Chapter 331
Aria’s POV
I got home right at five o’clock. Lucy immediately asked what I wanted for dinner, but my mind was elsewhere, weighed down by thoughts of Linda’s confession.
“Whatever you think is best, Lucy,” I mumbled, grabbing a glass of water before dragging myself upstairs.
Seeing an old friend should have lifted my spirits, but Linda’s revelations about those two miserable years of her marriage had left me with a heaviness I couldn’t shake. Her pain felt so familiar, so close to what could have been my own story if I’d gone through with marrying Liam.
I must have fallen asleep thinking about it all because the next thing I knew, there was a gentle pressure on my cheek – warm lips against my skin.
“Aria?” Aiden’s voice filtered through my half-conscious state.
I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or awake. Dreams and reality blurred together in my exhausted mind.
“Aria,” he called again, closer this time.
My eyes fluttered open to find Aiden’s face inches from mine. I blinked several
times, trying to orient myself, his features coming into focus.
“Aiden,” I murmured, my voice thick with sleep and slightly raspy.
Without thinking, I reached up and hooked my arms around his neck, pulling myself into his embrace. I needed the warmth, the solidity of another person. Of him, specifically.
“Bad dream?” he asked, arms wrapping around me naturally.
I shook my head against his chest. “No, not exactly.”
It wasn’t a nightmare – just fragments of Linda’s story weaving through my subconscious, making me question everything I thought I knew about love and commitment.
“Was seeing your friend not what you expected?” Aiden’s question was gentle, his hand moving to stroke my hair.
I looked up at him, not quite sure how to answer. Yes and no. I shook my head, then nodded.
“It’s not that kind of unhappy,” I explained, voice muffled against his shirt. I could smell his cologne – that expensive, subtle scent that had become so familiar to me
now.
His fingers continued their soothing motion through my hair. “Tell me what happened?”
I adjusted my position in his arms, getting comfortable before speaking. “It’s nothing dramatic, really. Linda told me about her arranged marriage – those two years she spent with the Williams family. She didn’t go into details, but I could read between the lines. It was hell for her.”
“And now?” His question was simple, direct.
“She’s divorced.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Aiden tilted his head to meet my eyes.
I sighed, looking into those dark eyes that seemed to see right through me. “It’s fine. But she told me she’s never growing her hair long again.” My voice caught.” She used to say she’d let it grow until her first love came to marry her.”
I swallowed hard, suddenly overcome with emotion. “Aiden, do childhood sweethearts ever really work out? Or are they all just doomed from the start?”
“Not all of them,” he answered with surprising certainty, as if he had firsthand knowledge.
His confidence caught me off guard. I pulled back slightly to study his face. “You’ve seen it happen?”
“I have.”
Now my curiosity was piqued. “Do I know them?”
“Yes, you do.”
My eyes widened. “Who is it?”
Most of Aiden’s friends were perpetual bachelors as far as I knew. Who among them
had married their childhood sweetheart?
But Aiden just smiled enigmatically, refusing to elaborate.
“Why all the mystery?” I pressed. “Can’t you tell me?”
He took my hand in his, his thumb tracing circles across my palm. “I could. But where would be the fun in that?”
I huffed dramatically. “Fine, keep your secrets. I’ll find out eventually.”
Something flickered in his eyes – amusement, maybe something deeper. “Yes,” he agreed, voice low. “You will.”
The intensity of his gaze made my cheeks burn. Why did it suddenly feel like we were talking about something else entirely?
Desperate to change the subject, I remembered something I needed to confess. “Actually, there’s something else, Aiden.”
He raised an eyebrow in silent question.
“Someone paid for our lunch today,” I admitted, watching his reaction carefully.
“Owen Duncan?” His expression darkened immediately, though he tried to hide it.
“I didn’t see him, but I can’t think who else it would be.”
Aiden’s jaw tightened slightly. “Let’s invite Mr. Duncan for dinner on Saturday, shall we?”
The suggestion was perfectly reasonable a man paying for a married woman’s meal twice was definitely crossing a line. But Owen had been subtle about it, never approaching me directly. It pot, me an awkward position where couldn’t confront him without potentially creating embarrassment if I’d misunderstood.
Aiden’s solution was elegant. As my husband, he could accompany me to repay the gesture, keeping everything above board while subtly establishing boundaries. This was exactly what I’d hoped he’d suggest.
“That sounds perfect,” I agreed with a nod.
A knock at the door interrupted us. “Sir, ma’am, dinner is ready,” Lucy called through the door.
I glanced at Aiden. “Food’s ready.”
“Mm,” he hummed in acknowledgment, but his eyes held that same intense look
from earlier. “Let’s get an early night tonight.”
My heart jumped at the implication in his voice. I scrambled out of his embrace,
suddenly flustered. “Dinner! Let’s go eat dinner!”
I practically fled the room, desperate to cool the heat rising in my cheeks.
At the table, 1 deliberately ate as
slowly as humanly possible. What
typically took me twenty minutes stretched to thirty as I took tiny bites and chewed thoroughly, avoiding
Aiden’s gaze across the table.
“Satisfied?” Aiden asked casually once I finally set down my chopsticks.
My hand trembled around my water glass. I didn’t answer, just took small sips while
keeping my eyes down.
I could feel his gaze on me. His
fingers began tapping rhythmically against his own glass, the
“tap-tap-tap” echoing in the quiet
dining room rehanced a glance up and immediately regretted it when t caught his amused expression.
I suddenly felt like prey being stalked by a very patient predator.
In my distraction, I choked on my water. Coughing and sputtering, I looked up to find
Aiden watching me with that same knowing smile, which only made me cough
harder.