“Look, I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not biting. Just skip the games, Zayden. Do you want this or not?”
“What am I trying to do?” I asked pretending to sound surprised. “It’s pretty funny that you think you know something I am supposedly doing that I don’t know myself, don’t you think?”
“You want me to beg,” she said simply. “You want me to tell you just how much I need this and how I will do anything to continue the contract.”
“Well, then?”
“Are you definitely getting rid of your ex?”
“Already done it, thanks to you.”
“Sarcasm?”
“No, not at all!” I exclaimed. “Because you put me in a situation where I had no choice but to end it with her–”
“You had a choice,” she sounded delighted now. “You always have a choice.”
“Aria, don’t be such a smart ass. As I was saying, since I had no choice in the matter, I had to come up with a way to end it with Gina in a way that best suited everyone involved. Without that kind of a pressure to get on this right away, I probably would have been trapped forever.”
“What pressure? I didn’t put any pressure on you!”
“Right,” I scoffed. “None at all. I am not complaining, Aria. You did me quite the favor.”
“So your mother?”
“She will not be giving me, herself, or anyone else any more trouble.”
“You sound like you murdered her,” she said giggling.
“I wish,” I joked. “I just played her own games against her so she now feels responsible for ruining my life. Petty details, really. But let’s stick to what is important. The contract. You were saying? Something about really, really needing–”
“I didn’t say that,” she said, the defiant tone back. “Your ex is gone, then, that is good news. And how about who I am allowed to speak with?”
“Whoever the hell you want, Aria,” I said earnestly. “As long as I am the only one touching your perfect little body.”
My own words ignited a surge of desire in my body, and by the sudden silence that had befallen on the other end, I suspected it had the same effect on Aria.
“I don’t want anyone else to touch me,” she said eventually. “Isn’t that obvious by now, Zayden? That’s why there never was any reason to be jealous. The fact that you couldn’t see that pissed me off almost as much as your trying to control my life.”
“What, you thought I couldn’t trust you?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“Why else would you put restrictions on who I was talking to?” She asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Because I don’t like the thought of stupid assholes mentally undressing you every time they talk to you. And as a stupid asshole who does that every time myself, take it from me, they all do. I have come to think of undressing you – mentally or otherwise – as a privilege that is exclusive to me.”
“Well, you can’t control what other guys think, but nobody else is actually undressing me any time soon. So you need to calm down, and take out all the controlling clauses from the contract.”
“If there still is a contract,” I said, pushing it only a little bit further. It would all be over soon but I had to have a bit more fun. “Come over the day after tomorrow and we will take it from there. I will make sure that Ned will–”
“No,” she cut me off. “No Ned, just send me the address and I will be there, okay? I can drive, you know?”
“Look, Aria,” I said, frustrated. “If I send a car to pick you up, I am not making some sexist statement about how I don’t think you are capable of doing something yourself. It just means that sometimes I feel like taking care of you, even though you are perfectly capable of doing so. It’s how I show I care.”
That seemed to have the desired effect, as she now seemed okay with Ned picking her up.
“Fine. See you then.”
After we hung up, I felt more excited than I had in a long time. The thought of Aria in my house, in my bed, in every other part of my room, naked, was enough to keep me going gleefully the next two days.
Chapter 7
Aria
“So let me get this straight: you are going over to see the guy tomorrow, in his house, without being certain your mother’s bill will get paid on time?”
I shrugged. What was she expecting me to say? Like I hadn’t considered this in my head over and over again. Too afraid to ask him directly about the money and how it was due in two days, I had instead devised a careful plan, which would hopefully help him make the right decision in my favor. Stacey, unfortunately, did not sound very convinced by my plan.
“I can list at least a hundred ways in which you showing up at his house in a super sexy outfit and seducing him into submission can go wrong.”
“Well, do you see me having any sort of a choice here?”
She looked like she was deep in thought for a moment. “I mean, no, not really, but I am worried, Aria. This guy has already hurt you once.”
“Yes, but he also ended a long off-and-on relationship with his ex-wife and risked the wrath of his mother for me. It’s kind of sweet?” I said hopefully, trying to phrase it into a question.
“Oh he’s sweet, alright. That has never quite been in question. He has been a sweetheart to you since day one.” She saw my raised eyebrow and paused. “What? All those flowers and that dress and he sent your work for publication!”
“And he showed up at school,” I said, just remembering. “I forgot to tell you?”
“What do you mean he showed up at school?”
“He came as a guest lecturer in Mr. Weber’s class after I didn’t speak to him for two weeks.”
Stacey burst out laughing. “This guy! I don’t even know what to think. I mean, well it’s kind of obvious that he is in love with you, isn’t it?”
“Woah, woah, woah! Calm down there, don’t go around throwing big words out like that,” I said, pretending to be horrified, when in reality the thought of what she said made me feel delighted.
“Come on, Aria!” Stacey’s whole face was lightening up in realization, as though this conclusion should have occurred to her a while ago. “It makes perfect sense! That’s why he didn’t want you talking to Dick; because he is in love with you so he got jealous! Not because it was in some stupid contract.”
“Yeah, he kind of admitted to being jealous,” I said thinking back to our phone conversation. “But that does not mean he is in love with me! It has nothing to do with it.”
“Yes it does,” she said a different voice, and I realized Nick had been standing by the door and listening to our conversation the whole time. “Guys don’t just get jealous unless they have genuine feelings for a girl.”
“Well, he did have feelings… feelings of control! Feelings that he owned me because he gave me money, and…you get the gist.” I smiled at Nick. “How long have you been standing there anyway?”
“Heard the important bits,” he said and shrugged. “And Stacey is right, the dude is obviously in love with you, but you need to be cautious given… prior circumstances.”
“What do you guys want me to do, exactly?” I asked, annoyed because it seemed like they were ganging up on me somehow. “Let the hospital bills not be paid? Let my mom lose everything?”
“That’s not at all what I am saying, Aria, and you know it,” Stacey said, looking as annoyed as I was. “It’s just… I am just saying be careful. You know this guy very well by now, and you are going back despite disliking some of his ways. If you are expecting him to change a little, sure that could happen, but a complete one eighty is unlikely, and you’re just wasting everybody’s time if you go back with particular expectations in that regard, because it will end just like it did last time.”
That made way more sense than I liked. Stacey was right, I couldn’t go in there thinking everything was suddenly going to be different. Most likely, he would still have controlling tendencies, and I would have to learn to t
alk him out of it without wanting to storm out every time.
“I will be careful, I promise,” I said finally. “You guys are absolutely on point about this. But you understand that I am in a sticky situation, right? There are only two days until payment and I have so far been completely unsuccessful in coming up with a plan to do it without Zayden’s help. As much as I hate to admit it – and would never ever admit to him, god no – I do need him right now, so I will have to make more compromises than not.”
“As long as you are aware that’s what you’re doing.” Stacey smiled. “There is nothing wrong with a little compromise, Aria.”
Nick made a coughing sound.
“What?” Stacey snapped looking at him. “Are you trying to say something to me, Nicholas?”
He looked like he had a bullet fast approaching his face and finding a direction to duck in to dodge it. “No. Uh, I mean, like. Yeah, sure. We compromise. Both of us, all the time.”
He was trying hard not to meet her eye.
“You think I don’t compromise enough!” Her face changed completely in realization.
I started feeling uncomfortable about being there. It was one of those rare moments, when I became very aware of the fact that Nick and Stacey were a couple in a real relationship with real relationship problems – and not just bickering about blogs and video games - and I was intruding on their private moments.
Trying not to draw attention to myself, I slowly got up, but their fight was getting heated and I was sitting right smack in the middle of the two so there was no way to escape without drawing attention to myself. I thought it was best to just announce my departure at that point, so I said softly, “I am really tired, guys, I have a long weekend ahead of me, so I am gonna be off now.”
Without waiting for an answer, I began to march off, but Stacey stopped me. “Wait! What do you think, Aria? Do I not compromise enough?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, feeling uncomfortable to be summoned into the conversation. “How would I know?”
“You live with us! You see us together all the time. You must have an opinion!”
“I don’t,” I said not entirely truthfully. In all honesty, I did think that Nick made the majority of the compromises and Stacey made the majority of the decisions in their relationship; however, this seemed to work for them, and wasn’t that kind of the point? There certainly wasn’t a universal rule of conduct that worked evenly for everybody, was there? Something that I would need to keep in mind as well; every two people are different, and need to find their own unique ways to make it work, no matter how crazy or ridiculous it may seem to other people.
“You guys really need to talk this out among yourself, but I will say this, I have harped on this over and over again the entire time the two of you have been together, and to date, I would be harder pressed to find two people that are completely perfect for each other. And that remains true even if one of you may be more…” I looked at Nick with a half-smile, “….compromising.”
Then I walked away, not letting Stacey stop me this time, and feeling kind of pleased with myself for the way I handled the situation.
Dealing with other people’s problems, however, was much easier than addressing your own. I could write an essay on Nick and Stacey’s relationship, and relationships in general, and people in relationships. I could write an essay on love even, in a heartbeat. Yet, when it came to understanding the best approach to handling my situation with Zayden, I was always at a complete loss. I had a plan but I wasn’t sure how it was going to work. Knowing him and his weaknesses, I didn’t doubt he would physically cave in a second, but would he make the payment?
A part of me wished that we had gotten comfortable enough with each other that I could just straight up ask him whether he was planning on making it, but I had tried in my own way, hadn’t I? And he clearly wanted to keep me in the dark and was enjoying taunting me like this. That was the kind of thing I needed to learn to be okay with if I was determined to continue whatever this was. Zayden Sinclair loved playing games, and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, was he? His games weren’t entirely un-stimulating. I wasn’t saying that I enjoyed feeling like I was constantly in the middle of a mental tug-of-war, but it was refreshing to always be left wondering what was going to happen next. It kept me on my toes and I could at the very least safely say that having Zayden Sinclair in my life meant there was never a dull moment.
---
On Saturday I woke up early in the morning to groom myself thoroughly. After spending hours cleansing, toning, exfoliated, and waxing, I felt much more relaxed about my upcoming encounter with Zayden. Not that seducing him was ever going to be the difficult part; he would get excited even if I showed up in a rucksack, but I wanted him to feel that I had put in some effort, so that he saw that I cared. Which is why I had purchased the sexy lingerie that was staring at me with anticipation.
My nerves began to bubble up again. Never before I had worn anything of this sort. Best I had done was purchase bras and panties from Target separately to match the colors. This deep red and sultry corset from Victoria’s Secret had cost a fortune. If I didn’t wear it, I could just return it, since I was feeling guilty about it anyway.
But if I thought about the opportunity cost – something my line of work had just hard-wired me to do all the time – it amounted to a very, very small price to pay. After all, if Zayden was happy and he went ahead and made the payment, then I would have a lot less to worry about altogether.
With that in mind, I stripped naked and put on the red lingerie. When I looked in the mirror, I gasped. The outfit had superpowers. My breasts, half-covered, were popping out tight and firm, and so much bigger than I had ever seen them. All my curves were highlighted to perfection and I felt more attractive than I ever had in my entire life. Zayden was in for a treat, I thought happily, then got nervous again. What if he didn’t even want to sleep with me and was just calling me over to officially end the contract? I had woken up this morning to the dream that Ned took me to Zayden’s office instead of Zayden’s house, where a room full of people were waiting in anticipation, including a camera crew from the local news station. It was some kind of a training session on how to fire somebody, and I was the test subject.
Needless to say, waking up from that dream was unnerving. Of course, I knew deep down that Zayden wasn’t actually ready to let go of me just yet.
Trying not to dwell on that too much, I started putting on the rest of my outfit. A simple black halter dress that was a little too short perhaps, but served the purpose of getting Zayden’s immediate attention. The lingerie corset had been so effective in doing its job that even through my halter dress, my breasts looked like they had been carved to optimal perk. Even I wouldn’t have been able to turn down what I saw in the mirror if I were a guy.
Feeling satisfied, I put on my make-up and tied my hair back in a loose bun, letting strands fall evenly on the contours of my face. This caused the back of the halter to be open, adding to the seductive look I was going for. I finished it off with a pair of Stacey’s red stilettos that was to match what was underneath the dress when it came off, and that made me feel tall and slender. A little bit of sexy perfume and a cute red purse later, I was ready to go.
Ned arrived ten minutes later and instead of buzzing up, Zayden called me.
“You ride is waiting for you downstairs,” he said on the phone.
“Did you have to deliver the message remotely? We have a buzzer, you know?”
“Oh yeah, Ned wanted to utilize the, uh, ‘buzzing’ service, but I thought it best to not pass up on an opportunity to make this phone call.”
“Well, I hope that you feel satisfied,” I said, amused.
“Not yet, Aria. You know what I sound like when I am satisfied,” he chuckled. “This is obviously not it. Now tell me, what are you wearing?”
“I have to go. Ned is waiting for me downstairs.” I couldn’t suppress a smile, so I felt glad that he couldn’t se
e me.
“I pay him to wait for you,” he said, unconcerned. “Tell me, so I can prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” I asked playfully.
“What do you think?” He was starting to sound frustrated.
“I don’t know. To discuss the contract I suppose.” I tried hard not to burst out laughing.
“Maybe. But that’s not what I am talking about and you know it. It has been a difficult few weeks, Aria. I have been dreaming about it every single night.”
“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 8
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.
The Boss (The Boss Romance Series Box Set) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 20