Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (31 page)

I was in trouble.

When he finished his speech there was an
applause that lasted for minutes. People were cheering him on and screaming his
name.

“Now let me invite Ms. Cameron Elizabeth,
the head organizer of tonight’s grand event, to begin the auction,” Zayden said
and stepped aside to speak with an older blonde women on the stage. I was
surprised to feel a tap on my shoulder, since I didn’t really know anyone else
at the party. I turned around to find Mr. Kirk smiling at me.

“That speech was quite something, huh?” He
asked.

“Absolutely! Zayden is passionate and a
wonderful speaker.”

“I’m sure you think so,” he shrugged in a
way that made me uncomfortable. “How much is he paying you anyway?”

“Excuse me?” I felt a fit of rage begin to
spread inside me.

“I’ll write you a blank check to fill in
as you please for one night. But I have some very specific requests. Things not
every girl is comfortable doing. Even though you’re a professional.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I
was so angry I didn’t even care about my language or creating a scene. “I am
not for sale.”

He laughed. “Oh, he’s taught you well.
Come on. I have known the kid since he was ten years old, you’re not going to
convince me that he’s just taking out a lowly employee because he likes your personality.”

“Actually, that is exactly why I brought
her here tonight,” I heard a different voice say. Zayden was standing in front
of us and he looked like he was about to commit murder. “And why you should now
exit this event. South National will no longer be dealing with your company.”

Kirk’s face turned to a deep shade of
purple. “Come on, Zayden! Are you really going to side with a whore?”

“Watch your language or I will have you
thrown out of here in a manner that will make it impossible for you to ever
show your face in public again. Aria is a beautiful young woman with a deeper
intellect at her age than you have acquired in sixty years. I would rather
spend the very little free time I have in the company of somebody like her,
than do business with some sick bastard who has no respect for another human
being. Call her a whore again and my lawyers will ruin you until you’re on the
streets. Now get the fuck out.”

People had begun watching and I wanted to
draw a hole underneath me and disappear. This must have been embarrassing for
him, yet he was fighting for my so called honor, and I was completely paralyzed
in shock. The truth was that he was, in fact, paying me, even if it wasn’t
exactly for sex. But the fact that he was still supremely offended by Kirk’s
behavior made a small part of me ridiculously happy. The rest of me kind of
wanted to collapse and never see humanity again.

When we finally left the Gala, every
single person was apologizing to me for Kirk’s behavior, and I realized that
not all rich people sucked, contrary to what I had convinced myself of. In
fact, Zayden seemed to run around circles of some truly nice people. All in all
though, the evening ended on a nice note, and by the time we made it back to
Zayden’s car, I was tipsy, tired, and in a much better mood than I had expected
to be.

“I’m sorry about Kirk again, Aria,” Zayden
said once we sat in the car again. “I have known him all my life, but he’s
never acted so sleazy before. I wouldn’t have introduced him to you if I knew
he was going to act that way.”

I gently put my hand over his and he
started to move his fingers against mine, causing an internal volcano to begin
popping in my system.

“You don’t have to apologize. I feel
terrible about creating a scene. I am sure you didn’t come in here today
thinking ‘Hey, guess what would be fun? If I had to insult one of my business
partners on behalf of my date and cause for a whole dramatic production.’” I
laughed.

He lifted both our hands and put his arm
around me. “I have never in my life used this word to describe a girl before,
but Aria Roberts, you are really amazing.”

He must have thought calling me amazing
was somehow amusing since that’s what I had called him.

I giggled. “How long have you been
practicing to say that?”

“Since I read your paper. It was…
amazing.”

“Amazing. You’re…amazing too.” We were
both gazing into each other’s eyes at this point and I barely knew what I was
even saying. “Very, very amazing.”

He removed his hand from mine and lightly
brushed his index finger against my cheek, the effects of which I felt across
my whole body. He was leaning in and I gazed at his perfect mouth and wondered
if he would taste like whiskey. As soon as our lips slightly touched, however,
I jerked away. A few seconds later I got the courage to look at him.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry, Zayden. I
can’t. I just…”

“It’s okay,” he said and looked away from
me, without any hint of disappointment in his voice. “I know you don’t want to
and I shouldn’t have-”

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I blurted
before I could stop myself. It was too late to take it back now. “Whenever I am
around you, it’s difficult to breathe. And all I want in the whole world is to
let you win and feel the taste of your mouth and to touch you and let you do
whatever you want to me.”

He didn’t speak for almost a few minutes.
Then he said, “The screen isn’t sound-proof, Ned can hear you.”

“No I can’t,” I heard Ned say, and then I
felt absolutely mortified.

“The point that I have been trying to make
– sorry Ned – is that it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t. And I’m
sorry.”

Zayden sighed like he didn’t care. “Don’t
be. It’s your stop. I’ll see you on Monday. Sleep well, Aria. Thanks again for
coming out with me tonight.”

I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the car
for the longest time. I finally forced myself to say, “No, thank you, for
everything.” Then I ran out of there as fast as I could.

I didn’t sleep well that night. I didn’t
sleep at all.

---

On Monday morning I was woken up by a
phone call from my mom.

“It’s 5 a.m. Mom,” I mumbled on to the
phone. “Can I call you back?”

“I’m sorry for waking you up, sweetheart,
I just wanted thank you for the 10,000 dollars that you paid to the hospital on
my behalf. I’m glad your loan went through.”

Wait, what was she talking about? My loan
never – Oh. I sat upright, suddenly understanding.

“It was paid?” I asked stupidly.

“Of course, from your name.”

“I know, I meant to ask if it went through
alright. I’ll call you later okay, mom? Don’t worry about it too much, I got
you. Love you!”

I dialed Zayden’s office number and
immediately hung up remembering what time it was. It would just have to wait
until I got to work. I couldn’t believe what he had done. I felt a sense of
warmth and affection throughout my whole body.

The contract was real.

I tried going back to sleep but spent the
next few hours thinking of him and just how underrated he was as a person. I
had expected him to be upset with me, given the rejection from Saturday night.
He hadn’t tried to get in contact with me all of Sunday and I assumed he was
miffed. Instead, he had decided to go on and make the first payment early. And
the way he had fought for me at the gala. Perhaps I had judged him unfairly,
but I would never think he would jump to defend me against his own kind. His
business and reputation, I assumed, were way more important than some girl he
was trying to seduce, yet I was wrong, as I seemed to be on many accounts when
it came to Zayden. I would have to find something nice to do for him, soon. For
the first time in a long time, I could not wait to get out of bed and get to
work.

Which is why I was very disappointed when
I got to work and Zayden was not in his office. He usually got there before
everyone else, and I was convinced that he slept in his office most days. I
wondered if everything was okay. I thought about writing him an email and
drafted something:

Hi,

I
wanted to thank you in person but you seem to be out today. I hope everything
is okay. My mom called me about the hospital payment and I wanted to thank you
for going ahead with that way earlier than our contract demanded. And for
sticking up for me in front of Mr. Kirk the other day. It meant more to me than
you ever imagined.

So
I was thinking, about that pizza, beer and Netflix thing, do you want to come
over some day this week?

I
would love for you to join me…

No, not that word. I would “like.” I went
ahead and scratched the whole email off. I had to tell him in person.

The day got more and more agonizing, as I
kept my eyes straight on the door, waiting for him to walk in, with increasing
disappointment. At five, I made a final glance, at this point assuming there
was no way he would show up at work, but I still couldn’t help but feel utterly
disappointed. I didn’t work on Tuesdays and waiting until Wednesday to see him
would be too unbearable. I started packing up as slowly as I physically could,
while everyone else began walking out of the office. What was I expecting? The
day was over, he wasn’t coming. And maybe I had something to do with it. Maybe
if I hadn’t pulled away the other day... Ugh. I didn’t owe him anything
physical.

But I wanted to so bad, so what was I even
fighting for? Right now I couldn’t think of a single reason why I wasn’t in
Zayden’s arms.

Trudging out of the office, I wondered if
I could skip some classes to come to work tomorrow. As soon as I got to my car,
however, I saw Zayden’s silver BMW pull in and my heart jumped. I stood there,
feeling completely paralyzed, and when he got out of the car I could barely keep
up with what I was doing.

I ran to him as fast as I could and
planted a kiss squarely on his lips. He stepped back for a second looking
completely startled and as Ned started driving away, he pulled me towards him
and kissed me. His hands were on my face and when his mouth began to part mine,
I forgot everything about the world. His tongue entered my mouth and started
exploring, and one of his hands were now on my back, almost lifting me up. I
tried to kiss him back with everything I had but it wasn’t enough, I wanted
more, I wanted every bit of him. His hand was now inside the back of my dress,
grabbing my ass firmly, and I felt like I could explode from that sensation
alone. It felt like an eternity when we finally broke apart, gasping for air.

“It’s nice to see you too, Aria,” he
grinned at me. I was still trying to remember how to breathe.

“I-” I tried to speak. I had never
realized how difficult that process could be. My eyes were still on his mouth.
“I wanted to thank you. About the payment. And about Kirk. And I wanted to-”

He cut me off with another electrifying
kiss. He tasted like expensive scotch, just like I had imagined; a little
smoky, and the faintest hint of sweet. When his mouth left mine and he
proceeded to kiss the side of my neck, I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Let’s take this inside,” I heard myself
saying.

We were completely intertwined, yet
somehow we made it inside his office. He shoved me against the glass door and
continued exploring my neck with his warm tongue, making circles with kisses. I
was about to pass out already when he lifted my skirt and lightly brushed his
fingers against my pussy, and I let out a loud moan.

He broke apart. “Is everything okay?”
There was concern in his face.

“Huh?” Keep going. Just do whatever you
were doing, Zayden. Don’t stop. I wanted to convey that with my eyes.
“Everything is… perfect,” were the only words I could manage.

“Listen, Aria,” he said sincerely. “As
much as I want to rip apart that dress of yours and fuck you mindless, I have
to ask: are you sure about this?”

“You know what it looks like when I don’t
want it,” I said, boldly removing the top part of my dress, revealing a red
lacy bra. “This is obviously not it.”

“I know,” he said, his eyes now fixated on
my bra. “I know you want it right now. But you’re a fucking virgin and I don’t
do virgins normally. But I’m willing to taste your pussy.”

The way he said that made me want to jump
on him and straddle him until he felt the inside of what he liked to call my
pussy.

“I am not a virgin,” I told him. “I told
you that to scare you off.”

Those words were exactly what he needed to
hear because he proceeded to then actually rip off the rest of my dress off my
body and kiss me again, this time with full force, thrusting his tongue deep
inside my mouth. Then he picked me up and took me to the giant couch in office.
Taking his shirt off without his eyes leaving mine, he said, “As much as I want
to take you right now, you’ve made me wait too long, Aria Roberts. I am going
to make every minute count and torment you until you’re begging for my cock.”

Those were the most thrilling words I had
ever heard. I was already ready to beg and plead, but he didn’t need to know
that. I wanted to feel the torment he was promising.