Of course she didn’t, I internally rolled my eyes. She would have felt my rock hard cock if she were wearing a space suit.
“Oh, nevermind then,” I played along. She knew. I knew. What was the fucking point of this?
“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed, trying to change her expression to that of delight.
For what? For my hard on? It took me almost an entire minute to realize what she was talking about. I had completely forgotten the conversation that led up to that moment.
“Oh, my pleasure entirely.” I gave her a crooked smile. It would be my pleasure soon enough. I could not wait much longer. More hugs like that and I would forget all about the contract and the challenge and seduce her right away. “And you don’t really have to thank me, it was your hard work and intelligence that got them to accept the paper. I was merely the middleman.”
“A middleman that pays to run that whole department,” she said with almost a hint of envy. “Let’s be honest, if the email had not come from you, they would never ever give an undergrad the time of the day, and my abstract would go straight to their virtual bin.”
“Yes,” I had to say. There could be no confusion about the fact that this would have been impossible without my help. But I also thought it important to add, “But they could read it and turn it down with ease if they didn’t like what they saw.”
“Seriously, Zayden.” I liked the way she said my name. Zay-den. It sounded intoxicating. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. That was simply the abstract. You have a whole paper to write,” I reminded her. “We have a paper to write.”
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 racking 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 at 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 at 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 Seven
ARIA