Chapter 20: Until You: Chapter 20

The lights are on in the house when I walk in, and I wonder if I’ll ever get used to that. It’s been a little over a month, and it still surprises me to find Aria waiting for me at home. Will I ever get used to having someone to come home to?

Aria pops her head into the hallway and I smile. She looks cute as hell, and when she smiles at me, my heart constricts in a way it’s never done before. “I thought I heard you,” she says, walking up to me.

She grabs my hand and pulls me along. “Come on, I’m starving.”

I let her drag me through the house until she all but pushes me into a chair in the dining room.

My eyes follow her through the room as she sets down bowls of salad and pasta. She’s wearing another oversized T-shirt that she’s swimming in, and I wonder if she realizes how sexy she looks in it. It’s shapeless and doesn’t remotely mold to her body, but it just makes me wonder what’s underneath even more. I shouldn’t be thinking about Aria like that, but it gets harder to push those thoughts away with each passing day.

She’s always here, always in my space, her presence filling my every thought. She’s at work with me, dazzling my team, and then she’s at home with me, dazzling . I find myself seeking her out when I shouldn’t, and every day, I look forward to going home and getting to have her to myself.

“I can help, you know?” I say. “You don’t have to do everything yourself, sweetheart. Besides, you definitely shouldn’t be waiting for me to eat. Sometimes I get so lost in work and meetings I lose track of time.”

Aria smiles and shakes her head. “It’s okay, Gray. I enjoy this. It makes me feel like I’m not just freeloading here, you know? If you won’t let me pay rent, then you have to at least let me do this. Besides… you’ve done so much for me. I don’t know how to repay you.”

“You don’t need to repay me. I don’t keep score.” And if I did, Aria would always come out ahead. She has no idea how much she’s changed the trajectory I was on. Seeing her work so hard at being happy and building a future for herself when she was just a teenager inspired me endlessly. It made me want to work harder and dream bigger. She’s always meant more to me than she realizes, and she always will.

“Try this,” she tells me, filling my plate.

I do as she says, unable to keep my eyes off her. She grins at me and leans in, and my eyes drop to her chest. Is she not wearing a bra? I tug on my tie, pulling it loose. She’s beautiful, and she doesn’t even realize it.

“Do you think it’s possible?” she asks, and I blink. Her expression falls, and I realize I just missed what she was saying, lost in thoughts of her.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “What was that?”

She shakes her head, biting down on her lip. “It’s nothing,” she says, falling quiet as she finishes her dinner.

I think back to what she was talking about, drawing a blank. Was it something about work?

Aria is quiet as she clears the table, and I rise from my seat, intercepting her before she disappears into her room. I walk up to her and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She stumbles and presses her hands against my chest to stabilize herself. She looks up at me wide-eyed, and this time I’m sure. That’s attraction in her eyes. The way her cheeks flush and her lips part… yeah, she’s as affected by me as I am by her, but I’m not sure she’s even aware of the way her body betrays her. She and I have gotten more comfortable together recently, and every once in a while, I catch her looking at me with an interest that wasn’t there before. I enjoy that look in her eyes far more than I should.

“Tell me. What was it you said? I was just absentminded, Aria. I wasn’t ignoring you. I’ll never do that to you.”

She leans in, her chest grazing against mine. I want her fully pressed up against me. I want to know what she feels like, whether she’ll fit into me as well as I think she will.

“It’s nothing,” she murmurs. “I was just asking you for some advice about some of the work I’m doing. I hit a wall, and I’m not sure how to resolve it.”

“Okay, let’s take a look,” I tell her, twirling a strand of her hair around my finger. She smiles at me, and my heart… my fucking heart.

“Really?”

I nod, and Aria grabs my hand with both of hers. She pulls me along to the sofa and grabs her laptop. I watch her as she sits down and pulls her legs up, making her T-shirt ride up, revealing her thighs. I force my eyes away, but the one glance was enough to make me wonder how soft her skin will be, whether she’ll gasp if I were to open her legs and kiss her inner thigh.

I shrug off my suit jacket and remove my cufflinks, placing them on the table before unbuttoning the top few buttons on my shirt. I pause when I feel Aria’s gaze on me.

Her eyes meet mine, and the way she looks at me instantly has me hard. This woman…

I sit down next to her and grab one of the cushions that magically appeared in my apartment, livening up my otherwise bland, boring space. I place it in my lap to hide how she affects me, and she’s so fucking clueless… so clueless, that she places her laptop on top of the cushion, as though I intended to use it as a table or some shit.

She sits next to me on her knees; her face far too fucking close to mine as she runs me through the issues she’s facing. All the while, all I can’t think of is how I want her flat on her back, my lips on hers and my cock buried deep inside her. I want my name on her lips.

I want what I’ll never have.