You Slept in My Bed

Aurora Brooks POV

"Captain."

I murmured softly as I ran toward him.

I stopped in front of him, breathing lightly. I had not run much. It was only a few steps. But the way he looked at me stole the air from my lungs.

I caught his trembling hand inside the pocket of his pants. He tried to hide it from me, but I noticed it before I left the first time.

"If your hand starts shaking and you want it to stop fast, squeeze your fingers hard, then relax them for twenty seconds."

I moved his fingers with my other hand to show him.

"Like this. Do you get what I mean?"

I lifted my rifle slightly as if it was talking to his darkness. I saw him staring straight into my eyes without shame. He tried to smile again. The smile refused to stay.

"Where did you go just now?"

At last his hand stopped shaking, though a faint tremor still lingered. I did not let go of it. My small hand kept holding his without thinking.

He cleared his throat and spoke in a low murmur.

"I was thinking that nothing in you is dark. Not even your eyes. They're brown."

I smiled softly and glanced down at his black watch. Expensive. Elegant.

"You haven't seen my dark side yet. Everyone has one. None of us are angels."

He nodded slowly, then slid his hand away from mine with ease.

"You're right."

I gathered all my hair to one side. My neck was fully exposed to him now. He did not hesitate to look at it, almost reverently.

"It's the same with you. If someone sees you from far away, they would say you're calm. Cold. But if someone gets close, they would realize you're tired."

He looked away toward the dark water. A deep sigh escaped his chest.

"You've never known me closely before. But you asked if I was okay. How did you know I wasn't?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly nervous about the strange question. Then I said what my heart felt that night.

"Eyes can't hold that much depth unless they stay awake for too many nights. Unless they carry too much sadness. Unless they break again and again."

He inhaled sharply, then my name slipped from his lips.

"Aurora. You're too transparent."

I stepped closer and brushed the stripes on his rank when I noticed raindrops on them.

"People are oceans, Captain. We can't judge their depths when we only see their shores."

Suddenly he moved me with one arm.

My back hit the metal railing, and his body pressed me against it.

My terrified eyes flew behind me.

"Oh my God. It's so deep down there."

He leaned closer and inhaled my simple perfume. I had sprayed only a few drops before leaving my house.

"Fourteen meters down. But it will never be deeper than you."

I whispered while my eyes searched the empty place around us.

"This is your workplace. What if someone sees us standing this close?"

He bit his lip in a slow, dangerous way.

My legs trembled. Heat spread between them.

"This is the first time in my entire career a woman has come here to see me. How did you even dare to do it?"

My brows lifted as if I had discovered a treasure.

"So you're a liar. That means you've had affairs during your career."

Annoyance darkened his face. His voice turned firm.

"I'm not a liar, Aurora Brooks. I truly never gave any woman the honor of getting close to me."

While I stared at him, his eyes dropped to my mouth as if his thoughts were tangled with old memories.

"I let myself kiss you. I let you into my home. You slept in my bed too. You wore my work clothes. And you slapped me without even blinking."

My mouth shut like someone had glued it closed.

All I could do was drown inside the darkness of his eyes.

"You're bold. And the boldness of a lioness once got her killed when she tried to challenge the lion's den."

I wandered inside the maze of his darkness for long seconds. My voice fell to a whisper.

"Your reputation will fall when people see you holding a girl against your body like this, Mr. Lion."

He ran his tongue slowly across his teeth.

Dimples appeared in both cheeks, giving his face a dangerously attractive look.

"Everything can fall. Except me. My reputation stands above all of them."

With a touch of pride, I moved my head slightly, trying to push him away.

It did not work.

"Can you let me go? I have a long shift waiting for me."

His hands tightened around both sides of my waist. The strength in them hurt.

His mood darkened instantly.

"What shift? The bar?"

I nodded.

A little shy. But it was my job after all.

"Yes."

He exhaled with irritation. I did not understand why. Maybe he hated the idea of being connected to a woman like me. But I could not quit just because it bothered him.

"Your phone."

I pushed him lightly, and he stepped back. Only because he wanted to.

"Why?"

His voice dropped into a serious whisper that made me pull it from my bag and trap it between my fingers.

"You're going to need my number."

My eyes rolled upward with an unbelieving smile.

"Actually, you're the one who wants my number right now."

He snatched the phone from my hand so fast it shocked me.

"Trust me. One day you'll need it."

Another phone rang between us.

Not mine. His.

He returned my phone calmly.

"Oh God," I laughed in a daze. "I need to find a special nickname for you."

He answered instantly.

"Captain. Save me as that."

I raised my index and middle finger beside my forehead and gave him a playful salute.

"Yes, Captain."

He kept his face calm. Almost too calm.

He nodded three times slowly, then stepped back.

He turned and walked toward a white desk near a black car.

His Porsche.

I pressed my hand against my racing heart and whispered to myself.

"What is happening to me? He's my future sister's father in law. And the man I hate."

A few minutes later I drove home.

The moment I stepped inside, my father Daniel was sitting in the living room like a king. His brown eyes stared into the mirror.

He gave me a long, dark look.

Then he turned back to the TV without saying a word.

It was strange. He usually opened that disgusting mouth the moment he saw me.

At the very least he would ask for money.

I went upstairs to my room.

Ivy was the only one there.

Sleeping.

I walked closer and kissed her forehead gently.

She would be happy when she heard the good news from me.

Her phone suddenly rang across the room.

She woke up the moment my lips left her forehead.

I walked to my empty bed while listening to her sleepy voice answering the call.

"Ethan… is what you're saying true?"

She covered her mouth. A bright smile spread across her sleepy face.

"Oh my God. I'm so happy to hear this."

After he told her something else, she looked at me with teary eyes and reached out her hand.

She ended the call after kissing him through the phone, then threw herself into my arms when I sat beside her.

"Mr. Alexander just called him. He told him to start preparing the engagement arrangements at their house."

I ran my fingers through her long hair and said softly.

"I wish you both happiness, sweetheart. You deserve the best."

She looked into my watery eyes, overflowing with emotion.

"What did you talk about with him, Aurora Brooks? Was he a man willing to listen… or just the stubborn, angry man Ethan always describes?"