Aria had always thought love was supposed to be overwhelming—fast, wild, dramatic. Maybe even a little chaotic.
But this… this was something else.
She lay in bed with Leon's arm draped protectively across her waist, the evening light softening the sharp lines of his face. He was usually up before her, always moving, always thinking, but today, he'd stayed. Still. Silent. Holding her like he needed the contact to believe it was real.
She felt his fingertips brush lightly over the curve of her belly—barely a curve, really. Nothing to see yet. Just the idea of something. Of someone.
"I didn't think it would feel like this," she whispered into the hush.
"Like what?"
"Like the world just… stopped. For a minute."
Leon didn't answer right away. His hand stayed there, warm against her skin.
"It didn't stop," he said quietly. "It shifted."
She rolled to face him, propping herself up on an elbow. "You're not panicking?"
He raised an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. "Do I look like I'm panicking?"
"No," she admitted. "Which is sort of terrifying. Because I am."
He reached up and brushed her hair back from her face. "I think you're allowed to be. But I'm not going anywhere, Aria. Not now. Not ever."
The sincerity in his voice made her heart ache. There had been a time not so long ago when she would've second-guessed those words. Wondered if he meant them. Doubted the permanence of anything built so fast, so hot.
But now?
Now she looked into Leon Castellan's eyes and saw something that made her breath catch.
Certainty.
Not control. Not domination. Not that icy billionaire mask he used to wear like armor. Just him. Open. Vulnerable in a way she never thought he could be.
"I keep thinking I'm dreaming," she admitted. "That I'll wake up and still be stuck in that old flat in Boston with rent overdue and my life in pieces."
He leaned in, pressed his lips to her forehead. "Then let's keep dreaming."
They didn't get out of bed for hours.
Later that night, as Aria stood at the window wrapped in a blanket, watching the London skyline blink back at her, Leon stepped up behind her.
"We'll need to call your OB," he said casually. "Get the first appointment scheduled."
She turned, startled. "You've already looked that up?"
He gave a small shrug. "I started researching the moment you showed me the test."
A laugh escaped her, equal parts disbelief and affection. "Of course you did."
"I'm thorough."
"You're impossible."
"I'm yours," he replied simply.
And just like that, Aria Rousseau—independent, guarded, fierce—felt weightless.
For a moment.
Because deep down, she knew this peace wouldn't last forever.
Someone, somewhere, would always have something to say about a man like Leon Castellan falling for a woman like her.
But for tonight, they were just two people in love. Expecting the unexpected.
And that was enough.