Authors: Claire Adams
Then I pulled her into my arms and we both
slowly fell asleep.
Chapter
5
Aria
“He sounds amazing, Aria!” Stacey said the
next morning when I went home. “Swoon, baby, swoon. Can’t even imagine how you
feel.”
“Amazing.” I hadn’t been able to wipe the
huge grin off my face no matter how hard I tried.
“You already said that,” Stacey chuckled.
“Like about five hundred times. In the last hour.”
“I know. But you don’t understand. He’s
so—“
“Amazing?” she offered.
“Yes. And sexy. Did I tell you he’s
getting my paper published?”
“Yep. More than once. And I’ll have to
butt in here and remind you that you got your paper published. He simply geared
it towards the right direction.”
“But it wouldn’t have happened without
him.” I sounded way more defensive than I had intended. “And he even helped me
research it. You know how confident I am about my work, Stace. Not at all. I
would never submit my work to an influential journal. I kind of owe him a lot.”
“I’m sure he thinks you don’t, since you
seem to be already returning favors,” she said and winked.
I hit her with a pillow. “Shut up, Stace.
And it’s more of a favor to me anyway.” Trying not to blush, I changed the
subject. “So what’s new with you, anyway?”
“Nothing in the scale of enthralling
romance with a handsome billionaire.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for completely
ignoring my attempt to change the subject.”
“You’re welcome, anytime. And you know I’m
just teasing, right? I am happy for you. I’ve never seen you this excited about
a guy in all the time I’ve known you. One might even say you’re in looove.”
I gasped. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Yeah, I don’t really think you are
either. I’ll probably know first since I know you better than you know
yourself. I am going to make a wild guess and say that you are beginning to
fall for him.”
“Yeah…I am so screwed,” I said, burying my
head underneath the pillow on the couch. Was I really beginning to fall for
him? I couldn’t be! I didn’t even know him very well. I mean I did, on
principal – I knew what he did for a living and I knew where he went to
college. I knew all these random facts about him. Me and every other girl in
the world with a magazine and internet access.
Plus everything he’d done for me since the
contract.
Zayden Sinclair was an absolute pleasure
to hang around. I could be myself with him, I realized to my own surprise. I
never pretended or put on a face; I always said the first thing that came to my
mind and he found my lame jokes funny, and enjoyed my company, just the way I
was. Being with Zayden – around Zayden – was comfortable, easy, and natural.
The fact that we seemed to get along so well was incredible given the
differences in our social status. Yet this did not seem to matter at all when
we were around each other. We were always just two people, enjoying each
other’s company, and no external factors about who he was and who I was seemed
to ever matter.
Stacey was right. I was falling for him. I
was in trouble.
---
By the time I got to work that day, I was
still reeling thinking about Zayden and last night. Every customer and coworker
could sense my giddiness from a mile away, I was sure, and it didn’t bother me
at all. Every chance I got, I looked over at him through his glass doors,
feeling wonderful. There was nothing like watching Zayden hard at work. His
passion shone through the distance between us, and I had noticed that any time
he was frustrated, he would screw his nose in the most adorable way and crush
his stress ball. It made me wish I was his stress ball.
At some point I saw him loosen his tie in
what I assumed was frustration and I just wanted to go over and put my arms
around him, kissing his forehead. Unfortunately, we had an audience to worry
about. Things would be so much easier if we weren’t doing this in secret. At
the same time, I wasn’t sure Mrs. Brian’s judgmental looks were entirely
welcome, and I didn’t want people to think there was any favoritism going on.
Not that this affected my job in any way.
I still had the same shitty hours and the same shitty pay, and I was glad about
it. I wanted to earn any career advances I made; however, people loved to talk
and they would somehow manage to make me feel like I was getting special
treatment—like extra-long bathroom breaks or something.
But more importantly, I wasn’t sure Zayden
wanted to make our – I wasn’t sure what to call it, not relationship in any
case – dalliance public just yet. Or ever, I realized with a sinking feeling in
my heart. One of these evenings I would have to bring this up with him: yes, it
was a contract, and yes, I knew where this was supposed to go all along. But
things had obviously changed for me, and I wondered – and hoped more dearly
than I liked – that they had changed for him too. He had taken me out in
public, after all! And brought me a present from New York. Though that was
hardly saying something. I had yet to even see the inside of his apartment. He
had hinted a few times at taking me over there, but somehow we almost always
found ourselves confined to his office. I mean, to be fair, we had both always
been too eager to take each other’s clothes off the moment we were alone together.
Still. It would be nice if he asked. I would like to feel more like a part of
his life and get to know more about him like his family, friends, hobbies, and
all that jazz.
And I would like to learn more from him. A
lot more. One of the greatest unimagined benefits of our tryst had been just
how much I had learned from Zayden. More than I had from most teachers. He was
always willing and eager to talk me through the basics of management in the
banking industry and whenever we talked about this stuff, his teasing persona
would completely vanish. Solemnly, he would get into telling me details about
his own experiences during his MBA, and getting into everyday examples from his
job as CEO. When we were “studying,” he would even ignore my playful sexual advances,
leading me to believe that he actually took me seriously. Coming from a
misogynistic philanderer, it surprisingly meant a lot.
I couldn’t wait until everyone went home
and I would walk into his office with all these new questions that I had been thinking
about. With my shirt off. I would challenge him to keep his serious tone and
make it very difficult. It would be amusing. Then, after we walked through all
my questions, we would get back on his couch. Or maybe he would even invite me
home…if we managed to keep our hands off each other through my long list of
questions, after all, we could manage another few minutes to his house. I
wondered what it was like. Probably bigger than any place I had ever seen. His
bedroom was probably the perfect Martha Stewart representation of the Alpha
male. Dark sheets and curtains. A drawer full of kinky things, I could bet.
Things I would have no idea the purpose for. And he would probably want to show
me.
“Aria,” I heard a male voice say, breaking
me out of my embarrassing day dream. I looked up hoping to find Zayden, and was
disappointed to find Dick’s face smiling down at me gleefully. Rick. I forced a
smile.
“Hey! You look really pretty today,” he
said. “Well, every day. But really, really pretty today.”
Annoyed but trying not to show it, I
cleared my throat. “Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “What are you doing here?”
“Snappy. How flattering for my ego.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude or
anything. Just wondering how come you’re at the bank. I’ve never seen you here
before. And I thought you banked with Wells Fargo!”
“I am thinking of changing it.” He
shrugged. “There are some things only this branch of South National has to
offer. Exclusively.”
I sighed. “Rick. We have been through this
already. You know where I stand on this whole thing.”
His smile didn’t falter. “I know. I
thought we stood at being friends.”
That made me smile back at him and at the
exact moment I saw Zayden looking at us sternly. “Yes, that sounds about right.
But you really shouldn’t be here.”
“I am not stalking, I promise. I had to go
visit a friend next door and I remembered you telling me you worked here. It
probably sounds like bullshit – given the age-old ‘I was in the neighborhood’
line – but I really was. I can give you his number if you like.”
I laughed, trying not to look at Zayden.
His fierce stares were starting to make me uncomfortable. “I believe you, and
thanks for stopping by.”
“Of course, any time. I thought I would
also check up on our coffee hangout. I owe you a delicious cup of Frappuccino
for everything I made you go through.”
“You don’t owe me anything. Like I said, I
am over everything that happened. But yes, we can grab that coffee sometime.”
“Perhaps you could plan that coffee date
when I am not paying you by the hour,” I heard a different, angrier voice say.
Zayden was standing in front of us, looking about ready to commit murder. I had
never seen him this angry before. Not even when he was yelling on the phone the
other day. My knees trembled and I looked over at Rick. He looked petrified,
his face turning pale white.
“I’m sorry,” he was saying in the voice of
a mouse. “I did not mean to distract her from her job.”
“You know who I am?” Zayden said, his eyes
almost red.
“Duh. Most people do around here. I’m
Richard Kruz. A friend of Aria’s.”
“I don’t care if you’re the mother of
Jesus. If you need to flirt with my employees, do it on your own time. Now
please leave the premises of my building before I call security.”
Rick looked like he was about to throw up
and muttered another “sorry” before strutting out of the building. If I wasn’t
so terrified myself, I would be laughing hard at the look on his face. He
definitely deserved this.
“You,” Zayden snapped. “In my office.
Now.”
He had never spoken to me like that, and
now my amusement and fear was starting to turn into anger. God, he was being an
ass. I followed him to his office, rage spreading through my body.
“Close the door behind you,” he said in
the same angry tone.
I complied, if for no other reason than to
avoid a scene. There was never a good time to be chastised by Zayden Sinclair,
but the worst time ever would be during the middle of the day at both our
workplaces with everyone listening as they pretended to work.
It would be difficult to continue to keep
my cool if he kept acting this way though.
Chapter
6
Zayden
I couldn’t justify the intense anger I
felt in that moment. Just looking at her face was making me want to throw
something out the window, and it had taken all the reserve I could muster not
to punch that college punk in the face for daring to flirt with her right in
front of my eyes.
“Who the fuck was that?” I snapped
bitterly.
“I won’t answer until you ask again,” she
said defiantly. “More politely.”
The nerve she had to tell me what the fuck
to do was pissing me off! I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. She
wasn’t going to make this easy, and the angrier I got, the more I needed to
find out who that kid was, so he could be banned from the bank premises
forever.
“Aria, who was that guy that you agreed to
go on a coffee date with?”
“First of all, if you had been listening
without the intention of hearing whatever you wanted to, you would realize it’s
not a date. We specifically had a conversation about just being friends, and I
very calmly and nicely rejected all his other advances.”
“Too nicely. You should have told him to
fuck off. I’m going to ask again, who was he?”
She sighed. “Calm down, Zayden. It’s
nobody important.”
“It obviously is if you are making plans
with him.”
“I make plans with Nick all the time. You
know, my roommate, who you thought I was also screwing. That doesn’t bother
you.”
“He’s dating your friend. I hardly have
anything to worry about there.”
“And you hardly have anything to worry
about here either. You heard the whole conversation!”
“I saw how he was looking at you. I know
that look… it’s the same one I give you all the time.” I tried to keep my voice
from sounding betrayed and pathetic, but I suspected I wasn’t doing a superb
job of it.
“Rick is the very last guy on Earth I
would ever get involved with, I promise you.”
That name sounded familiar. After our
first night she had said something about a Dick… I was half passed out from
cumming, but I had heard her say something about something about a guy named
Dick… Rick. And then it hit me.
Holding on very tightly to my stress ball,
I said, “Your ex.”
“Yes, my ex,” she snapped. “Ex. Meaning in
the past. I don’t know if you were paying attention, but that guy hurt me quite
a lot. He cheated on me on our anniversary and it took me forever to get over
it. I spent the majority of the year hating him.”