Scandal Kiss With The Billionaire

Aria's POVI pulled away first, but the feeling of his lips didn’t leave as quickly as I expected, and for a moment I just stood there staring at him like I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.What did I just do?My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears, and suddenly everything came rushing back at once—the music, the people, the noise, the fact that I had just kissed a complete stranger in the middle of a crowded bar like I had completely lost my mind.I took a step back, then another, trying to put some space between us, but it didn’t help because I could still feel the moment clinging to me, like it hadn’t fully ended yet.He didn’t react the way I expected. He didn’t look angry or confused or even surprised, he just looked at me quietly, like he was trying to understand me, or maybe like he already did.“I—” I started, but the words didn’t come out properly and I stopped because I didn’t even know what I was trying to say.Sorry didn’t feel right, and neither did

Aria's POVI didn’t know why I said yes.Even after the words left my mouth, I stood there for a second wondering if I could take them back, like maybe if I pretended I didn’t say it, everything would just reset and I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.But Damon didn’t look surprised. He just looked at me like he already expected it.“When does this start?” I repeated, this time a little quieter, because now that I had said it, it suddenly felt real in a way I wasn’t prepared for.A small pause passed between us before he spoke. “Now.” I let out a short breath and shook my head slightly. “You’re very calm about all this.”“I told you, I don’t like leaving things out of control,” he said, like that explained everything. But it didn’t.Nothing about this made sense to me, and the more I thought about it, the crazier it sounded. I had just met this man less than a day ago, kissed him without thinking, and now I was standing in my own house agreeing to pretend to be his girlfriend l

I didn’t realize how much things had actually changed until after Ethan left. For a while I just stood there staring at the door hoping he would come back, maybe he would say something that would make everything make sense again, but he didn’t, and the silence that followed felt heavier than anything he had said while he was here.It was over, and not in that quiet, confusing way it had been ending for weeks, but in a way that felt final, like there was nothing left to fix and nothing left to go back to even if I wanted to, and the strange part was I didn’t feel as broken as I thought I would, which only made me realize that maybe I had already been letting go long before last night without even knowing it.I let out a slow breath and turned around, and Damon was still there, exactly where I left him, watching me in that calm way of his like nothing ever really shook him, like he had already processed everything and moved on from it.“You didn’t have to say anything,” I told him, bec

I didn’t sleep well that night. I think a part of me already knew I wouldn’t even before I got into bed, because no matter how I tried to shut my mind off, everything just kept replaying in different ways, not just the obvious parts like Ethan or the kiss or even Damon, but the smaller things too, the things I didn’t pay attention to at the time but now felt like they mattered more than they should.At some point I stopped trying to force myself to sleep and just stared at the ceiling, letting my thoughts run because holding them back felt even more exhausting, and the more I let them wander, the clearer one thing became.Something wasn’t right.Not in a dramatic way, not in a way I could immediately explain, but in that quiet, uncomfortable way where you can feel it before you understand it, and no matter how much I tried to ignore it, it stayed there.By morning, I didn’t feel rested at all, just tired in a way that sat deeper than sleep could fix, and for a while I stayed in bed lo