Neither of them answered for a while, but Nick finally broke the silence. “I actually really am. Let’s see what the big deal about the dude is anyway!”
“You will soon enough.” I sighed, relieved that the awkward moment had passed. “For now, I have to go to his house. He is helping me with my paper after much cajoling. He thinks he has made a career out of helping me out.” I rolled my eyes and walked towards my bedroom to gather my stuff. I was glad to be able to leave the two of them alone.
Chapter Seven
Zayden
I was informed that Aria was waiting in my living room when I was still speaking to my mother on the phone, exasperated.
“Yes, I am fine,” I said for the thousandth time. “Of course I was hurt by what happened with Gina, Mom, but I’m trying hard to move on. If you keep calling me every day to remind me of this, I won’t get past it.”
“I’m sorry, Zay. I don’t mean to upset you further. I just, I worry about you sometimes,” she said, sounding dismayed. “And quite honestly, I am always just looking for an excuse to talk to you.”
I swore silently and clutched my palms tight. How long was this going to go on? When it was over, I also had Aria to deal with. While I was looking forward to seeing her – certain parts of her, especially so – the last time we had been in each other’s company had not exactly been pleasant. I wasn’t very keen on picking up from there.
A sentimental speech from my mother was the worst possible preamble to the evening. It went on for another 10 minutes before I could excuse myself, claiming an essential business contact was waiting for me outside. I did not dare mention Aria. My mother was not ready to hear that I had managed to fall for a young employee just yet. Not that she could complain at this point, since she was convinced she had ruined the last woman in my life. Grinning at that thought, I finally stepped outside to find Aria sitting alone, cross-legged, on the sofa, wearing a bright blue and extremely low-cut dress and reading a magazine. The effect on me was instantaneous, and I wondered why I hadn’t chosen to wear more comfortable pants knowing Aria would be showing up. There wouldn’t be enough room for all of me that got excited upon seeing her shimmering legs. I swallowed, ignoring the odd yet now familiar desire to lift up her skirt and devour her with my mouth. I simply coughed lightly to announce my presence.
She looked up at me innocently. “Hi,” she said and smiled brightly. “Thanks for agreeing to help me out with my paper. Especially under the given circumstances. Are you still feeling…unpleasant?”
I hardly caught on to what she was saying, as I was still mentally salivating at the thought of whatever was underneath her skirt.
“Zayden,” she whispered, looking at me pleased. “You’re ogling.”
“Am I, now?” I asked in a barely audible whisper. “Sorry,” I said, not feeling sorry at all, rather wishing that I could take her clothes off with my eyes. I didn’t see how any work was going to get done unless I took care of my raging erection first. I suspected Aria had a different order of events in mind. I blinked hard in order to shake off whatever was boiling inside me. I tried looking to the side of her and said, “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was asking if you were still…I don’t know… upset with me?”
“Aria, I was never upset with you, you understand that?” I sighed and sat as far away from her on the sofa as I could.
She snorted. “Right. You weren’t. And you sure as hell didn’t go completely batshit on me in your office earlier, either. Or scowl at me until I promised to give you 500,000 dollars. That was all my imagination.”
And there we were. No matter how hard I had hoped that we would just simply ignore what had happened earlier, I knew Aria far too well to even momentarily consider she would just give me an easy pass for offending her so deeply. How else was I supposed to react to what I had heard?
“I was upset. Wouldn’t you be if you had overheard the conversation and you were in my place?” I demanded.
“Of course I would’ve. Your reaction was natural at first. I didn’t even blame you for storming out like that, did I? The only difference is, I would have given you a chance to tell me and explain yourself had we switched places. But I understand that you work differently than I do, and that’s okay. It’s all okay, really Zayden. I am not upset with you and I will gladly pay you that money back. It’s good business practice, something I wish to employ myself going further in my career. So really, there was no reason to have been so hot-headed earlier and—”
“Can I fuck you?” I cut her off without thinking about what I was saying, unable to pay attention any longer. She stopped her sentence looking taken aback, opened her mouth and the closed it again. “Sorry.” I grinned, though I wasn’t sorry at all, and she wouldn’t be either after I was done with her. “It’s just that dress…it’s really bothering me…I just want to take it off over your head and fuck you right here.”
She blinked tightly as her cheeks flushed. Clearly, my words were having the right impact on her, and her whole body was screaming for me to take her. But when she opened her eyes a few minutes later and heaved a deep sigh, her words were not what I had expected them to be.
“As much as the thought of you coming over here and you know…I have a deadline, remember?”
“Do you think either of us are equipped to use our brains right now without the…you know?” I asked in a very low voice and winked. I walked slowly over to her and leaned next to her. I whispered across her ear, touching it slightly with my lower lip, “Do you really want to do homework right now?”
She swallowed hard and I could see the back of her neck shivering, as I casually ran my fingers over her dress around her mound, ignoring the throbbing in my own veins. Suddenly, she jerked upright, startling me into reality.
“Zayden!” She looked at me with her eyes twinkling. “My paper is due tomorrow! I came here because I need help.”
I grunte
d like someone had just taken away a piece of my favorite candy right when I was about to eat it. “What do I even get out of this?”
“I’ll make you a deal,” she said and removed her dress from over her head, revealing matching black lace underwear. I began touching her, but she used her hand to gesture me to stop. “I need five major bullet points for advocating fair trade as an alternative to free trade in developing countries. I already have a few written down here,” she said, producing a notepad from her purse that was lying on the couch. “They are not all solid and need to be perfected. I need your help, particularly with researching live examples and case studies to back up every point. And we certainly need to add more main ideas, because not all of mine are strong enough, which is also where you come in.”
The way she was speaking with so much confidence, and well, command, made me momentarily forget about my sexual desires and look at her in complete awe. I had never gotten used to this aspect of being with Aria. She liked to take charge. I had never been one to take orders from anybody, let alone a 20-year-old girl. But when she got that spark in her eyes and decided how things were simply going to go her way, no questions asked, I was at once exasperated and convinced that there was no woman better suited for me in the whole world.
I perused her bullet points, which seemed to me to be solid. Instead of interrupting her passionate instructions, I chose to smile and nod along. It seemed to be an appropriate response, considering she looked pleased.