The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(84)

Gwen couldn't see the harm in that, though she still had some reservations. She took the envelope from him and scrawled her name across the screen of the digital signature device. She always hated those things; no one's signature ever came out right on them. They didn't offer that same resistance or feedback as paper.

Looking markedly relieved, the messenger left hastily, leaving Gwen standing at her doorway holding the envelope. Closing the door, she went back to her bedroom and threw the envelope on her desk.

Still shirtless, Aiden turned around from where he stood by the window. He both sensed and saw her mood. "What is it?"

Gwen flopped on her bed, letting her body go limp while she stared up at the ceiling. Something always happened to ruin her good moods, she noted. "It's from Henry. It's a contract to get out of the one I signed with you. With a few amendments I forced him to add."

"Forced? Nobody ever forces Henry to do anything," Aiden said, "And what amendments? What did you want?"

He went over to the desk and grabbed the envelope. Gwen heard him start tearing it open. She leapt up from the bed. He shouldn't see that! she thought.

"Don't!" she said, hopping up and down, trying to grab it as he held it high over his head out of her reach. A few pieces of paper hung out through the tear he'd created.

"Why not?" Aiden said.

"Because I wasn't thinking straight when I got him to draw that up. I don't even want to look at it anymore. Can we just throw it in the trash and forget about it?"

Aiden considered, still not lowering his arm. Why did he have to be so tall?

"Sure," he said, "But can't you tell me? I thought we were being honest now."

"Fine," Gwen replied, sitting down on the bed. Aiden lowered the envelope after a few seconds, when he felt sure she wasn't going to try and snatch it from his hand.

She told him about her thought process that morning, how she thought she'd screwed everything up for him, and how this was a way out for both of them. She told him about the conditions she'd insisted on Henry adding to the new contract.

Aiden sat down beside her, his weight pressing down on the mattress and shifting their bodies closer together. "I don't think anyone's ever shown such concern for me like that before."

Slapping him lightly on the arm, Gwen said, "You know that I... care about you. I just wanted to help."

Aiden frowned, and she didn't know whether he'd heard her or not. "I'm shocked that Henry actually agreed to those... He's always been so merciless..."

Gwen hadn't told him about her yelling at Henry about how he treated his son and the memory of his wife, and his unexpected reaction to that attack. She wondered if she'd actually touched something in the elder Manning, something that made the older man remember his own humanity.

"Well, maybe all this is making him see you in a new light," Gwen suggested.

Aiden patted her thigh. He still seemed lost in thought. Gwen couldn't blame him. Clearly, both he and his father still had a lot of baggage they needed to sort through. She rested her head against his shoulder and watched his fingers drumming on the envelope, making a sharp noise.

"Are you happy I'm not signing it? Because... I still could, if you think it's a good idea," Gwen said, cold fingers clenching up around her heart. She needed to be sure that this was what he wanted, that he wasn't just doing this for her benefit.

Aiden shook his head and put his arm over her shoulders. She liked the way he smelled.

"Of course I'm happy you're not signing it. We don't need any contracts between us anymore. I'm going to have the original one nullified. And as for this one..." he said, hefting the envelope, "I have an idea. Will you wait a bit? I need to go get something."

"Sure," Gwen said, wondering where he could possibly be going. He threw his shirt back on, buttoning it up and tucking it back into his pants. He left the tie off. The envelope he deposited on the desk beside her sleeping laptop.

"I'll be right back, I swear!" he said, slipping out the door. He didn't take the jacket of his she'd borrowed from him off the coat stand, but Gwen didn't say anything about it.

Did I just get ditched? Gwen wondered. It feels like I'm being ditched. It was just an idle worry, she knew. Aiden wasn't the type of person to ditch someone; he had too much integrity for that. If he didn't, she imagined he would have long ago abandoned his quest to reform his father's company.

Just what could he be doing? Gwen went over to her desk and turned the envelope over in her hands, tugging idly at the corners of the sheets sticking out of the tear. A few lines of legalese were legible, along with a couple blank lines intended for her signature.

Letting it drop back to the desk, Gwen crossed her arms and started pacing. She tried not to look at the bed. A mere glance rekindled her body's frustration, and if she closed her eyes she could still feel Aiden's fingertips sliding down her stomach.

"Stupid courier..." Gwen muttered, giving her pile of laundry a less-than-satisfying kick.

How much longer was he going to be? She looked at the clock, but the time displayed didn't really tell her much, since she hadn't looked at it when he went. Judging by her insides, he'd been gone at least ten hours.

She even went back to the apartment door and squinted through the peephole, waiting to catch sight of him.