Aidan

 

 

The woman’s presence looms like the dark, dangerous clouds swirling tumultuously before a deadly hurricane.

The damp static in the air is heavy before she even sets a single foot outside the elevator. Each elegant click of her high heels creeping up the hall forces the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge, my jaw clenching roughly.

For a second, I even forgot how much pain my body was still enduring distracted instead by drowning in the wretchedness of her lilac perfume.

“Hello, Aidan.” She purrs from the doorway, leaning coolly against the frame, “Long time no see.”

“I thought we agreed to keep it that way.” I snap bitterly, leaning back in my chair in what I hoped to be poised ease despite each of my muscles screaming in discomfort.

“I heard about your little accident.” She muses, quirking an eyebrow and reading my pained face easily, “Still riding those cute bikes of yours?”

My lips stay silently pursed, refusing to give her the pleasure of any response. That was how Ariana Dow worked, that was what she craved. She was like a predator, feeding off anything as simple as the displeased curve of a lip or the grunt of surprise. She aimed to displease.

“Are you still fucking your boyfriend’s friends?” I’m not proud of myself for sinking to her snarky level, but sometimes it can’t be helped.

Her dark eyebrows rise in surprise though she lets out a tittering laugh and sweeps her hair back off her shoulders. She’d grown it out since the last time I saw her. In college she’d kept it short. It’d suited her more then.

“No.” She coos innocently, an act she’d perfected, “But only because I’m single.”

“But you’re such a catch.” I mutter caustically.

Her candy apple red smirk doesn’t fade as she eases herself into the chair across from my desk, her eyes wandering over the office.

“Nice place you’ve got here.”

My fingers rap tensely against my arms as I keep careful watch over the woman before me. You could trust nothing she says, nothing she does, there is always a motive for Ariana Dow. She is the absolute perfect definition of wolf in beautiful sheep’s clothing - she’d fooled me for two whole years before sleeping with my college roommate in our living room exactly when she knew I’d be returning from class.

“Listen, Aidan, can’t we just put the past behind us?” She groans, rolling her big, virtuous eyes as though I couldn’t see right through her, “Let bygones be bygones and all that.”

“Just tell me why you’re here. Then let bygones be gone.”

She sighs then tugs her purse onto her lap and rifles through it. Onto my desk plops an unopened bag of Werther’s caramels and pushes them between us.

“You can help yourself if you want.” She murmurs, digging deeper through the black leather bag, “I got them for the flight back.”

“Going for grandma chic now?” I mutter with a shake of my head, gesturing towards the bag of sweets.

It’s her turn to ignore me now, triumphantly lifting a manila folder up into the air before slapping it onto the desk before me.

“This. This is why I’m here.”

“The hell is it?”

With perfectly manicured fingers, she edges the folder across the desk towards me before ripping the corner of the bag free in one perfect jab. Popping a candy between her pearly white teeth, she settles into the chair to wait.

 “You really can’t just fill me in on whatever is in this?” I groan, eying the folder suspiciously. My eyes ached from the long hours at the computer screen. The last thing I wanted was to read a long memo.

 “What’s the fun in that?” She smirks.

Sighing, I flip open the folder and run a finger down the front typed page. Immediately the header’s logo pops out at me and I almost jump from my seat, clapping the file back firmly shut.

“What, Aidan, are you afraid he’s got a tracking device in there or something?”

“I’m not worried about him tracking me.” I angrily mutter, “He obviously already knows where I am.”

“Then read his letter to you. He misses you.”

“Since when do you work for my father?”

Ariana sweeps her hair back over her shoulders, rare discomfort creasing her brow, “I fell on hard times. I needed a job. He offered one to me.”

“We both know his feelings on women in the workplace. What did he need you for?”

“Because I’m a hard worker and I’m skilled at what I do.”

“What is it that you do for him, Ariana?” I press mulishly, my fingers curling so tight around the folder that my knuckles go white, “Because I am well aware of your various… talents and all of a sudden the office here is having quite the issue.”

“What kind of issue?” She frowns and I can’t trust the innocence on her face to be real.

I grab the computer and swivel it towards her, where the infected malware is now a figure of a dollar bill dancing around a stripper pole. She bursts into a slight giggle, covering her mouth.

 “What is that?” She squeals.

 “Malware on all our computers. It’s been like this for over a week. You want to explain this?”

“I’m sorry, Aidan, but you are sadly misinformed. That wasn’t me.”

“I know you, Ariana, I know what you’re capable of-”

“What I’m capable of?” She murmurs with faux coyness, leaning forward to rest her palms on the desk before me, “Do you really want to go into what I’m capable of, Aidan, or should we talk about you?”

My lips go taut over my gritted jaw, whole body going rigid.

“I know what you’ve done. Who you’ve ripped off. You don’t think one of them did this to you as vengeance?” She gestures to the screen, “Because I can honestly say that I had no hand in this.”

Aidan!”

Miki suddenly appears in the doorway, breathless and flustered, her chest rising and falling like waves crashing on a shore. I glance at her distractedly, trying to wipe my face clear of the irritation that Ariana saturates me with. Just being around my ex is like having a vampire latched at my neck, sucking my energy dry. As if I hadn’t been having a rough couple days enough already.

“Oh.” I mumble, grabbing the edge of the desk to heft myself up on my feet. Ariana watches my grimace with veiled pleasure, “Miki?”

“Aidan, I-” She pauses, head cocking slightly to the side as her eyes land on Ariana, who smiles with a bit too much glee flickering in her green eyes. That was never a good sign.

“Ah. I suppose I’ll introduce-”

“I believe we’ve already met.” The impatient woman jumps to her feet to cut me off, “Cappuccino, I’m Aidan’s ex, Ariana. I’m here to bring him home.”

“Cappuccino?” I frown, rubbing my temples. Was I hearing things or was Ariana having some sort of mental breakdown?

“Bring… bring him home?” Miki sputters in confusion, glancing towards me, “What…?”

“I have honestly no idea, Miki.” I offer quickly, holding up my innocent hands, “She just turned up here. I’ve been trying to get her to leave.”

“If you’d read the letter your father wrote you then you’d understand what I’m talking about!” Ariana glowers with another roll of her eyes. She grabs a caramel off the desk, pausing before tossing it into her lips and holding it out towards my fake fiancé, “Candy?”

Miki just shakes her head blankly, blinking glassy eyes.

“I don’t need to read this. I’m already home.” I whisper severely, “I was raised here. My mother is here.”

“Yes, but is this really home?” Ariana asks sweetly, crunching the candy between her teeth so loudly that Miki jumps.

“Get to the damn point, Ari.” I grumble, “I’m not in any mood for your games.”

“Dominic is getting older every single day.” She shrugs, glancing at Miki as though the woman would agree despite not knowing my father, “He wants his son to come take his company off his hands.”

“Then he should talk to Eli.”

“He already has.” She shrugs, not one to sugarcoat, “Eli isn’t interested.”

“You can make that two of us.”

“How could you not want Dom’s company?” She glowers, “His is worth at least a dozen of Grant’s!”

“Because I want nothing to do with that man. I think I’ve made that clear enough.”

“Oh, come on.” Ari groans exasperatedly, “Like you said, Aidan, apparently this place has been struggling for a week with a system infestation. You all are going under. Jump ship and swim to safety.”

“What?” Miki gasps, “Going under?”

“No!” I hold up my hands again fervently, trying to calm the slack jawed woman in the doorway, “We are absolutely not going under.”

Ariana laughs, shaking her head and crossing her arms, “Believe me, you all are going down. If Aidan can’t figure out the virus, I doubt anyone can. You should have seen this man in college, Cappuccino.” She adds pleasantly, batting long lashes at me.

“I don’t understand.” Miki murmurs quietly, “What are you saying, Ariana?”

“Will someone tell me what this whole cappuccino thing is about?” I groan.

“Aidan was one bad boy in college, weren’t you?” Ariana beams at me, biting the corner of her lip, “It was damn attractive. For a little while.”

“I had to make money somehow.” I shrug, avoiding Miki’s startled eyes, “And it was because my so called father didn’t leave me much choice.”

“Yes, yes, tell your fiancée your sob story.” Ariana lifts her hands, settling down with the packet of candy to wait and enjoy the dramatic retelling of my childhood.

“As you know, Miki, my father hasn’t spoken to my mother since she got pregnant with me. He’s barely spoken to me since, either. He didn’t give us a penny. I had to make my own wealth.”

“Which he did by hacking systems just like these and stealing their funds.” The dark haired woman pipes up cheerily, sucking loudly on a caramel.

“Until I got caught.” I snap, glaring at Ariana.

She grins and nods, “Got cocky and slipped up.”

“I also got exceedingly lucky. Because of my skill they offered me a great job building security systems. Made lots of cash, paid my way through college and supported my mother. Now I’m here to gain some experience and start my own tech security business.”

Miki just nods quietly, eyes flickering back to Ariana, “And where do you fit in all this?”

Sweeping her pouch of candies back into her bag, Ari glides effortlessly to her feet, standing tall over Miki thanks to her heels, “We were lovers. Coworkers in crime, if you will.” She giggles and shakes her head, “But like I said, I’m taking Aidan home. It’s time for him to take his place with his family’s fortune. This place has nothing for a man of his caliber.” Ariana pauses, smiling regretfully at a furiously flushing Miki, “Absolutely nothing.”

“I don’t care how much money Dominic has, I haven’t needed any of it and I don’t want it.” I growl.

“He’s not going.” Miki suddenly exclaims, hands balling up into fists, “He’s not leaving.”

“Sweet girl.” Ariana sighs, cupping Miki’s cheek as though the woman is a tiny girl, “You don’t have a say in this matter, and I’m confident that Aidan will see the error in his ways soon enough.”

Ariana lifts a hand towards me, stepping carefully around my fiancé, “I’ve got meetings to attend. I’ll come collect you later.”

The door swings shut and my fake fiancée and I are alone. Outside the window, the sun has begun fading behind the tall ridges of surrounding businesses. Shadows crawl long in the office until I can barely see the woman standing across from me, the woman who I falsely claim I want to spend the rest of my life with. Even if that’s false, however, all I want to do is comfort her. All I want is to prove that I know nothing about Ariana’s claims.

“Miki… I swear to god, I have no idea what the fuck that was-”

The woman stares at me silently from across the room, taking a single step backwards so that she leans against the heavy wood of the closed door, click of the lock echoing softly.

“What is it?” I ask quietly, but I know what’s coming.

She’s probably furious about this whole bewildering situation. When she pushes off the door, I brace myself for the yelling that I know is about to happen. At least the offices of the building are soundproof.

“Take off your clothes.” She whispers instead of yelling anything, her eyes narrowing on me tightly.

She swallows, her fingers stiffly grasping the edge of her shirt before she lifts it up and over her head, letting the thin fabric flutter down beside her feet.

 “Calm down, Miki-” I sigh before fully comprehending what she’s saying.

I freeze, eyes sweeping over the beautiful body of the woman before me. She trembles slightly though her arms rest firm at her sides, her eyes still latched onto me.

“What are you… what are you doing, Miki?” I almost kick myself for questioning her. This beautiful woman is commanding that I take off my clothes, why in the world would I question that?

“I told you to take off your clothes.” She repeats, softer this time, face going red at my hesitation.

Though it’s painful, I climb back to my feet and slowly walk around the desk to her, letting my fingers graze over the bare flesh of her arms. Her chin tilts downwards, eyes averting from me as my touch glides over her bare hips, tracing upwards over the curve of her breast hidden below the pink lace of her bra.

“Why are you doing this?” I murmur, voice barely louder than the noisy air conditioning unit in the corner of the room, “What do you want from this?”

“I want to taste you.” She replies simply, as though she’s craving nothing more than a raspberry popsicle or a scoop of ice cream, but the words set a flame low in my core, a flame that’s burned for this woman since the day I met her.

My throat goes tight, trickles of desire slowly dripping down my spine.

“Please.” She murmurs, eyes finally lifting to meet my own. They churn like a lazy golden storm of desire, sucking me in harder and harder.

Without thinking, I grab her by the hips and lift her up, pinning her against the locked door. Her legs wind around my body, trapping me against her growing heat. My hands tangle in her hair, our faces hovering only inches apart, her breath sweet on my lips.

“Don’t you want to taste me?” She whispers, her eyes heady and half closed. She brushes her nose against my own and I am a bear caught in a trap, I am a man lost in a desert with my eyes on the oasis.

Nothing exists but Miki.

Suddenly we’re a scorching tornado, our bodies twisting and meshing, our hands clawing at our clothing until we are naked and roughly pressing together against the wall. Her fingernails dig into the back of my neck, dragging my lips down to meet her hungry ones. Our tongues scrape, each movement rough and hurried. The faint taste of coffee clings to her lower lip as I nibble it, rocking my hips against the heat between her thighs.

She pulls her face back to look at me, amber eyes locking on my own, her lips swollen from my passion.

“I want you.” She breathes, “I want you so much, too much, all of you-”

In one strong movement I thrust inside of her, burying myself in the hot depths of her body as her words burst into a moan of ecstasy, head tilting back to rest against the door. Her fingernails dig once more into my back legs twining tighter around me.

I rock backwards than forwards once more, burying myself inside of her over and over, each thrust harder and deeper and faster than the last.

She clings to me, her breathing quick in my ear until I turn my face to catch her lips with my own, devouring her kisses, consuming them like air that I breathe, as though I can’t survive without another.

And that’s how it feels, like I can’t go on without one more flick of her tongue, one more of her sweet, moans of bliss against my lips.

Just as pleasure is coiling tight inside my core, rocking me further and further forward towards an explosion of passion, her entire body spasms in my arms, her moans turning to a cry of ecstasy. The sound of her bliss sends me rocketing over the edge as I burst inside of her, filling her completely.

We fall towards the floor, laying in a crumpled heap against the door.

We sit beside each other, not speaking, our fingers intertwined, staring blankly towards my desk as though the answers to life would appear marred on the rugged wood.

But no answers appeared and the future wasn’t any clearer.

I feel her move, just her chin, twisting towards our hands, inspecting the way we cling to one another.

I turn slowly to meet her eyes though they’re unreadable. I have no idea what’s going on inside her mind, what she wants from me, from our fake relationship.

All I know is that I’m suddenly hyper aware of the freckle above her lip and the flecks of cinnamon in her eyes and the Cupid’s bow of her full upper lip.

“My heart,” She whispers, abruptly shattering the quiet stillness that had enveloped us like a warm, safe cocoon, “You can have it.”