Billionaires Meet Millionaire (A Steamy Romance) (14 page)

Niall
and Daniel had curtly nodded and left the study. In the
hallway Daniel had stopped Niall by grabbing his upper
arm.

"I will
be seeing you, bro." Daniel had said in his usual voice.

"I'd
guess that would be at dinner?" Niall had asked
innocuously.

Daniel
had tightened his grip on Niall' arm for a moment before
letting him go.

"Funny." He
had said, walking away.

Up in
his room, Niallhad popped a couple of the prescribed painkillers
and made himself comfortable on his bed. Niall had replayed
Friday's events over and over in his mind and finally fell asleep
with a decision on his mind.

So, now
on brittle Sundayafternoon stood in front of Olta's house and
finally rang the bell. It had seemed like a good idea. She had
invited him, after all, and they did need to talk. So going over
and talk to her had seemed like the best plan. Then why, even under
the hazy influence of his meds, had he been standing in front of
her house for over five minutes before actually ringing the bell.
Because Niall honestly couldn't recall having ever been this
nervous before.

The door
was opened by Amanda. Right, Niall had never considered the fact
that perhaps Olta wouldn't be home alone.

He
noticed Amanda's slight frown as she took in his appearance but she
covered it quickly with a sympathetic smile. Niall wondered what
Olta had told her.

"Niall,
hadn't expected to see you here on a Sunday." Amanda said ushering
him in. Niall tried to smile but he couldn't help to grimace
slightly as he walked in. Amanda's smile faltered.

"What happened
to you?" She asked with true concern.

"I had a
bit of an argument with my brother, mrs…Amanda." He said with a wry
smile figuring he might as well stick to the story everybody would
be hearing. Amanda's frown returned and for a moment Niall feared
she'd go all motherly on him.

"Yes,
and Vietnam was a quarrel." She scoffed instead with a small smile
and Niall looked at her nonplussed.

"Never
mind. Olta is up in her room, just follow the music." Amanda cast
her eyes on the staircase and shook her head with a slight smile as
she returned to wherever she had come from. Niall nodded with a
small smile, relieved she wasn't pressing the matter. Making his
way up the stairs he understood why 'follow the music' had been
enough of a direction. Somewhere down the left loud music could be
heard. Niall had heard the song before but couldn't really remember
the song.

The door
to Olta's room was open. Niall had his hand ready to knock on her
door to announce his presence but as he saw Olta he quickly
withdrew it. Instead he leaned into the doorframe, trying not to
put too much pressure on his bruises.

Olta
was facing him. She was dancing to the music, her eyes
closed. Obviously to anything she moved with the teasingly slow
beat as she half mouthed and half sang along with the lyrics the
emotions flickering over her face. Niall was completely captivated
by her and the fact that she was wearing a small red camisole on
her green baggy pants didn't help matters. God, she looked good. As
the music slowly faded away she let out a sigh of
contentment.

Niall
saw her slowly opening her eyes and before he had the
presence of mind to let himself known belatedly he saw Olta's eyes
go wide when she saw him standing there. A blush unlike any he had
seen before spread from her cheeks down to her neck and chest.
Niall finally broke the silence between him.

"I got bored."
He said with a small, apologetic smile.

C
hapter Thirteen

Olta
's mind was reeling. Niall was standing in her doorway with
a small smile and that look. That and he looked a little sorry.
Sorry? Oh bugger it all, he had seen her dancing and now he was
feeling sorry for her. Just great.

But what was
he doing here in the first place? He was supposed to be..

"In
bed." Olta finished her thoughts out loud. "You're supposed to bed,
or at least resting on a couch or something. But you shouldn't be
up and about." She rambled, desperately clutching to her remote
control. Somehow she managed to turn the volume of the music down.
Breathe girl; this is only one of the most embarrassing situations
ever.

"The
damage wasn't that bad, nothing some good painkillers couldn't
handle." Niall smirked.

Olta
didn't respond, still stuck on the embarrassment of the
situation.

"But if
it's a bad time?" Niall suddenly sounded and looked less
secure.

Olta
shook her head and motioned for him to enter her
room.

"Why don't you
sit down or lie down or whatever. Just make yourself comfortable.
I'll get us something to drink." She rambled, darting past him and
down the hall.

In the
kitchen Olta poured two glasses of lemonade and, steadying herself
against the kitchen counter, she gave herself a small pep
talk.

"You can
do this. You were in his room now he's in your room. You invited
him after all. This really is no big deal. Really it is not."
Breathing deeply Olta made her way back.

Walking
back into her room she noticed Niall hadn't made himself
comfortable. Instead he stood looking closely at her picture
tableau on her wall. It had been a going away present from her
friends.

"So this
is the Tirana posse? Seems I wasn't too original." He asked, whilst
going over the pictures.

Olta
chuckled as she read the banner above the collage. In
Mortis's calligraphy it simply said Tirana Posse.

"Why do
you think I never objected?" Olta said as she handed Niall his
drink.

"Thanks." He
said and emptied the glass in one big gulp.

"Meds are
making me thirsty." He added with a sheepish grin.

Olta
handed her his glass and he looked at her
questioningly.

"You're
the one who's thirsty, not me." She offered by why of explanation,
shoving her glass towards him. With a grateful smile Niall accepted
as he handed her the empty glass. Again he downed it in one
go.

"Thanks." He
said, smiling at her.

Olta
now took the time to look at him carefully. His eye was
slightly swollen and a nice shade of purple, as was the spot at the
corner of his mouth. Suppressing the urge to touch his bruises Olta
backed away little.

Niall
returned his attention the pictures and Olta put the
glasses down on her nightstand. As she watched Niall study her
pictures she suddenly felt increasingly vulnerable. She hadn't
realized it but her room was actually an open diary of her life.
And if Niall wanted to he would be able to read it by asking a few
well placed questions.

"So
Tirana, tell me about these pictures." Niall said looking at her.
Olta sighed softly and she joined him keeping a good foot between
them.

"Well,
they're pictures like any other, really. I'm sure you've seen them
before. Because if you haven't you've really been missing out on
something." Olta said. She felt a grin playing around the corners
of her mouth but tried to suppress it. The emotional rollercoaster
was riding again and right now she was passing the flighty
corkscrew.

She felt
Niall looking at her but she didn't dare look up at him. Instead
she focused on one the most recent pictures in the collage. It was
John and Mortis relaxing under an olive tree in Ostia. It still
felt ridiculous to think that that had been as little as a month
ago.

Niall
had apparently followed her gaze as he pointed at the same
picture.

"Rephrase, who are the people in this picture?" Niall asked
and Olta was pleased to her his usual amusement in his
voice.

"That's
John and that's Mortis. They're the ones who made this."

"And
this is you?" Niall asked incredulously, pointing at a picture in
which Olta was wearing a long emerald dress with spaghetti straps.
Olta was slightly affronted by Niall tone. She actually thought it
was one of the few pictures in which she looked good.

"It was for
the Christmas Ball last year." She replied.

"You
looked good." Niall replied and Olta couldn't detect any dishonesty
in his comment. She kept her eyes on the photo. Okay, so he thought
she looked good. Right.

"So you
were redhead back then?" Olta nodded. She had dyed her hair red
ever since she was thirteen but had stopped after her father's
death.

Niall
, apparently, had moved on the next picture.

"This guy is
your boyfriend?"

Olta
was surprised by the edge in Niall' voice and it took her a
second to find the picture he was talking about. It was the only
other picture with her in it. It was of her and Sam, on the bus
ride to Rome. Somewhere during the ride they had ended up next to
each other and had fallen asleep together. She was leaning into his
chest and Sam had his arm wrapped her waist as his head rested on
top of hers.

"Sam?"
Olta said, laughing softly and shaking her head at the thought.
Sam, being interested in her, sure.

"Don't be
ridiculous." She added, her laughter dying away to soft
giggles.

Looking
up at Niall she saw him looking down at her. He had stepped closer
and Olta felt her breath catching in her throat. Damn that look,
damn those eyes and damn that mouth, Olta thought. Niall shouldn't
be doing this, acting like he might... Acting like that would only
make her crush even harder, if that was possible. She stepped
away.

"You
really should sit down. I'm going to get to more drinks." Olta said
as she walked out of her room. Running away was a good policy, Olta
decided but not too practical when one was in one's own
home.

Taking
the bottle of lemonade with her, Olta decided that since Niall was
asking questions, she might just as well. Perhaps they could start
the questions game again, only this time she would raise the
stakes.

Back in
her room she saw Niall had finally decided to sit down. She closed
her door behind her and headed to the nightstand to refill the
glasses. Handing one to Niall she noticed the bemused confused look
on his face. Olta took a seat on the cushion seat across from the
seat. Olta thought she might as well go in for the kill right
away.

"So, you
get into a fight or something?" she asked looking at Niall'
bruises. Olta hadn't really given any conscious thought on how
exactly to broach the subject but as she spoke she figured that
feigned ignorance might not be a bad way. Judging by the smallest
of smiles Niall gave her it worked though.

"Yeah, with my
brother. He wanted to watch some movie which I really didn't so it
came to blows." The small smile lingered.

"So, the
two of you do that often then?" Olta asked.

"Nah,
not really." Niall said gazing down at the empty glass. The smile
had gone.

"What does
'not really' mean?"

"Ah
fuck, that means that it's complicated, okay. My brother and I,
it's difficult to explain. Let's just leave at that you now know
just how we don't get along." Niall snapped but he looked up at her
with a pleading and guilty look.

Olta
nodded, knowing that the spell had been broken.

Niall
broke the gaze and let his eyes wander the room.

"So,
what is that?" He asked in the same casual tone Olta had used
before. He pointed towards the mural above her bed.

"Well
that's the weapon, no the crest of the city of Tirana. Ra made it,
she's got the same one." Olta said.

Niall
grinned. It was a shield, coloured red but with a black
stripe with three x's running down the middle.

"Not to dis
your sister's artistic abilities but it doesn't seem that
hard."

"No
dissing my sister. I have dibs on that." Olta glared and she threw
a pillow towards him. It missed him by a mile and dropped on her
desk.

"Hey,
injured guy here." Niall called out as he ducked for a pillow that
was never even close to hitting him. Olta saw his playful
expression change into grimace as he moved.