The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(94)

"It says here that guy is going to sue you!" she said. There were more details, speculation really, about why someone as young, handsome, and rich as Aiden Manning would hire a call girl, but Gwen did her best to focus on the other stuff.

"Let him try," Aiden replied.

Then an awful suspicion occurred to Gwen. Pulling up Google, she did a quick search of Aiden. The whole first page consisted of various gossip and trashy news sites, all talking about his newest... "rendezvous" was the most common terminology. Followed by the most alliterative, and not-at-all-amusing, "Billionaire Booty Call."

A number of the sites even linked to a video apparently shot by the helicopter that had ambushed them. Pulling it up, they watched about fifteen shaky seconds of Aiden pulling her over to the elevator.

"It's everywhere..." she breathed.

Everyone had to know about this by now. All her friends from college and high school. All her relatives. Even her internet-illiterate parents, probably. Gwen swallowed heavily, dreading to check for voicemails and missed calls on her cell. Burying her face in her hands, she pushed against her eyelids until bright splotches of color exploded against the blackness.

"Hey, come on, don't do that. You'll blind yourself," Aiden said, tugging gently at her wrists.

"So!?" Gwen replied, irritated at the petulance in her voice but unable to do anything about it.

"It's just that you have such beautiful eyes, and I would hate for anything to happen to them."

Gwen wondered why he couldn't have been like this, all caring and concerned, earlier on. They could have gotten to this real relationship point so much earlier. Huffing a sigh, she allowed him to pull her hands away. Her face had to be all red and ugly from rubbing, but Aiden didn't look away. No, he did something worse. He smiled. And it was such a warm, nice smile, too. Couldn't he just let her be angry and miserable? It felt so good!

Then he took her hands in his, their gazes colliding. "Gwen... There's something I wanted to ask you."

Her mind quickly assessed the situation. Aiden, kneeling down on the floor, holding her hands, looking at her with those perfect eyes. Her pulse skyrocketed.

"Yes... I mean, what is it?" she said.

Aiden took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out slowly. Then he looked down at the floor, apparently unable to meet her eyes. Gathering himself, he brought his gaze back up to match hers.

He's so nervous! Gwen thought, barely able to contain herself.

"I know this hasn't been easy for you, but I can't tell you how much of a help you've been. To me and the company, that is. I just hate putting you into this situation. Henry isn't going to give up..."


Gwen's excitement began fermenting into anxiety. This was going south faster than a Canadian in winter. Why would he bring up his father, now of all times?

"What? What is it?" Gwen said.

"I wanted to give you this chance... This get out of jail free card..." his mouth twisted at the dated metaphor. Gwen knew she had a lot of work to do on him to bring him up to speed on pop culture. "Just tell me right now. No hard feelings, nothing."

"Are you asking me whether I want to break up with you?" Gwen asked, starting from the chair and yanking her hands from his.

Despite the venom in her words, Aiden stayed down on his knees. However, even those incredible eyes of his couldn't save him from her wrath.

"That's one way of putting it, I guess," he continued, "Tell me now. You can get out of this and go on with..."

She slapped him, considerably harder than she intended. His head whipped to the side. Red welts appeared on his cheek, matching perfectly to her fingers.

He seemed more shocked than hurt. He worked his jaw and probed gingerly at the still-rising beet-red marks.

Her hand smarted, and she forced herself to not try and massage the pain away.

Instantly, she regretted it, wanting to drop to her knees and apologize and kiss the marks away. Her anger, however, vetoed that option.

"Why would you ask me something like that?" Her eyes throbbed, tears collecting in the corners, ready to spill down her cheeks.

"I thought..." he started.

"Clearly you didn't! Yes, it's hard to be with you under circumstances like these. Do I wish your father would leave us alone? Yes, of course! Do I understand what I'm getting into here?" she paused, considering the question, "...Probably! Do I want to leave you because it might be easier?" The question hung in the air by a thread, ready to fall and crush them beneath its weight.

Just as Aiden opened his mouth, Gwen answered, "No. No I don't. And I won't. And do you know why?"

Again, she didn't give him the chance to answer. She dropped to her knees in front of him, kicking his office chair out of the way. She kissed him hard on the mouth. "Because I'm in love with you, you handsome, stupid man. God, you're so lucky you're so good looking..."

They looked into each other's eyes. Gwen thought she saw understanding in his.

"So," he began, pausing to see if she was going to cut him off again, and continuing when she didn't, "What did you think I was going to ask?" He smiled, the expression so innocent even the devil might have believed it. But not Gwen.

"You!" she said, lifting her hand for a second slap. A playful one, this time.