Billionaires Meet Millionaire (A Steamy Romance) (8 page)

"Nooo."
Maggie whispered incredulously.

"You better
believe it sister."

Her mother had
moved out earshot as she was prying information out of her
firstborn or, judging by her expression, rather giving him the
first degree. She really didn't like being kept in the dark.

Olta
finished her breakfast and checked her bag; all the while
being badgered by Maggie. Her mother hung up and looked at her
daughters with a satisfactory smile.

"He'll be
coming over next Friday to explain himself properly." She stated as
if it was an every day occurrence.

"He's
coming over, as in flying here?" Maggie finally managed after the
both of them had been momentarily paralyzed by the
information.

"Yes
Maggie, seeing as we now live on the other side off the Atlantic I
do imagine it will involve some flying. Now , this girl is your
French teacher, I understand. How did you figure out she's involved
with David?"

"Yeah,
well she was asking about Tirana and everything because she had
been over there and then she asked whether I knew a David Mehmeti.
She explained she sort off was having it on with him after she been
to Paris this summer. I remembered David having been to Paris and
figured we were talking about the same person, so I told her he was
my brother. And she practically screamed "That's fantastic" and she
hugged me. In front of the entire class, mind you." Olta remembered
the whole class staring at her as she made her way to her seat and
she felt some her earlier anxiety return.

"Sounds
like she was just pleased to meet you." Her mother said playfully.
Olta knew that her mother was fully aware of the discomfort
attention caused her. Olta, however, had never talked about the
nature of most of the attention she received or the extent of her
discomfort. Putting the dishes in the sink her mother glanced at
clock on the microwave.

"God,
it's already eight, we've got to run. I'll just get my briefcase
and Maggie get your bag."

Olta
picked up her bag and headed towards the front
door.

"Amanda." Her mother called out just as Olta had opened the
door. Olta turned her head around and as she did she collided
headlong into something or rather somebody. She slowly turned her
head back and looking up she looked straight into the surprised and
amused eyes of Niall.

"Good
morning Tirana, thought you might need a ride." Niall said smiling
and Olta felt the knot in her stomach tighten.

Niall
had arrived at Olta's house at exactly eight. Just as he
was about to ring the bell the door opened and Olta walked into
him. She looked up with a confused look. For a moment neither
seemed willing to break the close contact between them. Niall knew
he didn't he want to and he was glad to notice that Olta didn't
seem too eager either. Just like the day before he felt himself
drowning in her eyes. The confusing disappeared and was replaced by
a combination of mild interest and indeed again insecurity. He had
to suppress the urge to pull her even closer. After what seemed an
eternity, but was more likely a second or so Olta took a step
backwards. From within the house Niall heard a woman's voice
calling. Olta turned her head to face the voice and Niall looked up
in the same direction. A woman came towards them followed by a
girl.

"We need
to hurry" she said but as she saw Niall, Bona stopped in her
tracks. Niall saw the family resemblance. Olta's mother had a
darker complexion though. It was the look on the older woman's
which caught his interest. It was as if she had never seen a boy so
near her daughter before and he saw curiosity and protectiveness
overcome the smug smile she had been wearing before.

"Hi,"
she said briskly but with a big smile coming around Olta. "I'm
BonaMehmeti."

"Good
morning Mrs. Mehmeti. NiallFoy. I thought I'd give Olta a ride to
school." He said shaking the hand she put out. The girl popped up
next to her mother. Blushing fervently she too held out her
hand.

"MaggieMehmeti." Niall looked at the girl. He figured her
to be around twelve. She and Olta clearly were sisters but Maggie
had a set of black curls and her mother's brown eyes.

"Excuse
me for asking but how long have you had a driver's license for,
Niall? And please none of that mrs business." Mrs. Mehmeti said
sternly but with a small smile. Olta scolded her mother in her own
language and Niall needn't to understand a word to notice the great
discomfort the situation was causing her. Niall thought the
situation was rather funny. He usually didn't meet the family while
all hurled up on the doorstep.

"For
well over a year now, Mrs. Mehmeti." He said stretching the truth a
bit by including the time he had had his driver's permit and
ignoring her request. She glanced over his shoulder and her smile
widened as she spotted his car.

"Well,
ok then. And please do call me Bona. You're not one of my clients.
Now run along, I'm still running dreadfully late even if you
picking Olta up does save me time." She smiled at Niall and nodded
to her daughter. Niall thought he could hear a sigh of relieve
escape Olta's lips.

"Good
morning then, uh Bona." Niall said hesitantly. "Maggie." He gave
the girl a small nod and smile and the girl positively
beamed.

"Thanks
for picking me up like this and sorry about that. My mom strongly
disagrees with sixteen year olds getting a driver's license." Olta
said as they got into his car. In the rearview mirror Niall saw
Mrs. Mehmeti or Bona as she preferred, pull out the drive way.
Pulling alongside them she and Maggie gave them a small wave and
then they drove off. Driving after them Niall looked to Olta as he
heard her sigh heavily. She was resting her head against the
headrest in much the similar fashion as the day before. She looked
at him and she was clearly thoroughly embarrassed. But Niall
noticed she wasn't flushed. He gave her his best reassuring smile
and turned to face the road.

"Ok. So
you have a mother, a sister here. Your brother and father are back
in Albania?"

"My
brother is, but my father isn't." Niall heard Olta's voice tighten
and glanced at her. She was looking out the passenger's window. She
cleared her throat.

"He died
last year; it's the reason why we came out here." Her voice was
still tight but it held no emotion. Niall was unsure how to
proceed. He wanted to know more but didn't want to make her any
more uncomfortable.

"I'm
sorry." He said, complementing himself for his astounding
creativity. Olta kept staring out the window.

"Thanks." Her
voice was still flat. He heard her clear her throat again and she
looked over at him. Glancing over he could see her eyes had
darkened but there was a smile on her lips. One that didn't reach
her eyes.

"I
forgot to tell you but that Altea girl sends you her sympathy. She
seemed greatly stricken by the fact that, now how did she put it,
ah yes that I've been forced down your throat."

Niall
looked over at her in shock and the car swirled
momentarily. Quickly regaining his control he said. Altea really
was becoming annoying or better said becoming even more
insufferable than before. Apparently she hadn't just been
complaining to her girlfriends.

"When did you
talk to her?"

"Yesterday at lunchtime. She your girlfriend or something?"
Olta fished and Niall liked it. Having admitted to himself that he
after just one day was genuinely interested in Olta it bothered him
that to no end that he was actually insecure about her feelings
towards him.

"No."
was all he answered not wanting to go into Altea or give himself
away.

"You
know, you never did get around to explaining the system in this
school any further. I take it that Daniel and this Altea girl and
your friends and you are the top of the pyramid?" Niall realized
that Olta had just in one statement effortlessly separated his
brother and his ex-girlfriend from him and simply changed the
subject.

"Yeah, I
guess so. Altea doesn't really count though. She and her friends
and many others are just sort off hangers on." It had been easy
enough to explain the other groups who weren't considered good
enough by Daniel and his crowd. But to go into his own position and
just how that related to his brother and his family was not
something he wanted to analyze. Olta was looking thoughtfully and
Niall knew she wasn't going to let it drop.

"Hangers on
you say. So what you're saying is that your friends and you and
your brother are popular simply because of your family's
position."

Niall
cringed at her all too accurate description and he felt
annoyed by it. It wasn't as if they didn't do anything productive
to insure their status. Well he personally didn't do anything but
he honestly didn't care about it. He and his friends just happened
to be at the top of the food chain. Why? Simply because they were
the children of some of the most affluent and important people in
the region. Her assessment of the situation was correct no matter
how harsh or disrespectful it sounded. Even though it had been just
a day since they had met she seemed more aware of the way things
worked than she let on. Prime example being how she had played
along with him when he caught her with Daniel. She had played along
and hadn't questioned him. Maybe she had just been too scared by
Daniel or maybe she truly believed Niall had been looking all over
for her. Which of course was true but he had been looking for
because he had seen Daniel leave not because she had annoyed him in
any way.

"Pretty
much, yes." Niall finally conceded rather harshly as he pulled into
his parking space.

"I'm
sorry." Olta said softly. "I didn't mean to say that you guys ...."
Niall wanted to dismiss her apology as Olta's voice trailed away
but she continued "It's actually not that different from my old
school. Although we never did have someone extending invitations
and things actually seemed to be rather egalitarian, seeing as
pretty much everybody's parents were important one way or another.
But other than that things were pretty similar."

He
looked at her with slightly raised eyebrows as he grabbed his bag
from the backseat. What had she meant by that? He wanted to ask her
about it, but Olta was already making her way out the
car.

Niall
noticed she did so in a seductively slow and graceful
manner and felt himself swallow. No touching her today, he reminded
himself, or at least no noticeable and will-send-her-running
touching. Olta slamming the passenger side door shut shook Niall
out of his reverie and he quickly got out. Olta was already heading
towards the entrance. He sauntered after her just watching her walk
in front of him.

"Niall,
my man." He felt Bailey jump on his back. "So a little birdie, well
quite a tall one actually, tells me you like the little thing
walking in front of us." Bailey said quietly as he jumped of his
back and started to walk alongside Niall. Niall merely shrugged,
but he just couldn't stop himself from grinning ever so slightly.
Bailey noticed and matched the grin with one of his own. He
leisurely threw an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"And to
think I actually didn't believe her. 'Al babe' I told her 'no way
in hell is Niall liking a girl in this school. It'll be the day
that I will profess my undying love for Jason'. But apparently all
it takes is some new blood and we can say bye-bye to Niall. So
thank you very much." Again Niall merely shrugged but the grin
widened. Just then Alice and Peter joined him on his other side.
Alice gave Niall a peck on his cheek.

"I just
think it's cute." Alice stated sweetly tossing up Niall's hair.
Niall wanted to glare at her. However he couldn't manage to make it
very convincing which caused both Alice and Peter to
chuckle.

There
were many reasons why the four of them were still friends after ten
years. One of them being that Niall knew that all the joking aside
this bit of information was completely safe with them. Even if
Peter hadn't hold his tongue.

They
didn't know any of the particulars but they knew that Niall and
Daniel loathed each other. So they knew that no good could come
from Daniel being aware of Niall actually liking a girl. Both this
and the situation between said girl and Daniel the day before were
clear causes to be cautious. Niall knew they knew and so wasn't
surprised but grateful when Peter started about some basketball
game as they came within earshot of other students.

C
hapter Nine

As Olta
sat on the bench on the porch she debated her options. It was
Friday afternoon and she had successfully managed to lock herself
out of the house by forgetting her keys. In her mind’s eye it could
see them lying on the kitchen counter, next to her mobile phone.
And of course they didn't have a spare key buried somewhere and of
course her mother was having drinks with her new colleagues and of
course Maggie was spending the night at a friend's place. Her
predicament left Olta with two feasible options: she could either
wait for her mother to return or she could be truly daring and go
over to Niall.