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Pulling my forehead away from hers, I stare down into her molten steel eyes. "Always."
"I'm glad you interrupted my date with Griffin that one night." She pauses for a moment, rolling her lips between her teeth before releasing them. "You gave me everything I needed that night and I don't feel like I properly thanked you for it."
"I can think of a few ways you can thank me," I tell her with a wink as she swats her hand at me. "When you're feeling better." Releasing her face, I reach back for the soup and hand it to her. "Eat this before it gets cold."
"Yes, sir," she says with a nod as she takes it from me. Those two little words send a rush of blood to my cock but I ignore it again. I really need to get myself under control here. I don't know what the hell has become of me. Anytime I'm near her, I'm like a teenage boy again, about to come in my damn pants just from her touching my hand or looking at me a certain way.
"This soup is seriously so good," Aria says as she takes another bite. There's a small droplet of broth on her bottom lip. Lifting my hand, I brush it away with my thumb before popping the digit in my mouth to lick it off. "Aren't you going to eat any?"
I shake my head at her as I settle back on the couch and look at the home improvement show she's watching. "I might later. I just wanted to make sure that you eat something. We need to make sure you stay hydrated. Have you been taking any medicine to help?"
She rolls her eyes at me. "Yes, daddy." Fuck, there's that rush of blood between my legs again. "I've been doing everything I need to do and I think this soup was the last thing I needed to really start feeling better."
"I missed you on the ice today." I pause for a moment, letting those feelings sink back in again, and the feeling of dread fills me. "When you didn't show up, at first I thought maybe something bad happened. Then you texted me and I wasn't sure if you were actually sick. Not that I didn't believe you—but after yesterday, I wasn't sure you were going to want to skate with me again."
Aria leans forward to set her empty bowl of soup on the table. "Well, I already exposed myself with that fear. At first, I thought you came here because you wanted to see me and then I thought it was because you were leaving me."
Kicking off my shoes, I rise to my feet and Aria moves over as I climb onto the couch with her. She pulls the quilt up over my body, our legs tangling together as I lay on my back. She scoots close until her body is plastered to my side with her arm around my torso and her head resting against my rib cage.
"I shouldn't have let you leave yesterday," I say softly as I stroke her soft wavy hair with my hand. "I should have made you stay and listen to me. I should have ran after you when you did leave." A disappointed sigh leaves me. "I should have done something, anything."
Aria trails her hand down to the hem of my shirt and slides her hand underneath the cotton material until her palm is pressed against my bare skin. I revel in her touch, in her warmth. "I never should have left. I let those stupid negative thoughts get the better of me. After they entered my mind, I couldn't see past them and I should have taken a step back and let myself breathe before reacting."
"We both have a lot of should-haves from yesterday," I murmur against her head before pressing a gentle kiss against her hair. "There's nothing we can do to change that now. All we can do is change the way we communicate moving forward." I roll slightly onto my side as I pull her closer to the front of my body and wrap my arms tightly around her. "I need to start thinking before I speak. I know sometimes the way I word things may come off cold and abrasive, so that's something I'm trying to work on."
"And I need to give myself time to think and process before I respond. Sometimes my anxiety takes a hold of me and I react based on emotion rather than thinking things through first.
I run my fingers through her silky locks. "That's the beauty of being human, Ari. We're all constantly a work in progress. We're fluid like water, changing shapes and forms. We're always evolving and growing."
"No one is perfect," she murmurs, and I'm not sure whether she's telling me or telling herself.
Having to be perfect is something Aria struggles with, but she's been doing a lot better considering the stress we've been under. I've already seen the growth within her, just from the minor hiccups we've had while learning to skate together.
"No, they're not," I agree, pressing my lips to her forehead again. "But you're the closest to perfect as someone is going to get."
"That's your infatuation talking." She laughs quietly as she nestles her body against mine.
"No, love," I tell her, my voice dropping lower as I whisper the words against her skin. "That's just my heart."
***
Aria's cold thankfully only lasted a few days, but after the first day, she was feeling better and able to get back to practice. I made sure she took it easy and didn't overdo it. The last thing we needed was for either of us to be exhausted or overworked. That is never a good combination when you're trying to win an extremely important competition.
"Are you okay to get on the plane?" Aria asks me as we stand at the terminal and they've begun boarding passengers. I'm standing by the glass, staring out at the other planes as they land and take off.
I nod, feeling the anxiety washing over me. I absolutely hate flying and I know it's completely irrational. It's not like I know anyone who has been in a plane crash or that I've experienced anything traumatizing like that myself. I blame it on the Final Destination movie I watched when I was a teenager.
"I'll be right here with you," she says softly as she bumps her shoulder against mine. It's the most minimal contact and I revel in the way it feels. Things haven't been weird between us, but trying to balance working together and sleeping together when no one knows the specifics of our relationship has been a little different. No one knows we've been spending every night together for the past two weeks.
There have been many times I've caught myself about to kiss her or pull her into my arms in front of people and I have to stop myself. I don't know what she expects or wants from me in terms of that. Hell, I told her I'm in love with her and didn't even accomplish what I set out for. We don't need a label to define what we are, but I've been finding myself craving one. Almost as if I need that reassurance of having a title for her—something tangible that I can shout from the rooftops to the rest of the world.
I want things to be official between us. I don’t want it to be our little secret.
I want everyone to know that Aria Reed is mine and I'm hers.
"That brings me even less comfort," I tell her as they call our group and she begins to walk toward the line at the gate. I fall in line behind her. "I don't need the plane going down while you're on it too."
Aria looks over her shoulder and gives me a sideways glance. "The plane is not going to go down. We are safe, Leo. I won't let anything happen to you."
