This was perfect.
16SEBASTIAN
I had never beenthis happy.
It was a foreign sensation, happiness. I knew satisfaction. Accomplishment. The grim pleasure of closing a deal or outmaneuvering a competitor. But this? This bubbling, ridiculous feeling that filled my chest every time I looked at her?
New. Terrifying. Addictive.
We spent our days together now. Wandering the hotel like we owned it, which I supposed one of us eventually might. The competition had faded into background noise. I couldn't remember the last time I'd thought about acquisition strategies or profit margins or any of the things that had consumed me two weeks ago.
We kissed in the garden, hidden behind a wall of hibiscus. In the empty ballroom, dust motes floating in the afternoon light. In the kitchen after hours, when the staff had gone home and the only witness was an industrial refrigerator humming in the corner. We learned each other's bodies when we got the chance, quick and urgent in a supply closet, slow and thorough in the hours before dawn.
It should have felt strange. It didn't.
The nights were ours.
We'd stopped pretending to maintain separate rooms. Aria's things had migrated to my suite piece by piece. A toothbrush on the bathroom counter. A sundress draped over the chair. Her sandals by the door, kicked off carelessly, nothing like the precise way I lined up my shoes.
We fell asleep tangled together and woke up the same way. Every morning, I opened my eyes to dark hair spread across the pillow next to mine, and I had to remind myself this was real. That I hadn't invented her. That she was here, warm and solid and mine.
The tightness in my chest had eased. That constant pressure I'd carried for so long I'd stopped noticing it. Gone. In its place, something lighter. Something that made breathing feel less like a chore.
I could say what I felt now. The words came easier than they ever had. Aria didn't flinch when I was honest. Didn't use my vulnerability as a weapon. She just listened, and held my hand, and sometimes kissed me quiet when the words got too heavy.
My phone rang while Aria was out on the balcony, curled up in a lounge chair with a book. I watched her through the glass doors as I answered. The ocean breeze was playing with her hair, lifting dark strands and setting them down again. She tucked one behind her ear without looking up from the page.
"Dad?"
I turned away from the view. "Hey, princess. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to tell you that Gigi is taking us out today. Me and Aunt Isabelle." A pause. "To lunch. At some fancy place."
"That sounds nice."
"I guess." She didn't sound convinced. "Aunt Isabelle says I shouldn't worry because Gigi's been acting weird. She’s nicer. It’s so weird."
"She's trying. Give her a chance."
"I know. I will." Another pause, longer this time. "Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"You sound weird."
I almost laughed. "Weird how?"
"I don't know. Just... different. Like, less stressed or something."
I glanced at Aria again. She'd set down her book and was watching the waves, her profile soft against the bright sky.
"Something good happened, actually," I said.
"Is it about the hotel?"
"Not exactly."
Silence on the other end. I could picture Evie processing, that furrow between her eyebrows when she was thinking hard about something.
