by Claire Adams
“About what?” I asked innocently.
“Come here and I will show you.” His tone had an abrupt change. “Ned is downstairs, it’s rude to make him wait.”
“What the hell? You just said–”
But he cut off before I could finish my sentence. More excited and nervous than I had felt all day, I walked downstairs to find a black BMW waiting for me.
Chapter Eight
Zayden
I kept checking the time at an alarming frequency. Tonight was going to be exciting. I had sent my entire staff home so it would be just me and Aria in this big house with so many rooms. And so many beds.
She didn’t know it yet, but I had already made the payment to her mother’s hospital bill earlier today. I wasn’t planning on telling her until later, either. She needed to see the error in her ways and learn to never cross me like that again. The fear that I would maybe not make the payment at all should be an excellent way for me to regain the upper hand in this dynamic.
To my great disappointment, I realized that during the past month she had completely stolen that position from me. Asking to break the contract! Even though it had all turned out pretty well in the end, she had unintentionally manipulated me into making some big changes in my life. I didn’t remember the last time in my life somebody had had such a profound impact, and not necessarily in a positive way.
But it was all okay, because she would be here any minute, and I missed Aria far too much to waste the time pondering over my own mind games. Tonight was about reconciliation.
When the doorbell finally rang, I got up instantly to get it for her, and when I saw her I forgot almost everything, even my name.
“Your mouth is hanging open,” she said with a radiant smile, walking inside comfortably.
What? I couldn’t quite process anything that was happening or anything she was saying. All I knew was that Aria had somehow managed to get even hotter than I had ever seen her before – I didn’t even think that was possible – and all the blood in my body rushed away from my brain and everywhere else and deposited itself into my groin.
“Say something. You’re making me nervous,” Aria said, now sitting cross-legged on my couch. With those deep red stilettos, her legs looked like they were out of a fashion magazine catalogue. I just wanted to grab them, pull up her skirt, and take her right there.
“You look… exquisite,” I said, unable to find the perfect word to describe exactly how good she looked.
“You’re talking to my boobs?” she said following my gaze.
“No.” I was still glaring at them. “But sure, those too. Did they get bigger somehow?”
She chuckled girlishly. I had never quite seen her like this before, acting so feminine, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, wearing deep red stilettos!
“You’re trying to seduce me?” It wasn’t a question, as I realized what was going on, and couldn’t help feeling excited.
“Why on earth would I do such a thing?” She batted her eyelashes innocently, playing with her hair.
“Why wouldn’t you?” I grinned. “You had some of Zayden and you just had to come and get more.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Oh, that’s how you want to play, then? Game is on.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said again, this time with a hint of a smile lingering around her lips. Her lipstick matched her shoes perfectly. I thought of how I would be smearing it up all over her face soon enough and felt myself getting hard.
“Are you hungry?” I said to change the subject, so that I didn’t give in to my temptations just yet. Although she would probably like that, the important thing here was to win, and it was getting increasingly difficult as her breasts were almost outside of her dress. I wanted nothing more than to kneel on the floor and suck them until she came.
“I am so, so hungry, not for food though,” she said with a look that made me almost change my mind about dinner.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said mimicking her and turned around to walk towards the kitchen. Looking at her was not going to help the situation in anyway whatsoever. “Follow me.”
Even the staccato sounds of her heels was increasing my desire, so I walked as fast as I could, trying to think about dinner instead of the dessert that was to come after.
“Where are we headed? Your house is huge!” I heard her exclaim behind me. “What mind-blowing concoction has your chef come up with today?”
“I sent him home,” I said causally, arriving at the kitchen and then turning to look at her. “I sent all the help home.”
“But, dinner?” She screwed her mouth and then gasped. “You don’t expect me to cook, do you? I mean, well, I guess I could, but I am not dressed for that. I suppose I could change.”
“Aria, stop mumbling. We are grilling. Well, I am, outside on my balcony.”
“Then why are we in your kitchen? It’s such a nice kitchen!” She looked so excited about everything in this house that a part of me just wanted to ask her to move in with me and be done with it. I thought of her tiny apartment and wondered if it would, in fact, be worth finding her a better place to stay. I highly doubted she would be okay with it, though.
“We are here because I marinated some steaks earlier that we will take outside and grill.”
I opened the fridge and looked around for a suitable beverage to offer her. She had said she liked beer, so I had gotten her some Belgian Ale, but perhaps she would want wine since she was dressed all seductive. It suited the role she was currently playing.
“Beer is fine,” she said, noticing my hesitation. “Thanks, I didn’t even think you kept any in your place!”
“I don’t.” I shrugged. “But since you were coming over–”
“Thank you, Zayden.”
“And I did something else you might appreciate,” I said, removing the steaks from the fridge. “I marinated the steak in curry powder. Thought it would give you your kick.”
The look on her face right now was worth all the curry powders in the whole world. She looked absolutely delighted, like she couldn’t believe that someone would do that for her.
“What?” I grinned.
“When was the last time you cooked?”
“I don’t remember,” I said honestly. “I never have to and don’t have the time anyway. My chef does an excellent job without my interference.”
“Then why are you cooking – or grilling, I guess – now?”
“Because, Aria…” I spoke like I was explaining two plus two equals four to a very difficult infant. “I really like you.”
Her cheeks blushed so hard upon hearing those words that they almost matched her lipstick. “I... I really like you too.”
I raised my eyebrows quizzically. “Really? I never quite got that from you, based on the fact that you were trying to break the contract only a month ago, so that you could get as far away from me as physically possible.”
“It wasn’t like that,” she said, the joy from before beginning to wane from her face. “You know what it was about. I have never answered to anyone in my life before, Zayden, not even my parents. So I just don’t have a way to deal with somebody trying to control me other than cut them off.”
“Did it ever occur to you–” I cut myself off mid-sentence, realizing what a waste it would be to get into this right now. “Nevermind, let’s not dwell on this now. Let’s go outside.”
I offered her my hand – and she struggled before deciding to take it – and escorted her towards the balcony. “Close your eyes,” I said on the way there. “And no cheating, Aria. I’ll know if you cheat and if you do, your mother’s bill might not get paid.”
She stopped walking and looked at me with a slight hint of annoyance mixed with amusement. “Is that what it is going to be from now on? ‘Oh Aria, breathe at rhythmic intervals of .05 seconds, or your mother’s bill might not get paid!’”
“Just close your eyes
. Trust me, you will like this!”
After a brief moment, she finally did, and I reached for her hand again. When we were at the balcony, I said, “Now open.”
She gasped loudly; I was sure all the neighbors in a 5-mile radius could hear. “What – what did you – why?” Her eyes were starting to tear up.
I had the whole balcony decorated with heart-shaped red balloons and scented candles, and in the middle was a table with her favorite bottle of champagne and two chairs underneath a crystal chandelier. It was like Valentine’s Day had thrown up all over the balcony. We were facing the view of the mountain, with a beautiful lake on its foothills. The scene was as romantic as it could get, and Aria’s tears and inability to form a complete coherent sentence was what convinced me that I had done it. I had won.
“You did all of this for me? By yourself?” she asked when she could finally speak properly again.
“Do you see anyone else here?” I lied, and shrugged. I had thought of it, so I did have some say.
“Oh, Zayden!” she said, and threw herself at me, almost knocking out the steaks I was holding in my left hand. I tried to carefully place them by the grill, but it was difficult to move because Aria was holding on to me tightly. After I finally managed to place them away, I drew her closer for a proper embrace and stroked her hair. “Do you really like it that much?” I said grinning, very pleased with myself.
“You just want to hear me say it, don’t you?” she mumbled against my chest. “Yes, Zayden. I like it that much. This is hands down the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. Or anyone I know. Not even Nick for Stacey.”
“Great, I have outdone a nerdy little kid, I should be proud of myself.”
“Shut up, I am in the middle of a very special hug with a very special guy, let me enjoy this,” she mumbled.
We stood there holding each other for a long time.
---
“This is delicious!” Aria closed her eyes, devouring the steak. It was satisfying to watch her enjoy something I created. “I don’t know why people haven’t been putting curry on their steaks since the beginning of time.”
“I think we can use this moment to firmly establish the fact that I am a genius.” I smiled.
She giggled. “You’re running a multibillion-dollar corporation at such a young age, and running it so well at that, and of all things, a steak recipe is what makes you declare you’re a genius?”
“Priorities.” I shrugged. “And I am not all that. I was handed everything, I didn’t earn it, really. Born with a silver spoon and all.”
“But you had the skills to handle what was given to you. Oh God, Zayden, is this modesty? You are capable of such a thing?” She made an expression of complete shock.
“Very funny. In any case, you will be way ahead of me by the time you’re my age. You are really bright, Aria. I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this.”
“Nope, never heard it before.” She winked.
“Have you thought about what you want to do after you finish college?” I found myself asking.
She shrugged. “I am studying to be a loan officer ,so that is what I plan on doing, I guess.”
“Would you want to come work for me instead?”
“Newsflash, I already do,” she chuckled.
“No, not something trivial like that.” I waved my hand dismissively, but upon seeing the change in her expression, I added, “I mean… not like there is anything wrong with working as a teller while you are getting your degree. Again, it’s more than I did when I was your age. But I am thinking more like finding a suitable long-term position for you in my bank.”
“There is a lot of time left between now and in the long-term,” she said slowly, as though weighing every single word before speaking it out loud. “You may not even want to, you know.” She shrugged.
“I don’t know. What are you talking about?”
“I am assuming that when this contract is over, you would like to move on to newer and hotter women for more exciting adventures.”
It took a lot to spit those words out.
“That’s a big assumption. Do you really think this is all,” I gestured around the balcony décor, “just about the contract?”
“What is it, then?” she challenged.
“That is for us to figure out as we go along,” I said, looking away from her. Not once had I actually thought beyond the contract; I assumed that Aria was just going to be around forever. Now that the thought crossed my mind, I felt a weird sort of a gloom, and didn’t want to dwell on it too much.
“Speaking of the contract, since we are finally on the subject, what is going on with that?”
“That is for us to figure out as we go along, too.” I smirked and had to duck because she tossed a grape towards me in mock-anger. “Come on, let’s go inside, it is starting to get chilly,” I said, to change the subject. Plus, my restraint wasn’t going to last very much longer, and unless Aria was okay with my neighbors potentially seeing me rip her clothes off, which I highly doubted, we had to at least make it indoors soon enough.
Chapter Nine
Aria
We got up to head inside and my phone buzzed. It was a text from my mother. The payment on her hospital bill had been made this morning. An immense relief spread through my body, as though I hadn’t even realized just how tense I had been this whole time. It was technically the last day to do it, so the whole time I had been here, I was somewhat antsy, even though I did not want Zayden to notice, and did a good job of that, I suppose. But I could relax now and truly enjoy his company. The payment was made. I had nothing else to worry about. For now.
“Zayden.” I stopped in my tracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked looking from my text to his face and back.
“Because I knew you would find out soon enough,” he said shrugging. He knew exactly what I was talking about. “But I wanted you worry about it for a bit.”
“That is really messed up, you know,” I couldn’t help saying, but right after, I felt uncomfortable, like I was being ungrateful. “I didn’t mean to say it like that. Thank you for paying the bill is what I meant to say.” I reached out to hug him, but he backed off this time. “Is everything okay?” I looked at him concerned.
“Yeah, I think so, but let’s talk about this inside. In my bedroom,” he said with a completely straight face.
“Sure,” I said cheerfully. “To the bedroom then, to ‘talk’,” I said playfully air-quoting the word.
“No, Aria, we really will be talking in there. At first, anyway,” he added with the hint of a smile. It didn’t make any sense. He had already made the payment and I was here ready – and in all honesty, yearning – to take my clothes off for him, but he wanted to talk?
When we got to his bedroom, I immediately picked the office chair across from his desk to sit on, deliberately avoiding looking at the enormous bed right in the middle of the room. I had never seen a bed quite that size. It had to be bigger than a king size. Did they even make those? He probably had it custom-made for his benefit. He was probably best friends with the president of IKEA or something.
Trying not to think about how it would feel to roll around naked in that bed, I looked at Zayden sincerely. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
“The contract. You noticed how this payment was made late? As late as possible, in fact?”
“Nope,” I said trying to be teasing. “I hadn’t noticed at all. Was it late, then?”
“No, Aria, really, listen to me. I know how difficult it was for you to be constantly anxious about the payment and to not know whether I would actually pull through. You don’t ever want to experience that agony, do you?”
“Of course not.” I sighed, giving in to his mood. “But where are you going with this?”
His deep blue eyes gazed at me with so much intensity that I thought it would tear right through me. “You tried to get out of the contract at the beginning of the month. Don’t do it again.”
“You should be. You thought you would just cut me out and not face any consequences!” he exclaimed. “Like somehow you were just going to walk into all that money and never have to worry about it again.”
“I didn’t think any of those things,” I said, starting to get a little frustrated myself. “I was just upset, Zayden, because of how controlling you were being! And like I already told you, that is just not something I am programmed to deal with.”
“So at the hint of the slightest bit of trouble, you run? How can I trust that you won’t just randomly decide you dislike something else I do or say and try to bail again? Only to want to come running back when you realize you had no other options?”
“How can I trust that you don’t have any more wives up your sleeve?” I asked cheekily, and before he could answer, quickly added, “The answer is there is no reason for me to do so, but I do. I trust you because that’s how trust works, with or without evidence.”
“This was your punishment for breaking the rules, Aria. I hope you don’t do it again.”
“My punishment?” I spat. “You need to stop patronizing me. Why can’t we just be equals, Zayden? Is it because I am a woman?”
“It’s because I am holding 60,000 dollars over your head,” he said in a tone that made me shiver. “Not to mention, employ you – something I plan to continue to do into the far future, as I mentioned earlier. So, as the slightest bit of a courtesy or gratitude or whatever it is that you feel, do me the favor of letting me act however I fucking want.”
“So you don’t care that how you act may hurt me?” I challenged him further.
“That is not what I said,” he said and sighed. “I never said I wouldn’t make an attempt to change some of my ways, but simply that you stop quitting every time something bothers you.”
“Fair enough.” I shrugged, beginning to feel drained.
It was a contract, after all.
“And the contract will remain intact as long as you don’t go around breaking any of the rules. Are we clear?”