“You don’t have to apologize. I feel terrible about creating a scene. I am sure you didn’t come in here today thinking ‘Hey, guess what would be fun? If I had to insult one of my business partners on behalf of my date and cause a whole dramatic production.’” I laughed.
He lifted both our hands and put his arm around me. “I have never in my life used this word to describe a girl before, but Aria Roberts, you are really amazing.”
He must have thought calling me amazing was somehow amusing since that’s what I had called him.
I giggled. “How long have you been practicing to say that?”
“Since I read your paper. It was… amazing.”
“Amazing. You’re…amazing too.” We were both gazing into each other’s eyes at this point and I barely knew what I was even saying. “Very, very amazing.”
He removed his hand from mine and lightly brushed his index finger against my cheek, the effects of which I felt across my whole body. He was leaning in, and I gazed at his perfect mouth and wondered if he would taste like whiskey. As soon as our lips slightly touched, however, I jerked away. A few seconds later I got the courage to look at him.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry, Zayden. I can’t. I just…”
“It’s okay,” he said and looked away from me, without any hint of disappointment in his voice. “I know you don’t want to and I shouldn’t have-”
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” I blurted before I could stop myself. It was too late to take it back now. “Whenever I am around you, it’s difficult to breathe. And all I want in the whole world is to let you win and feel the taste of your mouth and to touch you and let you do whatever you want to me.”
He didn’t speak for almost a few minutes. Then he said, “The screen isn’t soundproof, Ned can hear you.”
“No I can’t,” I heard Ned say, and then I felt absolutely mortified.
“The point that I have been trying to make – sorry Ned – is that it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I can’t. And I’m sorry.”
Zayden sighed like he didn’t care. “Don’t be. It’s your stop. I’ll see you on Monday. Sleep well, Aria. Thanks again for coming out with me tonight.”
I couldn’t bring myself to get out of the car for the longest time. I finally forced myself to say, “No, thank you, for everything.” Then I ran out of there as fast as I could.
I didn’t sleep well that night. I didn’t sleep at all.
---
On Monday morning I was woken up by a phone call from my mom.
“It’s 5 a.m. Mom,” I mumbled on to the phone. “Can I call you back?”
“I’m sorry for waking you up, sweetheart, I just wanted thank you for the 10,000 dollars that you paid to the hospital on my behalf. I’m glad your loan went through.”
Wait, what was she talking about? My loan never – oh. I sat upright, suddenly understanding.
“It was paid?” I asked stupidly.
“Of course, from your name.”
“I know, I meant to ask if it went through alright. I’ll call you later okay, mom? Don’t worry about it too much, I got you. Love you!”
I dialed Zayden’s office number and immediately hung up, remembering what time it was. It would just have to wait until I got to work. I couldn’t believe what he had done. I felt a sense of warmth and affection throughout my whole body.
The contract was real.
I tried going back to sleep, but spent the next few hours thinking of him and just how underrated he was as a person. I had expected him to be upset with me, given the rejection from Saturday night. He hadn’t tried to get in contact with me all of Sunday and I assumed he was miffed. Instead, he had decided to go on and make the first payment early. And the way he had fought for me at the gala. Perhaps I had judged him unfairly, but I would never think he would jump to defend me against his own kind. His business and reputation, I assumed, were way more important than some girl he was trying to seduce, yet I was wrong, as I seemed to be on many accounts when it came to Zayden. I would have to find something nice to do for him, soon. For the first time in a long time, I could not wait to get out of bed and get to work.
Which is why I was very disappointed when I got to work and Zayden was not in his office. He usually got there before everyone else, and I was convinced that he slept in his office most days. I wondered if everything was okay. I thought about writing him an email and drafted something:
Hi,
I wanted to thank you in person, but you seem to be out today. I hope everything is okay. My mom called me about the hospital payment and I wanted to thank you for going ahead with that way earlier than our contract demanded. And for sticking up for me in front of Mr. Kirk the other day. It meant more to me than you ever imagined.