HE RUINED ME, NOW I'M HIS STEPMOTHER

The Revelation

The black car James sent arrived at exactly 7:45 PM.

I left Lily with the nanny, kissing her forehead while she watched cartoons and ate popcorn. "Be good, baby. Mommy will be back soon."

"Is this a date, Mommy?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Just dinner with a... friend,” I chuckled at how observant and curious she sounded.

"A boyfriend?"

What?

I burst into a loud laugh, throwing my head back despite myself. This girl!

"Something like that."

Now I sat in the back of the car, smoothing down my dress for the hundredth time. I wore red this time. It was tight, with a high slit up my thigh that felt dangerous. My hair was down and in loose waves. I looked elegant…sexy.

I looked like sin, and it made me feel very powerful.

The restaurant was the kind that didn't have prices on the menu.

James stood when I entered. He wore all black, his suit tailored perfectly to his broad shoulders. His eyes moved over me slowly, taking in every inch. My whole body shivered at how intensely his eyes raked over me, and I squirmed slightly.

"You're stunning," he said, his voice rough and hungry as he took my hand, and then kissed it. Electricity shot up through the spot where his lips touched my skin and I bit my lip to stifle the moan that threatened to escape.

Fuck, what was this man doing to me? I had never felt so alive with anyone as much as I felt when I was with him— even though I barely knew him.

"You clean up well yourself,” I said, offering him a small smile.

He pulled out my chair, and I sat. He pushed it in, his hands brushing my bare shoulders just for a tiny second. But it was enough for it to make me hot and hyper aware how my body easily reacted to him.

He took the seat across from me, and sat very close to me, our knees almost touching. The table was small and intimate.

A waiter appeared, and poured us each a glass of wine before disappearing.

"I ordered for us," James said.

I looked up at him from under my lashes. "That's presumptuous of you,” I smirked.

"No, just curate." His mouth curved. "You don't strike me as someone who wants to waste time reading menus."

He was right. I had always hated having to select what to eat at dinner dates.

His hand landed on my thigh under the table, and I almost flinched at how warm and heavy it felt. It was a possessive, but I didn't make any move to move it away.

I gasped softly, feeling that familiar tingle in my p***y. I bit my lip and fought the urge not to clench my thighs.

"Is this okay?" he asked.

I should say no. I should tell him to move his hand.

"Yes,” I said, even though my panty was already getting wet. His thumb stroked my skin, just above my knee. It never went higher, never crossing the line.

Some would say it was too forward for him to start touching me so early in the night. But I couldn't deny I enjoyed it– it was relaxing to know he wanted me as much as I wanted him. Maybe even more.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you," he said, his dark and intense eyes locked on mine. "That night…the way you felt, the sounds you made. It's been driving me insane."

Heat pooled low in my stomach. "James.”

"I want you again, Aria. I want you in my bed. Under me, around me. I want to hear you scream my name until you forget every other man who's ever touched you."

My breath came faster, as his hand moved higher, just an inch. His fingers traced patterns on my inner thigh.

"But more than that," he continued, his voice dropping lower, "I want to know you. Everything about you. What makes you smile, what keeps you up at night, and even what you dream about."

I couldn't breathe or think. All I could feel was his hand on my skin and his eyes burning into mine so intensely.

"This won't work," I whispered, my voice coming out breathlessly.

"Why?"

"Because you're—" I stopped and allowed. "You're older than me. What are you, forty-five? Forty-seven?"

"Forty-seven."

"I'm twenty-seven. Twenty years age difference, James. People will talk, they'll say—"

"I don't give a f**k what people say." He growled, and his hand tightened on my thigh. "Do you?"

Did I? After everything Marcus and his family had put me through, did I really care what people thought?

"No," I admitted. "I don't."

"Good." He smiled slowly. "Then stop making excuses and admit you want this as much as I do."

I did. God help me, I wanted him more than I have ever wanted any man in my entire life. What I felt for Marcus didn't even come close to what I felt for this man. There was no use denying it.

We ate and talked about London, about Luminère, and his work, though he always kept his response vague. Something about investments and acquisitions.

He made me laugh, like a real hearty laughter, and for the first time in years, I felt light… free.

I leaned back in my chair, laughing at something he'd said about a disastrous business meeting, when I accidentally glanced to my side.

And I froze.

Marcus. He was sitting three tables away, staring right at me.

He was with another man. Business dinner, probably. But Marcus wasn't looking at his companion, he was glaring at me with such intensity I felt it like a physical touch.

Then his eyes shifted to James. And his entire face went stiff. He looked shocked as his mouth fell open, and his eyes went wide.

I frowned. Why was Marcus looking at James like that? Like he'd seen a ghost?

James hadn't noticed. He was still talking, his hand back on my thigh, stroking gently.

Marcus stood up, and his chair scraped loudly against the floor.

He stormed toward us.

"Aria." His voice cut through the restaurant's quiet murmur, and people turned to stare at him in curiosity. "What the f**k are you doing here with him?!" He spat the last word like a curse.

James finally looked up and saw Marcus, but his expression didn't change. He raised one eyebrow, and then tilted his head slightly like Marcus was an annoying fly he was considering swatting.

I stood up, my chair scraping back. "Marcus, you have no right to interrupt my dinner—"

"I have every right!" He said, his whole body shaking with actual rage.

I knew he was always a jealous man, acting overly protective sometimes. But this? This was different.

“No, you don't! Whatever I do with my life,” I seethed, my voice cold. “ You have no business with who I chose to spend my time with!”

"You're so goddamn wrong, Aria. I have every right when the man you're f*****g is my own goddamn father!"

The whole restaurant went silent, and every head turned.

My entire world tilted sideways.

"Wh—what?"