Chapter 5

Adrian POV

The person is the Adrian Luke Cross, the CEO of the Cross Group of Companies, the biggest business empire in the city, which includes technology, media and communications. Billionaire by 27. It was feared by competitors, respected by all.

They call me cold. Calculating. The man who never smiles. Maybe they're right. In boardrooms, I dominate. In life, I control.

Tonight, I needed a break. The innumeracy, the incessant din--it was wearisome. And to crown it all I had just lost a business transaction which I had depending on.

There I drove to my club - The Blue Velvet. One of my many investments. It is the only place where the world is moving at a slow pace, and I do not have to use suits and spreadsheets to think.

Nothing was going wrong. The music was low-keyed, the lights were lowered sufficiently, and the normal crowd was laughing and drinking.

Then she walked in.

Hundreds of women have walked in those doors. Models, actresses, socialites. I never gave them more than a passing glare. But her? There was something about her which made me look and could not take my eyes off her.

Average height. A smooth, clinging figure-hugging satin dress was clung on her curves and ended just above the thigh. Her bare back was crossed in thin spaghetti straps and the smooth, olive-colored skin glowed under the gentle lights.

Her dark hair fell in curls, and surrounded a tender, heart-shaped face.

I followed her as she came to the bar, maintaining my distance, though not too far, to see. I could not help but smirk when she ordered something strong. Few could have taken what I was thinking about.

"Are you sure you can handle it? Drinking alone?"

Her voice was a whisper, nevertheless, the flame behind it could not be mistaken. "Not anymore, I guess."

There was something about her agony which pulled me, that mute cry of forgetting, of escaping. I raised my glass to hers.

We have discussed all but ourselves. Music, life, loss. Then I said the thing I saw in her eyes: You are like a person who is trying to forget.

It was a bitter, soft laugh, so genuine that it struck me like a punch. "Maybe I'm just tired of caring." she said.

I lowered my voice, and leaned forward. And then forget to think this evening... feel.

Her heartbeat was beating against my eyes, lips were slightly parted and I knew she was already gone.

You haven't told me your name princess. I asked

It's Aria she said .

Your name too , she said, you have never told me.

I hesitated, then said, "Luke." Luke was my middle name . I didn't want her to know my identity yet.

Luke, she repeated, trying to taste the name like a wine.

I smiled, and placed fingers against hers. "Aria. Too beautiful a name to remember.

I could do thee one night thou wilt not forget, I said to her in a low seductive voice.

My breath fanned her face.

Her frame was a traitor, and bent to the coziness of my breath. All the fragments of her yearned to this, although her mind said no.

Something wild in her eyes looked at me. Not only lust, but a silent revolt, as she was tired of being the good girl and was now ready to break.

And then, suddenly she took me by the tie, pulled me near. and, as she was whispering, her breath fanned my lips, saying, Just how far do you think you can go?

I had not time to think as her lips crashed into mine.

Then I was looking at the fine line of her mouth, the manner in which her eyes moved between bashfulness and passion--the next moment she kissed me.

I froze, caught off guard. Not because I did not desire it--hell, I was contemplating it as soon as she entered the club--but because it was not a part of my plan. Women do not normally be in control with me.

But this was one... this woman--Aria--was full of surprises.

Tequila was still on her lips, warm and sharp, and something-- something she was. She was shivering a little against me, but kissed me as though she were running after the world. As though she released it, it would all fall apart. I knew that feeling.

I instinctively cupped her face intensifying the kiss. She uttered a weak word--a pathetic, despairing sigh upon my lips--which threatened to call me back to myself.

This one I had kissed so many women. This one wasn't just heat. It was fire and something very nearly of feeling.

Her body was pushed against mine, gentle but full of tension - a bow that had been drawn too tight. I caught her waist with my hand and pulled her to me, requiring to touch her all over.

I got her gasp on my lips--not much of a sound, but it was like fire through my blood. Her curves were shaped to me just right and when she moved I was pressed against her--heated, desirous, barely restrained.

God, she was driving me insane.

I rubbed my fingers slowly, teasingly, up and down the curve of her hips, caressing the edge of her dress. Her breath hitched. She sighed into the kiss, and that little sound destroyed me.

I wanted more. I needed more.

But not here. And not with a hundred eyes in the room,-- though nobody was actually watching.

I drew back a little, lips separated, her eyes half closed, lips distended.

My voice deep and harsh, I bent down, and said, What do you say we get out of here?

She didn't speak -- just nodded. That was all I needed.

I grabbed her hand - her fingers shook - and pushed her through the crowd. She obeyed me, and the responsibility of what was to happen came between us.

Her hand in mine felt right. Dangerous, but right.

We entered the suite quite quietly. I had not even switched the lights on - did not need to. The faint light of the bedside lamp sufficed to make her out, standing there by the door as she was not quite certain whether to run or not.

But she stayed.

I struck first-- walked to the light, and turned it on. The room was filled with a pleasant, gentle light. Just enough for me to hesitate long enough to have a glance at her--a glance at her.

And I vow something dark and sweet and twisted at the same time in my heart.

Then do not forget this, I thought. No, after this night... it is not going to be the same.

Her name slipped off my lips like a promise, and my own slipped off like something she was in fear to lose. The world disappeared to the warmth between us, the tone of the voice she used, the silence of her grip around me as though I was the only thing on the floor.

"Don't slow down," she breathed.

I leapt up beside her, and brushed her ear with my lips.

"Tired already?" My voice dropped lower. Sweetheart... you just get to the start of the night.