Dark Dreams - A Billionaire Romance: Bound By My Dreams

by Zaphira D. Gheorge

  As she swam, she couldn’t help but think of her dream. She still remembered the feel of Benson’s fingertips as they stroked down her back, still remembered the spark of his kiss on her lips. It ignited a fire within her belly that she hadn’t felt in so long it was almost alien. The memory left her shaking and by the time she had finished her thirty laps she could do no more.

  Slipping from the pool, she headed back down into the penthouse and returned to her bedroom to hear her cell phone ringing. Confused, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was nowhere near nine yet. Then realization dawned on her and she found herself shooting over to the phone she’d left perched on her bed.

  Just as she reached it, the call cut out and she cursed herself as she saw the mobile number flash across the screen. She waited until she saw the message for a voicemail pop up. Pressing her phone to her ear, she listened to the voicemail and her stomach began to flip with desire at his voice:

  “Good morning, Miss Hall. I’m sorry I missed you. I was just calling to arrange our date, that is if you were still interested. If not, then I guess I should say there are no hard feelings, even though deep down I am clearly crushed inside. Anyway, give me a call back when your schedule isn’t so busy.”

  Although he didn’t leave his name, Aspen instantly knew that it was him. She recognized the deep, masculine voice she’d heard the night before and her entire body shivered again. She closed her eyes for a moment, debating what she should do. She wanted to call him back straight away, but she knew that would make her look desperate and she definitely wasn’t the sort to be that.

  Let him sweat for a little while, she thought to herself as she placed her phone back on the bed and headed into the

  en-suite to shower off the chlorine.

  * * * *

  By lunchtime, Aspen’s fingers were itching to pick up her phone and call him back. Instead, she sat on the veranda at the little café around the corner from her apartment building with her best friend, Lacey.

  The model was drop dead gorgeous with naturally blonde hair and grey eyes which she kept covered with a pair of designer sunglasses. Aspen was wearing her own sunglasses in an attempt to blend in and avoid the usual encounters of people recognizing her.

  MISTER MYSTERY

  It was something that happened very little at Carlo’s Café due to its high-end clientele, but it still happened every so often and Aspen preferred not to risk it.

  “Aspen? Hey! Aspen?”

  Lacey clicked her fingers in front of Aspen’s face and she realized that she had been off in a world of her own just as she had been all morning.

  “Is everything alright in Aspen land?”

  “Umm…I’m sorry,” was all Aspen could think to say and Lacey picked up straight away that something was wrong.

  “Okay, tell mama what’s wrong,” Lacey demanded as she put down the fork she’d barely used to pick at the bowl of fruit in front of her.

  “You know you’ll starve to death if you keep on eating like that,” Aspen pointed out in an attempt to change the subject.

  “Nice try, but my diet isn’t up for debate right now,” Lacey shook her head. “You’ve been in a world of your own ever since you put your pretty little bottom in that seat. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s nothing.” Aspen reached for her soda and took the straw in her mouth in an attempt to look nonchalant.

  “Well, work never gets you flustered like this and I haven’t heard or seen any gossip going around about you so it must be…”

  Lacey tapped her index finger against her lips as she thought.

  “It’s a guy isn’t it?!”

  Aspen groaned inwardly. She hated how her best friend always managed to read her so well. She placed her glass back down on the table and shook her head.

  “Like I said, it’s nothing.”

  “He must be quite something if he’s got you off in dream land,” Lacey protested.

  “Come on. Who is he? Do tell!”

  Aspen found herself thinking back to the night before and how close she’d stood to the man she’d been obsessing over all morning. She was sure she could still smell the scent of him lingering in her nostrils, even past the chlorine from the pool.

  “You know I never kiss and tell.” Aspen shook her head and Lacey’s eyes grew wide.

  “You kissed him?” she squealed and Aspen flinched at the way several of the other diners turned to look at them.

  “Shh,” Aspen insisted. No, I didn’t kiss him, but if I had, I still wouldn’t tell you.”

  “Oh, come on,” Lacey pushed gently. “I am your best friend. You can’t keep me out of the loop on these things. What exactly do you think I am going to do? Rat you out to the press?”

  “I know you wouldn’t do that,” Aspen shook her head. She also knew that you never knew who might be listening, just waiting to make a quick buck with a nice juicy tidbit of information like who was dating who in the world of billionaires and celebrities.

  “It’s still early days and I don’t want to jinx it.”

  Aspen was relieved to see that put Lacey off the scent a little though her eyebrow was still raised with curiosity. She picked up her fork and stabbed it into a strawberry, popping the berry into her mouth before she said, “Won’t you at least give me a hint?”

  “Like I said, I don’t want to jinx it.”

  Just then, her phone began to sing and dance in her handbag and she reached over to where she’d left it in the empty seat along with Lacey’s.

  “Is that him?”

  Lacey wiggled her eyebrow at Aspen and jiggled a little in her chair. Aspen couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s childish behavior. It was just like her, always having a laugh and a joke, another thing that made her highly attractive to the opposite sex.

  Aspen didn’t answer her as she pressed the green touch screen icon on her phone and pressed it to her ear.

  “Hello Mister Mystery.”

  She gave her friend a quick wink across the table.

  “Mister Mystery?” Benson sounded confused.

  “I’m in a meeting right now and don’t want the entire world to know my business,” Aspen explained to him and she heard him exhale on the other end of the phone as though he was relieved.

  “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me.” Benson sounded a little hurt and the thought of it pulled at Aspen’s heart strings.

  “Forgotten about you? No, never … I am just a very busy woman.”

  “Does that mean you can’t make it tonight?”

  Benson sounded as though he was struggling to hold on to his emotions and Aspen couldn’t help but smile at the thought that she was having such an effect on him.

  “I said yes last night, didn’t I?”

  Aspen reminded him.

  “I assure you that I am a woman of my word.”

  “I like that about you.”

  Benson’s compliment made Aspen shiver.

  “Text me your address, I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  “I’m afraid you have to make it to date three before you get my home address.”

  Aspen smiled at the way Lacey put up her thumb as a sign of good going and she smiled even more when she heard Benson inhale sharply as though he was frustrated.

  “I don’t like the thought of a beautiful woman out alone at night,” Benson protested. “I’m an old gentleman like that.”

  “I won’t be alone. My driver is quite reliable.”

  “In that case, I shall hang up and text you the address,” Benson told her.

  “I look forward to seeing you this evening, Miss Hall.”

  “And I you, Mister…” she cut herself off before giving everything away.

  “Goodbye.”

  She hung up the phone before waiting for his response and placed it back in her bag.

  “That conversation was very…professional,” Lacey observed and Aspen couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Aren’t you the one who always
says keep things like a business meeting until you are sure it’s where you want to go?” Aspen asked her friend, remembering how her friend had gone through a stage of serial dating with a different guy every night.

  “It cuts out all the bullshit, I suppose,” Lacey shrugged.

  “I hope you are right because I don’t have time for any more bullshit,” Aspen sighed but she couldn’t help but think of the fact that Benson didn’t seem like the kind of guy to do bullshit. She picked up her glass again and found herself thinking of what the hell she was going to wear to a date she had no clue on.

  That’s when her phone buzzed, and she pulled it back out of her bag to look at the address he’d just sent. She read it off to her friend, not quite sure where it was herself.

  “Isn’t that the address for the local park?”

  Lacey was right. It was in fact the address for the local park. When the car pulled into the car park, Aspen felt more than a little over dressed in her little black dress and matching heels.

  When she’d FaceTimed her best friend, she’d been given the score of ‘hot’ and she’d laughed.

  “My hair stylist obviously did a good job then.”

  SINGLE PINK ROSE

  Now she wasn’t so sure on her outfit and began to wonder whether she should have opted for boots and jeans instead. That was until her driver pulled open the door to reveal Benson standing waiting for her. He looked just as charming as he had the night before in a charcoal gray suit and a pale blue shirt with a white collar.

  When he stepped forward and offered her a hand, she noticed that he kept his other hand firmly placed behind him. Reaching out of the car she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her from the car.

  “What are you hiding behind your back?” she scowled at him and Benson rolled his eyes back at her.

  “So in a hurry to ruin the surprise are you?” Benson laughed and the way the corner of his lip twitched upwards caused a flutter in Aspen’s stomach.

  He pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a single pink rose. Aspen raised an eyebrow at the rose as he held it up to her.

  “A single pink rose?” she observed as she took it from him and lifted the petals to her nose to give it a good sniff.

  “Pink roses are a symbol of grace and admiration. I thought it fitting,” Benson shrugged and Aspen couldn’t help but smile.

  “Somebody has done his homework,” she grinned. “So, what is with the whole cloak and dagger of meeting at the park?”

  She gazed around unable to see anybody else. It was as though the entire place was deserted. The only other car in the place had to be his.

  “Are we going somewhere?” she asked pointing towards the other car. Benson shook his head and smirked as though he was pleased to have her on tenterhooks.

  “Please, come with me,” he told her as he turned to stand beside her and offered her the crook of his elbow. She gazed at him with a raised eyebrow for a few moments.

  “If I do anything untoward you have my permission to call the cops.”

  “If you are as rich as you say you are then you could just buy them off anyway,” Aspen laughed and Benson began to smirk at that.

  “That I could,” he admitted. “I guess you will just have to learn to trust me then.”

  “I trust you,” she told him as she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow.

  “It must be the smile then, eh?” He gestured cheekily to his face and she couldn’t help but giggle again. She felt as though she was a charmed school girl unable to control her giggling. Part of her hated that. She hated not being in control. Yet she allowed him to lead her away from the car park all the same.

  They walked down a gravel path, Aspen holding on to his arm so not to trip in her heels, until they came to what appeared to be a strip of red carpet that led away from the path. Benson stopped and smiled at her.

  “If I was going to murder you in the park, do you really think I’d roll out the red carpet and give away my whereabouts?”

  “I guess not but maybe your plan is to lull me into a false sense of security,” Aspen replied.

  Benson seemed to like that.

  “You have a wicked sense of humor, Miss Hall,” he complimented.

  “Sense of humor? I assure you, I am quite serious,” she said as she feigned a look of disgust and they both laughed.

  “Dinner awaits,” he told her as he gestured towards the carpet and began to lead her down it. The walking was awkward but holding tightly onto Benson’s arm made it that much easier and soon they slipped through a cospe of bushes at the other end of the carpet.

  As soon as they came out into the open area, Aspen was shocked. She had never seen a sight so beautiful. A set of white washed metal chairs and a matching table were set up in the middle of the space and pink rose petals decorated the red carpet. The entire place was lit with fairy lights that hung from the roof of tree branches overhead and a small brook rippled at the far end of the space.

  “You did all of this for me?” she gaped, taking in every last little detail as she gazed around the makeshift dining area.

  Benson simply smiled and when he raised his hand into the air a wave of instrumental music hit her ears from somewhere off in the bushes.

  “If you are anything like me, then you hate prying eyes,” Benson told her. “I thought we would have more privacy out here to get to know each other better.”

  “You guessed right,” Aspen nodded. She certainly hated prying eyes, especially the eyes of the press who loved to show her in a negative light.

  “Shall we sit?” Benson asked and he gestured her over to the table where he pulled out a chair for her like the gentleman that he was.

  “Thank you,” she smiled to him as he pushed the chair in and she settled down into the most comfortable cushion she’d ever sat in.

  “You really went all out, didn’t you?”

  “Just wait until you see what I got for dessert,” Benson winked as he settled down in the seat opposite her.

  “Dessert? Aren’t we supposed to eat dinner first?” she giggled although she couldn’t say that she protested at the thought of getting dessert first.

  “If we leave the best for last, we might never get to the best bit….” Benson began.

  “We could die before dessert.” Aspen remembered something she’d seen in a movie once that was along those lines.

  “Exactly my point and I can’t wait to see your face when you see it,” Benson told her, and she felt a wave of excitement rush through her. Benson waved his hand again and Aspen watched as a waiter appeared from the bushes carrying a tray with a huge silver cover, hiding something that made her mouth drip with anticipation.

  * * * *

  The waiter was silent as he stood beside the table and removed the cover to reveal a large cake that was covered

  with brown swirls of icing and decorated with walnuts.

  “Walnut and coffee cake?” she gaped at Benson. “How did you know?”

  Benson simply smiled and asked, “Does that mean you’d like a slice?”

  “I’ll take two,” Aspen joked.

  “We’ll both start with a slice each then,” Benson told the waiter and Aspen couldn’t help but notice that he loved being in control. For now, she was happy to let him remain that way. She liked watching him be the boss, liked the way he held himself with authority.

  The waiter placed the tray on a small side table and cut each of them a slice, placing one first in front of Aspen and then the other in front of Benson. Afterwards he turned his attention to the bottle of wine that was in the middle of the table and picked it up to show Aspen.

  “For the lady?”

  Aspen looked at the label and gaped again,

  “Yes, please.”

  The waiter began to pour, and Aspen turned her attention to Benson to see that he was smirking to himself all over again. “How did you know that was my favorite too?”

  “I did my homework on you Miss Hall,
” he shrugged.

  It was no secret that she loved coffee and walnut cake or that her favorite wine was Sauvignon Blanc.

  Those were things that, you could look up on her bio page on the company website.

  “If you can tell me what color my panties are, I will definitely be impressed,” she told him.

  “Perhaps later I will be able to answer that question,” Benson replied, and she instantly began to flush with embarrassment. All the rules had suddenly flown out of the window. She had let on that she was more than a little interested, that he had impressed her. She remembered Lacey’s warning from their FaceTime then, ‘don’t let him get too close on the first date’.

  “Well, it seems that you know a lot about me, but I am ashamed to admit that I do not know all that much about you, Mister Fox.” Aspen picked up the wine glass in front of her and lifted it to her lips. She took a small swig mentally reminding herself not to drink too much. She needed to keep her wits about her if she was going to play this right.

  “Has someone been a naughty girl and not done her own homework?”

  Benson’s eyebrow raised in a dark look and Aspen’s entire stomach did a somersault in her abdomen. Her heart hammered against her ribcage and she found herself crossing her legs as she felt heat build between her thighs. There was a hungry tone of desire to his voice that lit something within her that she hadn’t felt for such a long time.

  “Perhaps I need a little help with my homework,” Aspen shrugged.

  “I never was the brightest kid in school.”

  “I don’t believe that for a second.”

  Benson examined her closely and she felt her flesh heat with the touch of his gaze.

  “You are the brightest star I’ve seen in a long time.”

  Her cheeks flushed at that compliment.

  “Flattery and charm will only get you so far, sir.”

  “They have gotten me pretty far already,” Benson observed.