The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(65)

Trying to steady herself as best she could, she undid the locks and opened the door.

"Hi," she said.

Aiden pushed in past her. He had his suit on again, the tie loose around his neck.

"Come on in..." Gwen said, closing the door behind him. She might as well get this over with. "There's something I need to tell you."

"It's not important," Aiden said. He paced back and forth along her entrance hall, running his fingers through his hair. Gwen picked up on his anxiety. What was wrong now?

"I've been thinking," Aiden started.

A cold ball of fear formed in Gwen's stomach. He's going to call it off, she thought. We're done. Although a contrary thought occurred to her as well, that if he was calling it off she didn't need to tell him about spilling her guts to Beatrice.

"What is it?" Gwen said.

Then Aiden reached into his jacket and pulled out two folded glossy pieces of paper. "I can't be near him anymore. I keep thinking about what we talked about today..." he said.

"Aiden, what are those?" Gwen said.

He looked down at them as though not realizing that he'd pulled them out. "They're tickets."

"What kind of tickets?"

"Plane tickets... Gwen, They're tickets to get on a plane tonight, you and me, to go to London. Just the two of us. We'll be there tomorrow morning. Well... it won't be morning there, but you get what I mean."

Gwen knew she hadn't been thinking clearly as of late. She thought she understood what he was asking, but just had to make sure. "What are you asking me to do?"

Aiden stopped pacing. He came and stood in front of her, putting his hands on her hips. A corner from one of the tickets poked at her ribs. "I'm asking you to get on a plane with me tonight to go to London, England. I know you want to go; I saw that poster in your room. We can go and be away from all this. Just the two of us, figuring all of this out."

She stepped away from him, backing into the door. The chain lock rattled. "Aiden, that's crazy. You have your charities and Carbide Solutions to look after. I have schoolwork to do. There's a paper due soon, and an exam I'm definitely going to fail if I don't start studying, like, yesterday..."

Still, it had a certain appeal, a certain allure. Get away from everything. Leave an ocean between her and her real life. And to visit London, a place she'd always wanted to go, with Aiden! Was he ready to acknowledge his feelings, finally?

"I know," he said, "It is crazy. But the best ideas are the crazy ones, the risky ones. Come on; let's do this, right here and now. Trust me." He held out his hand.

The words stung, made her think of Beatrice and how she had violated Beatrice’s trust. But Beatrice was angry with her, and Gwen didn't know if her friend would ever trust her again. And if she went away, she definitely wouldn't get that essay done, or do any studying.

But what if getting away from everything for a bit really was the best idea? If she really did want things to work out with Aiden, they needed to be able to trust each other.

"Well?" Aiden said, "I need to know now."

Gwen looked down at his outstretched hand, and she flexed her fingers...





Chapter 21


"Come on. Please just answer!" Gwen said.

She could hear Aiden pacing in the living room. He hadn't taken off his shoes, and they made a distinctive sharp sound as the soles contacted the floorboards. After seeing his place, she didn't feel so embarrassed about having him over here. Sure, his condo was bigger, with nicer everything, but it hadn't been as opulent as she'd expected. Humble seemed a better word.

She'd told him she needed time. Time to think this over. He'd given her one of the tickets to London, which now sat on her desk next to her laptop, tempting her.

Part of Gwen badly wanted to say yes, to throw some clothes into the cracked old suitcase at the back of her closet and then proceed directly to the airport.

Getting away would be so nice. But the problem with running from your problems is that they always manage to catch up to you somehow.

Like with school. Sure, Gwen could blow off the essay (which was going to be late now anyway) and skip the midterm. But doing so would completely destroy this semester, and then she wouldn't graduate on time because she'd need to take the courses over...

But London! Gwen thought, looking at that poster of Big Ben.

If only Beatrice would answer her phone. They could talk things through, and B could play the roles of the little devil and angel on her shoulders trying to sway her decision.

Aiden knocked on the door, but didn't open it.

"Yes?" Gwen said, cringing.

"Have you decided? We need to get going if we want to clear security in time to board," he replied.

"Just another minute, okay?"

Why couldn't he ask me to do this over summer or something? Gwen thought. The more cynical side of her replied: Maybe he's planning to end the contract before then.

Gwen tried not to give that thought much credence. Their relationship went beyond the contract now. At least, she thought it did. Why would he kiss her like he had back at his apartment, why would he share those clues about his past, if this was still strictly just a business relationship?

And this looked like the perfect opportunity to explore just how far they could go. If only it wasn't for the timing!