Page 64 of Sinful Storms

“Definitely.”

Her eyes narrowed at me, and I couldn’t help grinning, but it died away as we reached the top of the stairs. The bell tower room looked the same as I’d seen it last. Aria’s blanket, crumpled in one corner. The battered floorboards, partially pried away. The stone fireplace. The gaping hole and crumbling stones where a window had once been.

Aria inhaled and then exhaled, a deep, shuddering breath.

“It’s…weird being back here now. I can almost picture it.” Her voice was so fucking quiet, and my body stiffened. Had I made a mistake in bringing her here?

“Aria. We can leave.”

“No.” She shook her head violently. “I don’t want to. I think…I think we needed this.” Crossing the room, she stopped in front of the hole where the window used to be. Trailing her fingers across the stone, she lifted her gaze. “I can see the stars.”

I came up behind her, wrapping my arms around her body, the tightness in my chest easing when she relaxed back against me. “Yeah,” I said. “Look. There’s Aquila.” Lifting her hand, I traced the outline of the constellation. “And over there. See that? That’s the moon.”

She rolled her head to the side so I could see her extremely unimpressed expression. Fucking hell, it did things to me. Who got turned on by that kind of shit? I did, apparently.

“What? That big crescent thing is the moon? I’d never have guessed.”

“I know you wouldn’t have, so it’s a good thing you have me to tell you these things.”

“Why are you hard?” Her body pressed back into mine, and I smirked, tightening my grip on her.

“Hmm. Let me think. I’ve got the hottest fucking woman I know in my arms, and she’s giving me shit—which, apparently, I’m into in some weird, fucked-up way.”

“Wow. You have serious issues.” Her tone was dry.

I buried my smile in her hair. “Yeah, probably. I blame you for that.”

We both stared at the stars for a while, and finally, my dick calmed down. Not fully, because…Aria. But enough that I could appreciate this moment. I was glad we’d come up here. If we’d left Hatherley Hall for good without seeing it again, I was sure we’d both feel as if there was something incomplete. We needed to see the bell tower with our own eyes, knowing what had happened, and reconcile that with our own experiences.

Eventually, she cleared her throat, speaking softly into the night. “You…you didn’t mean that, did you?”

“Didn’t mean what, baby?”

“Th-the hottest woman thing.” Her words tripped over each other, betraying her nerves, and right after she’d spoken them, she let out a string of swear words under her breath. Apparently, she hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

It warmed me all over.

“Course I did.” I spun her around to face me. Her eyes were fixed on my chest, and so I lifted her chin so she had no choice but to meet my gaze. My heart did a lurching thing it had never done before, and I sighed, resigned to the fact that I was most likely going to love this girl until the day I died. “You’re beautiful, inside and out.”

Those honey eyes widened, Aria’s mouth falling open, then closing again, the process repeating itself several times as if she couldn’t find the words. I couldn’t, either, so I did the only thing I could think of. I dipped my head, and I kissed her.

“Tristan!”

“Shhhh.” I placed my finger over her lips. “Someone might hear.”

“Yes, because we’re breaking into the library,” she hissed.

My brows rose. “You’re worried about breaking the rules?”

“Obviously not.” She gave me another one of those unimpressed looks that I should not be finding hot. “But I feel like we should be.”

Using my former head boy key card to let us inside, I pointed in the direction of the archives. “No one’s gonna disturb us. Katy and Will are gone, and no one else has access to this place exceptfor the staff members who aren’t gonna be awake at—” I checked the time. “—three thirty in the morning.”

Not waiting for her to reply, I ushered her inside, through the library stacks to the archives. I directed her towards a door in the back right-hand corner, using my key card to enter.

The room was exactly as I’d left it. Leaving Aria to her own devices for a moment, I circled the space, pulling out the lighter I’d been keeping in my pocket for this moment. I swiped my thumb down to bring the small flame to life, holding it to each of the candles I’d carefully placed earlier, trying not to second-guess myself. I hoped this was a good idea. Was it a good idea? We’d never get a chance to do this in the school library again, and to me, this was a sacred space with all the valuable books and journals. I’d never even thought about bringing a girl in here before, but I wanted to be here with Aria, the only girl who’d ever meant something to me.

The girl who meant everything to me.

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