The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(90)

Aiden contracted some of her enthusiasm. "Amazing."

Except he wasn't looking at the skyline. He looked at her. She blushed and turned away from him. "That was super corny," she said.

"You love corny."

"Shut up," Gwen replied, trying to sound serious, her grin belying her tone. It was true. This was amazing. And corny. Amazingly corny. And it did earn him points. Lots of points.

Aiden stood behind her and held her close, his hands clasped just above her navel. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and closed her eyes, just enjoying the steady rise-and-fall rhythm of his breathing.

"You were so upset back at the theater. My sole purpose as soon as I noticed was to make you feel better. And with just finishing the movie, I thought of all the other famous romances from the 80s and 90s. Is it working?"

Gwen held up her hand, making a small gap between her thumb and index finger. "A little. Like this much."

They went over to a set of binoculars. To Gwen's surprise, Aiden fished some quarters out of his wallet and fed them into the slot.

"What?" he said, noticing.

"I didn't think rich people had small change. I thought some change to you guys were $50 bills or something."

"Well I'm glad I can break the mold and surprise you. Now, those were my only quarters and I think this thing's on a timer," he said.

They took turns looking through it, pointing out familiar buildings, parks, anything that caught their eye, really. While trying to find the Carbide Solutions building, the binoculars went black.

That didn't spoil the fun, though. Holding hands, they walked the large rectangle of the deck. Gwen glanced up at the spike-like top of the building, getting another wave of vertigo as she wondered what it would be like to be up there, swinging around like King Kong. She forced her eyes down. This building was in way too many movies.

And that was when she really noticed they were alone. She'd been aware of it, somewhere in the back of her mind, but hadn't really given it any thought until now. "Are we really by ourselves up here?"

Aiden pulled up his cuff so he could glance at his watch. "For the next twelve and a half minutes."

She thought of asking him how much that cost, but decided against it. Best to leave it at a sweet gesture. That gave her another case of the heart flutters. He rented out the Empire State Building to make me happy, she thought.

"Is it worth it?" she asked as they came up to the rails on the opposite side of the building from which they'd used the binoculars.

Aiden pulled her close, his hands on her hips, and kissed her. Maybe it was the thin air up there, but Gwen's fingers and toes started getting tingly and numb.

"Every penny," he replied when they finished.

"So," she said, an earlier desire accompanying her good mood, "What did you think of the movie?"

Aiden shrugged, "I enjoyed it. A bit sentimental for my tastes..."

She gave his arm a slap, "Don't you dare say that!" Then, switching gears so that she could drive at her true point, "And what about the debate?"

Aiden gave her a blank look.

"Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about," Gwen said.

"Okay, I won't," Aiden replied, a roguish smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

She waited for him to relent, to say he'd been mulling it over this whole time or something, but he didn't. Gwen gave an exasperated sigh, then launched into it. "The debate. The argument. You know, 'Can men and women be friends,' that one?"

She almost expected a laugh or a scoff. Instead, Aiden stroked lightly at his chin while staring glassily out across the city.

"Yes..." he started. Gwen began to scoff, but he cut her off with a raised hand, "Unless at least one party experiences some sort of non-platonic attraction towards the other."

Of course he would say it that way, Gwen thought, all philosopher-like. But she still bounced happily. "That's exactly what I think! Well, not in those words. But the same idea."

Yes, he definitely was a keeper.

They watched the descending disc of the sun change the color of the horizon a deep, reddish orange, rather like the flesh of a blood orange. Gwen's heart couldn't take much more of this.

Leaning against the rail with him, Gwen thought about how much her life had changed so recently. And all because of the man next to her. It was hard to believe, bringing to her mind the fairy tales of all those Disney movies she watched growing up.

Yet, as Gwen closed her eyes to better feel the caress of the breeze against her cheeks, she realized it wasn't a fairy tale or a dream. It was her life. And, if you didn't count a few problems, she wasn't sure how it could possibly get any better at that moment.

She wished the two of them could just stay there forever, suspended in time to always experience that perfect, tranquil New York sunset. His hand slid across the rail to overlap hers, and she knew he felt the same way.

And then a buzzing sound became apparent, just at the edge of hearing. Except Gwen got the distinct impression that it was getting louder. And closer. It intruded on her happiness and tranquility, cutting through her Zen like an annoying fly that won't stop landing on you while you're trying to sleep.


With the way the buildings were, she couldn't tell at first where the sound came from. "What's that?" she asked.