Billionaire's First Mistake

It’s About Time

Chapter 3

Aisling POV

"What do you mean you won't have it ready by tomorrow? Do I need to fire you and get someone else who's hungry for this job?"

The harshly uttered words dragged me out of my relaxed sleep and I blinked my eyes open, staring at the unfamiliar wall in front of me.

"Where the hell am I?" I mused, rubbing my pounding head. The events of the previous night immediately came rushing back to me in clear detail and my eyes widened when I remembered what I had done.

I had slept with a stranger.

And we hadn't gone to bed till the small hours of the morning.

I felt a twinge in between my legs, and it made me smile. That is, until I remembered that it was a new day, and I had to be back in New York that morning.

"s**t," I cursed, sliding out of bed.

I paused, waiting to see if the blue-eyed man would suddenly appear, but it seemed whatever call he was making was very important. I let out a sigh of relief and began to pull on my clothes as fast as lightning.

I glanced at the balcony at the back of the stranger I had been with throughout the night. He was still engrossed in his call. Five minutes later, I was wearing my red dress and butterfly heels and racing out of the room, as quiet as possible.

Unfortunately, my plan to sneak away unnoticed was cut short by the presence of a scowling man waiting for me at the end of the hallway.

"s**t," I said as I came face to face with a frowning Dexter, "what are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking you that," he spat, "What were you thinking about running off to Las Vegas with Tina?"

"I'm an adult, I can go wherever the hell I want to go." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Aisling……"

"Let's just get out of here," I said furiously, and marched past him. The last thing I wanted was the stranger stepping out of his room and finding me there.

We had one night of casual fun and that was all. He didn't strike me as the sort of person who would suddenly want a relationship based on a one night with a stranger, but I could be wrong.

One night was all I could offer him.

By the end of today, I was going to be engaged to a monster of a man. I had known for the past one year that I was going to be married off to Amos Linwood on my twenty-fifth birthday.

So for this past year, all I had done was try to get my last bits of freedom before I would be tied to that bastard for the rest of my life.

Outside the club, I saw Tina waving at me from the back of a tinted-out SUV and I approached the vehicle with a sweet-knowing smile.

"By that look on your face, I can guess how your night went," Tina made a disgusted face. "You smell like s*x, Ash."

I laughed, "How do you even know what s*x smells like?"

"You're gross." She muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

"Hey, don't knock it until you try it," I winked at her, "I'm famished. We can stop at that cute café and get some fluffy pancakes."

"Not happening," Dexter informed me as he climbed into the car, thrusting a greasy bag at me.

"What's that?" I gripped the paper bag between my thumb and index finger like it was contagious.

"That's breakfast. Donuts from the club's kitchen and coffee that's gone cold," he announced gleefully.

"Eww, I'm not eating this," I cried.

"You don't have a choice. Your uncle has been calling me nonstop. We are driving straight to the airport."

"I need a shower!" I said wide-eyed, "I can't get on a plane like this."

"Do you even have your underwear on?" Tina whispered, and I shook my head at her in agreement. She slapped a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter and I shot her a dirty look.

"It seems you're going to meet your new fiancé smelling like another man," Tina snorted, clutching her belly as she began to laugh.

"That's not even remotely funny," I snapped, but my mouth twitched.

"It is." She confirmed it yet again.

I rolled my eyes at her with a huff. I couldn't believe today was the day. After almost a year of pretending that I had time, acting like nothing was wrong, like everything was still perfect, and my uncle hadn't sold me off to the highest bidder.

I gritted my teeth, the familiar rush of anger all came on me.

I couldn't find any anger to spare my jerk of an uncle anymore. One year of loathing him had taken its toll on me, and I was ready to just forget that he existed.

My best friend grabbed my hand in hers and when I looked at her, she was wearing a serious look, "You're going to be fine." She encouraged me.

"No, I'm not," I said with a shrug.

Her mouth pressed into a thin line, and she adjusted her glasses on her nose, "Well, even if you won't be, I'll be here with you the whole time. And I won't let that bastard hurt you, Ash, I promise."

My gaze flicked up, and I met Dexter's from the rear-view mirror. From the look in his eyes, I knew that Tina's promise was an empty one. But I appreciated my best friend making the effort to make me feel better.

"Thank you, Tina," my vision blurred with tears and I sniffed, "I'm so scared." I admitted. I hated to admit that I wasn't the hard, strong, capable girl I tried to project into the world, but Tina was my safe place.

Since the death of my father and my uncle had swooped in and took over all that was his, Tina had been there from the very beginning, to when everything had gone down.

"I know you are," she drew me into her arms and willingly gave in, "I hate your uncle so much for doing this to you."

"Me too."

"Try not to think about all of this, it'll only terrify you more."

She didn't need to worry though; my mind was firmly fixed on the blue-eyed stranger I was leaving behind in Vegas.

I suddenly jerked up in the car seat, eyes wide. "What is it, Ash?" Tina asked, sounding panicked at my absurd reaction.

I stared at her wordlessly, "We didn't use protection."