Chapter 29

Aria's POV The air between us crackled with electricity. My breath caught in my throat at his proposition. Everything in me screamed this was a terrible idea—we were business partners, nothing more. Yet my body betrayed me, responding to his nearness with a fierce hunger I couldn't deny. "Yes," I whispered before I could stop myself. The word hung in the darkness for a heartbeat, and then his hand was cupping my face, turning me toward him. In the dim moonlight filtering through the curtains, his eyes were midnight pools, intense and hungry. "Tell me to stop," Aiden murmured, his breath hot against my neck. "Say the word, and I'll go back to my side." I should have. God knows I should have. Instead, I turned to face him, finding his eyes gleaming in the moonlight, intense and hungry. Something primal and needy coiled inside me, demanding release after months of denial and heartbreak. "Don't stop," I whispered. His hand moved from my shoulder to cup my face, thumb stroking across my che