What was she doing? That hadn't been Aria's plan when Ethan stepped out on the fire escape to find her. It hadn't be in the plans at all. However, after Landen's impromptu visit the night before, she'd been thinking about her situation.
Landen went for what he wanted—which was Aria at the moment—but he took that chance. Aria wanted Ethan whether she admitted it or not. Everything about him gave her butterflies. The night they shared at Surreal, and the time after at her apartment, had blown anything she shared with Landen out of the water.
What would kissing him now hurt? He'd find out about her pregnancy soon enough, next week, to be exact. What would it hurt to give in a little? Put herself out of her own misery.
Plus, the devil on her shoulder had chanted, 'kiss him,' kiss him,' 'kiss him,' for the past ten minutes. Watching his mouth move had been torture. Knowing he wanted a relationship with her fueled her fire.
So, she did it. She kissed Ethan Devry … again.
Aria made the first move, which was out of her comfort zone completely, but she wouldn't regret this; she knew it. Especially since his mouth tasted like hazelnut, and his tongue danced inside her mouth like a siren's song.
She kept her hand pressed against the taunt surface of his stomach, memories of him tearing his shirt off that night flashed in her mind, reminding her of what her stomach looked like at the moment.
No. No. No. She wanted to enjoy just one moment with him before everything hit the fan.
A soft chuckle hit her mouth from his, but she swallowed it, not wanting to hear him talk for once. Ethan talked too much sometimes.
"No," she mumbled into his mouth. "Just one more second."
Ethan obliged, until the sound of someone trying to open the door startled her away from him. Ethan stilled, his gaze lingered on her mouth, before he stood back up and wiped the corners of his mouth with his finger. Aria watched in shock, as he then tasted it.
"Good grief," someone said, shoving the door opened with their shoulder. "You'd think we could afford a new fire escape with the talk about expanding—"
The man complaining stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Ethan.
"Oh, um, I'm so sorry Mr. Devry. I didn't know—"
Ethan dragged his gaze from Aria to give the middle-aged man a look. "I'll put it on my to-do list to fix the door. Have a good day."
Aria watched him waltz into the building, giving her a look that screamed come to my office later, and shut the door.
"Crap," the man said, lighting a cigarette. "I can't believe I said that," he mumbled, looking around worriedly. The smoke began to filter toward her, so she walked back inside, not wanting to inhale any secondhand smoke.
Her head began to spin with anxiety of the day. She'd kissed her boss, the billionaire, all the while keeping from him that she was pregnant with his baby. What had Aria's world come to? Who had she become?
She spent most of the morning working on emails from Mrs. Cook and Abe, trying to keep her mind focused on work and not Ethan. When Ethan's email came through around lunchtime, she tried not to get too excited.
Ethan: Come to my office for lunch. I'll get us whatever you want. We need to talk about our marketing project.
Aria knew that the project was legitimately the last thing on Ethan's mind. His emails had been the last thing on his mind as well.
Aria: Is that code for something? I'm not up to date on today's lingo. So if it means something else … say it.
Aria bit her bottom lip in anticipation. She didn't know what had come over her of late. Was it the pregnancy hormones? The way she spoke to Landen the night before? Joan's constant pep talks on becoming her own woman. Aria didn't know but she liked it either way.
Ethan: Ms. Linetti. I'm shook. Are you hitting on me using our company email? I can't believe you'd stoop so low.
Aria chuckled, feeling like herself regardless the little boy growing inside of her. Aria began to type another email when she heard someone clear their throat behind her.
She jumped, closing out her email quickly. Mrs. Cook stood behind her, tapping the end of her pen against the top of her cubicle.
"Yes, ma'am?" Aria asked, checking the time. It was closing in on her lunchtime, but Mrs. Cook didn't look like she cared.
"I need you to finish the Robertson account today. If you need to stay over, that's fine, but it has to be finished and ready to send over tomorrow morning. With Amy out sick, I think that you're just the one to help."
Aria swallowed heavily, knowing she needed to help Ethan work on the jewelry store he just signed, but she wouldn’t draw attention to that because Mrs. Cook already seemed suspicious.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll start on it right after lunch," she said, standing up and grabbing her purse. She noticed Mrs. Cook linger around the room, so she turned off her computer, which was password protected before she left.
When she looked back, Mrs. Cook stood in the doorway of her office, staring at the back of Aria's head.
What was that about?
Aria made her way to Ethan's office and knocked softly. He answered the door for her, and the smell of Mexican food wafted out. Aria's stomach grumbled, reminding her that it was definitely lunchtime.
Ethan's gaze made Aria blush; considering she'd just kissed him on a fire escape, it seemed irrelevant. "Are you here to flirt with me again? I thought my email warned you," he whispered, opening his door wider for Aria's entrance.
She stepped inside and noticed the array of Mexican food on his bared desk. "Yum," she said. "Who doesn’t love chips and queso?"
Ethan gestured toward his desk. "That's what I thought. I'm starving, and by that growling stomach, I think you are too."
Aria took her seat and made herself a fajita without thinking. Baby boy was hungry, and she couldn’t wait any longer. "Marilyn asked me to pick up some slack today, so I will probably need to go back to my desk after lunch. Unless you think this will take longer."
Ethan sat back in his chair, a mouth full of food. "That's fine. What does she have you working on?"
"Some Robertson account since Amy is out sick. She acted strange when I left, hovering around my desk, so I logged out just in case. I wouldn’t want her seeing my relentless flirting or anything."
Ethan smirked, but something lingered around his eyes. "What is it?" Aria asked.
"I told you that Marilyn accused me of flirting with you in front of my father? I think she's trying to get me in trouble with him. Maybe she senses something here and thinks she can prove it. It's just a theory."
Aria swallowed the last of her fajita and dipped a chip in her cheese dip. "What would happen if the CEO went against the rulebook?"
Ethan looked up over his food; his clean-shaven face seemed so carefree. Then it hit Aria. It's because he was carefree. Ethan wouldn't get into too much trouble if Marilyn found out about him.
Aria would be ostracized if she got away with it.
Ethan didn't even know that she was pregnant with his baby, or that his life would change in a few short months.
"Ah, nothing much. I’m sure I could talk my dad into keeping me," he said, with a wink.
"What about me?" Aria asked. "Would Marilyn have me fired?"
Ethan's face turned serious. "Of course not. I wouldn't let Marilyn do anything to you, Aria."
She dipped another chip, feeling her fate was the same … being chewed up and swallowed. "Well, I don't want to risk it," she said softly. "Can we please make sure this stays between us?"
She wasn't sure how long they could keep it a secret. Everyone would find out eventually. But when Aria built the gall to tell Mrs. Cook about her pregnancy, she would leave Ethan's name out of it.
She prayed Marilyn didn't snoop around and find out beforehand.
Ethan offered her another tortilla wrap. "Aria, I've been keeping my feelings for you under wraps since the interview. I think I can handle a little secret office romance. Plus, if it gets out, you can come with me to Dallas. Stir up the rumor mill even more."
Aria smiled weakly. Oh, she'd definitely stir up the rumor mill, alright. Nothing topped a secret baby with the CEO.