Billionaire In Hiding: The Complete Series (Alpha Billionaire Romance Western Love Story) (87 page)

“Well we can’t get legally married until
my divorce is finalized anyway. But I don’t see how that stops you from saying
yes now.”

He pulled me off of him and frowned.

“It’s a matter of principle.” I shrugged.
“I am not getting engaged to a married man.”

“Of course,” he said, shaking his head.
“You and your great big principles. It should not be that much longer for the
divorce to finalize. If I nudged my lawyer it should only be a couple more
days. I’ll show you the papers as evidence if you need, which wouldn’t surprise
me,”

Offended, I opened my mouth to say
something in return, but noticed the glint of humor in his eyes and started
laughing. “Just let me know when it’s taken care of.”

“As long as you will say yes when it’s
taken care of.”

“Depends.” I shrugged again.

“Seriously, Aria?” He looked up as though
expecting some answer. “Depends on what?”

“On whether you propose half naked on a
dirty bathroom floor or you do it properly with a ring and some romance.”

His face lit up in realization and the
blush from before was gone to my relief. He didn’t say anything on the matter
however and just leaned in to kiss me passionately. In the midst of it, my mind
went completely haywire, unable to believe what had just transpired. Zayden
broke the kiss with a loud shriek of pain.

“Well, let’s put on some clothes and head
back in. I bet your mom is already judging us – and don’t get me wrong, I’d be
judging her if she wasn’t after what she just heard here – so let’s not give
her more reasons to frown upon this.”

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, even
though I felt awkward by the thought of seeing her shortly. “I will just tease
her about our neighbor. That way she will be embarrassed and we can escape from
here quickly.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned.

Chapter
2

Zayden

It had been two whole days since I had
contacted my lawyer’s office about the finalization of the divorce and they had
yet to get back to me. I was fucking annoyed. How hard could the process
possibly be? Gina and I were both amicable on the terms of the divorce. All the
drama had subsided. It was an open and shut case.

My impatience to get Aria to say yes was
taking over me and the stupid divorce proceedings were currently the bane of my
existence. Even though I had been in my office all morning, I had been
completely incapable of getting any work done whatsoever. The thought of how I
was going to propose was occupying my mind.

I thought back to my original proposal in
her mother’s bathroom and grinned to myself. What an idiotic thing to do. I had
no idea what had gotten into me, but something about her mom hearing us fuck
egged me on to do it on the spot. I had been planning to ask her to marry me
ever since my conversation with Molly about how I loved her daughter. So when
she heard us, I felt like I had to prove that we weren’t just screwing around
and I proposed hastily. In hindsight, that was not the best idea in the world
and I should hardly be surprised that Aria didn’t jump to say yes.

Any other girl in the world would have, I
realized with an odd sort of a pride geared towards Aria. It was true. I was by
any definition of the word, quite a catch. I had no reason to be coy about the
fact that my money and my good looks made me the ideal husband for any woman in
the world. But somehow I guess that neither of those things were good enough
for Aria – at least not good enough to accept a shabby proposal on a bathroom
floor – and that she loved me for reasons that had very little to do with my
money. She was not going to settle for anything less than an extraordinary
proposal and she deserved one. I was willing to do anything in the world to
make her happy. I sighed deeply and covered my face in both my hands.

How had I come so far?

I had sworn off love a long time ago,
after all. It was for lesser folk, for people who did not understand that
feelings were at best a show of weakness, at worst a weapon of manipulation.
With Aria, it was neither. Loving her did not make me feel weak, it made me
feel stronger. The idea that I could feel this intensely about another human
being and still keep my sanity and self-intact made me feel oddly powerful. And
perhaps this whole ordeal was a weapon of manipulation at first, while I played
games and she responded with perfectly crafted plays herself. But no, neither
of us was looking for anything from the other anymore. There was only one
explanation for what was going on between Aria and I.

We were madly and unconditionally in love
with each other.

And why wouldn’t I be?

I saw her walking through the front door
and towards her desk and felt a kind of awe. My god, she was the most beautiful
woman I had ever seen. In a pretty blue blouse, black trousers and a cream
colored blazer, she looked like she popped straight out of a career woman
magazine. No other twenty year old I knew dressed as maturely and professionally
as she did, and she pulled it off like nobody’s business. Her face was radiant
and even with very little make up she outshone everybody else in the room. She
outshone most people in most rooms. Usually looks like hers were enough to get
by life. I had met many, many, women over the years who used their looks to get
by. Not Aria, though.

More so than anything else about her, it
was her brilliance and ambition that drew me towards her. A part of me realized
that when we eventually got married, she would gladly handle half my business
operations for me. Maybe I would make her the head of Credit Lending Analysts
and eventually, if she was interested, the CFO. Knowing her though, if I tried
to make her the CFO right away, she would protest claiming she hadn’t earned
the title yet. I grinned again picturing that argument and then made a split
second decision to go buy her the best ring I could find.

On my way out, I stopped by Aria’s desk as
she was busy typing something on her computer and said, “Too busy to notice
your boss now? Boyfriend. I meant boyfriend.” I smiled and noticed Mrs. Brian
beside her try unsuccessfully to hide her gasp.

“Hi.” Aria looked up and smiled. I wanted
to kiss her, but I would have to resist. I couldn’t quite do some things in the
workplace just yet. “Sorry, my tyrannical boss gave me a lot of work so I am a
little busy.”

“What a douche,” I said with a straight
face. “Warn him that if he overworks you, your boyfriend will make him pay for
it.”

She giggled and said, “What do you need,
Zayden?”

“I need you, Aria, to say yes to my
proposition.” I smirked and before she could open her mouth again, I added, “I
know, I know. You made your points and they are completely valid, which is why
I am off on a little mission right now that will hopefully satisfy you. But I
just have one question. What do you prefer? Squares or Circles?”

She looked at me like I had just asked her
something insane like whether two plus two equals seven.

“What now?” she asked.

“You heard me. Squares or circles?”

“Uhmm…” She raised her eyebrows and pursed
her lips. “Squares I suppose. I have never really thought about it, to be
honest. I mean, who even thinks about it? And how is this at all relevant to
anything?”

“You’ll see.” I winked. “For now I have
got to go.”

After turning around to head to the door
and taking a few steps, I stopped and turned to look at her again. “I love
you.” Ignoring the gasps from all over the place, I walked out casually as
though I didn’t notice.

---

Just as I walked out of the building, a
FedEx guy stopped me with some mail. It looked like it was paperwork. Ignoring
the excitement bubbling up inside of me, I ripped the envelope open. The
divorce was finalized! I couldn’t have chosen a better moment to go out to get
the ring. I told Ned to take me to Dazzling Jewelers and Co, an exclusive
jewelry store that only a few people within a thirty-mile radius could afford.

Ned tried hard to contain his excitement,
as I could tell from the etches around his cheeks while he attempted to keep a
straight face. “And why are we going to a jewelry store? I don’t remember you
ever having the desire to purchase any bling before.”

“Shut up, Ned. You know why I want to go
there,” I said, trying to sound stern, but it came out almost comical since I
had been completely incapable of wiping the grin from my face.

“No, sir. I have a guess, but you know
what they say, when you assume, you make an ass out of—”

“Fine, I want to buy an engagement ring
for Aria,” I said. “Now can we hurry?”

“Of course!” Ned exclaimed with joy. “I am
so happy for you, Zayden. She is exactly what you need in your life.”

“I’m glad to have your approval, Ned.” I
smiled. “No, seriously, I meant that. It probably sounded like I was being
sarcastic, but it was genuine. Your approval actually means a lot to me and if
you don’t know that by now—”

“I know,” Ned said cheerfully. “Of course
I know. Now before we drive off to get that engagement ring, might I suggest a
pit stop?”

“Where?” I raised my eyebrows.

“To Aria’s apartment.”

“Huh? What will that accomplish? Aria is
at the office.”

“Exactly.” Ned looked back at me and
winked.

Within the next hour, we had managed to
pick up Aria’s best friend Stacey from her apartment and made it to the jewelry
store, while she squealed and made amusing sounds throughout the way there.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” She had
been muttering those words as though it was a spiritual incantation for a
while.

“You already said that.” I looked at her
with a fake frown.

“But you don’t understand!” Stacey
exclaimed, almost jumping. “You don’t understand! You’re…you’re going to…ask
Aria to marry you!”

“I understand what I am about to do, since
I am the one doing it. Makes some kind of sense, doesn’t it?”

She laughed hysterically, to my surprise.
It was kind of endearing just how excited Stacey was for Aria. It made me
realize how close they were and how much her friends cared about her. It also
made me feel a little bit of an irrational jealousy. No one was allowed to love
Aria more than I did.

“Zayden, this jewelry store! Everything is
shining to the point of freaking blinding me. It’s going to cost you a
fortune.”

“Well, your best friend and roommate are
worth two whole fortunes and more.”

Her face lit up and I could see tears
forming in her eyes. “Thank you so much. Thank you for loving Aria like you do.
God knows she deserves it.”

“Hey! She’s mine, so thank you for taking
care of her for as long as you have. I am quite grateful. But don’t forget
she’s mine.”

“Ha!” she scoffed. “Since you’re about to,
you know, marry her, I hope you know her well enough to realize she will not
take well to be told who she belongs to.”

“I know.” I shook my head and sighed. “I
will have to own her completely behind her back. Anyways, I am thinking of
princess cuts, but I brought you here so you can help me decide what she would
like. When I asked her if she prefers circles or squares, she said squares,
which is why I think a princess cut would be the most—”

“You asked her what?” Stacey burst into
another set of hysterical laughter.

“She reacted rather oddly to my question
too. But really, how was I to ask it without raising any suspicion?”

“Men are hilarious sometimes.” Stacey
sighed and looked at the shopkeeper. “Lucky for you, she always did kind of
envision a princess cut for her engagement ring. Can we look at a few?”

“Of course, madam. I take it you’re not
the bride?” An old, balding man with a silver moustache looked curiously at
Stacey.

“No, of course I am! What bride doesn’t
come to select her own surprise engagement ring with her fiancé?”

“You made your point,” said the man with a
frown, pulling out a couple of boxes. “How about this one? 8 carat, on pure
platinum.”

“No. I don’t want to look at anything that
is less than 15 carat.”

Stacey looked at me with her mouth hanging
open, as though the idea of a 15 carat engagement ring was preposterous. “Are
you sure?” She raised her eyebrows.

“Absolutely positive.”

“Hmm, I think I know exactly what you are
looking for, sir,” the man said with a sudden glint in his eyes that hadn’t
been present until then. “Just give me a moment.”

When he disappeared to look for the rings,
Stacey looked at me and asked, “Exactly how much are you planning to pay for
this ring?”

I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. A lot? I
haven’t really thought about it. It’s not really about the money or how much it
costs; it’s about finding the perfect ring.”

Looking impressed, Stacey said, “It must
feel awesome to have so much money lying around.”

“It’s alright.” I grinned at her. “It will
ensure your best friend spends the rest of her life comfortably, though.”