The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(85)

Her phone chirped, and she went over to her purse, fishing it out. It was a text from Aiden. It read: MEET DOWNSTAIRS, BRING ENVELOPE. All capital letters, like some unquestionable command.

Her thumbs tapped out a response: Not so private downstairs. She hoped he caught her drift.

He didn't. The phone vibrated against her palm and chirped again: COME QUICKLY.

What could possibly be more important than the serviceable mattress in her bedroom, and what they could do to each other on it?

Men could be so irritatingly dense sometimes. Strangely, as Gwen went to collect the envelope, she actually experienced a tinge of excitement. Could this be their first real argument as a real couple?

Looking forward to confronting him, Gwen grabbed the envelope, pulled on her shoes, and hurried downstairs. She avoided the slow elevator, wanting to get to it as quickly as possible.

Aiden waited for her down in the narrow lobby, near the little alcove where the mailroom was. There was an old set of ratty chairs with a circular table between them against the wall, and Aiden rested his forearm on what looked at first glance like a small trashcan that currently sat on that table.

"Hey! Took you long enough," he said.

"Yeah, well, I was expecting you to come back upstairs and join me in the bedroom... What is that thing, anyway? Is that a power cord?" Her righteous feminine fury abated somewhat as her curiosity asserted itself. The device was plugged into the outlet on the wall between the chairs.

"Ah, yes. I'm glad you've noticed. This, my dear, is a paper shredder." He pressed a button on the top and it whirred. When Gwen glanced down at the envelope she held, Aiden smiled. "I see you've caught my drift. What do you say? Do you want to turn my father's contract into confetti?"

Gwen didn't know whether to think this was awesome, sweet, or both. He really gets me, Gwen thought. "Um... Let me see... Yes, of course!"

Then Aiden glanced over at the front door. "Good, let's get started. I, uh, borrowed this from that tax place across the street."

"You stole? For me? Aww..." Her heart could have melted.

Aiden put his index finger to his lips, "Not stole. Borrowed. There's a difference. Now, come on, before the nice lady manning the desk over there notices it's missing."

"Semantics," Gwen said, eying the shredder. But he had a point, it was probably better to get it done sooner rather than later.

So she tore the envelope open. That went into the shredder first, the boxy device humming happily as it chewed through the manila paper.

"Music to my ears," Gwen said, "Now... All at once, or a page at a time?" she asked, hefting the contract. She'd already pulled out the staple holding the sheets together.

"That's up to you. What would be more satisfying?" Aiden replied.

A tough decision. Get it all over with at once, or savor it? Gwen pulled the first page from the contract and fed it to the shredder. It gobbled the sheet up. Gwen giggled.

"So one at a time, I take it?" Aiden said, sharing in her enthusiasm.

This was one of the most thoughtful things anyone had ever done for her, and Gwen wanted to savor that, too. She fed the shredder another page, then another.

An old lady in a dark coat, leading a small, yappy dog on the end of a leash, came into the building. She watched the display for a moment and shrugged, walking towards the elevators. Gwen didn't care what the old lady thought. This was too much fun.

"I guess we're just a couple more New York weirdoes," Aiden said.


"You think so? Want to join in?" Gwen said, holding out the half dozen or so remaining pages.

Aiden tried waving them away, "I wouldn't want to steal your thunder or anything."

"Come on! Try it; it's fun. All the cool kids are doing it," Gwen teased.

"Why do I have the sudden urge to smoke?"

"Just take a couple. Do it. Peer pressure peer pressure peer pressure."

Giving an exasperated sigh, coupled with a masterful rolling of the eyes, Aiden accepted half of the pile. "Well, if you insist."

A rather unmanly giggle escaped his lips when he fed the shredder the first page. When he realized the noise he'd made, he shot a look around to see if anyone else noticed.

"Your secret's safe with me," Gwen said, "Now move. It's my turn!"

Gleefully, she inserted the remainder of her share. The shredder chewed up that wad of paper as easily as it had a single sheet. Following suit, Aiden disposed of the remaining two he held.

Gwen experienced a tinge of sadness at not having any more paper to shred, and almost regretted sharing some with Aiden. "What now?" she asked.

"Well..." Aiden replied, turning the machine around and hitting a latch that allowed him to remove the bin from the shredder, "Now we make it snow!" He grabbed a handful of the shredded contract and threw it up into the air. The little squares of paper landed on their shoulders, in their hair, floated down to the floor.

Gwen grabbed a handful. It rustled in her fist. Rather than tossing the wad straight up, she flung it at Aiden. The ball burst against his chest, leaving him bewildered. Gwen laughed at his expression.

"So that's how you want to play, is it?" he said.

She replied by sticking her tongue out at him. So he reached into the bin, grabbed a handful, and threw it at her.