Her breathing changed. Quickened. Her pupils dilated even as her body trembled.
I lowered my head slowly, giving her time to pull away. She didn't.
My mouth found hers and everything else disappeared.
Her lips parted on a gasp and I took advantage, my tongue sweeping past to taste her. Coffee and salt from her tears and it tasted like Aria. My hands cradled her face like she was made of glass, something precious that could shatter if I wasn't careful.
She made a sound—half whimper, half sigh and melted into me.
This wasn't the desperate hunger from before. This was something different. Something that felt dangerously close to reverence.
I angled her head, deepening the contact, my tongue stroking against hers in slow, deliberate movements. Her hands slid from my chest to my neck, fingers tangling in my hair.
Time stopped existing. There was only this—her body pressed against mine, her mouth moving with mine, the way she responded to every touch like she'd been made for this. For me.
My hands slid from her face to her neck, feeling her pulse race under my fingers. Down to her shoulders. Her waist. Settling on the small of her back, pulling her closer.
She arched into me and I groaned into her mouth. This was going to kill me. Having her this close and knowing I had to stop. Had to maintain control.
When I finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard. Her lips were swollen. Her eyes were dark. She looked thoroughly destroyed in the best possible way.
"I'm different with you." The words came out rough. Honest. "You make me want to be different. Better than what I am."
"I don't know what to do with that." Her voice was shaky.
"You don't have to do anything yet." My thumb brushed across her lower lip. "Just stop fighting this so hard. Stop pretending you don't feel it too."
I forced myself to step back. To move toward the door before I did something we'd both regret.
"Kai—"
I stopped but didn't turn around. If I looked at her again, I wouldn't leave.
"Get some rest, Aria. Tomorrow's a new day."
I walked out, closing the door behind me.
Left her there with her confusion. Her fear. Her desire that matched my own.
This was dangerous. Getting this close to her. Letting her see the parts of me that weren't just violence and control.
But I couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop.
She was mine in ways I was only beginning to understand and I'd do whatever it took to keep her.
Chapter Nine
ARIA
I was fighting a losing battle, and the terrifying part was that I'd stopped wanting to win.
The past two weeks had fundamentally changed something inside me. The careful walls I'd built, the distance I'd tried to maintain, the resistance I'd clung to—all of it was crumbling. And I was letting it happen.
Worse, I was enjoying it.
And it had everything to do with him, Kai Accardi. But after yesterday one question kept ringing in my mind.
Who is Kai Accardi?
