“Of course it is!” Weber exclaimed. “Aria, why don’t you show Mr. Sinclair the conference room and answer any questions he may have. Meanwhile, I will prep the rest of the class on questions we may have for him in turn and make a list. You can add yours to it after you return.”
“Uh.” I was trapped. There was no way to get out of this without raising suspicion or getting into Mr. Weber’s bad books, which was something I simply could not afford. Zayden’s little game was not worth my grades and academic performance. It was in my best interest to suck it up and show him the “conference room.”
“Fine,” I said finally. “Let’s go then, Mr. Sinclair.” I added emphasis on those last words.
“After you, Ms. Roberts.” He looked thrilled. Why wouldn’t he? After successfully ignoring him at his own bank, he had found a way to get to me by showing up at the one place where he knew I had to keep my cool. It must have been easy for him, calling up the Econ department head and asking to make a guest lecture. He knew what classes I was taking from when I was discussing schoolwork with him so he must have just easily dropped the name of the most relevant class I was in and the department head must had exploded in delight. I was starting to feel lightheaded just from thinking about it.
As soon as we were out of earshot, Zayden started chuckling. “How was that?” he whispered.
I said absolutely nothing until we reached the nearest empty conference room. When we walked in, I closed the blinds and locked the door so nobody could hear us.
“Really?” he said with a smirk when I turned to look at him. “Here? Now? I’m flattered, sweetheart, but I suppose they are waiting for us back in your classroom.”
My face went red from a combination of anger and embarrassment. I wanted to punch him, or hurt him in some way for pulling this crap. But for some reason, words just choked up in my mouth as I watched his face light up. Why did Zayden Sinclair have this effect on me? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, resigned to not let myself be charmed by his ways once again.
After gathering a considerable amount of courage, I said, “What do you think you’re trying to pull here? Really Zayden? Don’t you think you have crossed a line by showing up in my class?”
The hint of amusement was still in his eyes when he said, “Don’t you think it’s a little egotistical of you to assume I came here for you?”
Oh shit. If it was possible at all, my face turned even redder than before, and I wanted to scream or cry or do something completely ridiculous to make all of this go away.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply–”
“Aria, just stop. Of course I am here for you. I’ve been trying to call you every single day! And I try to catch you at the bank, but you rush to the other direction at the very sight of me as though I am some kind of a monster. You left me no choice, did you?”
“Yes, I did,” I said, the anger replacing the momentary humiliation I had felt a few seconds ago. “I left you the choice to leave me alone. Why is this so hard to comprehend?”
“First of all, that’s not really a choice. It’s not like I can just control wanting to see you.” He looked at me like I was a three-year-old who failed to understand basic concepts of human interactions. “And second, it’s not what our contract is about, is it? The whole idea was that you spend as much time with me as I require, no questions asked.”
“You were also not supposed to have an attractive wife up your sleeve, if we’re going to nitpick about the stupid contract. And since when is stalking me into school a part of the deal? I don’t remember singing up for that.”
“Well, you didn’t complete your end of the deal that you signed up for so I just improvised,” he said as though it were an obvious answer and I was being ridiculous for even questioning what he was doing. As though it were normal and excepted of him to show up here like this and I was a moron for thinking he wouldn’t.
“Fine,” I said, completely frustrated at this point. The only way this was going to be over was if I just went along with it and let him feel like he had won. “Fine. You’re here, great. What do you want from me?”
He walked forward with a grin on his face and his mouth came very close to mine. For a few insane moments, I forgot where we were and what we were doing. All I could see were his perfect lips so close to mine and if I only so much as tilted my head half an inch, we would be kissing. The thought of t
hat sent tingles down my spine and I was close to giving in when he said in a very low voice, “You know very well what I want, Aria. It’s what you want to. You need to stop denying it.”
That brought me back to reality and made me jump. “Stop!” I yelled. “Stop trying to tell me what I want, stop trying to tell me what’s right for me, stop trying to tell me who I can or cannot speak to. I have survived a perfectly wonderful twenty years of my life without a man telling me how best to live it and more than anything else in the world, I would like to continue to do so. You need to back the hell off, Zayden! My life is none of your god-damn business.”
Those words seemed to have been the equivalent of slapping him across the face as he took a few visible steps backwards and looked at me in a completely different way, with something that resembled very close to loathing.
“Really? Is that what you want? For me to back the fuck off?” All humor had disappeared from his face and I felt a shiver of fear at the look he was giving me. Had I finally done it? Offended him enough that he would just step aside?
“I didn’t mean to sound hurtful,” I said more gently. “But I have spent my whole life being independent and this, whatever this is with the controlling, this aspect of our contract is suffocating me, Zayden. It all seems unfair – especially after I saw your wife in your office like that the other day – like you think I am some kind of a commodity you have acquired. Like a pet that you expect will do your bidding without asking any questions. Somehow, when all of this started, you had convinced me that you had respect for me. That is obviously not the case here. And it’s really suffocating me.”
“You already said the part about suffocating you,” he said softly. “And for the last time, nothing is real between Gina and I. You are right, I do have respect for you, which is why I wouldn’t lie to you through my teeth like this. But you have made your point. You want me to back off, I will back off. The contract is still valid, so if you don’t want to pay me a huge lump of money at once, don’t break any of the rules.”
Then he turned around and walked away. I stood there and took deep breaths for a few minutes before following him into the classroom. When I did, it was like a completely different Zayden in there. Gone was the teasing, joking man who had come here to mess with me. He was stern and serious now, discussing his business strictly, and not even making eye-contact with me. I was so confused and irrationally bothered by it that I actually found myself raising my hand to answer a few of the questions he addressed to the class, but it was like I was not even in the room.
Chapter 4
Zayden
Things had become very different since the day I had gone to Aria’s school. Upset by her defiance, I had stopped pushing for her attention, but that had caused a remarkable affect on my mood. I felt cranky and impatient all the time and not a single interaction with anybody had gone by without my snapping.
I was at the dinner table with my mother and Gina and whatever they were chattering about was making my blood boil.