Chapter 188: Chapter 189: The Next Morning
ARIA’S POV
Aria woke slowly, her body registering two things immediately: she was incredibly sore, and she was wrapped in Damien’s arms.
Sunlight filtered through the curtains of his bedroom...their bedroom now, really, since she spent more nights here than at her mother’s apartment. The light was soft and golden, suggesting it was still early morning, maybe around seven or eight.
She shifted slightly and immediately felt the protest from her muscles. Her thighs ached. Her core was tender and oversensitized. There were marks on her skin.....faint bruises on her hips where Damien’s fingers had gripped her, a love bite on her neck that she definitely hadn’t noticed him leaving last night.
The memories of the hot spring flooded back in vivid detail. Six orgasms. Six. She’d come six times in the span of maybe two hours, and Damien had been relentless, possessive, completely overwhelming in the best possible way.
They’d eventually made it out of the hot spring....though "made it" was generous since Damien had to carry her because her legs literally wouldn’t support her weight. He’d dried her off with soft towels, dressed her in one of his shirts, and carried her upstairs to bed.
She remembered him cleaning her gently with a warm washcloth, remembered him applying lotion to the marks he’d left on her skin, remembered him pulling her against his chest and whispering that she was perfect, that she was his, that he would never let her go.
And then she’d fallen asleep, completely exhausted and thoroughly claimed and feeling safer than she’d ever felt in her life.
Now, in the morning light, she turned carefully in his arms to look at him.
Damien was still asleep, which was rare. He usually woke before her, was usually already showering or working by the time she opened her eyes. But this morning, he slept peacefully, his face relaxed in a way it never was during waking hours.
He looked younger like this. Softer. The hard edges of the ruthless CEO were gone, replaced by something almost vulnerable.
Aria’s chest tightened with emotion as she studied his face. This man. This complicated, intense, sometimes overwhelming man who loved her with a fierceness that still took her breath away.
This man who’d forgiven her for infiltrating his home and stealing from him. Who’d saved her mother’s life. Who’d given her back her career in medicine. Who’d stood up to society’s judgment and his own grandfather to be with her.
This man who trusted her completely despite everthing.
And she was lying to him.
The guilt that she’d been successfully ignoring for the past day and a half came rushing back with crushing force. Harold Ashford’s empire was burning because of her, and Damien had no idea. Thought it was just karma, just Harold’s crimes finally catching up with him.
He didn’t know that his girlfriend was the one who’d orchestrated the whole thing. Who’d hacked a billion-dollar company’s systems, stolen incriminating evidences, and released it all to the public with calculated precision.
She should tell him. Should have told him already. Should trust him the way he trusted her.
But fear held her back. Fear that he’d be angry she’d taken such a risk. Fear that he’d see her as reckless, as someone who needed to be controlled and protected rather than someone who could handle her own battles. Fear that this would somehow change the way he looked at her.
"You’re thinking too loud," Damien’s voice rumbled against her, rough with sleep. "I can practically hear the gears turning in your head."
Aria looked up to find his eyes open, watching her with that intense focus that suggested he was already fully awake despite the sleep-rough quality of his voice.
"Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you."
"I’m not complaining about waking up to you in my arms." His hand moved to her back, stroking slowly. "What are you thinking about so seriously this early in the morning?"
This was her chance. She could tell him now, while they were alone and comfortable and wrapped in the intimacy of the morning.
But instead, she chickened out. "Just thinking about last night. About the hot spring."
Damien’s smile was slow and satisfied. "That was memorable, wasn’t it?"
"Memorable is one word for it. I’m incredibly sore is another way to describe it."
His expression turned concerned immediately. "Are you okay? Was I too rough? I should have been more careful..."
"No." Aria pressed her hand against his chest, stopping the flow of self-recrimination. "No, Damien. It was perfect. I’m sore in the best possible way. The kind of sore that makes me remember exactly what we did every time I move. I love it."
The concern faded, replaced by that possessive satisfaction that always made her stomach flip. "Good. Because we’re going to do that in every room of this estate."
Aria blinked. "What?"
"Reclaim every space," Damien said, his voice matter-of-fact like he was discussing a business strategy rather than a plan to have sex in every room of his massive estate. "The hot study was the beginning. Now we have claimed the hotsping . We still have the library where you used to clean. The dining room. The kitchen. And them we have the Greenhouse. Every room where you worked as Sarah, pretending to be someone you weren’t....we’re going to fill them with new memories. Better memories. Honest memories of us together."
Aria felt tears prick at her eyes. Because of course he’d thought of this. Of course he understood that the estate still held complicated associations for her, that walking through certain rooms still reminded her of when she’d been lying to him, when everything between them had been built on deception.
"You really want to do that?" she asked softly.
"I really want to do that." He pulled her closer, tucking her head under his chin. "I want you to feel comfortable here. Want every room to hold memories of us being real with each other."
"That’s going to take a while. This estate is huge."
She felt him smile against her hair. "Then we’d better get started. Maybe the library today? I have fond memories of you in that little maid uniform bending over to dust the lower shelves."
Aria laughed despite the emotional moment. "You’re ridiculous."
They lay there in comfortable silence for a while, the morning sunlight growing brighter as the day progressed. Aria could hear the distant sounds of the estate waking up....staff beginning their daily routines, the hum of activity that happened mostly out of sight but kept this massive place running smoothly.
"Are you hungry?" Damien asked eventually. "I can have Lucy bring breakfast up, or we can go down to the dining room."
"Breakfast in bed sounds perfect. I don’t think I’m ready to walk yet."
Damien’s laugh was warm and satisfied. He reached for his phone on the nightstand and sent a quick message to Lucy. Within minutes, there was a discrete knock at the door.
"Come in," Damien called.
Lucy entered with a tray laden with food....fresh pastries, fruit, coffee, orange juice, scrambled eggs, bacon. Enough to feed four people, let alone two.
"Good morning, sir, Miss Chen," Lucy said with a knowing smile that suggested she’d definitely noticed Aria’s state last night when Damien had carried her through the halls. "I took the liberty of preparing some of Miss Chen’s favorites."
"Thank you, Lucy," Aria said, grateful that her blush couldn’t get any worse than it already was.
Lucy set the tray on the bed, ensuring everything was stable, then retreated with that same knowing smile.
As soon as the door closed, Aria buried her face in Damien’s chest. "She knows. Oh my god, she definitely knows."
"Of course she knows. The entire staff probably knows. You weren’t exactly quiet last night."
"Damien!"
His laugh shook both of them. "I’m not complaining. I love hearing you scream my name. If the whole estate hears it, even better. They should all know exactly who you belong to."
Aria grabbed a pillow and hit him with it, which only made him laugh harder.
