Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (59 page)

“You okay there?” she asked, eyeing me
quizzically.

“Yeah.” I smiled, trying hard to ignore
the discomfort. “I’m great. I’m with you.”

That had the desired effect of making her
blush, to my relief, and she didn’t ask me any more questions regarding my
comfort for the rest of the ride.

We pulled into her mom’s driveway and I
was met once more with the foreclosure notice.

“How long does your mom have the house?” I
asked Aria as we walked in.

She shrugged nervously. “I am not sure.
She’s had the notice for a while, but my mom doesn’t like to discuss it with me
very much. She feels guilty, so I don’t ask her questions.”

“Hmm,” I said, thinking I would figure out
how to help them out of this situation soon.

Molly received us with a huge smile
despite the way I had walked out of here the last time.

“Thank you so much for coming over again,”
she said joyfully.

“Of course! I am sorry I had to run out
the other night. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful. It was just…” I looked at
the floor, afraid to accidentally catch Aria’s eyes. “Stuff came up at work,
you know how it goes.”

“Absolutely!” Molly exclaimed. “Don’t
worry about it. You must be busy running the bank. I am grateful that you could
make some time to come over again. Aria, why don’t you take Zayden into the
living room and you guys hang out while I prepare dinner?”

“I…let me help,” I said uncertainly. “I am
not too bad of a chef myself.”

“Oh he’s brilliant,” Aria chimed in.

Molly looked uncomfortably from me to Aria
and back. “That’s quite wonderful of you to offer but I can’t possibly…you’re a
guest here.”

I waved my hand nonchalantly. “Please. I
insist.”

“If you want.” She shrugged.

“I’ll set up the table and the living room
and you can help him mom,” Aria said brightly and walked away, leaving me to
join her mother in the kitchen.

“So what are we in the mood for?” I asked,
surveying the kitchen. It was small, but very well structured. I quite admired
the simplicity.

“I was going to make some steaks.” Molly still
looked nervous.

“That happens to be my specialty! I can
throw in some sautéed vegetables as well. You can chop them off for me if you
feel like it. But really, feel free to just go hang out with Aria in the living
room. You made us a delightful dinner the other night as it is.”

“Don’t be silly, I want to help,” she
said, pulling out the chopping board and some mushrooms and zucchini.

As we worked on the dinner, Molly began
opening up somewhat. To an uncomfortable degree almost. Her questions were getting
a little intense.

“So Aria was telling me you have been
married before. Your ex-wife, where is she now?” she asked casually while
chopping onions, like she might as well have been asking about the weather.

“Uh.” I was completely stumped, unsure how
to take that question or answer it. “She’s around. I’m not sure where, we don’t
exactly keep in touch.”

“That’s not what I heard,” she said,
looking up at me for a brief moment and then changed the topic like that hadn’t
just happened. “So how long have you been seeing Aria?”

“I’m sure she has told you, Molly.” I was
trying hard not to be frustrated but I knew where she was going with this and
didn’t feel like I deserved an interrogation after all that I had been doing
for her family.

“Yes, but I was hoping to hear your side
of the story. It’s quite alright if you’re not up to telling me much.”

“Fine,” I snapped in spite of myself. “I
have known her for a few months now and have been fond of her since the very
first time I laid my eyes on her.”

“That’s a rather odd way to put it, don’t
you think?” she asked, giggling as though ensuring that the tone of the
conversation remained outwardly light. “You couldn’t very well be fond of
somebody just by looking at them. If you hadn’t spoken to her yet then surely
you mean you just thought she was attractive?”

I tried hard not to grunt. I cared about
Aria a lot and I was here in her mother’s house for the second time in the past
week because she was important to Aria. Therefore, the fact that she approved
of me for Aria had become very important to me. I didn’t want to ruin that just
because Molly was asking too many questions I didn’t feel like answering.

Deciding to do my best to keep my cool and
humor her, I said, “Sure, I pursued her at first because I thought she was
attractive. Let’s be honest, isn’t that why anyone pursues anyone? All these
talks people have about superficiality is such complete bull, because physical
appearance is the first thing anyone can see and that’s always what draws
people in. But that said, after the initial attraction passed, it became so
much more. Every time I spoke with her she sounded brighter and more
intelligent than half the staff in my bank put together. Her wits, her charms,
her sheer confidence, all those things blew me away. I wasn’t exactly expecting
or preparing to fall for your daughter, Molly. We have quite a large age gap
and I assure you, I am aware of it. I’m not simply exploiting a young woman.
She is so mature for her age! I am sure you know! You raised her to be this way.
Most women my age wouldn’t be able to live up to half of what Aria has in terms
of personality and brilliance. You should be proud of your daughter. You have
created quite an extraordinarily exquisite human being.”

“Wow,” she said, stopping her chopping and
looking like she had just escaped from underneath a train track. “I don’t know
what to say…You’re right, she is quite extraordinary and obviously, I am proud
of her. I just wasn’t sure what you were…I mean, someone of your stature and
prominence, I just wondered how someone like you would take interest in my
little Aria…And then you have been paying all this money for my hospital
bills…don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it. But as a mother, you can’t exactly
blame me for thinking it all seems a little too good to be true?”

“I love your daughter, Molly,” I heard
myself say, startling the both of us. I had yet to say it to Aria herself or
even admit it to myself, but it had just come out of my mouth in front of her
mom, defiantly, as though daring her to question me any further.

“You do?” Her eyes were wide open. She was
certainly taken aback and the effect was satisfying. Within a few seconds,
Molly reverted back to her jovial self. “Of course you do! Well, I am glad to
hear it. Aria deserves the best, Zayden. She has been through a lot and lives
an extremely tough life for a twenty year old. She deserves more happiness than
the world can even offer.”

“I plan to make her happier than in your
wildest imaginations. I agree with you that she deserves it. So there is not
much point having this discussion, really. Should we carry on with preparing
the dinner then?”

She said cheerfully, “Of course! You seem
to be doing a marvelous job with that steak. I can’t wait to try it.”

Glad that she was finally done quizzing
me, I put all my efforts into dinner, making sure to perfect it to really
impress her. My words were all well and good but I suddenly felt this burning
need to outdo her somehow; to show her that I could make Aria as happy as she
does, if not more. While I appreciated her mother’s concern – in some ways it
only showed how much Aria was cared for – I also felt that I had already proven
my dedication by meeting with her the second time. Not to mention all the money
I had invested into their family.

Trying not to dwell on that aspect very
much, I began to set up the table where Aria was waiting for us.

“How did the dinner preparations go? Did
mom drive you too crazy?” she asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“Not at all. We had a good time
considering we have a whole lot in common.”

“Do you?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Well, for one, we both care a lot about
you.” I grinned, making her blush once more.

Chapter
10

Aria

So far the evening hadn’t gone completely
awry and I was grateful for that. Zayden and my mom seemed to have had a pretty
good time making dinner together and I was glad to see the potential for them
to get along.

He had made a truly delicious dinner,
which sure as hell helped my mom decide in his favor. Once or twice I had
caught his eyes during dinner and he seemed somewhat amused by the whole
ordeal. I wondered what he had talked with my mom about and debated asking him
later, but decided that it was best that I left it alone. For some reason, I
suspected it was best to just accept that they were getting along – for
whatever reason – and not push it very much further.

I turned on the tap in the bathroom to
wash my hands, thinking about how Zayden had been looking at me endearingly as
my mom narrated stories of when I was a kid. I hadn’t thought he would find any
of the tales of me eating pudding with my hands as a three year old
interesting, but he had looked delighted and kept asking mom for more. It was a
side of him I had never seen before and I wondered if he would be reacting the
same way, with as much enthusiasm if it was his mother we were having dinner
with and she was telling me his childhood stories.

That made me realize, with a sinking
feeling, I didn’t know very much about his childhood or his family. I knew his
mother was a little difficult and pushy from everything he had told me about
her, especially in her trying to get him back with his ex-wife. But had she
always been this way? What had his dad been like? I knew he had passed away six
years ago, leaving Zayden in charge of everything. From the way he mentioned
him on the odd occasion, it seemed that Zayden had been rather fond of him.
Somehow I had never thought to ask more. I resolved to ask him about his
childhood and his dad the next time we were alone together – maybe the car ride
back – and maybe even suggest meeting his mom, if he didn’t completely hate the
idea.

As I started wiping my hands off, I heard
the door behind me and jumped.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed rather loudly.
“What are you doing here?”

The look in his eyes said everything. They
were raw with desire and his topmost shirt button was undone. I gasped.

“My mom! Where is my mom?”

“She went to give your neighbors the
leftovers. She looked rather happy about it. I am assuming there is some kind
of a romance going on there,” he said, taking another step toward me. “Which is
good for us.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on my neck while his bulging
shaft rubbed against me, making my arm hairs stand. “Cause we can have some
romance of our own. There is nothing as good as spontaneously fucking.”

Trying to ignore the fire igniting
throughout my whole body as he nibbled on my neck, I said, “She won’t be very
long and I told her I was just in here to wash my hands. Zayden, we can’t.”

“Oh,” he said, breaking off the skin
contact and for a second I really thought he was going to back off. I couldn’t
help but feel disappointment. But then he shoved me against the bathroom wall
and pulled down my panties so fast, my heart started thudding rapidly. He
leaned back down on to my neck and removed my hair to the other side of my
shoulders. He ran his tongue over my neck as his hands crawled across my back
and up the hem of my skirt. By the time he cupped my throbbing center with his
palm, I would have let him do just about anything he wanted to me whenever he
pleased, wherever he pleased.

I moaned, “Zayden.”

He broke off abruptly, leaving me burning
and folded his arms. “I thought we couldn’t do this right now.”

“Oh just fuck me and do it fast before she
gets back,” I said impatiently, throwing my skirt over my head to reveal my
naked body.

“Oh Aria,” he moaned and without another
word pulled his pants down, revealing himself, hard as a rock. For a moment I
was tempted to kneel down and take him down my throat, but time was ticking so
I had to let him take charge.

“Fuck me,” I repeated in a coarse whisper
and he needed no further begging. Grabbing me by my ass, he pulled me towards
him, and to my utter confusion and delight lifted me off the floor.

“What are you doing?” I whispered between
heavy breathing. To answer my question, he wrapped my legs around him and
pushed me further into the wall before shoving himself deep inside. I grabbed
his hair hard, biting the side of his shoulders so I couldn’t make any kind of
a sound. That got increasingly difficult, however, when his thrusts got harder
and more intense. I found myself moving with him, towards him, matching every
push with an equally harder push, as my orgasm began to build up deep within
me.

“Oh, Zayden,” I moaned, as his mouth somehow
found my nipples in the midst of us being wrapped around each other. “Fuck me
faster, I want more,” I said with whatever wisps of breath I could manage.

He complied, going deeper than he ever had
before and then it was like an earthquake hit every inch of my body and it
started shaking uncontrollably, pleasure rushing through my veins. I was ready
to collapse as he erupted himself .

To my complete horror, there was a knock
on the door.

My boyfriend was still inside me, his
orgasmic groan still midway, as he wasn’t able to stop himself.

“Umm…I’m sorry. I heard you screaming and
just wanted to check if you were okay. Oh God. I’ll see you …outside…later.
Dessert is ready!” And then she walked away from the closed door, making me
gasp in a completely different manner this time.

We both stood there breathing heavily for
a while, ignoring the horrifying awkwardness that was now echoing from every
corner of the bathroom. Neither of us spoke for a very long time. I wasn’t
quite sure what the right thing to say was or how we were ever going to get out
of the bathroom and face my mother again. Pulling myself out of Zayden’s
clench, I sat down on the bathroom floor and covered my face with both my
hands, sighing deeply.

By the time Zayden finally spoke, my wish
that this whole thing be a bizarre dream felt to be coming true because he
said, “Aria, please marry me.”

Surely, that couldn’t actually be
happening, so this whole thing must have been a dream. Removing my hands from
my face, I almost expected to be in my bedroom waking up amongst my pillows and
laughing.

Nope, I was still in my mom’s bathroom.
Zayden was still partially naked and he was looking at me with a gaze that I
had never quite seen on his face before.

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked, almost on the
verge of nervous laughter.

“I said.” He walked further towards me and
kneeled across from me so we were almost eye-to-eye. He took my hands in his,
looked me straight in the eye and said once more, “Aria, please marry me. I
love you.”

THE
BOSS #5

Chapter
1

Aria

I stared at Zayden, comically kneeling in
front of me half naked while I sat on a toilet seat, asking me to marry him,
and burst out laughing. There was no way he was being serious. For one, he had
yet to tell me he loved me. And we hadn’t even been dating that long – granted
that the few months we had shared each other’s company was rather eventful –
and he had already been married once, so I kind of assumed he wouldn’t be
interested in going down that road again. No, the only logical explanation was
that he had been joking and I would make a complete fool of myself if I were to
take him remotely seriously.

“Sure,” I said, trying to make a straight
face. “Let’s run off to Vegas tomorrow and get hitched. Would you like a couple
dozen babies to go with the marriage?”

Zayden raised his eyebrows high and
screwed his nose upwards in confusion. “I mean…sure, kids, yeah. I am not sure
about dozens though. How about just three or four? After you’re settled in your
career, of course.”

“What career?” I played along with a
completely serious face. “I don’t suppose I will be requiring much of a career
after marrying you, now will I?”

He chuckled. “Okay. You can stay home and
spend all my money if you like, but I have the slightest bit of a suspicion
that you won’t be happy unless you’re trying to run my company for me.”

“Nah! What’s the point of tricking a rich
businessman to fall for you if you’re not going to spend the rest of your life
lying around doing nothing?”

“Oh, so this was your grand plan the
entire time?” He grinned. “That makes a whole lot of sense.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said, putting my hands over
his head and pulling him towards me for a quick peck on the lips. “Now we
should probably start putting some clothes on.”

I got up and started looking for my
panties. But Zayden remained on the floor on his knees, looking intense.

“This is not a joke, Aria. I would
actually like us to be married. Sooner rather than later if that is okay with
you.”

It took me quite a while to process the
fact that Zayden was being completely serious. Suddenly, all humor disappeared
from the room and my giggles were replaced only by the thudding sound of my own
heart, which was now pounding as though I had just gotten off the scariest
roller coaster in existence.

I tried to open my mouth and speak a few
times. A futile effort, since my tongue now pretended it was glued into my
mouth and words were alien concepts to which it had never been introduced. My
mind on the other hand was working on extra-time, trying to understand the
meaning behind Zayden’s request. Marry him? Perhaps he meant something else?
Like, uh, like…

“Do you know what you are saying?” I
finally summoned the ability to make some sounds and sounded idiotic.

“Not at all. I’m just blabbing on
nonsensically.” He shook his head sarcastically. “Seriously Aria, yes or no?
Will you marry me?”

“You know I once took an advanced level
college economics test while I was still a sophomore in high-school. I have
never in my life encountered anything as difficult as that test had been that
afternoon. One particular question got me so stumped; I threw up and ran out of
the exam hall.”

“What does that have to do with anything
we are discussing?” Zayden asked impatiently.

“I thought that would be the hardest
question I had ever been expected to answer in my whole life,” I said. I added
softly, “Until now.”

Zayden’s face changed colors so fast, I
felt that I must have been imagining it for a little bit. I had never seen him
so red and wasn’t sure it particularly worked towards adding charms to his
handsome features. If someone had told me Zayden Sinclair was capable of
blushing to begin with, I would have laughed in their faces. But watching his
perfect olive skin get patched with deep red, while his eyes focused firmly on
the bathroom floor, made me feel thoroughly uncomfortable.

Was he nervous?

Embarrassed?

What had I said or done wrong?

Zayden was demonstrating a sign of
weakness like he never had before and I knew right that moment that I never
wanted to see him that way again. Weakness did not suit this incredible man. He
was better than that.

When he spoke next, his voice was shaky,
to my surprise. “I get it. It’s okay.” He wasn’t looking at me still, but I
finally understood. He thought I didn’t want to marry him. Ever.

“I haven’t said no,” I offered sweetly.
“It’s just…it all seems so ridiculously sudden. You’ve never even told me you
love me.”

“Well isn’t it obvious that I do?” He
finally looked at me, straight in the eyes, and the bright blue in them were so
piercing, I could just about starting crying any moment.

“I don’t know, Zayden. How can I assume
you love me without you saying it? I guessed that you must, don’t get me wrong.
The things you do for me. You really do go out of your way and I have always
appreciated that. I’ve kind of known that this relationship means more to you
than you outwardly attempt. But you have to under—”

“I love you, god damnit!” he exclaimed
with a slight frustration. “There. I have said the words. I am guessing it
makes a whole lot of difference. So now will you marry me?”

“No,” I said carefully, as his eyes
widened to the size of walnuts. “Not yet, I mean. I want to…eventually. Oh god,
I want to. Because I love you too.”

I walked towards him subtly and started
ruffling his hair. He looked confused, as I had expected he would.

“What are you trying to say, Aria?” He
sighed.

“You are still married,” I said, pulling
him into a hug. “Don’t forget that.”

“Are we really on that again?” he snapped.
“You know that I ended things with Gina and all the crap I pulled to that end.”

“No, I know she is out of your life. But
she’s still your wife in theory. I can’t say yes until your divorce is
finalized. I hope you understand that.”

“Well we can’t get legally married until
my divorce is finalized anyway. But I don’t see how that stops you from saying
yes now.”

He pulled me off of him and frowned.

“It’s a matter of principle.” I shrugged.
“I am not getting engaged to a married man.”

“Of course,” he said, shaking his head.
“You and your great big principles. It should not be that much longer for the
divorce to finalize. If I nudged my lawyer it should only be a couple more
days. I’ll show you the papers as evidence if you need, which wouldn’t surprise
me,”

Offended, I opened my mouth to say
something in return, but noticed the glint of humor in his eyes and started
laughing. “Just let me know when it’s taken care of.”

“As long as you will say yes when it’s
taken care of.”

“Depends.” I shrugged again.

“Seriously, Aria?” He looked up as though
expecting some answer. “Depends on what?”

“On whether you propose half naked on a
dirty bathroom floor or you do it properly with a ring and some romance.”

His face lit up in realization and the
blush from before was gone to my relief. He didn’t say anything on the matter
however and just leaned in to kiss me passionately. In the midst of it, my mind
went completely haywire, unable to believe what had just transpired. Zayden
broke the kiss with a loud shriek of pain.

“Well, let’s put on some clothes and head
back in. I bet your mom is already judging us – and don’t get me wrong, I’d be
judging her if she wasn’t after what she just heard here – so let’s not give
her more reasons to frown upon this.”

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, even
though I felt awkward by the thought of seeing her shortly. “I will just tease
her about our neighbor. That way she will be embarrassed and we can escape from
here quickly.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned.

Chapter
2

Zayden

It had been two whole days since I had
contacted my lawyer’s office about the finalization of the divorce and they had
yet to get back to me. I was fucking annoyed. How hard could the process
possibly be? Gina and I were both amicable on the terms of the divorce. All the
drama had subsided. It was an open and shut case.

My impatience to get Aria to say yes was
taking over me and the stupid divorce proceedings were currently the bane of my
existence. Even though I had been in my office all morning, I had been
completely incapable of getting any work done whatsoever. The thought of how I
was going to propose was occupying my mind.

I thought back to my original proposal in
her mother’s bathroom and grinned to myself. What an idiotic thing to do. I had
no idea what had gotten into me, but something about her mom hearing us fuck
egged me on to do it on the spot. I had been planning to ask her to marry me
ever since my conversation with Molly about how I loved her daughter. So when
she heard us, I felt like I had to prove that we weren’t just screwing around
and I proposed hastily. In hindsight, that was not the best idea in the world
and I should hardly be surprised that Aria didn’t jump to say yes.

Any other girl in the world would have, I
realized with an odd sort of a pride geared towards Aria. It was true. I was by
any definition of the word, quite a catch. I had no reason to be coy about the
fact that my money and my good looks made me the ideal husband for any woman in
the world. But somehow I guess that neither of those things were good enough
for Aria – at least not good enough to accept a shabby proposal on a bathroom
floor – and that she loved me for reasons that had very little to do with my
money. She was not going to settle for anything less than an extraordinary
proposal and she deserved one. I was willing to do anything in the world to
make her happy. I sighed deeply and covered my face in both my hands.