Chapter 147

Aria’s POV

I called in Piper to go over my findings. Together, she and a few other Healers that I trusted from the hospital reviewed all the work that Lucian and I had did.

I wanted everything peer-reviewed, cross-checked and checked again, before I risked administering the cure to Cathy.

While the others review our work, Lucian and I headed to the break room. I didn’t want my presence to affect the process at all. Piper and the others needed to reach the same conclusions as I had, without my accidental influence.

Lucian turned on the television and sat for an hour watching courtroom dramas. The stress was too much for me, and soon, I stood and started to pace.

Clicking off the television, Lucian stood too, but merely watched me as I walked back and forth, back and forth, not daring to interfere.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

I shook my head, unsure. “This is taking too long.”

“The test itself needed forty minutes to run, and then they’ll need time to analyze it,” Lucian said. “This doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. We just need to give them time to evaluate the work.”

“I must have messed up somewhere. Were my calculations wrong?”

“Hey,” he said and finally stepped into the path of my pacing. Lifting his hands, he placed them on my upper arms. His thumbs tracked tiny comforting circles on my arms. “Breathe.”

I tried to, but I could feel this all crashing down so easily. This wasn’t just any patient I was trying to cure. This was Cathy, my best friend, who had always been at my side through thick and thin. If I messed up and did something wrong – especially if it was something dangerous – I would never forgive myself.

I knew that was what this process was for, a safeguard to ensure that no harm would come to Cathy at all.

Yet for things to even get this far… If that cure wasn’t perfect…

“I can’t mess this up,” I told Lucian. It’s far too important.”

“You didn’t mess up,” he told me.

“You can’t know that.”

“I do,” he said. “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met in my entire life, Aria. I should have been able to see that without ever knowing that you are Dr. A, but now that I know the full depth of your talent and abilities…” Exhaling slowly, he shook his head with disbelief. “I am absolutely in awe of you, and I have been for some time.”

His words gave me comfort, but my self-doubt kept me from fully accepting them. Closing my eyes, I lowered my head, avoiding his gaze.

“You aren’t one to doubt yourself,” he said. “Especially your healing skills.”

He was right, but… “Things are different when it’s your best friend on the line,” I said.

He’s quiet a moment, long enough for me to curiously look up at him. The look on his face is pensive, as if he’s lost in thought.

“What are you thinking?” I asked him.

He considered me. “Perhaps a distraction would help you. Would you be open to it?”

Slowly, he traced his hands down the length of my arms and then jumped to place them on my hips instead. Gently, he eased me closer. When I was close enough, he tilted his head and leaned downward.

I froze, still as a statue, as he closed the distance that had teased us earlier. My eyelids fluttered closed.

Yet, just before he kissed me, he asked, his voice a whisper, “May I?”

If he didn’t kiss me right this second, I was going to lose my mind.

I was far too breathless to say so however, and simply nodded instead.

Then, blessedly, Lucian’s lips pressed to mine.

The kiss started feather-light, a gentle pressing of lips, as Lucian’s fingers curled around my hips, tugging me closer. I placed my hands flat on his chest, then slid them upwards, up and up until I could wrap them comfortably around his neck.

As I did, I parted my mouth just a little. It was enough for his tongue to slip inside.

My mind fogged after that. I met his tongue with my own and we tangled, licking and tasting.

He urged me backwards until my back pressed up against the wall of the break room. I tugged at the small hairs on the back of his neck as he slipped his leg between my thighs.

I felt wild and out of control, like a spark had been struck, and now a wildfire burned within me.

How had I been able to go so long without this? To have it now, I felt like I might explode with desire.

One of his hands slipped around me to grab at my backside. The other lifted to cup my cheek.

When we broke for air, he didn’t let me go far. I had time for only a few quick breaths as I tilted my head, and then he dove right back in, kissing my breath away once more.

Trapped in this cycle of bliss, I easily lost myself, living in a fantasy world were nothing existed except this man and his hot mouth and his greedy hands sliding up and down my sides, gripping at my shirt.

This wasn’t the time or place for a tryst, yet I found myself wanting one all the same.

How easy it was to fall back into old habits! To have him and want him all over again!

It was as if all the mistakes of the past had been washed away and we’d been given a clean slate. But that wasn’t reality. I needed to remember that.

I tried to, but when he kissed me again, the thoughts were lost once more.

“Aria,” he whispered against my lips. His voice sounded as wrecked as I felt.

My heart beat so fast that I felt like I might take off into the sky and fly away.

Yet, before I could truly give into lust and through caution to the wind, the breakroom door opened.

Lucian and I jumped apart as if we scalded each other.

The intruder, Piper, didn’t seem to notice, her nose pointed down to the paperwork she carried.

“I don’t know how you did this, Aria,” she said, excitement in her voice. “But this is absolutely amazing. How did you even make these jumps here? But it works. It all works. I swear you are a genius.”

She approached us, stopping a few feet away. When she finally looked up, I noticed the moment she saw my rumbled state of dress and my undoubtedly kiss-swollen lips. Lucian was in a matching state of rumple. Piper’s eyes went a little wide.

“I’m not interrupting…?” she asked.

“No,” I said quickly. Hurrying towards her, I took the folder she was holding and looked inside. There was a report documenting the findings of Piper and the other Healers.

Their tests all came back conclusive. They all agreed that the cure worked.

I exhaled sharply, and it came out a broken laugh. Relief was overwhelming, and my legs buckled. I leaned onto one of the chairs for support. Lucian was by my side in an instant his arm around me.

I wasn’t in danger of falling, but it was nice to have his support regardless.

“Good news?” he asked.

“The best news,” I said.

Piper grinned at me. “Should we call Cathy?”