Chapter 20

JETT

I slide out of bed, leaving the sheets loosely draped over Aria’s naked body. She’s still asleep, her lips slightly parted and her chest rising and falling.

It took every bit of my willpower to get out of bed and away from her, but I have to send some emails if I’m going to carry out my plans for the rest of the day.

Aria and I were together all night, pausing only to sleep. The more I was with her, the more I wanted to be with her, which is a completely new feeling for me.

She’s intoxicating, invigorating, and undeniably delicious. Normally, I don’t miss work for anything, but I plan to rearrange my day to keep her with me and in my arms for as long as possible.

After a shower, I put on sweatpants and a T-shirt, then settle at my dining room table with a cup of coffee and my laptop. After almost an hour of answering emails and shuffling meetings, I hear Aria’s footsteps coming down my hall.

She rounds the corner in a baggy T-shirt and pajama pants; when she spots me, the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile.

I stand up and move toward her, sliding my arms around her waist and pulling her into me. It feels right, like she’s meant to be here.

I kiss her full lips and feel her relax into my touch. Finally, I pull back.

“Coffee?”

“Of course,” she says.

“Sit,” I tell her, and I see her hesitate.

“Oh no, I can get the coffee, Jett,” she says quickly.

I guide her to the chair. “I got it,” I say as I smile at her, and she sits. It makes me happy to take care of her for once—even for something as small as coffee.

I come back and set a cup of coffee in front of her. She pulls her knees up to her chest and cradles the cup in her hands while blowing on it. I love seeing her relax and make herself comfortable.

“Wanna go over your schedule for the day? We’re already behind a bit,” she says, slipping back into work mode.

“Sure,” I say. “I’ve moved some stuff around and have a proposal.”

She raises an eyebrow as she sips her coffee.

“I thought you could use some pampering, so I’ve scheduled for a masseuse and esthetician to come over this morning and give you a massage and facial. Then we can go pick Louise up and take her to lunch. After lunch, I’ll take you both shopping. Finally, you and I can have dinner here.”

Surprise registers all over her face.

“Thoughts?” I ask.

“Jett, that’s very generous, but—”

“Aria, when was the last time you did something—~anything~—for yourself?”

She pauses, blinking.

“Well, it was probably when I was taking advantage of your pool,” she says.

I laugh. “And before that?”

Another pause.

“I don’t know. A while,” she says.

I lean toward her and look deep into her eyes. “Then just go with it, please?”

She smirks at me. “Fine,” she says reluctantly, but I can tell she’s excited.

After we go over a few work items, I attempt to make Aria breakfast but fail spectacularly. At one point, I spill orange juice down my shirt and burn the eggs for the second time.

Aria, who was frowning at a text she just received, looks up and sighs at my antics. “Wow, I didn’t know you were bad at something,” she says as she takes the spatula from me.

I smirk. “I’m not afraid to fail,” I say.

She gives me a quizzical look and then turns back to the pan.

Aria teaches me how to make scrambled eggs while simultaneously flipping the bacon and making toast.

“I’m supposed to be making you breakfast,” I say.

“But I really like not-burned breakfast, so you’ll have to settle for this,” she says, laughing. “You can be the eye candy.” She gestures to my shirtless torso. “Though it is a little dangerous to cook bacon with so much exposed skin.”

We sit down at the bar in my kitchen and eat the breakfast Aria made for us. I notice her glance at her phone again, even though the screen is dark; she nibbles on her cheek as her brow furrows. I wonder if it’s Tim.

“So, have you given any more thought to the buyout?” I ask.

Aria looks at me suspiciously and then back down at her plate. “Does it matter what I think?”

“Of course,” I say. “I mean, Tim can certainly move on without your approval, but I don’t want to. If you really hate the idea, I’ll drop it.”

Aria is quiet for a minute, and I’m not sure if she’s going to answer. Finally, she looks up at me, and I can see the conflicting feelings playing out on her face.

“I don’t want anything to do with…~us~ to be related to the buyout. And I don’t want others to assume that’s why we are…~hanging out~,” she says, clearly avoiding labels.

I nod my understanding. ~She doesn’t want to be judged.~

“Would it help if I told you I was researching DYAD long before I met you? Despite your inability to find me an assistant, I knew it was a good business plan. But when I found out another PA was trying to sell stuff to the press about me, it made me guarded. That’s why I was mad when I found out about you being a VP. I value transparency, and I felt deceived.”

Aria’s eyebrows go up; she’s clearly surprised by this information.

“In any case, if you tell me not to go through with the buyout, I won’t. But I think it will be a good opportunity for both of us. Think about it?”

Aria gives me a small smile and nods.

Just as we’re finishing, Rhonda walks in.

Rhonda has been my house manager for years. She started as a house cleaner, and as my needs and trust in her grew, her role expanded.

Now, I’m her only client, and she manages a small team to take care of all the cleaning, stocking, and running of the penthouse. I trust her with anything, and she acts more like my parent than my employee.

As she walks in and sets a few bags of groceries down, she sees us sitting at the counter.

“Oh, ’ello, Mr. Jett, Ms. Aria. You are not going to the office today?” She looks between us.

I shake my head. “Not today. Aria was kind enough to teach me how to make breakfast,” I say.

Rhonda looks surprised as she turns to Aria. “And you succeeded, did you?”

Aria laughs. “I’m not sure. We’ll see how he does on the final exam,” she says as she elbows me playfully.

“He’ll need lots of practice,” Rhonda says with her hands on her hips as she looks at the mess we made in the kitchen.

“We’ll take care of it, Rhonda,” Aria says.

She waves her hands at us. “Nonsense. Go, go,” she says as she shoos us out of the kitchen.

Aria and I shower together. It takes everything in me not to keep her in there far longer, but we do have an itinerary for the day.

A small woman with a massage table and cases of items arrives while Aria is getting dressed; I have them set up in my bedroom so Aria will have privacy. I have them bring a fluffy white robe and slippers for Aria, too, so she’ll have the full treatment.

While they give Aria a much-deserved massage and facial, I work out, then take a few meetings down in the gym.

Around eleven, Aria emerges looking like she’s floating on a cloud instead of walking. She plops into a large chair in my living room while I look up from my laptop.

“How was that?” I ask.

“Absolutely amazing, thank you,” she says.

“Good,” I say, squeezing her knee. “Now, what does Louise want to eat for lunch?”

***

Outside Louise’s brownstone, I wait with David in a black SUV for Aria and Louise to get in so we can go to lunch. I offered to drive, but Aria didn’t think Louise would easily be able to get into another of my vehicles.

Finally, Aria and Louise emerge. Louise is in a blue wool skirt suit with a matching hat. She looks like she stepped right out of the ’70s.

Aria is wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans with a long-sleeve black shirt and black heels. Her long dark hair is pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck.

Whatever she wears, she exudes grace, and I love knowing both this side of her and the side that was in my bed last night.

As I get out and hold the door for them, Louise gives me a sparkling smile.

“Nice to see you again, Louise,” I say.

“And you,” she says as we help her into the SUV.

“So, Aria says we’re going to lunch,” she says. “Where are we going?”

“That’s entirely up to you. Where would you like to go?”

Louise looks at me and smiles. “Do you like patty melts?”

Twenty minutes later, we’re seated in a small greasy spoon near Louise’s house.

The diner has black-and-white checked floors that are more black-and-gray from years of wear. The bar features the regular clientele of men with newspapers in their hands and hard hats hanging off the back of their chairs.

The smell of fried food and the sound of chatter and laughter float through the small space. It looks like the set of a ’90s sitcom rather than an actual business.

After a few minutes, a waitress approaches with three large, laminated menus.

“Sorry for the wait, everyone,” she says quickly as she eyes me. Then she sees Louise and Aria sitting across from me, and her demeanor softens. “Well, hey there, Louise. How are you? I wasn’t expecting you today.”

Louise smiles. “I’m good, Nelly. You remember my granddaughter Aria? Her and her”—Louise gestures to me—“er, ~friend~ surprised me by taking me to lunch today.”

Nelly turns to me and sizes me up. I’m wearing a simple zip-up jacket and jeans, but she still looks suspicious. I’m glad I didn’t wear a suit today.

“You look familiar, hon. Have I seen you before?”

I smile. “Probably not. There’re thousands of people who look like me in this city,” I say.

Nelly raises an eyebrow. “I seriously doubt that. Now, what’ll you have, hon?” she says as she pulls her notepad out.

“Louise suggested the patty melt, so that’s what I’ll go for,” I say. I see Aria smirking, but I smile sweetly at Nelly.

“Sounds good. I assume you’ll have the same Louise?”

“Yes ma’am,” Louise says.

“And I’ll have the BLT wrap,” Aria says.

“Anything besides water, folks?”

We all shake our heads.

“Sounds good. We’ll have that out soon,” she says as she bustles away to greet a group of older men who just walked in.

“So, what’s the special occasion?” Louise asks.

Aria raises her eyebrows, then looks at me.

“Um, we just had a slow day at work,” she says quickly.

Louise narrows her eyes at us. “Is that right? I thought y’all didn’t have slow days.”

“Well, Aria has been working so hard, and I thought she deserved a relaxing day for once,” I say. “And she wanted to spend it with you.”

“Well, that’s sweet of you,” she says. “How is work going?”

Aria sips her water. “It’s good, but my role may be changing a bit,” she says. “And I’ll have more time for you.”

Louise waves her hand. “Stop worrying about me; I’m fine. You don’t have to entertain me all the time.”

“I know I don’t—I want to. I like hanging out with you,” Aria says.

“I appreciate that, but there ain’t no one ~wanting~ to hang out with an old woman all the time.”

“I do,” I say, smiling. “Especially when that woman has stories about Aria as a kid.”

Aria gives me a stern look, and Louise smiles.

“Well, that’s my favorite subject.”

After lunch and a surprisingly good patty melt, we get into the car to go shopping.

We pull up outside Saks Fifth Avenue, and Aria gives me a suspicious look but doesn’t say anything.

As the three of us walk inside, a slightly older blonde woman in a black-and-gray dress and black pumps greets us.

“Jett, so nice to see you again. And this must be Aria and Louise,” she says, shaking all of our hands.

“Hi, Gwen. Yes, these are the ladies of the hour,” I say proudly.

I can see Aria’s confusion as she tries to work out what’s going on.

“Great! Well, follow me, please,” Gwen says as she leads us through the massive store and into a quiet room with a large couch, chairs, dressing rooms, and several racks of clothing.

“Well, what in the world…,” Louise says.

“Um, Jett, we can’t afford…,” Aria whispers to me.

“Ladies, we’re going to have some stylists come in and treat you all to a personal shopping experience. Make yourselves comfortable, and I’ll go get them,” Gwen says.

As she leaves, Aria pulls me aside. “This is too much.”

“No. I owe you at least one blouse, and I expect you to get some other things that may or may not be ripped off of you,” I say quietly in her ear; goosebumps appear on the back of her neck.

Then I look her in the eyes. “I’ve already paid for it, so there’s no need to fight me. Treat yourself, treat Louise. You both deserve it.”

Aria looks at Louise, who is looking around the grand room.

She sighs. “Fine.”