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19
Damian turnedthe empty glass in his hand and watched the lights from the city play on the walls of the suite. He’d long since given up pacing the room, stepping around the shattered pieces of his laptop as he obsessed over everything that had been said between him and Aira, over everything she must befeeling.
She’d been gone for more than two hours. Two hours in which he’d replayed every moment without her while she’d been in Greece. Two hours in which he forced himself to imagine the unimaginable possibility of her leaving him for the liehe’dtold.
Then there was the issue of her safety; he would have gone mad thinking about her on the dark, cold streets of the city if it hadn’t beenforCole.
Knowing his second-in-command was out there was the only thing that gave him solace. Maybe Aria was right about not being followed after her meeting with Primo, but if she wasn’t, Damian knew Cole would defend her with his life ifnecessary.
He was contemplating texting Cole for an update when the door opened. He forced himself to stay seated as Aria walked into the room. It wasn’t easy. He wanted to go to her, fold her in his arms, apologize for the lie he’d told toprotecther.
But he’d said everything he had to say, had made his case for his actions. Hewouldn’tbeg.
Not evenforAria.
The rest was uptoher.
He watched as she set the key card down on the console table and entered the room, arms crossed over her chest. She paused at the threshold of the living area, her eyes seeking his across the darkened room. The moment stretched long and thin before she startedtowardhim.
He almost held his breath as she came toward him, paused standing over him. He could smell the city — cold and damp — on her clothes. He was surprised when a moment later, she lowered herself onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned her head on hisshoulder.
He kept his arms at his sides, forcing himself not to touch her. The next move wouldbehers.
It came a moment later when shespoke.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry for contacting Primo, for meeting him without talking to you, for leaving tonight and making youworry.”
He let his arms slide around her waist. “I wasn’t worried,” he said. “I had Colefollowyou.”
There would be no more secretsbetweenthem.
“I figured,” she said, her head still on hischest.
The chuckle rose unbidden through his chest and he tightened his grip on her. He had a feeling this woman would never stopsurprisinghim.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” heasked.
“Because I know why you did it, why you do all the thingsyoudo.”
“Tell me.” He wanted to hear hersayit.
“Because you’re trying to protect me,”shesaid.
“That’s not right,” he said. “Or it’s not all of itanyway.”
She lifted her head to look at him. Her hair was damp around her elfin face, her full lips inches away and begging to be kissed. “It’snot?”
He shook his head, slid his hands into the hair at the back of her head, cuppedherface.
“I fucking love you, Aria. Don’t you know?” It hurt to say the words, to admit it aloud. It meant letting go once and for all of the barricade he’d built around his heart, the barricade that had been the truest friend he’d had since his mother died. “Tell meyouknow.”
“I know.” She touched her lips gently to his. “Doyou?”
He knew what she was asking, knew she was admitting to loving him in return. Admitting that she was as broken and scarred ashewas.
It didn’t matter. They would make each otherwhole.
He returned her kiss, took his time opening her mouth with his tongue, tried to pour everything he felt for her, everything she made him feel, into the press of his lipsonhers.
