contract came into play: she always casually laughed off my advances
– something that frustrated me endlessly – never even coming close to so much
as going on a date with me. There was no way I could be sure whether her love
was genuine and until such a time, I could not bring myself to say it back. Or
until a time at least when I knew for sure that my words were genuine too.
Instead, I just kissed her softly on the mouth one more time, looked at her
earnestly and said, “Let’s go inside, baby.”

---

As we walked inside the tiny house holding
hands, Aria’s mood had shifted slightly, perhaps because I hadn’t said ‘I love
you’ back. I was determined to take her mind off it and have a decent evening
with her and her mother.

When her mom saw us she looked delighted.
She was not as old as I had imagined in my head; in fact, she didn’t look very
old as all so she must have had Aria when she was young. Aria looked a lot like
her mom too. They were almost a splitting image of each other.

She ran to hug Aria and they embraced for
quite a while, in which time I surveyed the paintings on the wall. They all
looked old and worn out. In fact, everything in this house looked like it was
ready for a replacement about a few years ago. Perhaps I ought to have brought some
presents…decorations for the house. If it was getting foreclosed though, then
it hardly mattered. Maybe I could help her buy a new place altogether, but in
Aria’s name.

After welcoming her daughter, Aria’s
mother gave me a swift onceover without any expressions on her fac and then
smiled heartily. “You must be Zayden,” she said and then hugged me, making me
feel slightly uncomfortable. I wasn’t particularly programmed to accept random
hugs, but I shrugged and let it happen.

“Nice too finally meet you, Molly,” I said
when she broke away.

“You too Zayden!” she exclaimed. “I hope
you are hungry! I have been cooking all day. Not sure if you’re a big fan of
steak or—”

“I’m sure whatever you made is fine and I
can’t wait.” I smiled at her before she nervously babbled some more. “I hope
you like wine.”

Chapter
4

Aria

I was glad to notice that thus far this
dinner hadn’t been a complete disaster, something I was extremely worried
about, considering the rather strong personalities of both parties that were
currently meeting. Other than that little voice inside my head that was worried
that Zayden hadn’t said he loved me back when I had made my confession, there
was practically nothing about this night that wasn’t pleasurable.

While my mom prepared the dinner table, I
entertained Zayden with some of the scrabble that I had promised, which my mom
joined as the last of the roasted vegetables were finishing up in the oven.
Naturally, my mom won the game and Zayden had the least amount of points
because of trying to spell things that were made up words. The good thing was
how eased and relaxed he seemed during the whole ordeal. It was something so
simple that he never seemed to get a chance to enjoy and I felt glad to be able
to give him what was missing from his seemingly perfect life.