In Love With Mr. Billionaire - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

At first, Aarons's lips were like a touch of a feather on mine, a soft caress. Then, it turned into a passionate claim, a promise for so much more.
I stood rooted to my spot, my heart racing as Aaron deepened the kiss. His tongue explored my mouth and I kissed him back with the same intensity. His hand around my waist pulled me closer. If that was even possible. And I held onto him as my knees started to give in.
After God knows how long, he pulled back. But his hands remained around me, holding me close. We were still breathing heavily when I looked up at him. Aaron's eyes held so much desire that it made me drop my eyes to the ground as my cheeks turned red.
"You're adorable, Caroline," Aaron let out a soft chuckle. He hooked his finger under my chin and pulled my face up to meet his eyes and planted a soft kiss on my lips again.
"I promise you won't regret this decision," Aaron said as he pulled back for the second time. He tucked a rogue lock of hair behind my ear. His thumb caressed my face as he made that promise to me. There was nothing but downright sincerity in them.
"I know," I told him. There have not been a lot of people whom I could rely on in my life. The ones I did were too precious to let go. Now standing with Aaron, knowing we were going to share a future, I knew I was always going to hold onto him.
Aaron took me to his couch to tell me about the marriage plans. He wanted to have a short engagement and an early wedding. A month was what he had in mind. I was too happy to decline.
"I want you to be mine as soon as possible, Caroline," he had said.
He asked for my opinions about the plans and arrangements for the weddings and I was surprised how easily he incorporated my ideas into his plans and made adequate changes. Usually, I was not privileged enough to take the decisions of my own life. My father did it for me. And the few times he did allow me to do something on my own, it had contingencies. It warmed my heart the way Aaron gave me his full attention, heard me out, and changed his own goals to fit mine.
For a moment, the words had stopped making sense and I was lost in his face. I didn't even realize I was ogling at him until the seriousness on his face broke into a knowing smirk.
"Like what you see?" Aaron chuckled.
I bit my lower lip in embarrassment, but the next moment was pulled into Aaron's lap for another round of getting too lost to think straight.
After a few more conversations and several breaks in between, Aaron took me back home. It was past 1 in the morning by the time I reached my place.
"Miss me," he said. Aaron pecked my cheeks and I went in.
The next morning, I got up with a bright smile plastered on my lips. It was just yesterday that I was pacifying myself not to cry anymore, and today I was grinning like an idiot.
I got ready for the office and went down for breakfast. Considering the events that had taken place in the last few days, the house was weirdly quiet. It wasn't until Jane told me that they all had left for work early did I take a sigh of relief. Eating my breakfast in peace, without the weight of my life or the voices of the members of my house bothering me was a welcoming change. I gulped down two whole sandwiches and a mug full of coffee, before going out to catch a cab.
As I was about to enter dad's office building, I spotted a brand new, red coloured Lamborghini parked just next to the entrance. It had a huge matching red ribbon tied around it, giving it a Christmas present look, and my hands itched to go and touch it. But I refrained from doing so. It appeared to be a present for someone and even a scratch on it will lead the owner to sue me. Remembering my track record about luxurious cars and rich owners, I knew I would not be as lucky this time around. And to top it all up, I was sure I would not look good in a prisoner's attire.
I chuckled at my own thoughts and went inside. Drowning myself in work that I had put away since my running off to Nadia's place, I forgot about everything else. It wasn't until my phone buzzed that I realized I had missed my lunch.
"Hello?" I said without checking the caller ID.
"I'm sorry I couldn't take your call yesterday, I was busy," Nadia apologized.
"No, leave it. I can understand you don't have time for me now, I know you don't love me," I said dramatically, suppressing my laughter.
"Two days. At my place. I sheltered you. I gave you food. I cooked for you. I put all my work away. I shared my precious coffee beans with you. I gave you emotional support. I even learned stupid jokes from the Internet to make you laugh. I-," Nadia listed the items to contradict my statement and I burst out laughing.
"Ok Ok. I forgive you," I said.
"So, what is it? You sound quite cheerful. What happened?" Nadia asked in a suspicious tone.
"I'll tell you when we meet," I smiled thinking about my evening with Aaron.
"You're going to California with that guy?" I laughed more at her using 'that guy' instead of Dylan's name.
"No. Better."
"Someone kidnapped your whole family?"
"No," I giggled.
"Then come to my place now! I'm home," she ordered.
"I'll have to ask Dad," I sighed and cut the call.
After working a little more, I went to dad's cabin to ask for leave for the rest of the day. My work was officially done there and Laci had already allowed me to go. All I needed was his approval to end my shift.
"Of course, you can," was what he said. He smiled at me and his tone was low, polite and gentle. His eyes were softer unlike all the other times and it made my skin crawl with worry to see him act like this.
Putting all the bad thoughts away, I went downstairs and was waiting for the cab to show up when someone tapped my shoulder. Turning around, I saw a giant man dressed in a formal black suit.
"Are you Ms Caroline Marshall?" He asked with a straight face.
"Yes?" I answered. For some reason, it sounded more like a question.
"This is for you," he said and handed me a key. I looked at him confused for a few seconds, then asked.
"What's this for?"
"Mr Woodwords ordered to give this to you," he said, pointing towards the key and then to somewhere near the entrance.
There were not many cars there but the one that caught my eye was the red Lamborghini with a red ribbon around it, the same one that I saw in the morning. But that can't be true. Right?
"The keys are for the car over there," he pointed to the extremely expensive red car.
For a moment I said or did nothing. The phone in my hand suddenly felt cold and my mind had frozen with the thought of Aaron doing this. After a short while when I could think clearly again and realized that the man was waiting for me to accept the car that I was admiring earlier, I took my phone and called Aaron.
"Already missing me sweetheart?" Aaron said, his tone flirty. A smile formed on my lips instantly.
"What is this car about, Aaron?" I said coming to the point, though his comment made my heart flutter.
"Just a small little gift, love," he said, as if gifting a brand new Lamborghini was a casual thing.
"Small? Are you serious? It's a Lamborghini for God's sake Aaron," I threw my free hand in the air at the outrageousness of his answer.
"My name sounds really sexy when you say it with your lovely mouth," he said, ignoring my comment and making me blush. He was trying to seduce me and it was definitely working. This man was going to be the death of me.
FOCUS CARO!
"I can't take this small little gift," I said the last three words in a sarcastic tone.
"Why? You didn't like it? I can get it replaced," Aaron said, turning serious now. Whether it was because he was actually serious or he had caught on to the sarcasm in my voice and was playing along, I wasn't sure.
"It's wonderful! But-" he cut me off.
"I got to know that James does not allow you to use his cars. I want you to be safe, Caroline," he explained. I was touched by the gesture, but it was too much to accept.
"Then you could have got something..." I thought for a while to get a perfect word, "something less expensive," I ended up saying.
"It is not expensive," he replied. As if I was going to believe that. "Moreover, I want everything to be the best for my beautiful fiancé. Is it a crime?"
"But-"
"No buts! Either keep it or leave it there to rot. I'm not taking it back, nor will I let anyone else have it."
I kept silent for some time, trying to wrap my head around the gift, when he spoke again, "it's my first gift to you, Caroline. You won't do this to me, will you?" He said it so sweetly that a smile crept on my face unknowingly, and my heart melted like a bar of butter on a sunny afternoon.
"Ok. But I won't take anything like this ever again," I tried to sound stern, but it ended up like a request.
"I can't promise," Aaron chuckled. "So, when are you giving me a ride on it, Ms Marshall?"
"Whenever you say Mr Woodwords," I said, playing along. We both laughed and ended the call, but not before Aaron told me how much he wanted to make me his as soon as he could.
I thanked the giant man who was standing patiently behind me till now. Moving towards the car, I took a closer look at it. Aaron was definitely crazy to give something like this as a casual gift.
I took off the red ribbon from around the car and pushed the button on the key to open its door. Getting inside the unbelievably comfortable seats of the car, I started the engine. The Lamborghini made a purring noise as I pushed the accelerator and drove straight to Nadia's apartment.
Reaching her place, I parked the car in the parking area in front of her building and went to her floor.
To my surprise, her door was opened and Nadia was leaning on the doorframe, lost in thought. Her eyes were staring at the floor but were unfocused. Her hands were crossed around her chest and her head was cocked to a side as if she was doing a serious mental calculation.
"Hey Nad," I said, pinching her arm and making her yelp in pain and surprise. I had thought about just shaking her or snapping her out of her dreamland, but this one seemed much more entertaining. For me. Not for her.
"What are you dreaming about?" I asked her, raising my brows.
"You!" She snapped. "What the fuck is that?" She dragged me to her window and pointed towards the car Aaron gifted me.
"I called you yesterday but you were busy, I won't explain," I told her. She glared at me and I decided not to take long in cracking the news to her. It didn't look safe for me to hold it back from her. "Ok, I'll tell you everything," I said and raised my hand in front of her face in surrender.
Nadia was glaring at me all the while, but her eyes got wider as noticed the ring on my finger. She caught my hand and examined it briefly, her mouth hanging open.
"Now, what the super fuck is this?" She exclaimed. It seemed her eyes were trying to come out of their sockets.
Okay, this was going to be tough to explain.
Standing in front of a really angry friend, I tried to come up with something by which she would stop freaking out, but nothing came to my mind.
"Speak up, Caroline. What is going on? Don't tell me you got married without my presence. Remember we promised to be each other's bride's maid? Wait... why am I even thinking about the wedding? Who the hell did you get married to? I know you almost loved Aaron and you were heartbroken when he decided to go after that stupid I-am-a-barbie-girl Lahaina, but that doesn't mean you will just go and pick a random person to marry to get back at Aaron. And even if for some reason you really lost your mind and did something like that, it only explains the ring. What about the freaking car parked outside? And-"
"Stop or I'm calling Dylan," I cut her off after a long, long time. And weirdly, Dylan worked.
"Don't change the topic!" Nadia cried. She had blabbered all that in a single breath and now her face had turned red with anger and lack of oxygen.
"Ok, then hear me out first and then you may ask more questions," I tried to calm her down, but she just folded her arms across her chest and urged me to continue.
I explained to her every single thing that happened within the last 24 hrs, everything about dad's revelation, Aaron's proposal, me going to his penthouse, his explanation for the charity event, him proposing me for marriage, me saying yes, him gifting me a ridiculously expensive car out of nowhere—of course missing out the private details.
"So, now you are engaged to Aaron Woodwords, and are about to marry him within a month?" she looked at me with an unusual expression then grabbed me in a tight hug.
"He rejected Lahaina?" She asked. I could not see her face because of the hug, but I could hear the happiness in her words.
"I guess."
"And he always had feelings for only you?" Nadia asked, pulling away from the hug and looking at me with genuine happiness. She needed me to clear her doubt and assure her that I was really happy.
"Just me."
"Good, because if he ever hurt you, he and I are going to have some serious problems," Nadia warned, but she was smiling. For me.
"You're not angry with me, now?" I asked for confirmation.
"Idiot, I'm so happy for you. You're getting married!" She exclaimed and dragged me out of her apartment.
"I'll be the maid of honor!" Nadia declared as we walked to my car for her due test drive.