Fighting Seduction (9 page)

“A playboy who is playing games and for some
mysterious reason makes you happy,” Stacy said after a few minutes, as though
considering how wise it was to communicate that with me.

“What do you mean?” I raised my eyebrows.

“You are happy.”

“I am not any more or any less happier than I was
before this contract.”

At least, I didn’t think I was! Not that I would
ever describe myself as a particularly joyful person – but it was difficult to
be when paying yourself through college, working crazy hours and having to
worry about taking care of your mother financially.
 

“Aria, you know how much I love you, but you have
been kind of miserable for a year now. Since that douchebag cheated on you.”

“I have not been miserable,” I said defensively.

“You kind of have, though,” she said while looking
at the floor. “I barely saw you during the day cause you buried yourself in
work and at night you would just turn on the T.V. and drift into your own
thoughts. Ever since Zayden started hitting on you, you joke and laugh and have
fun again! It’s like he gave me the old Aria back.”

“Stacey, if it was bothering you so much, why didn’t
you say anything all year?”

“No, you are taking the wrong thing out of this. I
was worried about you, Aria. I didn’t know what I could do for you. Nick and I
spent so much time trying to play matchmaker for you behind your back, cause we
thought dating would make you have some fun, feel better. But you never had the
time so we were always too afraid to bring it up. Then one day you came home
and told us your new boss was flirting with you and there has been a kind of
slow and awesome progress since then.”

I was stumped. Really? Really? No. No way.

“Could you maybe for a second consider the
possibility that I was doing better emotionally all on my own and it had
nothing to do with some man’s pretend affection?”

Hurt was bubbling up inside me and I started tearing
up a little. I wasn’t sure why this was bothering me so much, but it was. If I
seemed happier, Zayden had nothing to do with it, and the fact that my very
best friend thought that it did made me feel sick.

“Whatever you want to tell yourself, Aria,” she
sounded like she was getting just as frustrated. “All I saw was my best friend
getting happier and I did what I thought was best for her. You obviously feel
differently so I promise to back off. I’ll remove Zayden from my email
contacts. I don’t feel well so I’m going to go lay down for a bit. Have fun at
your date and call me if you need anything.”

With that said, she walked back into her room, as
tears started pouring down my face. There was no way I would wear the stupid
dress now.

CHAPTER
8

ZAYDEN

I had never been to the neighborhood before and was
surprised to see apartments cramped together so closely.

“Ned,” I rolled down the screen of the limo I had
chosen for the night. “Is this the ghetto?” I joked.

I could swear I heard a chuckle but Ned was clever
enough to turn it into a cough. “No, sir. Definitely not the ghetto. This is
just a college neighborhood, mostly resided by students, who are on quite a
budget.”

“Ah,” I said. I wondered if I should offer to let
Aria rent one of my houses. She would never accept that for free, but maybe if
I let her pay as much as she was paying for one of these places…

Why the fuck was I worrying about her living
arrangements?

“Here we are,” Ned said parking next to a
three-storied apartment building.

The lights were on in the third floor and I vaguely
remembered Aria mentioning that she was in the top floor of her building. So
that had to be it.

“I don’t know what to do now, Ned.”

He looked back at me with concern. “Are you
nervous?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I exclaimed. “Why on earth
would I be nervous? I just am not sure whether to walk in or call her.”

“Just walk up to her floor and ring the doorbell.”

“Ah, right, the doorbell!” I laughed.

I walked into the building and looked for the
elevator; finding none, I grunted my way upstairs. She’d better be in the third
floor after the workout. Damn the flowers, I had forgotten the flowers in the
car. I was not going to run downstairs and right back up just for that.

I rang the doorbell and was surprised to be welcomed
by an extremely tall gentleman wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

“Who are you?” I asked feeling slightly annoyed.
What was a man doing in her house?

“Who are you?” he laughed. “Just kidding, come in
Zayden, everyone in a 50 mile radius of Atlanta knows who you are.”

“I am not sure this is the right place.” I looked at
the guy quizzically. Could it be her brother, maybe? Unlikely, they looked too
different.

“No, of course you’re in the right place, come on
in, Aria is just getting ready.”

I guess I was in the right place after all. “Are you
her brother?” I asked the tall guy.

“No, I’m Nick,” he said, as though that clarified
his relationship to her.

“And you are here because…?”

“I live here,” he glared at me. “With my
girlfriend.”

That sent a wave of fury through my whole body, as
though someone very close had stabbed me in the front. Aria was his girlfriend!
She had told me she was single, had she lied? Had she made up the whole story
for money? Wait, if she really was such a scheming bitch, she would be smarter
than to have her boyfriend hovering around the apartment when I was due. And he
didn’t mind that she was going out on a date with me?

“And you’re… okay with this?” I asked Nick.

“With what?”

“My deal with Aria,” I said, assuming he knew.

He shrugged. “I mean it’s pretty unorthodox, but
hey, you’re helping her out and that makes you a pretty awesome dude. Why
wouldn’t I be okay with this?”

What kind of sick and convoluted world had I walked
into? Was I growing old? Were college kids this casual with exchanging their
partners now days? It seemed like a cool concept, on the one hand. To have
one’s cake and eat it too. But on the other hand, why even bother to make a
commitment to one person if straying was expected and accepted? From a
epistemological standpoint it simply seemed like a waste of time. They could
just do what I do and sleep around. I shook my head in confusion and was
looking around the house when Aria walked out of her room. Seeing her, I
temporarily forgot that I was upset at her for lying about being single. I
forgot about Nick. I forgot about everything. I barely even noticed that she
had defiantly decided not to wear the dress I had sent her – and I’d have been
foolish to expect otherwise anyway – because right now she looked better than a
starry night’s sky. She was wearing a green one-piece dress that came right
above her ankles, with a low-cut neck that contoured her breasts to perfection,
and a cream-colored blazer on top of it. It wasn’t very immaculate, as far as
attires go, but she accessorized it beautifully with a silver pendant, her hair
tied up into a classy bun, and her make-up accentuated with deep red lipstick
to match her hair. I was almost glad that she had chosen not to wear what I had
sent.

“Hi,” she smiled serenely at me. “You find the place
okay?”

“Yes,” I smiled back at her. “Well, Ned did. Should
we get going?”

“Sure.” She waltzed over and grabbed my arm with a
soft touch. Before we walked out of the apartment, she told Nick, “I will
probably be back late, tell your girlfriend if she asks, I am not entirely sure
we’re on speaking terms right now. See
ya
, Nick!”

My initial reaction was to grunt at the very sight
of her talking to him but about three seconds later it registered: she was
referring to Nick’s girlfriend in third person, which meant that it couldn’t
possibly be her. The rush of relief that ran through my veins was overwhelming.

Why did I care so much? I had screwed many girls
that were in relationships.

“So Nick is not your boyfriend?” I couldn’t help
myself from asking.

She burst out laughing. “You thought Nick was my
boyfriend? Oh God.” She laughed for a couple of more minutes before adding,
“Didn’t I tell you I was single?”

I shrugged. “You could be lying. People lie all the
time.”

“Speaking from experience, huh?”

“I have never lied… to you,” I looked straight into
her eyes. That wasn’t quite true, as I had lied to her about my interaction
with Wilson, the loan officer. She didn’t need to know that, though. And it’s
not like it was a lie that hurt her in any way. She was still getting the money
she needed, and I was getting what I wanted: a chance to seduce her. If she
ever found out – and I couldn’t think of any way she would – she wouldn’t
exactly be able to be mad. However, knowing her, she would find a reason to be
furious about it. The thought of it gave me weird pangs in my chest. As we
hopped into the car, I tried hard not to let my thoughts drift in that
direction again.

“These are for you,” I handed her the purple orchids
I had forgotten in the car.

“Thanks!” She seemed pleased with my flower selection
this time around.

“A drink for the ride?” I asked, producing the same
bottle of champagne from our dinner a few nights ago that she had enjoyed so
much.

Her face lit up upon recognizing the drink. “You
shouldn’t have gone through all that trouble.”

She actually thought I was trying.

“Yeah I should have. How else would I get that look
to appear on your face?” I grinned. “But I have to be honest, I didn’t have to
do anything at all to acquire the bottle.”

She laughed. “Yes, yes, I am aware of you and your
rich ways. Which reminds me, am I dressed up to standards for your Gala? I’m
returning you the dress you sent.”

“Of course you are,” I shook my head, but with a
smile. “Like I said in my note, I wouldn’t have cared if you came in ripped
jeans. But to answer your question, you look more beautiful tonight than I have
ever seen you.”

Her face got pink as she mumbled thank you. “You
look pretty good too,” she said looking out the window.

“Are you talking to someone in the street?” I
teased.

She looked me in the eye this time. “You are a very
handsome. I am really looking forward to spending this evening with you,” she
spoke softly.

I was startled by those words, not at all expecting
her to be so solemnly candid in showing signs of affection. Okay, maybe it
wasn’t quite affection, but some admiration had to be lingering somewhere if
she was willing and excited to spend an evening with me. That made me very
enthusiastic, so much so that I almost wanted to skip the whole evening and
just spend it with her, however she wanted.

I was becoming weak.

---

“What exactly is this auction for?” Aria asked, as
we walked in almost holding hands. We were brushing our fingers against each
other’s, which made me feel all kinds of desires. It also scared the shit out
of me because I had never come close to holding a girl’s hand after my ex.

“For cancer research,” I said and nervously added:
“I forgot to mention, I will be giving a speech on behalf of the organizers.
Usually I ignore speaking arrangements, but I love this cause and the
non-profit hosting this probably gets the highest percentile of my yearly
donations.”

She put a hand on my shoulder. It was definitely
affection this time. “You’re an amazing guy.”

“I’m alright,” I said with a straight face.

“Nope, really amazing. I look forward to your
speech. I will be embarrassing and whistle and make you wish you had never-“

“Zayden!” An old, balding man approached me. “How
are you doing, my boy?”

“Hi Mr. Kirk, I’m doing good. It’s nice to see you!”
I looked at Aria and pointed, “This is Ms. Aria Roberts, my date for the
night.” Then I looked at Mr. Kirk. “Aria, Mr. Kirk is one of our oldest
business partners, and when my dad was alive, one of his best friends.”

Upon hearing those words, Aria wrapped her hand
around mine and I felt her warm, soft skin.

Mr. Kirk’s face lit up. “Wow, what a beautiful girl!
What do you do, dear?”

She looked nervous. “I am finishing up college,
studying to be a loan officer. I also work at the bank.”

“That’s great,” Mr. Kirk said, with much less
enthusiasm and started walking away. I had never quite taken someone plain to a
public event like this. Sure, I fucked all the young women that worked for me,
but that was usually confined to the walls of my own house; I never dared take
a teller out to a coveted event like this one.

These things were boring beyond belief though, and
her company, with her snarky humor and challenging attitude, would provide a
lot of entertainment. I enjoyed having her around.

“I think you’re being judged pretty hardcore right
now,” Aria looked at me with amusement.