Barefoot Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story (20 page)

The conference room was a bust. All that was left of the pizza was empty boxes and bare plates. I sighed and headed for the library. Darcie usually had some cookies stashed in her desk. If I asked nicely and told her it would make me feel better about Aiden, she would happily give the me a couple to dip in my coffee while I worked.

“Lena,” Kathryn's voice called to me. I turned to see her standing with an older, sadder version of Aiden. Looking at him made my heart twist. He was so very much like the man I loved, and yet so very different.

“What can I do for you, Ms. McDonald?” I asked, putting on my best professional smile.

“Mr. Hayes was interested in getting a copy of all the meeting minutes as well as the updated litigation forms,” Kathryn explained. “Would you make sure they're on my desk by the time I return from lunch?”

“Of course.” I looked to Mr. Hayes and saw brown eyes where his son had beautiful hazel. “Do you need anything else?”

“You must be the woman Aiden spoke of from the conference,” Mr. Hayes said, evaluating me.. His voice was deeper and smokier than Aiden's.

I swallowed hard. “There were quite a few women at the conference,” I replied, dodging his eyes.

While I doubted Aiden could have meant anyone else, this wasn't exactly a topic I was ready to discuss in the middle of the hallway, especially considering I had no idea what Aiden would have told his father about me.

“We really should be getting to lunch,” Kathryn announced, stopping that path of questioning. “Thank you for those forms, Lena.”

Mr. Hayes gave me one last look turning to leave with Kathryn. He and his son had the same shoulders and walked with the same confident stride. Empty loss caught in my throat.

“There she is.” Alexa's voice cut through my hunger and heartsickness like a knife. If it had any more disdain, it would have melted through the floor. “There's Lena the
paralegal
.”

I had barely seen a perfectly curled eyelash of Alexa since arriving. One of the first things Kathryn had done upon arriving back was to send out a new team of lawyers to Houston. Alexa and the rest of the lawyers from the Houston group had been sent back to Chicago with their tails between their legs. Alexa had the good sense to stay down in the Dungeons and away from Kathryn's domain, which meant she had stayed away from me as well.

But now, she was standing in the middle of the hallway with Aiden.

Announcing my job title.

Now he knew.

My chest tightened and my stomach started flip-flopped so hard I was certain I'd never want to eat again. My forehead and stomach flushed with heat while my hands and shoulders turned to ice. He was here. Over two days of silence and now he was here, standing in my office building next to the woman who wanted to ruin my life.

He looked so handsome and fit the part of the billionaire perfectly today. There was no way anyone could mistake him for an assistant. He wore a strong black suit that fit him like the designer had made the suit with him in it. Silver cufflinks matched his tie and the ascot folded elegantly in his left breast pocket. I didn't know that a man could look that good in a suit without Photoshop.

His hair was neatly combed back and picture perfect. Not a honey curl out of place. He had shaved recently, so his jaw was smooth and clean under dark, unreadable eyes. It was the eyes that made my heart quiver. They were focused entirely on me.

“Imagine my surprise to find a billionaire in my office,” Alexa told the crowd starting to gather in the hallway. Gerald Hayes stopped in his tracks and turned to see what was going on, with Kathryn right next to him. He looked shocked. Alexa smiled at me like a snake. “He seemed to think it was yours, Lena. I informed him that paralegals don't have offices like lawyers do.”

I didn't move. She was baiting me and I wasn't going to take it. Besides, my body didn't seem to be working. I couldn't move and I certainly couldn't think of anything to say. All I could do was stare at Aiden. This was not the way I wanted him to find out I wasn't a lawyer, and this was most certainly not the way I wanted his father to find out who I was.

Alexa put her hand on Aiden's coat lapel. I knew they had met once at a legal function, but it still felt incredibly forward. She looked stunning in her pencil skirt and silk blouse draped up against him. Like something that belonged on a movie poster. “Whatever you need Lena for,” she purred to Aiden. “I'm sure I can do it better. She's barely more than a poorly trained secretary.”

There was no doubt exactly what she meant. Something inside of me broke free. Something that fed on hazelnut coffee from the blue cups.

“Shut up, Alexa.”

Alexa's hand didn't drop from Aiden's lapel, but she did startle. “What did you say to me?”

“I said shut up.” My tongue felt thick, but I wasn't about to stop. She was touching the man I loved. Even if he didn't want me anymore, there was no way in hell I was going to let her anywhere near him. I took a confident step forward, my head held high.

“I have an office, Alexa and it's actually bigger than yours.” Her dark eyes met mine and for the first time I saw why she hated me so much. She was afraid of me.

Alexa sneered. “You think you're so special—

Kathryn stepped forward and cut her off. “Alright, Alexa. I've had about enough of this. You are embarrassing us in front of a client.”

Alexa turned as if she was going to bite the head off of the person talking to her. When she saw it was Kathryn, her eyes lowered.

“Your team was responsible for this disaster, and we've had to work around the clock to fix
your
mistake. You've done nothing but create extra work for Lena, and I'm tired of it. You've never done a damn thing around here, and nobody's going to notice when you get fired at the end of the week anyway.”

Alexa lifted her eyes. “Ms. McDonald, I-”

Kathryn laughed an obviously fake laugh. “This debacle has given this firm so much bad press, you'll be lucky to ever get even a paralegal job again.”

My jaw should have dropped at the way Alexa was being treated, but I knew she had it coming. Karma had a way of coming for us all.

I stepped forward, and with a new self confidence. “Looks like you're not better than me after all.” I took another step forward. “So get your hands off him.”

Alexa's hand dropped instinctively to the authority in my voice. Her eyes darted to the observing crowd and she paled. There wasn't a sympathetic face among them.

“You have no idea the mistake you just made,” she hissed.

I smiled slowly. She had nothing and we both knew it. For the first time ever, I wasn't afraid of her. I had found my inner strength, and no one, not Alexa and not even Aiden was going to take it away from me.

My smile made her pale more than looking at the crowd had. She had no power over me anymore and now she knew it. I didn't even bother watch as wiggled her way back downstairs through the crowd.

I took a deep breath. It came in shaky and wasn't at all calming. Just because I had inner strength didn't mean my heart couldn't be broken.

“Hello, Mr. Hayes,” I said politely, turning slightly to face him directly. My voice shook at his name. “I wasn't expecting you. Please, let me show you to my office.”

I didn't wait to hear his answer as I spun and started walking back toward my desk. Kathryn could handle the other Mr. Hayes and the crowd on her own.

From the corner of my eye I could see Darcie giving me a huge thumb's up from the library. I had told her everything about my trip. Her confidence in me made it easier to believe that I could do this. I grinned nervously at her and kept walking.

I could hear him behind me as well as the murmurs of people returning to their offices. Alexa liked a crowd, but I didn't. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I held open the door to the small space I called my own. As he passed I could smell his shampoo and it made me go weak in the knees with the memory of my hair tangled in his fingers.

I took another deep breath that still did nothing to calm my nerves, holding onto the door handle for an extra moment trying to steady myself before I had to turn around and face him. I had no idea what was going to happen next, but I closed the door anyway.

“Lena....” His voice was as soft as the hand he placed on my shoulder. I couldn't help but stiffen at his touch. It felt so wonderful, yet so far from what I could have. I couldn't turn from the door to look at him because I knew if I did, I would burst into tears.

He pulled gently. “Lena, look at me.”

I took a deep breath in, hoping that eventually these breaths would become calming, and reluctantly turned to face him.

He was so damn handsome he took my breath away. Every inch of him was perfect. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to kiss him again, but was terrified at the same time. My new found courage had completely deserted me when faced with the thing I wanted and feared most. The last few days of being alone tugged at my mind, telling me I needed to run before he could hurt me again.

But my feet wouldn't move. Couldn't move. I didn't want to leave him. It broke my heart to be near him and know that it was all going to officially end. He was here to tell me that he didn't want a paralegal. He had wanted a lawyer and someone who didn't lie or not know about his money. He wanted someone befitting a billionaire.

He let go of my shoulder and put his finger and thumb to my chin. The movement was gentle, but he tipped my chin up so I would look at his face instead of staring at his tie. I didn't want to look into his eyes because I knew I would just fall in love with him all over again.

“You left this,” he said, pulling something out from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. It was the shoe I had lost in his room on our last day. He held it out in front of him like a rope to a drowning man. I gasped, looking up into his hazel eyes. Suddenly, I wasn't sure which one of us needed the lifeline more.

I raised my hand out to touch the shoe, but didn't take it. I wasn't sure if I could. I needed to know if this was what I thought and hoped it was. I needed to know I would be enough for a billionaire.

“I'm not a lawyer,” I whispered. There. I said it. I just hoped it wasn't too little to late.

“I know.” Aiden's voice shook but the hand holding the shoe was steady.

“I'm sorry you had to find out from Alexa,” I said softly, looking at the shoe. “I just didn't know how to tell you.”

“I knew before she announced it to your office.”

I looked up from the shoe into his face. “What?”

“I knew you weren't a lawyer the day you arrived on the island.”

“How?” My heart was threatening to shatter into a million pieces and the only thing holding me together was the fact we were both holding my shoe.

“I wanted to know who the amazing woman from the MSW law firm was,” he said with a gentle smile. “It didn't take much to find out.”

“But...” He knew. He knew I lied that whole time. “You didn't say anything...”

“I didn't want to embarrass you.” He stared at the shoe in our hands. “I should have let you say something. I know you did try to tell me.”

I wondered if he could feel me shaking through the shoe. I felt like a leaf in a thunderstorm. “Why are you here?” I asked. Despite his gentle tone, it had been over two days. Two days where I wasn't sure what he felt or if he even wanted me.

“When you said you...” He stumbled on his words and stared at the shoe, brow furrowed and dark. “When you said you loved me, I didn't know what to do. I was so sure it was a lie.”

My eyes flashed up to his, anger threatening to spill out of my broken quivering heart. “It wasn't a lie!”

“All my life, people have lied to me to get what they want. Usually it's money or power.” He met my gaze, his hazel eyes full of honesty and heartache. “You fell in love with me without knowing I had either. I was just Aiden to you, and I couldn't fathom how that was possible. How could you love someone like me without expecting something in return?”

“I just wanted you,” I whispered. All the hurt and tears I had suppressed and worked through since getting on the plane to leave were threatening to overwhelm me.

“It took me a day and a half to realize that I am a complete and utter idiot.” He paused, his eyes enveloping me in their warmth. “You loved me for something no one else has. You loved me with no thought of any gain for yourself.”

A small, hopeful smile lit his eyes. I didn't dare breathe in case this was all a dream.

“Lena Masterson, I love you. Not because you're a lawyer, but because you bring out the best in me. I want you to be a part of my life,” he confessed. Ever inch of his face shone with the truth of his words. “You are amazing in your own right, and it doesn't matter if you have letters after your name or not. You're funny, and kind; and you make me ridiculously happy. I like the person I am when I'm with you. You complete me.”

I sniffled, my heart expanding in my chest to envelope the whole room. He loved me and wanted me regardless of what anyone else thought. The hand not holding the shoe reached up and touched my face. I realized I was crying, but it was with tears of joy.

“I love you, Lena.” Aiden cupped my face and made me look at him. I peered into his eyes and could see that every word was true.

“I love you, too, Aiden,” I whispered. My heart was ready to burst with joy.

“You are my fate, Lena,” he whispered, holding me close. “I'm sorry it took me so long to light my candle. Do you think you can help me keep it lit?”

“Yes.” I took the shoe and kissed him, not wanting to be apart from him for a second longer.

He pressed his hands into my hair, drawing me into him. I kissed him like a drowning man searching for air. My hands wrapped around his neck and mussed his hair. I had missed him so badly the past couple of days that I never wanted to spend another moment apart from him.

I fought the need to breathe for as long as possible. He pressed his forehead into mine and I could feel all the pieces of my heart knitting back together. His arms were strong and safe, promising me a future of love and devotion.

This was everything I could have hoped for. I looked up into the green over brown depths that led straight into Aiden's soul. They were so beautiful, not just in their coloring, but in what they were full of. Love. More than anything, when I looked into Aiden's eyes, I saw how we were fated and chose to find one another.