I felt a strange bubble of sadness start to build in my chest. “It’s okay, I know this is not going to work out. I mean it’s still just a contract and after six months all of this will be over. I have pretty much accepted that.”
She hugged me this time, which was such a rare occurrence that I let out a slight chuckle. “Please don’t get hurt,” she said.
“I don’t want to and I’ll try not to.” I shrugged. “But—“
“But you’re falling for this guy?” She asked.
I was not ready to accept this and the question made me feel heavy in my chest. I was not supposed to be. I knew what the deal was, I knew what I was getting myself into and this was never a part of the plan. There was no reason in the world that I should be letting my emotions get out of control, given the possible consequences, but here I was, completely and utterly gripped by the charms of a man who I knew from the get-go was never going to be mine to keep.
“I’m falling hard, Stacey. Ugh. I just want to be able to have fun for now and deal with what happens when it happens. If only I could make these feelings stop.”
“Then have fun! You haven’t freely enjoyed your life like this in a long time. You don’t know what he’s thinking! Maybe he’s feeling the exact same way. You trust my intuitions, right? I have a great feeling about this guy, I think he’s going to be around for a long time.”
“But what if he’s not? What if you’re wrong?”
“Then I will buy you ten gallons of ice-cream and we’ll eat it all and watch Friends marathons until your heart heals. Even if that means we are confined to this living room forever.” She smiled.
I giggled. “You’re the best friend ever. Thank you, Stace. I’m sorry again. I really missed you!”
“I did too,” she said pulling me off the couch. “Now go put on a sexy dress and have what you call amazing sex. There will be a long interrogation about it later.”
Interrogation? That wasn’t going to happen.
---
When I finally made it to the bank, I was ridden with excitement. This would be the first time we were alone together since we had sex. Outside the bank I removed my travel mirror from my purse and checked my appearance. I looked decent enough, and had a lingering suspicion that he would think so even if I showed up in a rag. I walked into the bank and rushed towards Zayden’s office but halted right outside. He was on the phone, yelling at somebody.
“I just can’t fucking deal with this right now, don’t you get it?” He was shouting. I had never seen him so angry before. He was holding a stress ball and looked about ready to squish it into tiny little pieces.
“I understand that,” he snapped on the phone. “How many times do I have to explain myself though? I know, I get it, but I can’t deal with this right now, what don’t you get?”
Feeling suddenly nervous, I wondered if this was a good time at all. Maybe I should have stayed home and cancelled; maybe he should have cancelled. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meddle with…whatever it was that was going on.
“We will talk on Tuesday. No, next Tuesday. I am hanging up now,” he barked, almost crushing the stress ball.
I waited a few minutes before striding in, convincing myself that I would make him feel better, regardless of what was bothering him. He had helped me with my mother’s bills, I couldn’t run now when he seemed to be having such a rough time.
With that determination, I entered Zayden’s office, startling him.
Chapter 4
Zayden
I jumped when Aria walked in. I should have been more careful and not answered the phone when she was supposed to arrive.
“You’re late,” I said icily. She looked terrified, so I added more softly, “Is everything okay?”
“Sorry I’m late,” she said, walking over to sit next to me and gently putting her arm around mine. “Is everything okay with you?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“How long were you standing there?” I grinned. “I’m just kidding. Everything is fine.”
“That’s not what it sounded like.” She looked like she immediately regretted saying that. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry… I just meant, is everything okay?”
“It is now that you’re here,” I said, leaning in to kiss her, hoping it served as a distraction. She backed away after a few seconds. I hadn’t done a girl twice in a long time, but she was so damn intelligent, I couldn’t help but want more of her.
“That’s sweet, but I am worried about you. I’ve never seen you like that. Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes, just quit it,” I snapped.
Her eyes widened and eyebrows rose.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap—“
“But you did,” she said, her voice trembling. “I think it’s best I leave since you’re in such a shitty mood. You won’t tell me what it’s about so I can’t even help you, which makes my being here pointless.”
“Why would you think that? Your being here has made this day slightly better,” I said, thinking up the best lie to tell her. “It’s work, it has been really shitty today. More protests, and someone filed a complaint against one of my loan officers.”
“Wilson?” She asked eagerly.
“No, not Wilson,” I said before she could email him or do something stupid. “Someone from the Nashville branch. You don’t know him.”
“Was that him on the phone just now?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Yes,” I sighed, feeling glad that she literally walked into a solution. “He is threatening to quit and I’ve been trying to explain to him that it will just make him look guilty—which I wouldn’t give a crap about, except that it gives the whole bank a bad reputation. I don’t want scandals, I hate dealing with scandals.”
That merited a laugh. “Really? Sleeping with your employees would be your fault,” she said with mischievous grin.
“Me screwing around with some tellers is hardly a scandal. They’ve all been of age and don’t work here anymore because they can’t handle that it was a one-time thing.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Not you. You know better than to think you’re just a one-time thing,” I said, trying to save myself.
“What am I, then?” She challenged.
What had gotten into her today? This was not at all like her; she was usually graceful, intelligent, and charming. It was stupid for me to have answered Gina’s call just when Aria was scheduled to come.
Gina was my ex-wife and the bane of my existence. She was the daughter of my mom’s oldest friend, and they had decided Gina and I would be married the second we were born. By the time I realized how wrong they were, we had already been married for five years. I was just lucky we never had any children; if it were up to Gina, though, we would have had quite a few. I suppose she thought I would never leave her if kids were involved. And perhaps I wouldn’t, and I must’ve known that deep down inside because I always turned down the idea of having kids until I was more settled with the bank, my first child. Truthfully, I had been settled with the bank years ago and just kept convincing her and myself that we weren’t ready to have kids. We had filed for divorce last year, and although it hadn’t completely gone through yet, she was still out of my life.
Not according to my mother though. That’s the real reason I had gone to New York: to deal with this bullshit. My mother had attempted what I was convinced was a fake suicide at a hotel room in NYC, drinking half a bottle of whiskey with some painkillers—just the right amount for her to pass out dramatically, but not quite enough to cause any permanent damage. I saw right through it since she used to pull crap like that with dad all the time. Yet when I went to the hotel and saw her, pale and weak and miserable, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
Leave it to Eleanor Sinclair to milk my sympathy for all it was worth; she quickly went on a long rant about how my divorce was taking a toll on her, how Gina was the perfect girl for me, and how my happiness was the only th
ing keeping her alive. I tried to explain to her that Gina did the precise opposite of making me happy: for one, she had cheated on me more times than I could count, and I was pretty confident that she loved my money more than me. And most importantly, I had never quite loved her. I thought I did at some point, but it was an illusion built on lust and inspired by her beauty, not to mention my parents insisting that she was perfect for me.
Until last year. I found out she was cheating, and was hardly surprised – some part of me knew all along. I had a solid reason to file for divorce. My mother knew what she had done and somehow found a way to blame me for it. “If only you didn’t work all the time, Zay,” she had said. “A woman has needs, and Gina was getting really lonely. Sure, she could have dealt with it better, but a lonely woman is never thinking straight. She feels a lot of remorse, and you’re a coward if you can’t accept it and forgive her.”
My own mother. Of course she would take her side though; how many times had she cheated on my dad? And now she had pulled this whole fake attempt at killing herself, and decided to use that as bait for getting me to try again with Gina. She wouldn’t stop wailing until I agreed to sign up for couple’s counseling.
That’s what the call was about. All too anxious to jump back into my life, Gina wanted to start the counseling right away, under the guise of “making momma happy, we owe it to her.” I didn’t want to deal with that yet, so I was meeting her to discuss the right time for that. But I had to be careful about Aria finding out. She would never forgive me. She seemed like a righteous girl, and I had a feeling she wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain myself. Even if she did, what could I say exactly? “Oh, I’m thirty-two years old but my mom is making me try and get back with my ex-wife?” It would sound ridiculous.
All this craziness was what had led me to my rule; having sex with a girl once and moving on. I didn’t have time for any more lunatic women.
But Aria wasn’t going to stop asking questions. Why was she so stubborn? I admired this in her; she wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted, which sometimes was absolutely infuriating.
I was the same way though.
“How long has the situation with the loan officer been bothering you? Is that why you were really in New York?” She asked.
“No,” I said and grinned at her, trying to change the topic. “I went to New York to get you your present.”
She blushed at that and I sighed. “Now let’s not waste another minute.”
I approached her with a fiery kiss, opening her mouth with my tongue, exploring. I could feel her melt under my breath and I was glad that I possessed the skills needed to distract her. My hands found her firm breasts and her nipples were already as hard as my dick. I began to lower my head with the intention of kissing her breasts, but she grabbed my hand with surprising force. Her eyes burning with desire, she said, “Not yet,” and then got on her knees.
Watching her unzip my pants was enough to make my mind completely forget about Gina and all my troubles, my eyes and my head firmly focused on Aria ready to take me in her mouth.
When she did, I lost all control and began moving. I grabbed her head and plunged as hard as I could in her mouth, reaching deep within her throat. She sucked and tried to keep up with my movements as I fucked her face faster and faster. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before I was ready to explode.
“I’m fucking coming,” I said with the few words I could muster, and tried to take myself out of her mouth. To my great surprise, she held on tighter to my ass and shook her head.
“Jesus,” I groaned, all but ready to pour myself into her.
“I want to taste you,” she choked out.
Those words were enough to make me shake into a burst of pleasure, as I came hard inside her mouth, holding on tighter to her head. She sucked until I was emptied completely, and she looked at me as I dropped to the couch. Still on her knees, she swallowed part of my cum, while some of it dripped down her pretty little lips.
“Lick your lips,” I said, still reeling from the orgasm, and she complied. I was starting to get hard again almost immediately from watching her.
I was breaking the rule I had set and I didn’t care.
“You tasted amazing,” she said, getting off her knees and approaching me on the couch.
I grinned. She was turning into a sex vixen, something all my other girls never were. She leaned in to kiss me. Her tongue was still warm and I found my hand reach her pussy. “Are you ready for another?” She whispered against my mouth.
I took her hand and placed it where my dick was protruding again. “Can’t you feel how ready I am?”
With that, I grabbed her and threw her on to the couch. “God, I’ve fucking missed you,” I said, working my mouth all over her body, experiencing every inch of her delicious, smooth skin.
“I missed you too,” she moaned, raking her fingers through my hair. Then she kissed my forehead while massaging my temples with her thumbs. I pulled my lips from her neck and she tilted her head down to take my lips into her mouth.
My dick was throbbing again, pushing against her thigh. I snaked my hand in between us and grabbed hold of her mound through her jeans. I made swift circles with the palm of my hand and she moaned into my mouth.
Our tongues danced around each other's as her hands pulled my hair tight. She pulled away from me and leaned back, sitting upright on my throbbing cock. She unbuttoned my shirt while biting her lip. She pulled it off each arm so it was resting behind me and then traced each of my defined muscles with her fingertips before kissing every inch of my chest. I threaded my fingers through her hair and pulled her upright again.
“Take it off,” I groaned, tugging at the bottom of her T-shirt.
I hadn't ever seen her in a T-shirt and jeans but she looked just as good as she did in her tight fitting work clothes. A grin spread across her face and then she tore her shirt up and over her head, revealing a black lace bra. I unbuttoned her pants and ripped the zipper down exposing her matching black lace panties. She stood up on the couch and pushed her jeans down around her ankles before stepping out of them.
She unclasped the front of her bra, allowing her perky breasts with hard nipples to topple out. Then she playfully snaked out of her panties and kicked them on the floor, revealing her wet aching core. I licked my lips before grabbing her ass and pulling her down so she was sitting directly on my face. I twirled my tongue around her bulging clitoris.
“Oh my god,” she moaned, bracing herself on the couch with her hands.
Her legs pulled tight around my head and I knew she was about to go over the edge. I grabbed her harder, pulling all of her into my mouth to taste her beauty. Before she could cum I raised her up off of me. She reached down between our bodies and grabbed my dick that was aching to be engulfed in her pussy.
I tugged her head down and kissed her hard.
“Ride me,” I groaned into her.
She pulled away and grinned before kissing me once again. She sat up and then turned around, rubbing the tip of my cock against her slippery opening. I grabbed her hips and tugged her down, submerging my dick in her wet pussy.
“Ah,” we groaned in unison as she bounced up and down. Reverse cowgirl happened to be one of my favorite sex positions. Aria was truly giving me everything I wanted.
I tugged her up and down, sliding my dick through her pussy faster than ever. Then she pulled her legs tight against my hips as I continued to thrust in and out of her.
“Oh my god,” she shrieked out in an orgasm and shuddered. She continued to hold on to my legs as I burst about into my own orgasm.
“Holy fucking shit!” I shouted, pulling her off of me so I could shoot my cum all over us. When I was finished she fall flat onto the couch next to me, unable to move a single muscle.
“Next time, my bed,” I said when I could speak again. “It was supposed to be the bed tonight, but you walked in with those tight jeans of yours and I couldn’t help myself.”
<
br /> “I don’t think a bed would make any difference.”
“You’ll be surprised Aria.” She looked so serene, lying naked in my office sofa. “I’ll show you just what your body is capable of.”
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.”
The Boss (The Boss Romance Series Box Set) (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Page 10
