I rolled my eyes.
He pointed at me. “Deletes impressed by wealth off my list. I can see I need to try harder.” He winked and walked over to me, holding out his hand. I shook it.
“You’d need to try much harder than that.” I told him. “If you were trying to impress me as a date. Which I am not. I’m a colleague.”
Aidan held a hand to his heart. “Ouch, straight to the chest. You know how to bring a guy down. You’ll do well in this post.” He smiled. “You don’t take any bullshit.”
“Can smell it a mile off.” I told him.
“Now, go make more billions and leave me to study health and safety.” I made a mock yawn.
“See you Thursday.” He said, before heading out of the door.
“See you then,” I replied. As he left, I sat back a moment and smiled. I could do worse than to see how a non-date with Aidan hall went. Maybe it would take my mind off the brooding, unattainable Mr. Carter.
Maybe, maybe not.
Chapter 6
Aidan
I really liked Amelia, but I had a feeling her heart belonged somewhere else. From what I knew of my friend, H, she was wasting her time. Or maybe not. I decided to have a little fun and call H on his cell.
“Carter.”
“Yeah. Just thought I’d let you know I checked in on your Deputy this morning and she was very well-behaved.”
There was a silence and then H’s icy, do-not-fuck-with-me tone came down the line. “Care to elaborate?”
“She was reading company policy. Who does that H? You have spare time so you read company policy, not browse the Internet, or eat a sneaky chocolate cupcake.”
“She’s determined to prove that I was right to hire her.”
“You sure about that? Or is she wanting to impress you? Ever think she might have got the job to be closer to you?” I knew I was pushing him but I needed some clues.
“It’s not like that.”
“I really like her. I wouldn’t seduce her because it could fuck up business, but I might ask her out sometime.”
When H’s voice came back, it sounded strangulated. “Well, give her some time to settle first. I don’t want her scared away.”
“But you wouldn’t mind?” Push. Push. Push.
“It’s not my place to mind. It’s her life.” There was a pause. “But if you hurt, her I would kill you.”
No laughter followed his sentence. Just pure intent.
H had feelings for this woman though whether they were attraction or just fondness for someone from his past was yet to be discovered. But discover it I would. I would like nothing better than for my friend to find happiness, but if he wasn’t interested, then I’d go for Amelia myself.
I couldn’t wait for Thursday.
Manipulation and game playing was my specialty.
Amelia arrived at the office at three forty-five. My prior meeting had finished and so my assistant let her straight through.
“I did not realize you worked out of your house.” She told me.
“Saves on renting office space.” I shrugged. “Plus there’s only me, and I was rocking around this enormous place on my own. Figured two birds, one stone.” I got up from my seat, “let me show you around.”
“You seriously want to show me your home. Like is it going to include the bedroom too?” She rolled her eyes in that endearing way she had.
“No, Amelia. Not even if you beg. Just the business floor for you.” I smiled at her and she laughed in return.
I walked her around, describing how the interior had been changed so that all the living accommodation including the kitchen was on the second floor, and that the first floor had been altered to accommodate an office for myself, a general room with shared desk space for anyone who needed it, and a couple of meeting rooms, plus a reception.
“I love it. It makes perfect sense with your businesses being in different areas.” She told me after she’d looked around. “So, if I need to escape from Henry, there’s a desk here I can use?” She queried, while looking at the hot-desk area.
“Anytime. Why, do you think you’ll need to escape from Henry?”
She sighed. “He seems to be avoiding me. Or maybe I’m paranoid, and he just really is that busy. He’d said he’d show me around Manhattan, but I guess that was before I became his employee. Now, I suppose that would appear a little strange to people, if they saw us out together. I’m being stupid. That will be why he’s avoiding me.” She shrugged. “So perhaps if I come and work here occasionally, it’ll give him a break. That, and it’s probably time for me to look for someplace else to live.”
“Have you tried asking him if there’s a problem?”
“No. I’ve not had the opportunity, or it has felt awkward. When I first came here, we got on really well, but now it’s like there’s a problem. I know I need to ask him about it, but I’m hesitant. What if he sacks me or something?”
“He is not going to sack you. And if you need someplace else to live in the meantime, you can always stay here. I have spare rooms galore in my home.”
“Why have you bought a home far too large for you, Aidan?”
“The address and the prestige. Park Avenue looks very nice on my business cards.”
“I shouldn’t imagine the people who live around here would be very pleased about your association with making adult entertainment.”
“You’d be surprised.” I told her and the tiniest blush caught her cheeks.
“Oh, Amelia. You need to get that embarrassment under control if we’re going to visit Club S.”
“Can’t I wear a mask, or disguise?” She retorted.
“Only on Friday nights.” I told her.
“God, I feel so naive.” She said, her foot kicking against the edge of a desk.
“Amelia, you’re like a breath of fresh air in Manhattan, lovely lady. Don’t be embarrassed.” I swiftly changed the subject. “Italian still?”
After dropping her home to get changed, we headed to the restaurant where I’d (well actually my assistant had being truthful), made reservations. We chattered amiably over dinner and I learned more about her upbringing as she learned more about the business. I told her little of my own past as to be honest, I didn’t think she was all that interested. Her hunger for information on H shone through, and I would have had to be blind to not see the crush she had on him. Eventually, after several glasses of wine she admitted to it.
“It was a silly infatuation, like you get with a pop star. He was like some kind of mystery Prince Charming who had whisked my sister off her feet. Hey,” she added, alcohol loosening her tongue. “How much do you know about Henry, about when my sister died?”
“I know he lost a child, too.” I told her, “if that’s what you are hinting at.”
“I didn’t know that.” She admitted. Her eyes widened, and she looked very young and vulnerable. In that moment I imagined what the young Amelia, nursing a crush for her prince, would have looked like. “I found out last week.” She confessed. “I had to call my mom to ask her why I’d never been told.”
“And what did your mom say?”
Amelia began to tear up. “I’d better not say.”
“Amelia.” I placed a hand on hers. “I’m here if you want to talk, and I won’t betray your secrets.”
She took a deep breath.
“My mom told me that neither her nor Vee’s father had known she was pregnant. She’d not told anyone but Henry. But she let Henry believe that they knew.”
“Why would she do that? It makes no sense.”
“Because she wasn’t happy she was pregnant.”
“How would you know that, if she hadn’t told anyone she was pregnant?” I was shocked. Though H had spoke of his past very little, sometimes when alcohol was in his system he’d opened up, and he’d always spoken of how in love he and his wife were and how they’d been so excited about the baby they’d been expecting.
“My mom told me that Vee kept a diary. Right fro
m being young, she’d written one. My mom went in her room one day before she passed and saw it poking out from under the bed. She’d continued to write in an old one occasionally.”
“I see.”
“She’d written that she was confused. That Henry had wanted them to try for a baby but she’d continued taking contraception until a slip up had led to a pregnancy. That he was overjoyed, but that she didn’t want to be home with a baby. She loved to work. She wrote that she hadn’t yet told anyone else because she didn’t want to hear the congratulations because she didn’t feel happy about it yet. That she was waiting for the first kicks and then maybe it would all seem more real and she’d become as excited as Henry.”
A tear ran down her face.
“My mom feels tremendous guilt that she didn’t ask Vee about how she was feeling, instead deciding it was between Vee and Henry. Now I know this, Aidan. I can’t tell Henry, it would destroy him.”
I sat back and had a sip of wine. “No, there’s nothing to be gained at this point by him learning that. It could break him. Maybe one day he’ll deserve to know the truth. But not now. I won’t say anything, Amelia. You have my word.”
“Thank you.” She answered. “God, way to ruin a lovely meal, Amelia.”
“You haven’t ruined anything, and the night is still young.” I reassured her and then I regaled her with another story of how I manipulated my way into taking over a business until she was distracted enough that her emotions lessened.
By the time we caught a cab to the club we were loaded, having drunk copious amounts of wine, far too much for the food to have soaked up.
“I thought I’d be nervous, but actually I’m quite excited.” Amelia giggled in the cab. “I can’t believe I’m going to see people actually having sex.”
“Ssh.” I warned her, though I knew the cab driver would be aware of the clubs in the city. “It’s a private club, you need to keep your voice down.”
“Oops.” She giggled again, and I wondered if I’d made a mistake in bringing her here tonight. I prayed it was nerves, rather than alcohol that was causing the laughter.
I showed my key on the way in and booked in Amelia as a guest under a made up name. As the woman on the desk knew me well, she didn’t check who I was bringing with me. Usually guests had to go through a series of verifications. I took hold of Amelia’s hand and dragged her along with me as she stared at the black decor with the silver stars. We went up in the lift and then out into the reception area and through to the main bar. Amelia walked in and took a seat at an empty table.
“I don’t know what I was expecting.” She said. “But this is just a normal bar. I thought people would be fucking in the middle of the floor.”
The word ‘fucking’ sounded alien on her tongue and I had to remind myself that she was a grown woman of twenty-three. “It does happen when the show takes place at midnight,” I told her. I went on to explain that each night either an auction took place or the stage was hired for anyone who wanted to put on a show or live out a fantasy. At that point anything went in the main bar, but until that time the main bar area was kept for drinking only. Anyone wanting to do more went through to the side rooms, where they could choose a colored wristband depending on whether they wanted to observe, or were willing to join in with any play.
“Can we go through? Please?” Begged Amelia.
“Sure. As long as you promise not to giggle.” I told her.
She mimed her mouth being closed.
“Okay, so make sure you accept a white wristband that shows to the others that you are only there to observe. Otherwise a pretty young blonde like you is going to be mobbed.”
She nodded and followed me to the edge of the room where we walked through a door marked by the presence of a security guard. We both placed the observer wristbands on our wrists and began to walk down the corridor. Amelia’s eyes widened as she stared through the first window where a woman was deep-throating a man as another man watched.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
Slowly, she walked the full length of the room, taking in the various scenes in front of her. “Have you done this?” She asked me. “Have you ever taken part?”
“Many times.” I admitted. I took a deep breath. “And sometimes myself and H team up to satisfy a woman.”
I witnessed Amelia tremble. “Wh-what did you just say?”
“H didn’t want another relationship, but he still needed sex. He found the club. He bought it afterwards. We sometimes help a woman live out her fantasies of two men at once. One in her pussy and one in her mouth or her ass.”
“I, I-”
“What, Amelia. Did you really think H owned a sex club and never participated?”
“I honestly don’t know what I thought.”
Amelia didn’t run. It surprised me. I thought faced with the reality of the club and discovering H wasn’t the idyllic Prince Charming of her childhood imagination, she would bolt. It reassured me. Instead, she carried on watching, fascinated with the scenes being played out in front of her.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“I’m fine, Aiden. I’m doing what you recommended. I’m seeing if any of these scenarios speak to me. See if there’s anything I’d maybe one day want to try.”
Oh fuck. If H found out I brought her here, and it led to a subsequent descent into debauchery, he was going to kick my ass.
Amelia carried on looking around and when the siren went off, we went and watched the stage show. As I drove her home, she seemed subdued and lost in thought, though she had exhausted me with a seemingly never-ending series of questions.
The cab drew up outside H’s apartment.
“Thank you, Aidan.” She leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for not treating me like a child, and for showing me around the club. I’m so sick of everyone trying to protect me. Acting like I’m some innocent little teenager, and not a grown woman.”
“You’re welcome.” I told her and I watched as she got out of the cab and went home.
Chapter 7
Amelia
What an evening!
My mind whirled with all the experiences of the day and night. Aidan had been fantastic company though I knew I had friend-zoned him. Hey, if you didn’t get horny for a guy while standing at the side of him while people had sex in front of you, it wasn’t going to happen!
I pushed open the door of the apartment and shook my foot so that one heeled shoe came off and then repeated it the movement with my other foot.
A door opened. “What’s all the fucking noise? Some of us are trying to sleep here.”
“Henry? I thought you were away until tomorrow?” I stood frozen in the doorway while my mind caught up with reality.
“It finished early, and I decided I’d rather be home. Where have you been anyway until this hour? Have you been drinking?”
I began to walk down the corridor towards him, my path a little haphazard as the alcohol messed with my equilibrium.
“I might have had a little drink.” I said, holding my finger and thumb about an inch apart.
Henry leaned against the door jamb. He was wearing pajamas, and his pajama shirt wasn’t fastened. I could see a little of his chest. I wanted to see more damn it.
“A little drink, right?” Henry’s mouth curled at the edges.
I stood and placed my hands across my chest. “Are you laughing at me?”
“So, where did you go?” He asked me. “And who with?”
I place a finger on my nose. “I’m not telling you where I went, Mr. Nosy. It’s a secret.”
Henry sighed and moved away from the door. “Night, Amelia. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“You have a lovely chest.” It was out of my mouth before I could register that I’d said it aloud.
I saw Henry hold himself taut. It just made his ripped chest even more delectable.
I wet my bottom lip with my tongue. I couldn’t help myself.
“So
rry about that.” I said. “But you just put it in front of me, all bare, and I’m just a woman with eyes. I have really good vision and I saw it. Oops.”
My cell phone flashed, and I dug it out of my purse but then dropped it on the floor.
Henry bent down and picked it up while I was still trying to work out how I could bend over without falling.
“You have a message from Aidan.” He bit out. “Letting you know he arrived home safely.”
I took my cell off him and put it back in my purse, which I then dropped on the floor. Screw it, I’d pick it up in the morning.
He grabbed hold of my arm. “Are you dating Aidan?”
“No.” I shook my arm away from his hold. “But if I was, what has it got to do with you?”
“Fuck this.” He said, and stepping in front of me and putting a hand behind my waist, he backed me to the wall next to his bedroom door.
His lips crashed onto mine and despite my drunken haze, I felt and experienced every single sensation that the kiss delivered. Goosebumps sprang up on my neck and along my arms. My panties, still damp from the club experience, were in danger of becoming sodden. I placed my arms up around his neck and gave myself up to the kiss. His tongue entered my mouth, dancing with my own. I felt my nipples harden and I let out a moan. Then his lips left mine as I was held at arms length.
“What the fuck am I doing? My God, Amelia. I am so fucking sorry.”
“No.” I screamed. “Do not be fucking sorry for kissing me. It was amazing.”
“You’re drunk. I took advantage. Go to bed, Amelia, please.” He begged, his eyes now full of panic, instead of the lust that had burned there just seconds before.
Suddenly feeling very sober, I turned away from him and walked further down the corridor to my own room. I heard his door close as I walked. Remembering the kiss, I raised my fingers and brushed them across my lips. It had been everything I’d ever dreamed about and more. I thought I would have felt guilt about Vee. That I’d kissed my sister’s husband. But I didn’t. For a moment Henry had come alive again, with his lips fastened on my own. He’d wanted me. He’d been jealous of Aidan and he’d wanted me, and as far as I knew, he wasn’t drunk.
The Billionaire and the Virgin: H's story (The Billionaires Book 1) Page 5