Chapter 38
2161 Words
✨ This Can’t Wait✨
Ari Darven
Ari did not sleep either.
He stood in his study with the lights off, the city reflecting across the floor-to-ceiling glass like fractured constellations. His jacket hung over the back of a chair. His sleeves were rolled with quiet precision. The room smelled faintly of leather, smoke, and rain that hadn’t fallen yet.
He replayed her voice.
I don’t want you to stay away.
He had faced down armed men without a shift in pulse. Negotiated territory disputes without raising his voice. Calculated outcomes that required lives to move like chess pieces.
But that sentence.
That sentence had altered his breathing.
He rested his palms against the cool glass and exhaled slowly.
This was not impulse.
Impulse was loud.
This was alignment.
And alignment was dangerous.
Behind him, the study remained immaculate—dark wood shelves, restrained décor, nothing excessive. Everything in the room had purpose. The desk held only a secure tablet, a silver watch, a pen aligned parallel to the edge.
Control manifested in physical space.
His father had insisted on that discipline.
Nasir Darven believed chaos revealed weakness.
Ari had believed it too.
Until Elena.
The city was quieter at this hour.
From the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, the skyline glowed in scattered lights, the hum of the night settling over the streets below. Ari sat behind his desk, his fingers resting against the polished wood, unmoving.
He hadn’t touched the files in front of him in nearly twenty minutes.
His mind was somewhere else.
Her voice replayed again.
Clear.
Certain.
I don’t want you to stay away.
Ari leaned back slowly in his chair, staring at the ceiling as the words circled through his head again.
He had heard many things in his life. Confessions, threats, desperate pleas. But something about the way Elena had said those words lingered under his skin in a way he couldn’t ignore.
It had been quiet.
Almost reluctant.
But real.
And that was enough.
Ari pushed his chair back abruptly and stood.
Decision made.
He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair and slipped it over his shoulders in one smooth motion. His phone was already in his hand before he reached the door.
Matteo answered on the second ring.
“Yeah.”
“Car. Now.”
There was a pause.
Then Matteo’s voice came again, calm but curious.
“On my way.”
---
Ten minutes later Ari stepped out of the building and into the cool night air.
The black car was already waiting at the curb.
Matteo leaned casually against the driver's door, but the moment he saw Ari approaching he straightened slightly. Years of working together had made him good at reading moods.
And tonight something was different.
Not angry.
Not cold.
Something… urgent.
Matteo opened the back door.
Ari slid inside without a word.
The door shut.
Matteo climbed into the driver's seat, glancing briefly at him through the rearview mirror.
“You look like you’re about to start a war,” he said.
“Take me to her apartment,” Ari replied.
Matteo blinked.
“At this hour?”
Ari’s eyes lifted to the mirror.
“Yes.”
Matteo studied him for another second before asking, “Why?”
Ari leaned back slightly, his fingers tapping once against his knee.
“Because this can’t wait.”
Matteo raised an eyebrow.
“That serious?”
Ari’s voice came quietly.
“She said she doesn’t want me to stay away.”
For a moment Matteo simply stared at him in the mirror.
Then a slow grin spread across his face.
“Well then,” he said, turning the key in the ignition.
“Let’s ride.”
The car pulled smoothly into the street.
---
The drive felt longer than usual.
Ari sat back in the seat, one hand resting against his thigh, his foot tapping impatiently against the floor.
The city lights blurred past the windows, but he barely noticed them.
All he could think about was her.
Elena.
Her stubborn strength.
The way she held her ground even when he pushed.
The way her eyes flashed with defiance.
And the moment earlier when she had said those words.
I don’t want you to stay away.
Ari exhaled slowly.
Whatever was happening between them had grown beyond the quiet tension they had been circling for months.
He had tried distance.
Tried distraction.
None of it worked.
The truth was simple.
He wanted her.
And once Ari allowed himself to acknowledge something like that, he didn’t stop halfway.
He finished it.
The car turned down Elena’s street.
His foot tapped faster now.
He had never felt like it took this long to get somewhere before.
Matteo pulled the car to a stop in front of her building and glanced back again.
“You want me to wait?”
Ari was already opening the door.
“Yes.”
The door shut behind him as he stepped onto the sidewalk.
Elena’s apartment building was quiet.
Ari climbed the stairs two at a time until he reached her floor. The hallway lights were dim, casting soft shadows along the walls.
He stopped in front of her door.
For a moment he simply stood there.
Then he knocked.
Once.
Firm.
Inside the apartment, Elena had been sitting on her couch with a book in her lap she hadn’t turned a page of in ten minutes.
The knock made her look up immediately.
Her brow furrowed.
No one visited her this late.
She crossed the room quietly and opened the door.
And froze.
Ari stood on the other side.
Tall.
Calm.
Watching her.
Surprise flashed across her face before she could hide it.
“What are you doing here?”
He had expected that reaction.
In fact, he had wanted to see it.
The wide eyes.
The sudden tension in her shoulders.
Ari stepped forward slightly, his gaze softening as he looked down at her.
“I needed to see your face when you said it.”
Elena blinked.
“When I said what?”
Ari’s voice lowered.
“That you don’t want me to stay away.”
Silence filled the doorway.
Elena’s breath caught slightly as the memory of those words returned to her.
She hadn’t meant for him to take them like that.
Or maybe she had.
She wasn’t entirely sure.
“You came here,” she said slowly, “in the middle of the morning… because of that?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in his answer.
Ari stepped inside before she could protest, closing the door behind him.
The apartment suddenly felt smaller.
More charged.
Elena crossed her arms lightly.
“You know most people would have waited until morning.”
Ari took another step closer.
“I’m not most people.”
She knew that already.
The quiet confidence in his posture, the certainty in his voice — it was impossible to mistake.
Elena held her ground, refusing to step back even as the distance between them narrowed.
“You could have called,” she said.
“I could have.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“Why?”
Ari stopped a few feet away from her.
“Because I didn’t want to hear your voice through a phone.”
His gaze held hers steadily.
“I wanted to see you.”
The words hung in the air between them.
Elena felt her pulse pick up despite her efforts to remain calm.
“You’re impossible,” she murmured.
Ari smiled faintly.
“I’ve been called worse.”
She studied him for a long moment.
“What exactly are you hoping to accomplish by showing up here like this?”
Ari didn’t answer immediately.
Instead he reached out slowly, his hand brushing lightly against her arm.
The contact was gentle.
Deliberate.
“I’m here because you’re scared,” he said quietly.
Elena’s head lifted slightly.
“I’m not scared.”
“You are.”
His voice remained calm.
“You think if you let this happen you’ll lose control.”
Elena held his gaze.
“And you think you’re the solution to that?”
Ari’s smile deepened slightly.
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I think I’m the problem.”
For a moment neither of them moved.
The tension between them hummed quietly in the air.
Finally Elena exhaled.
“You’re unbelievable.”
“Maybe.”
“But you opened the door.”
And that was true.
She had.
Elena looked at him for another long second before shaking her head slightly.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
Ari’s answer came immediately.
“No.”
A small, reluctant smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Of course not.”
Ari watched her carefully, noticing the way her shoulders relaxed just slightly.
He had come here to reassure her.
To make sure she didn’t retreat back behind her walls.
And standing here now, looking at her in the soft light of her apartment, he knew one thing with absolute certainty.
He wasn’t going anywhere.
Not now.
Not after this.
Because whatever had started between them had already gone too far to ignore.
And Ari had never been a man who walked away from something he wanted.
Ari stepped closer, the space between them shrinking until Elena could feel the warmth of his presence.
“First,” he said quietly, his voice low and certain, “you have to kiss me. Let’s make it official.”
Elena’s breath caught slightly.
She hadn’t expected that.
For a moment she just looked at him, her back straight, trying to keep the same composure she always held around him. But the way he was looking at her—focused, intent—made something nervous flutter in her chest.
Ari had waited long enough.
Longer than he was used to waiting for anything.
His tongue brushed slowly over his lips as he studied her face, watching every small reaction she tried to hide. He stepped even closer, close enough that Elena instinctively drew in a quiet breath.
She hesitated.
Just for a second.
Ari noticed immediately.
“Alright,” he murmured softly, a faint smile touching his mouth. “I’ll kiss you.”
He leaned in.
The moment his lips touched hers, something shifted between them.
Ari felt the tension he had been carrying for months snap into something warm and electric. Her lips were softer than he remembered, the kiss slow at first but filled with a quiet intensity that made his chest tighten. For the first time in a long while, this wasn’t about control or distraction.
It was about her.
Elena, on the other hand, felt the world go strangely quiet around her.
She had spent so much time resisting him, keeping her walls firmly in place, that the simple contact of his lips on hers sent a rush of warmth through her that she hadn’t been prepared for. Her fingers curled slightly at her sides, her heart beating faster as she realized how easily she could lose herself in the moment if she wasn’t careful.
It felt right, everything in that moment felt right. like it was what was meant to happen from the start and neither of them would have know it.
When the kiss ended, Ari didn’t move far.
His forehead almost touched hers as he looked down at her.
“Well,” he said softly.
“It’s official now.”
A small, confident smile appeared on his face.
“You’re not doing any more of that running away from me.”
Ari’s hand lifted slowly, brushing a loose strand of hair away from Elena’s face. His fingers lingered there for a moment, warm against her cheek as he studied her expression.
She was still looking at him like she wasn’t sure what to do with him.
That small uncertainty softened something in him.
Without saying anything, he leaned down.
His lips touched hers gently.
Not demanding.
Not the kind of kiss meant to overwhelm.
Just a soft press.
When he pulled back slightly, he didn’t go far. His forehead almost brushed hers as he watched the way her eyes flickered up to meet his.
Then he kissed her again.
Another light peck against her soft lips.
And another.
Short, warm kisses, each one lingering just a second longer than the last, like he was savoring the simple closeness rather than trying to rush past it.
Elena felt her breath catch.
It wasn’t the intensity she had expected from him.
It was softer.
Careful.
Almost… reassuring.
Her fingers lightly curled against the front of his coat without her realizing it, steadying herself as his lips brushed hers again.
Ari smiled faintly against her mouth before pulling back just enough to look at her.
“There,” he murmured quietly.
His thumb traced lightly along her jaw.
“Now you don’t get to run away from me.”
- Writer
