Chapter 101 Between us
The penthouse was quiet after Devon and Marcus left.
Aria moved through the bedroom without turning on the main light. She pulled her hair loose and set her phone face down on the dresser.
Her body ached in the way it did after days of running on adrenaline, when the body finally understood it was safe and started to relax.
She turned the shower on hot and stepped in without waiting for it to fully warm.
The water hit her shoulders and she stood still, her palms flat against the tile and her eyes closed. Steam rose around her. The tension in her neck began, slowly, to release.
She heard the bathroom door open. She did not turn around.
The shower door slid open and Kane stepped in behind her. He said nothing at first. He reached past her and adjusted the temperature slightly, just enough so it would not scald her skin.
Then he stood behind her, close but not touching, letting the water run over both of them.
Aria turned around.
His face in the steam looked different than it did across a strategy table. The sharpness was still there, but softer at the edges. He looked tired in a way he would never say out loud.
“You did not have to come in,” she said.
“I know,” he replied. “But I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
She studied him for a moment, then turned back toward the water, letting it run down her face.
Kane reached for the shelf and worked shampoo through her hair with both hands, slow and methodical. She closed her eyes.
“I keep replaying it,” she said quietly. “Leo’s face when his fever kept going up.”
Kane’s hands continued moving.
“I know,” he said.
“I should have seen it coming,” Aria continued.
“Amanda was too convenient. Too prepared. I let myself get pulled in because she said the right things.”
“She knew the right things,” Kane corrected. “That is not the same as you being careless.”
Aria was quiet for a moment.
“It felt careless,” she said.
He turned her gently by the shoulders so she faced him. Water ran down between them. He looked at her directly, the way he did when he wanted her to actually hear him and not just listen.
“You protected them,” he said. “You got them home. That is what matters.”
She held his gaze.
“I was scared,” she admitted. “Not just for the twins.
For you. If something were to happen to you I…” she stopped. “I do not know what I would do.”
Kane’s expression shifted. Something behind his eyes went still in the way it did when something actually reached him.
“You would be fine,” he said. “You are stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
“That is not the point,” Aria said. “Strong or not, I do not want to do any of this without you.”
He reached up and pushed her wet hair back from her face.
“You will not have to,” he said.
“You do not know that,” she replied, and there was no accusation in it. Just honesty.
“No,” he agreed. “I do not. But I do know that I am not going anywhere without a fight.”
The water ran steady around them. Aria leaned her forehead against his chest. Kane reached up and pushed her wet hair back from her face. His hand lingered at the side of her neck, thumb tracing her jaw.
Aria felt the shift in him before he moved. The strategy and the tension and the Alpha control settling into something quieter and more deliberate.
She placed both palms flat against his chest.
“Kane.”
He dipped his head and kissed her slowly. No urgency at first. Just his mouth on hers and the water running warm between them. She kissed him back and felt the last of the day’s weight begin to loosen from her shoulders.
His hands moved down her sides, tracing the familiar curve of her waist, then her hips, pulling her closer until there was no space left between them. She could feel every line of him against her.
She tilted her head back slightly and he followed, his mouth moving along her jaw, down the side of her throat. She exhaled slowly, her fingers curling against his chest.
“I missed you,” she said quietly. “Even when you were standing right next to me.”
He lifted his head and looked at her.
“I know what you mean,” he said.
He kissed her again, deeper this time. One hand stayed at her hip and the other moved up her back, pressing her closer.
She wound her arms around his neck and let herself sink into it. The steam rose around them. She wanted to forget it all. Amanda, Victoria, the witches. In that moment, she just wanted them to be Aria and Kane. A man and a woman in love.
His mouth moved back to her throat and she let her head fall to the side. His hands were everywhere, unhurried and deliberate. Aria’s breath came slower and more uneven. She reached up and gripped the back of his neck.
“You are thinking again,” he murmured against her skin.
“I am not,” she said.
He pulled back just enough to look at her face. His eyes moved over her slowly.
“You are,” he said. “I can tell.”
She opened her mouth to argue and he kissed her again but harder this time. His hands slid down her body and she stopped arguing entirely.
When he finally pulled back, his eyes were dark and certain.
“Let me help you forget the day,” he said.
Before she could answer he dropped to his knees in front of her, water running down his shoulders and chest. He looked up at her once, holding her gaze, then pressed a slow kiss to the inside of her thigh.
His hands moved to the inside of her knees and he parted her legs gently but without hesitation.
“Kane…”
“Let me,” he said against her skin. His voice was low and even. “Let me help you relax.”
Aria’s back met the tile wall. Her fingers moved into his hair.
And she let him.