The scent of lunch still lingered softly through the mansion warm, comforting, unbelievable to anyone who knew Damian Steel. The staff were still whispering in stunned disbelief long after the CEO and his wife had left the kitchen.
Ariana and Damian walked down the hallway together, their hands brushing occasionally small touches, accidental but not really accidental. The kind that left her heart fluttering.
Damian had insisted she rest after cooking.
"You did enough," he said in that soft-but-bossy tone.
But Ariana had seen the way he kept glancing at her, like his mind wasn't on work anymore like the simple act of standing beside her in the kitchen had pulled something loose inside him.
After changing out of the aprons, Ariana settled in the sunroom, sketchpad open on her knees. The house was peaceful, sunlight drifting over her paper in golden lines.
She didn't hear Damian until he was already standing in the doorway.
"You're not resting," he said.
She glanced up. "I am resting. Sketching calms me."
He leaned against the doorway, watching her. Not with intensity. Not with possession.
With quiet… wonder.
"Come sit," she said gently.
He did, settling beside her. His shoulder brushed hers warm, steady, familiar.
"What are you drawing?" he asked.
She hesitated, then tilted the sketchpad toward him.
Him.
Damian, standing behind her earlier in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, his hand over hers as he guided her on how to slice vegetables safely.
Damian's jaw tightened not with anger, but with emotion he didn't know how to hold.
"That's… me," he said quietly.
She smiled. "You looked different today."
"How?"
"Human," she whispered. "Soft. Happy."
He exhaled slowly, something in him melting.
"Ariana," he said, voice low, "no one has ever looked at me like you do. I don't even know how to react."
She lowered the sketchpad. "You don't have to react. Just… be with me."
Damian reached out, gently taking her charcoal-stained fingers into his.
"Then be with me," he murmured. "For the rest of the day."
They stayed like that close, quiet, content.
But the peace was interrupted when Mrs. Rowan passed by the doorway… and gasped softly.
Because Damian was smiling.
Not cold.
Not intimidating.
Not controlled.
A real smile.
Mrs. Rowan quickly bowed and fled, but not before Ariana giggled.
Damian raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"She's never seen you smile like that."
He brushed his thumb over her knuckles. "Then she'll have to get used to it."
Ariana's heart warmed.
The world feared Damian Steel.
But here, beside her, he was a man slowly learning how to love.
How to be loved.
And Ariana quietly, gently was becoming his safe place.