Chapter 40

Aiden's POV "I'm thinking about how to seduce you." Her words hit me like a physical blow. The car suddenly felt too small, too hot. I stared at her, watching her mortified expression bloom across her face as she realized what she'd said aloud. "Is that so?" I kept my voice deliberately neutral, though every muscle in my body had tensed. Aria looked away quickly, her fingers nervously playing with the hem of her dress. "I didn't mean to say that. Please forget it." Forget it? Not a fucking chance. I reached for the button that raised the privacy partition between us and the driver, pressing it without hesitation. The soft mechanical hum filled the silence as the barrier rose. "Aria," I said, my voice dropping lower than usual. "Look at me." She hesitated, those wide eyes eventually turning back to meet mine - eyes that had been haunting my thoughts for weeks now. "Tell me what you just said again." I needed to hear it once more, to be sure this wasn't my imagination playing cruel trick