DAMIEN’S POV - 3:28 PM
’’But he wasn’t waiting that long.’’
Damien picked up his phone, his hand steady despite the storm of emotions raging inside him. He scrolled to her contact...not the office extension, but her personal cell....and pressed call.
It rang once. Twice.
"Hello?" Her voice was cautious, guarded.
"Co to my office." His voice was softer than usual, lacking the commanding edge she was used to. "Please."
There was a pause. "Damien...."
"Not the main office. The lounge. Just....please. Co talk to ."
Another pause, longer this ti. He could almost hear her thinking, weighing, deciding.
"Okay," she finally whispered. "I’m coming."
The line went dead.
Damien stood, straightened his tie, and walked into his private lounge....the small room attached to his office. It had a couch, a small refrigerator, a private bathroom. A place for him to decompress between etings or change clothes before evening events.
A place where, months ago, he’d brought Aria lunch when she was still his maid. Where he’d nearly taken her virginity on that very couch before pulling back at the last mont.
Where he’d made her ride his fingers while he sucked her breasts until she ca apart in his arms.
The mories flooded back, and he sat down on the couch, trying to organize his thoughts. Trying to figure out how to say what needed to be said.
How to explain that she’d unlocked sothing in him. That watching her on that rooftop had broken through his last defenses. That her ultimatum had forced him to face the truth he’d been avoiding.
He loved her. Completely. Desperately. In a way that terrified him but also made him feel more alive than he’d felt in years.
And it was ti to stop fighting it.
******
ARIA’S POV - 3:32 PM
Aria stood outside Damien’s office, her hand trembling as she reached for the door handle.
He’d called. Not texted. Called her and asked....not commanded, asked....her to co to his lounge.
Relief had flooded through her when she’d heard his voice. Relief that he was willing to talk, that he hadn’t just let her walk away.
But terror ca right behind it.
What if he’d called her in to tell her it was over? What if he’d decided the ultimatum was the final straw? What if he was going to ask her to leave, to resign, to disappear from his life completely?
What if I just ruined everything?
She took a breath, steadied herself, and opened the door.
The main office was empty. But the door to his private lounge stood open, light spilling out.
She walked toward it, each step feeling like walking toward either salvation or execution.
When she stepped through the doorway, mories slamd into her with physical force.
This room. This couch where he sat now, watching her with those dark, unreadable eyes.
She’d been here before. Had brought him lunch when she was still pretending to be Sarah the maid. Had thought it would be a simple delivery.
Instead, he’d pulled her into the bathroom. Had kissed her until she couldn’t think. Had made her give him a blowjob that left them both shaking. Had nearly....so nearly.....taken her virginity right there before pulling back with a restraint that had left her aching and confused.
"Not yet," he’d said. "When I take you for the first ti, it won’t be rushed. Won’t be on a couch in my office. You deserve better than that."
And then, later, after everything had exploded....he’d brought her here again. Had made her ride his fingers while he sucked her breasts with a hunger that felt like he was trying to draw milk from her body. Had made her co so hard she’d seen stars.
Now, standing here again, rembering all of it....her body responded imdiately. Heat pooled between her thighs. Her nipples tightened. Her breath ca faster.
Damien’s eyes tracked every change in her expression, and a small, wicked smile curved his lips. He knew. Of course he knew. He always knew what his proximity, his presence, his mories did to her.
"Close the door," he said quietly.
She did, the soft click sounding impossibly loud.
"Co here. Sit beside ."
She crossed the room on trembling legs and sat on the couch, careful to leave a few inches between them. Professional distance, even now.
He turned to face her, and she braced herself for whatever was coming.
"I watched the security footage," he said without preamble. "Saw Victoria cornering you in the lobby. Saw you go to the roof afterward."
Her face flushed. "You were watching ?"
"I needed to understand what happened. Why you ca to my office like that." His eyes searched hers. "What did she say to you, Aria? What did she tell you that sent you to the roof?"
"It doesn’t matter...."
"It matters to ."
She looked down at her hands, twisted together in her lap. "She said....she said your grandfather has approved her as your future wife. That a Blackwood-Ashford marriage is already planned. That I’m just a phase you’re working through and when Richard cos ho, you’ll choose the appropriate match."
Damien’s jaw clenched, but he stayed silent, letting her continue.
"She said I don’t belong in your world. That I’m nobody. Replaceable. Out of my depth." Aria’s voice cracked slightly. "She told to walk away now. To find soone from my own class, my own level. To save myself the humiliation."
"And you believed her?"
"I...." Aria looked up, t his eyes. "Part of did. Because isn’t she right? I don’t belong in this world, Damien. I’m a forr maid who lied her way into your life. I have no family na, no connections, no social standing. What business do I have thinking I can survive in your world?"
"Stop." His hand shot out, gripped her chin gently but firmly. "Don’t let her poison get in your head. Don’t let her make you feel small."
"But she’s not wrong...."
"She is wrong. About everything." His thumb stroked her cheek. "Yes, my grandfather and Harold Ashford have discussed a potential alliance. But I never agreed to it. Never gave them any indication I was interested in Victoria. And when my grandfather called yesterday, I told him there was soone else. Soone important. Soone I’m...." He paused, the word catching in his throat. "Soone I’m in love with."
Aria’s breath stopped. "What?"
"I told him about you. Not everything...not the full story of how we t, because that’s complicated and requires more than a phone conversation to explain. But I told him there’s a woman I’m trying to trust again. A woman who hurt but who I can’t seem to let go of. A woman who matters."
Tears pricked her eyes. "Damien...."
"And you’re right. I have been keeping you in limbo. Using control and dominance as a shield. Claiming your body while protecting my heart." He shifted closer, his hand moving to cup her face. "But watching you on that roof....seeing you stand there alone, seeing you fight your own battle, seeing you co back stronger....sothing broke open in ."
"What broke?"
"The fear. The need to protect myself at all costs. The burden of unforgiveness I’ve been carrying." His eyes were raw, vulnerable in a way she’d never seen. "I need to tell you sothing. About why I’ve found it so hard to trust you. Why forgiveness has been nearly impossible."
"Okay." She covered his hand with hers, anchoring him.
He took a breath, and when he spoke, his voice was rough with old pain. "My mother died a couple of years ago. Cancer. She’d been sick for two years, but I didn’t know. She hid it from . From everyone."
Aria’s heart clenched. "Oh, Damien...."
"She didn’t want to burden . Didn’t want to disrupt my life while I was at university. So she suffered in silence, got sicker and sicker, and by the ti she finally told ..." His voice cracked. "By the ti she finally told , it was too late. Stage four. Inoperable. She had three months."
"I’m so sorry." The words felt inadequate, but she said them anyway.
"For two years, she lied to . Told everything was fine when it wasn’t.
Pretended she was healthy when she was dying. And when she finally told the truth, I felt...." He struggled for words. "Betrayed. Angry. Devastated. Like she’d robbed of the chance to say goodbye properly. To spend those two years with her instead of away at school."
Understanding crashed over Aria. "And then I did the sa thing. Lied about who I was. Pretended everything was fine when it wasn’t. Hid the truth until it was almost too late."
"Yes." He pulled her closer, his forehead resting against hers. "Logically, I know it’s different. Your mother lived. You had reasons. But emotionally....it triggered everything I felt when my mother died. The betrayal. The anger. The feeling that soone I loved had lied to about sothing fundantal."
Tears were streaming down Aria’s face now. "I’m so sorry. I didn’t know....I never ant to...."
"I know. I know you didn’t." His hands frad her face, his thumbs wiping away her tears. "But I’ve been punishing you for my mother’s choices as much as your own. I’ve been so terrified of being lied to again, of being hurt again, that I couldn’t see what was right in front of ."
"What’s that?"
"That you’re not my mother. That your situation was different. That you’ve apologized and submitted and proven yourself over and over." His voice dropped to a whisper. "That I’ve been so busy protecting myself that I’ve been hurting us both."
"Damien...." She could barely speak through the tears.
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