Fighting Seduction Read Online Free Page A

she was still my
mother and I found a way to tolerate her. I bought her a giant house in
California, thousands of miles away from me.
    Why was Aria Roberts crying? I debated whether to go
over to her and what the implications of that would be. There was no question
about the fact that I wanted her body, but approaching her at an emotional time
might suggest I wanted more. That I cared about how she was feeling. Well,
maybe that’s exactly what she wanted; maybe believing exactly that would be
what broke her restraint. I got a strange feeling in my gut that I didn’t
understand. I was the master of manipulation. I messed with women’s emotions
all the time. The hint of moral fiber had to be because she was crying.
    I shook my head and trotted over to the booth. She
was the only person there. Her mascara had slightly run down her smooth,
blushing olive cheeks, which made her look surprisingly sexy.
    She seemed to be so phased out that when she noticed
I was standing in front of her, she jumped. Quickly wiping her face with her
palms, she said in a squeaky voice, “Good morning, Mr. Sinclair!”
    “Liar,” I teased. “It doesn’t seem to be that good
of a morning for you.”
    “Oh, yeah, I am sorry about this. I’ll cut it out
before a customer walks in, I promise.”
    “Well, obviously, that’s what I came over here to
say.” I was smiling. “It’s okay, Aria.”
    That made her burst into a whole new bout of tears.
I guess it wasn’t okay, whatever it was. Completely unsure of what to do, I
told her, “Take a paid hour off. Walk around if you need to, take a break.”
    “I can’t,” she said between sniffs. “Mrs. Brian
won’t be here until noon and Kevin is sick. I’m the only teller on duty right
now.”
    “That’s okay, just take some time. I’ll man the
booth,” I heard myself say.
    She looked perplexed, but that made the crying slow
down significantly. “What? You can do that?”
    “The thing about owning the company, Aria, is that I
can do whatever I damn well please.”
    I must have come across strong because her
expression turned into that of slight fear. I tentatively put a hand on her
shoulder, expecting to feel her muscles relax; instead, I felt them tense.
    “It’s okay. Just go for a little bit. It’s not a
request.”
    “Alright, alright,” she said, starting to sniff
again. “I’ll just take a walk around the block and be back soon.” She pointed
towards her face. “No more of this after that. I promise.”
    The minute she walked out, I felt myself get angry.
What the fuck was I doing? Teller in my own bank? To get into a girl’s pants.
She better be worth it when I finally made it in there. I was working way too
hard for this otherwise.
    I even wanted to punch the young guy who had just
materialized in front of me.
    “I need to deposit a check,” he said.
    I pointed towards the front exit. “There’s the ATM
Machine. They take checks these days. And by these days, I mean the past ten
years.”
    He looked terrified and strutted out. I was lucky I
was the CEO of the company and never had to work customer service.
    ---
    When Aria returned a half-hour later, her make-up
was freshly painted on, with no trace of the crying fiasco on her face.
    “Thank you so much and I am so sorry!” she
exclaimed.
    She should be. It was the worst half hour of my
goddamn life.
    “Don’t worry about it! But if you really feel that
bad, you can make it up to me by telling me what’s bothering you.”
    I wasn’t sure I cared for the answer, but that
seemed like the right thing to say.
    She scrunched her nose like she wasn’t sure it was a
good idea but eventually said: “My request for a loan got turned down. My
mother recently had heart surgery and without insurance she owes the hospital
60,000 dollars. She can’t apply for a loan herself because my family is still
recovering from a bankruptcy.”
    Well that was easy enough. I could take care of that
right away. I didn’t want to make