“Great, I have outdone a nerdy little kid, I should be proud of myself.”
“Shut up, I am in the middle of a very special hug with a very special guy, let me enjoy this,” she mumbled.
We stood there holding each other for a long time.
---
“This is delicious!” Aria closed her eyes, devouring the steak. It was satisfying to watch her enjoy something I created. “I don’t know why people haven’t been putting curry on their steaks since the beginning of time.”
“I think we can use this moment to firmly establish the fact that I am a genius.” I smiled.
She giggled. “You’re running a multibillion-dollar corporation at such a young age, and running it so well at that, and of all things, a steak recipe is what makes you declare you’re a genius?”
“Priorities.” I shrugged. “And I am not all that. I was handed everything, I didn’t earn it, really. Born with a silver spoon and all.”
“But you had the skills to handle what was given to you. Oh God, Zayden, is this modesty? You are capable of such a thing?” She made an expression of complete shock.
“Very funny. In any case, you will be way ahead of me by the time you’re my age. You are really bright, Aria. I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this.”
“Nope, never heard it before.” She winked.
“Have you thought about what you want to do after you finish college?” I found myself asking.
She shrugged. “I am studying to be a loan officer ,so that is what I plan on doing, I guess.”
“Would you want to come work for me instead?”
“Newsflash, I already do,” she chuckled.
“No, not something trivial like that.” I waved my hand dismissively, but upon seeing the change in her expression, I added, “I mean… not like there is anything wrong with working as a teller while you are getting your degree. Again, it’s more than I did when I was your age. But I am thinking more like finding a suitable long-term position for you in my bank.”
“There is a lot of time left between now and in the long-term,” she said slowly, as though weighing every single word before speaking it out loud. “You may not even want to, you know.” She shrugged.
“I don’t know. What are you talking about?”
“I am assuming that when this contract is over, you would like to move on to newer and hotter women for more exciting adventures.”
It took a lot to spit those words out.
“That’s a big assumption. Do you really think this is all,” I gestured around the balcony décor, “just about the contract?”
“What is it, then?” she challenged.
“That is for us to figure out as we go along,” I said, looking away from her. Not once had I actually thought beyond the contract; I assumed that Aria was just going to be around forever. Now that the thought crossed my mind, I felt a weird sort of a gloom, and didn’t want to dwell on it too much.
“Speaking of the contract, since we are finally on the subject, what is going on with that?”
“That is for us to figure out as we go along, too.” I smirked and had to duck because she tossed a grape towards me in mock-anger. “Come on, let’s go inside, it is starting to get chilly,” I said, to change the subject. Plus, my restraint wasn’t going to last very much longer, and unless Aria was okay with my neighbors potentially seeing me rip her clothes off, which I highly doubted, we had to at least make it indoors soon enough.
Chapter Nine
Aria
We got up to head inside and my phone buzzed. It was a text from my mother. The payment on her hospital bill had been made this morning. An immense relief spread through my body, as though I hadn’t even realized just how tense I had been this whole time. It was technically the last day to do it, so the whole time I had been here, I was somewhat antsy, even though I did not want Zayden to notice, and did a good job of that, I suppose. But I could relax now and truly enjoy his company. The payment was made. I had nothing else to worry about. For now.
“Zayden.” I stopped in my tracks. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked looking from my text to his
face and back.