The night everything changed
The music from my brother's birthday party was still thumping downstairs, but up in Jace Kane's old bedroom, it was quiet enough to hear my heart pounding.
"You shouldn't be up here, Aria." Jace stood by the window, his hands in his pockets, looking at me like he had for ten years — like I was something precious he wasn't allowed to touch.
I had been in love with Jace since I was fifteen. He was my brother Michael's best friend. The boy who taught me how to throw a football, who let me ride on the back of his first motorcycle, who always saved me the last slice of pizza. And for ten years, he told me I was too young.
"I'm twenty-two now, Jace," I said, my voice shaking. "I'm not a little girl anymore."
His eyes dropped to my dress. It was simple and black, but the way he looked at me made me feel like it was something more. "You have no idea what you do to me, do you?" he whispered.
He crossed the room in two steps. The space between us disappeared. I could smell his cologne — the same one he's worn since high school — and something that was just him.
"Michael would kill me," he said, but his hand was already on my cheek, his thumb tracing my lips.
"Michael is downstairs," I whispered back.
That was all it took. Jace kissed me. Not like the quick, sweet kiss he gave me on my sixteenth birthday as a joke. This was hungry. Desperate. Like ten years of waiting finally broke. I gasped against his mouth, and he took the chance to deepen the kiss, his other hand sliding to my waist, pulling me against him.
"Aria," he groaned my name like a prayer. "Tell me to stop. If you don't tell me to stop now, I'm not going to be able to."
I didn't tell him to stop. I stood on my toes and kissed him back.
That was when the bedroom door opened. The air in the room changed instantly. Cold. We both froze.
Standing in the doorway, in a perfect tailored suit while everyone else was in party clothes, was Ethan Kane. Jace's older brother.
Ethan's eyes went from me — flushed, lips swollen, pressed against his brother — to Jace, his jaw so tight I thought it might shatter. His voice, when he spoke, was low and terrifyingly calm.
"So this is where you two disappeared to."
Jace immediately stepped in front of me. "Ethan. It's not what it looks like."
Ethan didn't look at Jace. His eyes stayed on me. And for the first time in my life, he didn't look at me like I was Michael's annoying little sister. He looked at me like I was a woman.
"Michael is looking for you, Jace," Ethan said, still looking at me. "You should go downstairs. Now."
Jace hesitated. He looked at me, his eyes full of apology and promise. "I'll be right back. I promise, Aria. We're not done talking."
He left, brushing past his brother. Then it was just me and Ethan. He closed the door. Click. My heart stopped.
"Ethan, I can explain—" I started.
"You have been in love with my brother since you were in pigtails," he said, walking toward me slowly. "Do you think I didn't know? Everyone knew."
I backed up until my legs hit the bed.
"But you never once looked at what was right in front of you," he continued. "You never looked at me."
Ethan Kane had always been distant. Cold. He left for college when I was twelve and came back a billionaire. He never had time for family dinners, let alone for me.
"I have watched you grow up, Aria Cole. I have watched every boy try to get close to you, and I have watched my brother pretend he didn't want you. For years, I stayed away because it was the right thing to do."
He was standing in front of me now. He reached out, and with one finger, he tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. His touch was gentle, so different from the intensity in his eyes.
"But I'm done doing the right thing. If you want to be a Kane, sweetheart, you should know we Kane men share everything. Our company. Our name. Our legacy."
His eyes dropped to my lips.
"And now, it seems, we share you."
