Fighting Seduction (8 page)

I killed it with the “we.” I could see the joy in
her face. “You’re a really good friend,” she said.

Friend? Did she think of me as someone she could
call a friend? That was a weird sensation, hearing her call me a friend; and
not necessarily in a bad way. Of course, I wanted to be more than that
physically, but I wondered if it was worth keeping her around as a friend after
I got what I wanted? I didn’t really have any friends aside from Ned, and if I
was going to allow a girl in my life in any capacity, that word seemed to
nicely describe it. Her intelligence was obvious, and maybe if we could remain
friends, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to have her work for me. I
knew I could gain a lot from her talents, and she could make more money than
she would anywhere else. I definitely needed to consider this in more depth: it
all depended on how she would react if – when – we eventually have sex. There
was a good chance that she would hate me forever for taking her virginity and not
wanting anything more. Would it, though? She seemed like a very rational and
together girl. I wasn’t entirely sure she would want to get emotionally
involved with me if she knew that the alternative would grant her the career of
her dreams. Her ambitions almost reminded me of myself in my college years. In
those days I would never have let anything stop me from my aspirations, and I
suspected that Aria Roberts wasn’t the kind to either.

“If you really think so,” I said smiling at her.
“Then do me a favor.”

“Anything!” she exclaimed immediately and hurriedly
added, “Anything other than, you know.”

I laughed. “That wasn’t what I was going to ask.
Have I asked that of you since our contract started?”

She looked like she was raking her brains for a
moment and shook her head. “No, you haven’t.”

“Didn’t think so. What you could do for me is join
me to a gala on Saturday I have to go to.”

She looked confused. “You didn’t have to ask me
that, it’s part of our deal, I go with you to that kind of stuff.”

“I know, but I am giving you the option to say no.
This isn’t about the contract. I want you to join me to the event if you want
to. If not, no problem, it won’t affect our contract.”

I knew she needed to go but it was going to be much
more satisfying if she said yes of her own choosing.

“Don’t be silly.” She gave me a look that said I was
being ridiculous. “Of course I’ll go.”

“You don’t even know what it is. What if I take you
to a dark alley and-”

“Zayden, I think we have by now established that I
feel completely safe around you. So I would love to join you at this ambiguous
gala thing, okay?”

The way she said that made me laugh. “I will send
you the details to the ambiguous gala thing to your email. Do you
wanna
go shopping before it?”

“What? No! I have clothes,” she sounded deeply
offended.

“Everybody has clothes, that’s not why people go
shopping-”

“That’s not remotely true; there are millions of
poor people in the world who don’t have clothes.”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t know, I am used to
girls enjoying activities like shopping, so I assumed you’d find it fun too.
Didn’t mean to offend you. It’s a black-tie event so dress accordingly,” I
shrugged and slyly added, “And honestly, you would look good in just about anything.”

A faint blush embraced her cheeks. “Thanks,” she
mumbled. “Do you want to get started on the paper now? I have a publication to
look forward to.”

CHAPTER
7

ARIA

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Stacey was
hyperventilating, like she was the one going on a date with Zayden Sinclair to
a fancy gala. “What are you going to wear? You don’t have fancy gala clothes!”

“We will go shopping,” I said with a mouth full of popcorn.
Regardless of how haughty I had acted in front of Zayden, I did not, in fact,
have clothes for the event. He had sent me the flyer and it was some kind of a
vintage auction that he was attending for a business partner. Frankly, I was
rather surprised that he wanted me to join him for this instead of some
supermodel.

Oh wait, I had forbidden him from sleeping with
supermodels as a part of the contract. It made sense that he wouldn’t want to
take one to the Gala if he couldn’t take her clothes off at the end of the
night. Chauvinists, I shook my head. At least I could safely say that he wasn’t
taking my clothes off. I’d make sure to purchase a dress with extra-complicated
zippers, just in case. And wear my granny panties.

Why was I thinking like that? Like someone that
doubted herself? I had consciously made the decision not to sleep with him
under any circumstances, and I did not need the aid of complicated garments in
order to keep my restraint.

“Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god!” Stacey had a second
round of hyper-ventilation when Nick walked in.

“What’s the occasion that we are remembering the
Almighty for?” He sat down, grabbing a bunch of popcorn from the bowl. I moved
the bowl and made a pretend shocked expression that said “mine!”

“Aria is going to a super fancy vintage auction with
the most good looking guy in the world!” Stacy said.

“Ouch!” Nick made a mock-hurt expression.

“Sorry baby, you are the handsomest guy as far as
I’m concerned,” she said air-kissing him. “But I meant in a more objective
sense.”

“Don’t bother,
Stace
. I am
not deluded enough to compare myself to Zayden Sinclair.”

Stacey looked like she was now feeling genuinely
bad, even though Nick didn’t really care, so she walked up to him and locked
him in an embrace. It was an adorable sight, since Nick was over a foot taller
than her, but balled up inside his arms like that, they looked like a couple
from a poster advertising happiness.

“I am just excited for Aria, you know that, right?”
she asked, kissing his cheek.

“Nope, I was convinced that you are secretly having
nightly dalliances with this billionaire playboy.” They both started laughing.

“Aria is!” she was almost too quick to chime in.

“You already told me about her deal,” Nick said, not
sounding particularly interested.

“Care more,” I said, stuffing a new batch of popcorn
into my face. “Please.”

This was why Nick was one of my best friends: he
jumped off the couch and started dancing while screaming, almost singing, “Aria
is dating a billionaire!!!”

I threw a pillow at him and went back to my bowl of
popcorn.

---

On Saturday afternoon I changed about ninety-five
times. I had tried everything in my wardrobe, but nothing seemed to be
appropriate for a date with Zayden Sinclair. The shopping trip never happened
because Stacey managed to catch the flu and I had no sense or intention to
embark in such an activity without her, which I now regretted immensely. I
looked at myself in the mirror after taking off yet another dress. I was
wearing my red lacy bra and matching panties. Just because. There was no harm
in looking and feeling good, it didn’t mean anything. I sighed as a tiny voice
inside me began to send warning signals. Fine. Granny panties it is. Looking
freshly eighty-years-old, I started going through my entire wardrobe when the
doorbell rang and I shuddered.

I had at least four hours until the date, it
couldn’t be….

“I got it!” I heard Nick’s voice from outside and
quickly threw on a sweater and jeans to greet whoever was at our door. By the
time I stepped out, Nick was standing with a giant package in his hand.

“It’s for you,” he grinned. “From your lover.”

“What on Earth could he possibly have sent me four
hours before our date?” I approached the package and almost didn’t want to open
it because of how perfect it looked. It was wrapped in teal and white paper
with a beautiful mauve bow tied on to the top. I wished I could just keep the
wrapper and not open what was inside. The wrapping itself was the perfect
present.

“Open it!” Nick was getting impatient.

Very carefully I removed the bow and set it to the
side, then I slowly started to bring apart the paper wrapping, hoping to do it
perfectly and save the pretty paper, but Nick jumped in and tore the thing
apart too soon for me to stop him.

“Nick! I wanted to save that!” I said, genuinely
surprised by how annoyed I was. But Nick made puppy-dog eyes, something both
him and Stacey did to get me to bend to their wishes. It was like having two
kids, sometimes. I just could not be mad at that face.

“Ugh, it’s fine,” I said reluctantly. “What is in
there?”

His eyes widened as he pulled out a long red dress
with golden embellishments on the hem and neckline. I went forward to touch and
it was the softest fabric I had ever laid my eyes upon. I didn’t know what to
say or how to react. I should be angry, I did tell him I already had clothes!
It was very presumptuous and quite frankly, disrespectful of him to just buy a
fancy-looking dress, as though whatever I owned could in no way be good enough
for an event where I accompanied him.

I really should be angry.

Which is why the sense of relief I felt made me feel
uncomfortable. The truth was I didn’t have appropriate clothes, and even if I
had gotten the chance to go shopping, something like this dress was simply not
in my budget. Whatever I bought was not going to be good enough for this event,
as proven by the immaculate garment I was now holding in my hand. Maybe he
should have just taken someone who he knew could afford to dress in a way that
suits him. I felt a little bitter again, but then thought of the last few hours
of anxiety over my wardrobe and tried to accept this, be grateful. And I could
always return it to him after the event! Maybe that would be tacky. It was
either return it now and never wear it, or just take his gift and deal with it.

“There is more,” Nick said, watching me gaze into
space.

“More what?”

“Jewelry and a note.”

I grunted. I grabbed the note from Nick’s reluctant
hands:

Dear
Aria,

I
could care less if you showed up in torn jeans. Or better yet, nothing at all.
But the spy I have recruited at your quarters alerted me of trouble you were
having deciding on attire. So I had to step in. Don’t feel pressured to wear it
though. I don’t know much about women’s fashion, just thought this would nicely
contour your perfect figure.

See
you at eight!

-Zayden

“Stacey!” we both screamed at the same time. She was
supposed to be sleeping but if she had the energy to discuss my clothing with
Zayden, she had the energy to explain it to me. She walked out of her room
looking rather sick. I knew she was only trying to help me because that’s what
best friends do, but I wasn’t going to let her go without a hard time, because
that is also what best friends do.

“Oh wow, what a beautiful dress!” she exclaimed,
looking at me. “You went shopping without me?”

So innocent. She should join the CIA.

“I know what you did.” I gave her a sharp look.

“Yes, we know,
Stace
!”
Nick was giving her the exact same look.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said
to me and then looked at Nick and added, “And why do you look bothered?”

Nick looked like he considered it for a second and
frowned. “I’m not really sure. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

Stacey laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Can you make me
some tea?”

Nick was off to do his bidding and I was left to
confront Stacey. I opened my mouth to begin a long-winded lecture but ended up
bursting into a fit of laughter. Stacey joined me and after about five minutes
of this, I was finally able to speak again.

“How did you even do it,
Stace
?
Did you just randomly dial his number and go ‘hey, guess what, I have the flu
and Aria doesn’t have a dress?’”

She bit her lip. “Email. We are on emailing basis.”

“How?”

“His email is on the company’s website.”

I sighed. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I love you, you idiot,” she said, looking
at me like I was crazy. “In my defense, he wasn’t supposed to rat me out. Tell
your boyfriend he owes me one.”

“He’s not my boyfriend, you know that,” I sounded
way too disappointed saying those words for my own liking so I cleared my throat
and added with a firmer tone, “He’s just some playboy who is too used to
getting what he wants and thinks all of this is a game.”

I wasn’t sure I believed my own words by this point.
He was a playboy and this was a game; there was no doubt about it and he made
no efforts to hide it. But somehow along the way, I had come to believe that he
was actually a decent person. I couldn’t admit this to Stacey, though. I
couldn’t even admit it to myself really. The better I thought of him, the more
likely it became that I would get hurt when all of this was over, and I could
not consciously do that to myself.