Chapter 223

Aria's POV I woke up at seven, surprised to find Aiden still in bed. Blinking sleepily, I turned to study his peaceful face, my gaze immediately landing on those impossibly thick eyelashes of his. God, were those lashes even real? They looked like they belonged in a mascara commercial. I remembered all those romance novels Lillian had forced on me, where authors always compared heroines' eyelashes to small brushes. I'd always rolled my eyes at those descriptions, thinking they were ridiculous exaggerations. Now, staring at Aiden's lashes—dark, thick, and curling slightly at the ends—I realized how wrong I'd been. His really did look like perfect little brushes fanning across his cheeks. I watched him for several minutes, noticing how deeply he slept, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm with no sign of waking. My gaze drifted down to his lips, slightly parted as he breathed. A sudden urge to touch them washed over me. Without thinking, I reached out and gently traced his bot