Chapter 13
641 Words
Adrian's POV
"Aria." My voice was gentler than I'd intended, but firm enough that she looked at me instead of the sheets. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" But the tremor in her voice said she knew exactly what I was asking.
"That it was your first time."
She bit her lip, that gesture that was becoming familiar, that made me want to soothe and devour her in equal measure. "Would it have mattered?"
The question hung between us, loaded with more meaning than either of us was ready to unpack.
"Yes," I said finally. "It would have mattered."
Her eyes searched my face, looking for judgment, for regret, for rejection. She wouldn't find any of those things. But what she would find might terrify her more than any disappointment.
Because looking at her, now rumpled and vulnerable and mine in a way she didn't even understand yet, I realized that everything had changed. Not just for her, but for me too.
Last night hadn't been just s*x. It had been a claim. A binding. A line crossed that could never be uncrossed.
And despite the guilt gnawing at my chest for claiming her innocence without knowing, despite the complications this would bring to my carefully ordered world, I couldn't bring myself to regret it.
She was mine now. Completely, irrevocably mine.
The only question was: what was I going to do about it?
"Are you... are you angry?" she whispered, misreading my silence.
I reached out slowly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Her skin was warm, soft, perfect under my fingertips.
"No," I said, my voice rougher than I'd intended. "I'm not angry."
What I was, was something far more dangerous. Something that would change everything for both of us.
But she didn't need to know that. Not yet.
"Come here," I murmured, gathering her against my chest, feeling her relax into my warmth.
She fit perfectly against me, like she'd been made for this moment, this place in my arms. And maybe she had been. Maybe everything the hotel, the party, her stumbling into my world had been leading to this.
To us.
To the moment when Adrian Voss finally found something he couldn't control, couldn't command, couldn't claim through power or fear.
Something he'd have to earn.
The thought should have terrified me. Instead, holding her close as the morning light painted us both in gold, I found myself looking forward to the challenge.
Aria's POV
His arms around me felt like safety and danger all at once. I could feel his heartbeat against my cheek, steady and strong, while mine fluttered like a caged bird. The sheet beneath us told the story I'd tried so hard to hide, and now there was no taking it back.
"Are you... are you angry?" The words slipped out before I could stop them, my voice barely above a whisper.
His fingers found my hair, stroking gently. "No." I'm not angry."
But something in his voice had changed. Softer, maybe. More careful. Like I was made of glass and he was afraid I might shatter.
I pulled back slightly to look at his face, searching those gray eyes for some clue about what he was thinking. What he was feeling. What this meant now that he knew.
"I should have told you," I said, the words tumbling out in a rush. "I wanted to, but I didn't know how, and then everything was happening so fast, and I thought maybe it didn't matter, or maybe you'd change your mind if you knew"
"Aria." His thumb traced my lower lip, stopping my rambling. "Breathe."
I took a shaky breath, trying to calm the panic rising in my chest. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
The question caught me off guard. "For... for not telling you." For being inexperienced. For"
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