KAI
I wanted her so badly I was losing my fucking mind.
Wanted to taste her. Touch her. Fuck her in so many different positions she'd lose count. Wanted to hear her scream my name until her voice went hoarse. Wanted to mark every inch of her skin so everyone would know exactly who she belonged to.
It had been one week since the kitchen incident, and I couldn't take it anymore.
One week of being careful. Of maintaining distance. Of pretending I didn't want to drag her into the nearest empty room and finish what we'd started.
The sexual tension was killing me. Slowly. Methodically. Like death by a thousand cuts.
Every morning at breakfast, I'd watch her across the table. Watch her lips close around her fork. Watch her tongue dart out to catch a drop of juice. And all I could think about was those lips wrapped around my cock. That tongue doing very different things.
I was a sick bastard. Completely depraved.
And I didn't give a single fuck.
In the garden, she'd read her books while I pretended to reviewsecurity protocols on my phone. But really, I was watching her. The way sunlight caught in her dark hair. The way she'd bite her lip when she was concentrating. The way she'd shift in her seat, her dress riding up slightly on her thighs.
All I wanted was to cross that space between us. Push her down into the grass. Hike that dress up around her waist and make her forget every word in whatever book she was reading.
But Luca was watching. Always fucking watching.
He reported everything back to my father. Every conversation. Every interaction. Every moment Aria and I spent in the same room.
One wrong move and everything would fall apart.
So I kept my distance. Maintained the careful facade. Pretended I was just the dutiful son following orders.
While internally, I was going insane.
The hallways were the worst. I'd see her walking toward me and every instinct screamed to grab her. Pull her against the wall. Cover her mouth with mine and swallow whatever protest she tried to make.
Instead, I'd nod politely. Say something about the weather or her Italian lessons. Walk past like she didn't affect me at all.
Like I wasn't rock hard just from being near her.
Like I wasn't dying inside from wanting something I couldn't have.
She felt it too. I could see it in the way her breathing would change when I got close. The way her pupils would dilate. The way her hands would tremble slightly when I passed her something.
We were both burning. Both desperate. Both trying so damn hard to be smart about this.
It was torture.
I sat in my office trying to focus on shipment manifests. Numbers that should have been straightforward kept blurring together because all I could think about was Aria.
The way she'd felt pressed against me in the kitchen. The sounds she'd made. How responsive she'd been to every touch.
I shifted in my chair, adjusting myself. This was getting ridiculous. I was twenty-six years old, not some teenager who couldn't controlhis dick.
Except when it came to her, apparently, I had zero control.
The door to my office opened suddenly. Then locked.
I looked up.
Aria stood there, her back against the door. She was shaking. Literally trembling. Her chest was heaving like she'd been running. It felt like a dream, only that it wasn't, she was really here.
