They returned to the city late Sunday afternoon.
No promises.
No declarations.
But something had shifted in the silence between them, something charged and magnetic. The kind of silence that pressed against skin and made the body remember before the heart dared to believe.
Kai drove and Aria watched the skyline grow and neither of them said what they were thinking: That the moment they stepped out of that car, the real world would come crashing back in.
Monday morning was worse than expected. Brielle was waiting in Kai's office. She sat on his leather couch, legs crossed, espresso in hand, smile too wide to be real.
"Welcome back," she purred.
He didn't return the smile.
"Didn't know I was missed."
"Oh, you were." Her eyes flicked to his collar. "Though I'm guessing you weren't alone."
He said nothing which was an answer. Her voice dropped just slightly.
"I hope she was worth it."
Still, he didn't speak because for the first time, he realized he had nothing left to give Brielle.
Not guilt.
Not regret.
Not even excuses.
Across the hall, Aria was having her own moment. People noticed her glow, her silence. The subtle curve of her lips that hadn't existed two weeks ago. She wore her power like perfume not loud, but impossible to ignore.
But inside?
She was all ache because every time she saw Kai, her body remembered the way his hand had slid down her waist that night in the lake house. The way his breath had caught when their foreheads touched. The way he didn't ask for her body. He just held her and that somehow turned her inside out more than sex ever could.
By noon, she couldn't take it. She buzzed him. Conference Room C. Five minutes.
Come alone.
His reply came instantly.
Already on my way.
The room was empty. Quiet. Tinted windows. Locked door.
He stepped in, chest rising fast, tie slightly loose. He hadn't even bothered to pretend.
"Couldn't stay away?" he said softly.
She didn't answer.
She walked toward him.
He didn't move not until her hands were on his chest.
Then?
He broke.
He grabbed her waist, slammed his mouth onto hers, and the kiss was wild, starved, the kind that had nothing to do with tenderness and everything to do with weeks of repression.
She moaned into him low, urgent, dizzy with need.
Her back hit the glass.
His hand slid under her blouse.
Skin to skin.
And suddenly, all her resolve shattered like sugar under flame.
"You drive me insane," she whispered between kisses.
"Good," he growled, nipping her throat. "Because I haven't been sane since the second you kissed me in that damn elevator."
He lifted her onto the table without breaking the kiss.
Her skirt rode up.
His hands roamed.
She gasped.
Then pushed him back breathless, lips swollen, eyes dark.
"We can't," she said. "Not here."
He stepped away. Barely but his eyes never left her.
"I don't care where," he said. "I just need you."
"I'm not yours yet."
His voice was hoarse.
"Then let me earn you."
She adjusted her blouse. Fixed her hair. Bit her lip just once before the door clicked open and she disappeared into the hallway like nothing had happened.
But Kai?
He stood frozen.
Her taste on his lips.
Her nails still faintly burning down his spine.
She wasn't his yet.
But she wanted to be and that was enough to burn the whole damn city down just to get her back.
That night, he found himself outside her apartment.
He didn't buzz.
Didn't text.
He just waited. And when the door opened soft, slow, like she'd known he'd come, she didn't ask why he was there.
She just stepped aside.
And let him in.