The dinner ended later than expected.
Elena disappeared upstairs first after announcing dramatically that she needed wine and emotional recovery after watching Damian suffer all evening.
Richard left shortly after, but not before giving Damian one final knowing look.
“Try not to destroy your life completely,” he said calmly.
Then he walked away like he had not just emotionally attacked his own son for two straight hours.
The mansion finally became quiet again.
Too quiet.
I stood near the dining room doorway awkwardly while Damian loosened his tie slowly.
Neither of us knew what to say after tonight because everything had changed.
His father knew, his sister knew, and worst of all, nobody denied the truth anymore: Damian loved me.
The thought still felt unreal inside my chest—dangerous, beautiful, and terrifying.
“I should go to bed,” I said softly.
Damian nodded once without looking at me.
“Yes.”
But neither of us moved.
The silence stretched painfully.
I watched him pour himself another glass of whiskey at the small bar near the dining room.
His shoulders looked tense and heavy, like the weight of tonight was crushing him.
For some reason, seeing Damian emotionally exhausted hurt more than I expected.
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
His hand paused briefly around the glass.
“No.”
The honesty shocked me.
Damian rarely admitted weakness, but tonight he sounded completely tired.
I walked closer carefully.
“Your father was not angry.”
“That is not the problem.”
I stopped beside him.
“Then what is?”
Damian laughed softly without humor.
“Aurora, everyone can see this now.”
My chest tightened.
“And?”
He finally looked at me, and the conflict in his eyes nearly broke me.
“And eventually your father will see it too.”
Silence.
Painful silence.
We both knew what would happen after that; everything would explode.
Friendships, trust, family, and maybe even us.
Damian looked away again and finished the whiskey in one slow swallow.
“You should sleep,” he said quietly.
There it was again.
Distance, control, and the walls going back up.
I hated it.
Before I could answer, the lights suddenly went out.
The entire mansion went dark instantly.
I gasped softly in surprise.
“What happened?”
“Storm damage probably,” Damian answered calmly, as if darkness swallowing the entire mansion was completely normal.
Only small emergency lights remained glowing faintly along the hallway.
Thunder echoed outside a second later.
Another storm.
Perfect timing.
Damian sighed.
“The generator should activate soon.”
But nothing happened.
The mansion remained dark.
I crossed my arms tightly.
That earned the smallest smile from him.
Then, another loud thunder crack shook the windows.
I jumped slightly before I could stop myself.
Damian noticed immediately.
“You are still afraid of storms.”
“I am not afraid.”
Another thunder crash interrupted me, closer this time.
I moved closer to Damian automatically.
His eyes darkened slightly, even now, his body reacted to my nearness.
“Come on,” he said quietly.
“The upstairs generator still works sometimes.”
We walked upstairs together through the dim hallway light.
The mansion felt strangely intimate in darkness with our quiet footsteps and soft shadows, creating too much awareness between us.
I stayed close behind Damian while thunder continued outside.
When we reached the second floor, another problem appeared: only one side of the hallway had power, and unfortunately, not mine.
I frowned toward my dark bedroom.
“Seriously?”
Damian checked the light switch once before sighing.
“Your side lost power completely.”
“And yours?”
“Still working.”
Another loud thunder boom shook the house.
I instantly hated everything.
Damian looked at me carefully.
“You can stay in my room tonight.”
My heartbeat stopped.
“What?”
His expression stayed calm.
“You are not sleeping alone in darkness during a storm.”
The problem was not the storm anymore; the problem was sleeping in Damian’s room, near Damian, breathing the same air as Damian.
It was a terrible idea, absolutely terrible.
Unfortunately, another thunder crack destroyed what little bravery I had left.
I closed my eyes briefly.
“I hate this weather.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“I noticed.”
Damian opened his bedroom door and stepped aside for me to enter first.
It was a big mistake because walking into his room felt far too intimate already.
The room smelled like him—dark wood, whiskey, clean cologne, and masculine warmth.
God help me.
A soft lamp glowed beside the large bed while rain hit the windows outside, and the atmosphere felt dangerously romantic.
My pulse became uneven instantly, and Damian noticed, of course he noticed.
“I will sleep on the couch,” he said calmly.
I looked toward the couch.
It was way too small for a man his size.
“You cannot sleep there.”
“I will survive.”
Another silence stretched between us.
Then I quietly said, “The bed is big enough.”
Damian froze completely.
So did I.
Oh God.
Why did I say that?
The tension inside the room exploded instantly.
His eyes locked onto mine, dark, intense, and dangerous.
“Aurora.”
My face burned immediately.
“I just mean. ”
“I know what you mean.” His voice sounded rough now, lower.
The storm outside suddenly felt very far away compared to the tension inside this bedroom.
Neither of us moved.
Then, slowly, Damian loosened the top buttons of his shirt while looking away.
The simple action nearly ruined me.
I should not react this strongly to a man unbuttoning his shirt, but unfortunately, my body clearly disagreed.
“You can take the bed,” he said quietly.
“I will manage.”
I stared at him carefully.
“You are really going to pretend this tension does not exist all night?”
His hands stopped moving.
The silence became heavy.
Then slowly, Damian looked back at me.
“That would probably be smarter.”
The honesty hurt more than I expected because underneath those words, I heard what he really meant: he wanted me too much.
I swallowed hard.
“And if we stop pretending?”
It was a very dangerous mistake.
Damian stared at me for a long moment, then suddenly walked toward me slowly, one step, then another, until I could barely breathe properly anymore.
“You need to stop asking questions you already know the answers to,” he said quietly.
Every nerve in my body came alive instantly.
I looked up at him.
“What if I want the answer anyway?”
His jaw tightened hard.
Thunder crashed outside again, but neither of us reacted this time because the real storm was standing directly between us.
Damian reached up slowly.
For one wild second, I thought he was finally going to kiss me.
Instead, his fingers gently brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
The soft touch nearly destroyed my self-control completely.
His hand lingered there briefly, warm, careful, intimate.
“Aurora,” he whispered.
The way he said my name sounded painful, like wanting me was hurting him.
I could not take it anymore, not the tension, not the restraint, not the way he looked at me like I was temptation itself.
My fingers curled softly against his shirt.
And for the first time since this started, I stopped thinking.
Then suddenly, his phone rang loudly beside the bed.
We both froze.
Damian closed his eyes briefly in frustration.
I almost laughed from disbelief.
The universe clearly hated us.
He grabbed the phone quickly, his expression changing immediately after seeing the screen.
“It is Ethan.”
Reality crashed down hard again.
My father.
Always my father.
Damian answered calmly even while standing inches away from me.
“Ethan.”
I stepped backward immediately, wrapping my arms around myself.
The guilt returned instantly and painfully.
I listened quietly while my father’s cheerful voice echoed faintly through the phone, completely unaware his best friend was standing in a dark bedroom fighting the urge to kiss his daughter.
My chest tightened painfully.
Damian looked at me once during the call, and the expression in his eyes said everything.
This was destroying him too.
The storm is officially inside the bedroom now!
Damian and Aurora are playing with fire, and with Ethan calling at the worst possible moment, the guilt is becoming impossible to ignore.
How much longer can they hide their feelings before everything falls apart?
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Can’t wait for Chapter 12!