Aria's body trembled under Jax's touch. His fingers slid along her wet folds, parting them gently. She moaned softly as he found her clit, rubbing it in slow circles. The pleasure built fast, making her thighs shake. Jax watched her face, his eyes dark with need. He loved seeing her like this, open and wanting him.
He leaned down, taking her nipple into his mouth again. He sucked hard, his tongue flicking over the tight peak. Aria's hands gripped his shoulders, nails digging into his skin. 'Jax,' she whispered, her voice breathy. 'Please... more.'
Jax smiled against her skin. He moved his hand lower, pushing one finger inside her pussy. She was so tight and warm around him. He pumped it in and out, feeling her walls clench. Aria bucked her hips, meeting his rhythm. He added a second finger, stretching her a bit. Her juices coated his hand, making each thrust smooth.
While his fingers worked her, Jax kissed his way down her stomach. His lips brushed her belly button, then lower to her hips. He spread her legs wider, settling between them. Aria looked down at him, her chest rising and falling fast. Jax held her gaze as he pulled his fingers out. He brought them to his mouth, licking her taste off them. 'You taste so good,' he said, his voice rough.
Then he lowered his head. His tongue touched her clit first, flat and broad. Aria cried out, her back arching off the bed. Jax licked her slowly, savoring every inch. He sucked her clit gently, then harder. His hands held her thighs open, keeping her steady. She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer.
Jax's tongue dipped inside her pussy, thrusting like his fingers had. He fucked her with his mouth, alternating between her entrance and her clit. Aria's moans grew louder, filling the bedroom. The polished floor outside the door gleamed in the low light, but here on the bed, everything was heat and touch.
She was close, he could tell. Her body tensed, breaths coming in short gasps. Jax sped up, his tongue relentless. 'Come for me, Aria,' he murmured against her skin. That pushed her over. Her orgasm hit hard, waves of pleasure crashing through her. She screamed his name, her pussy pulsing as she came on his tongue.
Jax didn't stop until she rode it out. When she went limp, he kissed her inner thigh softly. He crawled up her body, his pants still on but straining against his hard cock. Aria reached for him, pulling him into a deep kiss. She tasted herself on his lips, which only made her want more.
'Your turn,' she said, her hands fumbling with his belt. Jax helped her, kicking off his pants and boxers. His cock sprang free, thick and long, the head already leaking pre-cum. Aria wrapped her hand around it, stroking from base to tip. Jax groaned, his hips jerking forward.
She pumped him slowly, feeling the veins pulse under her fingers. Jax's hands roamed her body, cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples. 'Fuck, Aria,' he breathed. 'That feels amazing.' She smiled, leaning down to kiss the tip. Her tongue swirled around it, tasting the salt of him.
Jax's hand tangled in her hair, guiding her gently. Aria took more of him into her mouth, sucking as she bobbed her head. She hollowed her cheeks, taking him deeper until he hit the back of her throat. Jax's breaths turned ragged, his abs tightening. She used her hand on what she couldn't fit, twisting slightly.
He pulled her up before he lost control. 'I need to be inside you,' he said, voice strained. Aria nodded, lying back and spreading her legs. Jax positioned himself between them, rubbing his cock along her slick pussy. He teased her entrance, coating himself in her wetness.
With one smooth thrust, he pushed inside. Aria gasped at the fullness, her walls stretching around his thick length. Jax went slow, letting her adjust. He bottomed out, his balls against her ass. They both stilled for a moment, savoring the connection.
Then he started moving. Long, deep strokes that filled her completely. Aria wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him closer. Jax braced on his elbows, his face inches from hers. He kissed her as he fucked her, tongues tangling in time with his hips.
The bed creaked under them, sheets twisting. Jax's pace quickened, his thrusts harder. Skin slapped against skin, the sound echoing in the room. Aria's nails raked down his back, leaving red marks. 'Harder,' she begged. Jax obliged, pounding into her with force.
He shifted, hooking her legs over his shoulders. The angle let him go deeper, hitting that spot inside her that made stars burst behind her eyes. Aria's moans turned to cries, her body shaking. Jax's hand slipped between them, thumb on her clit. He rubbed fast circles, matching his thrusts.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping onto her chest. His muscles flexed with each movement, powerful and controlled. Aria reached up, tracing his jaw. 'I love you,' she whispered. Jax's eyes softened even as his body drove into hers. 'I love you too,' he replied, voice husky.
The words fueled them both. Jax's thrusts grew erratic, his cock swelling inside her. Aria felt her second orgasm building, coiling tight in her belly. 'I'm close,' she panted. Jax nodded, grinding against her clit with each push.
She came first, her pussy clamping down on him like a vice. Waves of ecstasy rolled through her, making her toes curl. Jax followed seconds later, burying himself deep as he spilled inside her. Hot spurts of cum filled her, marking her as his. He groaned her name, body shuddering.
They collapsed together, Jax still inside her. He rolled to the side, pulling her against his chest. Their breaths slowed, hearts pounding in sync. Aria nuzzled his neck, feeling safe and sated. Jax kissed her forehead, his arms wrapping around her tight.
The room was quiet now, only their soft breathing.
Jax held her tightly, his chin resting on the top of her head, while Aria listened to the steady beat of his heart. For the first time in years, she felt a sense of peace that wasn't guarded by a weapon.
But for Aria Thorne, peace was a fragile, lying thing.
As the hours drifted toward the early morning, the warmth of the room began to sour. The silence turned heavy and suffocating.
In her sleep, Aria's body began to coil like a spring. Her hands, resting against Jax's chest, curled into tight, white-knuckled fists. Her breathing hitched, becoming shallow and fast. A soft, panicked whimper broke the silence, the sound of a wounded animal.
She was ten years old again. The room was freezing, smelling of damp wood and the copper tang of blood.
"Mama?" she whispered in her dream. Her small hands shook as she held a cracked glass of water. Elara was coughing, a harsh, wet sound that tore through Aria's chest. "Drink, Mama. Please."
But the light was fading from her mother's eyes. The shadows in the corner of the room grew tall, turning into men with heavy boots and cold eyes. The scene shifted violently. Now she was sixteen. The rough cord of a rope bit into her wrists, raw and stinging. The smell of pine needles and diesel fuel filled her nose.
"No," she moaned, her head thrashing against the pillow. "Please, not again. Not the dark."
Jax woke up instantly. He felt the violent, rhythmic trembling of the woman in his arms. Her skin, once hot with passion, was now clammy and cold.
"Aria?" he called, his voice sharp with alarm. He shook her shoulder gently at first, then with more force. "Aria, wake up!"
She was trapped. She saw the muzzle flash of a gun in the jungle, felt the burning heat of a desert sun on a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding. She saw Elias, his face covered in grime, screaming for her to run while he held the line.
"Aria! Look at me!" Jax sat up, grabbing her shoulders. He had to use his weight to keep her from flailing off the bed. "Aria! Open your eyes!"
Aria let out a jagged, broken scream as she tore herself out of the dark. Her eyes snapped open, wide and glazed with a terror so deep Jax felt it in his own gut. She didn't see the bedroom. She saw enemies. She lunged back, her back hitting the headboard, her breath coming in agonizing gasps.
"Don't touch me!" she barked, her hand instinctively reaching for a knife on the nightstand that wasn't there. Her eyes were dilated, her body poised to strike.
"Aria, it's me. Look at my face," Jax said, keeping his hands visible and still. He didn't move toward her, giving her the space her instincts demanded. "You're in New York. You're in my bed. You're safe. I promise you, you're safe."
Aria's eyes finally focused. The fierce, untouchable CEO of Vanguard disappeared, replaced by a girl who had been lost in a forest for fifteen years. She slumped, her chest heaving, and the first sob broke through her throat. It was a raw, ugly sound of pure exhaustion. Tears, hot and silent, began to spill over her cheeks.
Jax moved slowly, pulling her into his lap. He didn't care that her fingernails had left red marks on his arms. He just held her, rocking her as she wept into his chest.
"I thought I was back there," she choked out, her voice a dry, broken whisper. "I could smell the damp wood. I could feel the ropes cutting into my skin."
Jax stroked her hair, his heart heavy with a weight he had never known. He could see the marks on her body clearly now under the dim moonlight. The jagged white line on her shoulder. The round pucker of a bullet hole on her side.
"The nightmares, they don't stop, do they?" Jax asked softly.
Aria wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her movements shaky and uncoordinated. "I don't sleep, Jax. Not really. I just wait for the sun to come up so I can be the person everyone expects me to be. When it gets quiet, the ghosts find me. They always find me."
She looked at him, her gaze searching his for any sign of pity or disgust. She found only a profound, soul-deep respect.
"My mother, Elara, she was a Thorne's greatest secret," Aria started, her voice trembling. "My father, Charles, loved her when they were young. But he was a coward. His mother told him Elara had taken money to leave him. He believed the lie because it was easier than fighting for a girl with nothing."
"He left her to die in that room?" Jax asked, his jaw tightening so hard it ached.
"He married Victoria instead. A business merger to save the family name," Aria said, a bitter edge cutting through her grief. "My mother worked three jobs. She lived in rooms so cold the water froze in the glass. I watched her fade away. I was ten years old when I learned that love doesn't save you. Money saves you. Doctors save you. And we had neither."
Jax pulled the sheet around her, tucking it close to her shivering frame. "And the orphanage? How did you survive that?"
"A hellhole," she whispered, staring at a ghost in the corner of the room. "Elias was the only reason I didn't give up. He was a year older, all sharp elbows and bruised knuckles. He fought the older boys so they wouldn't touch me. We made a pact that night. We would never be victims again. Never."
She took a shaky breath, the memory of the kidnapping rising like a tide.
"When my father finally brought me to the estate at sixteen, I thought I was saved. But Victoria and Chloe, they treated me like a stray dog. Then the kidnapping happened. I was in that forest for four days, Jax. Victoria didn't want to pay the ransom. She wanted me gone so her daughter would be the only heir. I survived because a soldier found me. Not a hero, just a mercenary. He told me that if I wanted to be safe, I had to be the most dangerous person in the room."
Jax looked at the gunshot wound on her side, his hand hovering over it. "So you became one of them. You became a shadow."
"I joined the ranks. I trained until my hands bled and my heart went numb. I found Elias again in a camp in South America. We became the shadows that protect the people with the checkbooks. Specialized, high-ranking, we did things I can't tell you about. Things that stay in the dark."
Aria looked down at her hands, which were finally stopping their shaking. "That's why I build these clothes, Jax. That's why everything I design is a fortress. Because I know what happens to girls who don't have walls."
Jax reached out, tracing the scar on her shoulder with the pad of his thumb.
"You're the strongest person I've ever known, Aria," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "But you don't have to be a soldier in this room. You don't have to guard the door when you're with me. Let me be the one on watch tonight."
Aria leaned into his touch, the tension finally draining from her limbs as she realized he wasn't going to leave. "It's hard to turn it off. I keep listening for the sound of boots in the hallway."
"I'll be the one watching the door," Jax promised, pulling her down so they were lying together again. "I'll stay awake until you're safe in your dreams. You just sleep. I've got you."
Aria closed her eyes, her head resting on his chest, lulled by the steady, calm beat of his heart. For the first time, the silence didn't feel like an ambush. It felt like a promise.
But as the first grey light of dawn touched the curtains, the weight of the world outside began to press against the glass. The war with Soverkis and Chloe was only just beginning, and Aria Thorne knew that eventually, she would have to put her armor back on. For now, however, she let herself be just a woman, held by a man who saw the scars and loved the skin anyway