21. Aria
21
ARIA
W ell, I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. Now that I had, there was no taking it back.
I didn’t usually believe in fate or anything of the sort, but there had to be a reason why I had forgotten to pack the toiletries in my bathroom vanity this morning. I was sort of in a hurry at the time, and it was either sneak back in and duck out before anybody caught me or ordering a whole new set of skin care products. I didn’t feel like going through the hassle.
I’d heard Dad almost shouting, but that wasn’t what kept me from hurrying back out with my bag full of creams and serums. It was hearing Miles’s voice raised in reply that made me creep up on the room and hide outside to listen.
He was willing to give up everything for me. I believed it. Nobody sounded as completely destroyed as he had when they didn’t mean it.
Not only that, I’d heard what he said about his mom. What she did to him. Between that and what Dad had told me, I knew all I needed to know.
It was pretty obvious my parents weren’t as convinced. “Aria, sweetheart…” Mom murmured, glancing between Dad and me. “Are you sure about this?”
“I know what I’m saying.” Turning to Dad, I nodded, making him wince. “Like I said, you could have warned me. You didn’t, and this is what happened. I’m not sorry it did. Not anymore.”
Miles hadn’t looked away from me since I came into the room. His mouth was partly open, and his eyes were narrowed like he wasn’t sure he could believe what he heard.
“I can’t approve of this.” Dad shook his head fiercely when Mom tried to stop him from being an ass and saying something stupid. “It would be one thing to ask me not to grind him into dust after what he did because he had his reasons. But because you love him? After everything he did, you can tell me that?”
“Yes. I can.” I squeezed Miles’s shoulder. “He was going to tell me what he did when you found us at the gala. He said something about making a mistake, but that was all he got out. He could’ve run away, but he stayed because he wanted to try to make it right with me somehow before it was too late. I understand that now. I understand a lot more than I did before.”
Mom offered a tiny smile, which gave me hope. “What about you, Miles?” she asked him.
Dad cut Miles off with the slash of his hand through the air. “Enough. Like he wouldn’t say whatever it took to save his ass. I will not allow my daughter to be used like that. Not again.”
“I don’t blame you.” Miles stood, facing Dad head-on. When I first rounded the doorway, he looked defeated. Now, he stood straight and tall, and the new strength in his voice made my chest swell. “I would think the same way if I were in your shoes. I haven’t given you any reason to trust me until now. The best I can say is I will work every day to earn your trust. All of you. Though I know I don’t deserve your daughter, I do love her. I would’ve realized it sooner and been able to do something about it if I hadn’t been so damn blind. I see what’s important now.”
“Nice words,” Dad muttered sarcastically, making me grind my teeth rather than scream at him to listen. “Anyone can throw words around.”
“What about actions?” Miles countered.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I have my legal team in the process of drawing up paperwork to form a nonprofit foundation focused on kids from poor neighborhoods, with backgrounds like mine.”
That was news to me, but then it would be after a week of no contact. “I have to do something to help them,” he explained. “Seeing them at that carnival…”
He turned to Mom. “There was a boy who reminded me much too much of myself at his age. I could’ve used a community around me in those days. Mentors, guidance. Hell, free food after school and help with my homework. I want to provide that now. You help the moms. I’ll help the kids.”
Mom’s eyes lit up. “We could work together,” she concluded with a smile.
“Wait a second.” Dad was still having none of it, and it took everything I had not to stomp my feet like a spoiled kid. Why was he so damn impossible? “Now we’re talking about working with him?”
“Give him a chance,” I whispered. “Dad, please.”
He pushed away from the desk, ignoring Mom when she reached for him. We exchanged a worried look as he rounded the desk, standing with his back to us and gazing out the window. Miles reached up and took my hand from his shoulder, lacing his fingers with mine. It felt so right. I was so proud of him.
Still, a part of me would always be filled with regret if Dad never came around and accepted us.
Dad’s shoulders rose and fell. “Clearly, I’m outnumbered,” he admitted with a sigh. “Don’t expect me to be thrilled about this. I do believe you have decent intentions, Miles. Don’t make me regret not picking up that phone and calling Connor.”
“I promise I won’t.” His grip on my hand tightened. “You know I keep my promises.”
Dad snickered, turning his head and smirking over his shoulder. “You’ve proven that much. And, Pumpkin?” His gaze softened along with his voice. “I love you.”
My throat tightened, but I managed to croak, “I love you, Dad.”
Mom came over, gently shooing us out of the room. “Go ahead. Give him some time.” She kissed my cheek, ushering us across the threshold, then closed the door, leaving us alone in the hall.
We had been here before—moments after leaving Dad’s study that first day, face-to-face. Now, I wasn’t filled with apprehension and mistrust. Not like before. Never again.
“Are you sure about this?” It was like he was afraid to touch me as he gently brushed his fingers over my cheek, stroking my hair behind my ear. That simple touch drained the strength from me. All I wanted was to lean in, to melt into his arms. Thank God I came back when I had. I would never stop being grateful for a simple twist of fate.
“Absolutely sure,” I told him with a smile and a heart ready to burst. “I heard everything you said. And I’m sorry you had to?—”
He shook his head, then touched his forehead to mine, releasing a sigh. “Enough of my past. It’s time to start thinking about the future.”
“The immediate future or long-term?” I was ready to explode with joy by the time I opened my eyes to look deep into his. Was this real? Had my dreams come true all at once? It certainly felt that way. “Because in the immediate future, I would like very much to be alone with you.”
His full mouth stirred in the beginnings of a knowing grin. “I think that can be arranged.”
“Oh, God! Yes!” I held Miles’s head in place, grinding against his face, riding the waves of pleasure brought on by his tongue against my clit. He was a master, working my body like an instrument. I was made for him, and he was made for me.
Instead of letting up, he drove his tongue inside me, fucking me with it and teasing my clit with his thumb. Fireworks burst behind my closed eyelids, red, gold, and silver, my core clenching again before the sweetest spasms wracked me from head to toe. Fuck, he was good at that.
He was good at a lot of things, like stretching out on his back and pulling me on top of him without any effort. We didn’t need to talk through it. I knew what he needed because I needed it too.
We both went still when I took him inside me, savoring that first moment of penetration as I sank to his base. “There is nothing like being inside you,” he whispered, running his hands up my thighs as I began to move. “So tight. So wet.”
“Let me feel every inch of you,” I groaned out, rolling my hips when I reached his base, moaning at the pressure against my G-spot. Sheer torture and I wouldn’t have given up a second of it.
I was so sure we would never be here again.
“Miles… Miles…” Right away, the tension began building again. Maybe I had never stopped coming after the last one. All I knew was my body plunged up and down on top of his, riding him hard and fast. He was back where he belonged, inside me. Connected.
“God, I love you,” he whispered, touching me, stroking, lighting me on fire. Flames licked my skin, or was that his tongue when he sat up, pulling me close, burying his face in my neck, and groaning when I picked up speed? Close, so close.
“I love you,” I whispered in his ear, my fingers dancing in his hair, my breath coming in sharp gasps. That was all I knew. I loved him. I loved this. His heart racing against mine, his hands tugging my hair, pulling my head back so his tongue could trace the line of my throat.
It was more now. The mind-bending heat hadn’t changed. It was everything else. How precious he was to me. How close I came to losing him forever. The thought made me wrap my arms around his shoulders so I could hold him tight like I was afraid he would get away from me again.
“Are you ready to come for me?” he growled out, his breath hot against my skin.
“Yes… yes!” So ready that it scared me. I was almost afraid of the force building in my core. Tears filled my eyes, and emotion clogged my throat. I held him tighter because I knew I would be safe. “Come with me.” I nearly sobbed.
The tension grew until there was nothing to do but scream when it all exploded, shattering me. My body clenched around him when he poured himself into me. When he fell back, I went with him, draped across his chest, completely spent after our third round of earth-shattering sex since arriving at The Plaza that afternoon.
“I think I’m going to need a break now,” he panted beneath me. “And maybe a little food. We missed dinner.”
“No wonder I’m so hungry.” It didn’t help that I hadn’t eaten a decent meal in days. It’s funny how all of a sudden, my appetite was back with a vengeance.
But it was so much nicer right now to be here, like this. Forgetting the outside world existed, if only for a little while. Later, there would be time to make explanations to answer texts and phone calls from everybody once they heard what happened. By now, I had no doubt the news had spread. Mom would have called my sister immediately, and after that, it was only a matter of a group text.
I’d deal with it later. Not now. Not yet.
“Thank you,” he whispered softly enough that I almost didn’t hear him over my pounding heart.
I opened my eyes and lifted my head, looking down at him. Those beautiful eyes were even more beautiful now that they were filled with love. So much so that I could barely breathe. “For what?” I whispered, brushing a few damp curls away from his forehead.
“For this. Giving me another chance. I know I don’t deserve it.”
I touched a finger to his lips, shaking my head. “Like you said, let’s not talk about the past anymore. All that matters is now.”
He took my hand, pressing his lips to my palm and closing his eyes. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m going to work every day to keep you happy.”
I rolled away, giggling as I reached for the room service menu on the nightstand. “You can start by ordering a feast to be sent up here. After that, we’ll take it one day at a time.”
“Everything in life should be so easy,” he replied, snatching the menu from me.
He made a point. Loving him was so easy. I had started doing it before I knew what was happening.
It’s a good thing, since I planned to do it for the rest of my life.