It was another two or three minutes before she realized what he was doing and pulled her head back just enough to look into his gray eyes. "What are you trying to distract me from?" she asked as she smiled at him. His lips parted and he leaned down to kiss her again, but she put a finger to them and turned her face.
"Fine, have it your way," he told her as he gently let his arm slide away from her. Aiyana turned and frowned at a bright, yellow splotch sitting in the blinding light of the airport.
"What's that?" she asked him as he put his hand on the small of her back.
"It's a gift from an associate. He wants me to allow his company to start manufacturing some of the new televisions I've come up with." They walked past the Lamborghini and Aiyana couldn't help but twist her head to stare at it.
"So it's like a bribe?" she asked him while he led her to the darker limousine sitting near the entrance to the small airport.
"Pretty much, but I won't be taking it." Aiyana raised both her eyebrows as she slid into the back and plopped her shoes on the seat. She'd become a lot more comfortable around him as of late, but that's what happened when two people were living together.
"Well why not?"
"Because that would be illegal, and because he's a pretentious prick who turned me down when I first got started. Business is all about loyalty, well, that and making money." He leaned over as he shut the door and told the driver he wanted to go home. Aiyana smiled as he leaned into her next and helped her dress slip down a little more.
Living with a billionaire had its perks, one of them being that they could make out just about anywhere.
Chapter Two
Julia sat with her eyes searching his, her hands on his desk and her mouth slightly open. He'd never seen her speechless, and he realized he never wanted to see her look that way again. "Well, say something," he prompted with anger in his voice. It was a common reflex of his, to produce anger when he was afraid.
"I just," she paused and realized her mouth was open, so she shut it and let her hands slide off the desk. "I don't know what to say, Blake. I mean, your mother always seems like a really nice woman, so I'm just shocked by her, well, conservative attitude." And it was obvious she was. She was still widening and narrowing her eyes as if she thought Blake might be playing a trick on her.
"What should I do? I'm-" he hated to admit it and tried to swallow the words, but they tumbled out anyway. "I'm at a loss, Julia. I love Aiyana. I've started ring shopping. Don't you dare breathe a word about this!"
"Mum's the word," Julia said as she smiled and ran her fingers over her lips like she was sealing a zipper. "But don't you think you should clear up this bad vibe with your mother first?"
"I just don't know how to breach the subject with either one of them. I don't want to tell Aiyana because I love my mother, and I want Aiyana to love her, too. But I don't want my mother to hate the woman I marry, and I don't want the woman I marry to have to live with a monster for a mother in law. She deserves better." His hand snaked up and gripped the nape of his neck as he sighed, massaging to rub away the ache that had been building there for the first twenty-four hours.
There were very few people in the building and business was slow the day after Christmas. Most executives took the week off to spend time with their families, but he had Aiyana, and she didn't have time off. So he didn't either.
"Don't you dare think about it," she said as anger flashed in her eyes.
"Think about what?" he asked innocently.
"Breaking it off with a woman like Aiyana, who loves you, despite your cold, gray eyes and apparent affinity for plain suits. You're not going to find another one like her for a long time, if ever. This spat between you and your mother is not going to diminish how you feel about one another."
As Julia stood and stomped out of his office, he realized he had been thinking exactly what she had mentioned. He'd been thinking if he should release Aiyana back to the world of singles and see if she'd be happier with someone else. But Julia was right, and he was selfish.
~
"I don't know if I should say something, or if I should just let it go. Besides, it's not like we're engaged or anything." Aiyana twisted her hands in her lap as she stared at the blueberry muffin in front of her. Briana reached a hand across the table and plucked a piece off, unapologetically chowing down on it while she watched her friend squirm.
"Honey, if you don't tell him you know his mother doesn't like you, you're never going to get to hear him say he doesn't care." She seemed so certain that Aiyana almost believed her.
"What makes you think he'd stay with me in the first place?" Aiyana asked skeptically as she blocked Briana's hand from darting across the table to steal more of her muffin.
"Because he's got that look," Briana said as she tried to duck and weave around the blocking hand, but ended up frowning as she tried to blot a few crumbs off her own plate with the pad of her thumb.
"The look?" Aiyana picked off a tiny piece of muffin and slipped it between her lips. She didn't want to be too fat for the upcoming New Year's Eve party.
"You know the look. The one where a man looks like he'd might jump in front of a bus for a woman? Wait, not might, would." She corrected as she looked around at the display case holding all manner of goodies she shouldn't really be gorging down on.
"You know you don't want to," Aiyana said, but she was too late. Briana was already walking up to the counter. She sighed as she finished her blueberry muffin and stared out the café window. There were plenty of biracial couples in New York City, and she wondered if they had to put up with some of the same judgments from their parents.
Briana plopped back down with a slice of lemon meringue pie and dug in happily. "So, when do I get to meet him?" she asked as she happily wiped a crumb from her dark lip.
"If you eat like that in front of him, probably when Hell freezes over," Aiyana said with a chuckle. "Maybe you should come over next weekend and help me redecorate my closet."
"Sounds like a blast. Will there be cake involved?"
"Always," Aiyana said with a grin. It was a ritual they had gone through since they'd known each other. Every time she moved into another home, she invited Briana over to help rearrange the closet and snoop around the place a bit.
~
"Do you really have to go?" Aiyana lie with her back on the bed, her legs spread apart gently. She'd already shimmied into her underwear, but he could still see that her lips were swollen from his attention.
"What do you suggest we do if we don't?" He made sure to include the ‘we' to let her know she was going, too. He wouldn't dare walk into the New Year's Eve party without a date on his arm, not this year.
"Well, I have a few things in mind," she told him as her tongue flicked up to gently lick her swollen, top lip. He'd suckled a little too hard there, but he liked the look. He liked knowing that every man in the place was going to stare at the woman at his side, his woman, and they'd know he'd been all over her just half an hour before they'd arrived.
"And if you don't stop teasing me, you might be doing them all, tonight." He lifted one corner of his lip in a playful grin and she laughed, throwing her head back while her elbows rested on the bed. He could see the way her hair shimmered in the light and felt his cock stir in his pants. "Get dressed, or I'm going to do more than lick your sweet pussy."
Aiyana was smiling when she looked back up at him and he could see her nipples tighten into little nubs. She was still riding the high he'd given her, paying special attention to the rough spot inside of her with his fingers. He'd enjoyed it, but they had things to do and places to be. He promised himself he'd make up for it later.
"Fine, but after midnight, we're coming home." He liked the sound of that, straightened, and gave her one last, longing look before he straightened his tie and buttoned the jacket of his suit.
"I'm dressed, and I like what you'll be wearing," he told her as she stood and flipped her hair back over her shoulder.
"Don't be silly. You'd be too jealous."
"Jealous? That's for little boys." But he was jealous at the thought of someone else seeing her as she was just then, perfect. He knew others had seen her as she was just then, but that was before he'd met her. Now, he wanted her for himself.
Aiyana slipped past him, brushing a kiss on his neck where his pulse was thudding hard, and closed the bathroom door behind her. He didn't understand why she didn't just leave it open, but he figured it had something to do with women wanting to be mysterious. He'd seen plenty of them primp and preen in front of the mirror in their own apartments, but he'd never had the opportunity to see one in his bathroom. He had to admit he might have been a little jealous of the mirror she was undoubtedly standing in front of, naked except for those blasted panties, with her nipples rock hard just from the thought of him taking her.