LOGINAria’s P.O.VThe warmth of his hand against my thigh jolted me back to reality. My eyes darted around the dimly lit booth, the faint glow from the dance floor beyond barely casting light in our direction. Still, the thought of someone noticing made my cheeks burn. “Damien,” I hissed, my voice low but urgent. “We’re in public. Anyone could see what you’re doing!” He didn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he leaned back against the booth with that infuriatingly confident smirk, his eyes gleaming in the low light. “Relax, Aria. No one’s paying attention. It’s dark enough here that no one can see a thing.” “Dark enough?” I shot back, my voice rising slightly before I caught myself and lowered it again. “There are people all around us, Damien! Someone’s bound to notice.” He chuckled, his fingers tracing slow, deliberate circles on my thigh as if he hadn’t heard a word I said. “Trust me, no one cares. Everyone’s too busy with their drama to worry about us.” I glanced around the club, my n
Aria’s P.O.VThe club was nothing like the quiet places I was used to. Lights flashed in every color, cutting through the thick air as bodies moved everywhere I looked. People danced without shame, without fear, skin pressed against skin. Half-naked men and women swayed together, laughing, touching, lost in the music. On raised podiums, strippers moved slowly, confidently, their bodies on display like it was the most natural thing in the world.I felt overwhelmed and fascinated all at once. “This is wild.” I muttered.Damien’s hand rested lightly at my back as he guided me through the crowd. I stayed close to him without thinking, my senses flooded by noise, heat, and movement. My heart beat fast, but not only from the music.“This way,” he said, leaning closer so I could hear him.The deeper we moved into the club, the harder it became to process everything at once.Bodies moved under flashing lights, music pulsing through every inch of space, laughter and whispers blending into some
Aria’s P.O.VI felt it the moment he spoke, a flutter low in my stomach, light and sudden, like something had been gently shaken awake inside me. I wasn’t sure why his words affected me so much, but they did. He wasn’t just talking to fill the silence, he wasn’t looking through me. He saw me.Not just what I did, not just where I worked, but me and somehow, he appreciated it.I looked away, my cheeks warming, unsure of what to say or how to carry that feeling without dropping it. Before I could overthink it, he was already walking ahead, heading toward the car.“We’re going out.”Those three words shouldn’t have made my stomach flip the way they did.And yet, as I stood there staring at Damien, something warm and unsettling spread through my chest—something dangerously close to excitement.Which was ridiculous…completely ridiculous.This was my
Damien’s P.O.VI watched her from the corner of my eyes, a small smirk tugging at the corner of my lips. She didn’t notice me, of course. She rarely did, that was part of who she was…quiet, careful, almost invisible but the more I watched, the more I realized just how much lay beneath those polite smiles and awkward glances.I have never been a man who misses details.It’s a habit I built over years—watching people, studying them, understanding what they show the world versus what they try to hide. Most people become predictable once you pay enough attention.Aria Summers was not predictable.The first time I saw her, she was in my bar, surrounded by three men who clearly didn’t understand the meaning of boundaries. She had looked cornered, smaller than them, but there had been something else beneath that fear. Something sharp. Something reactive.When she threw that drink in one man&rsqu
Aria’s P.O.VI should have known something was off the moment I stepped into the office building and felt… watched.Not in a creepy way, exactly. More like the air itself had shifted, like something—or someone—was waiting for me.And of course, because my life had clearly decided to spiral into something I no longer had control over…It was him.Damien Henderson stood near the elevators, looking like he had just stepped out of a magazine spread no one had warned me about. His posture was relaxed, leaning slightly back against the wall, while he held onto—
Aria’s P.O.VBy the time I made it back to my desk, I was convinced that my face was still burning, because there was no way it wasn’t obvious. No way people couldn’t see it.No way I didn’t look like someone who had just been cornered in her boss’s office, while he casually held her dignity hostage in the form of lace underwear.Fantastic. Truly the peak of professionalism.“So?” Tory’s voice cut in immediately as she rolled her chair closer to mine, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “How was the one-on-one with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Intimidating?”I forced myself to sit down, placing the files neatly on my desk like everything was completely normal, like my life hadn’t just taken a sharp turn into chaos.“It was fine,” I said, keeping my tone light, casual. “Just…questions about the revenue reports.”Tory narrowed her eye







