Aaron's POV

I look at her sleeping state, my eyes tracing the hollowness of her cheeks because of the weight loss. Her lashes graze the the darkness beneath her eyes as her evened out breathing leaves through her parted lips.

My heart physically hurts to see her like this. But today is the first time in three weeks that she hasn't woken up crying.

Quietly moving, I reach over the bedside table to turn off the alarm, afraid that it'll wake her up because it's due to go off any minute now. Glancing at her one last time, I get out of bed and make my way to the bathroom.

I open the joined door to Emily's room and look at her sleeping peacefully so I indulge myself into the morning routine. After freshening up, I decide to make breakfast first before taking a shower so I make my way out of the bathroom to the hallway.

It's been a week since we came back to New York, and three weeks since Viviana Rose passed away. Diana didn't want to leave her father alone and tried to convince him to leave Larkspur and come with us, but he had to go back to his duty just a week later after he lost his wife.

He still had a couple of years left of his service, and he somehow convinced her that he would give it a thought after that.

She has been a wreck.

I lost count of how many times she has reread the letters from her mother and the amount of tears she has shed. When she read them for the first time, she ended up in Marcel's arms with both of them crying.

But she talked to Emily the next day for the first time in a few days. She fed her breakfast and tried to keep herself collected around her, but it was evident to an outsider how much she was breaking inside.

A movement behind me makes me jerk my head back and I notice Diana sleepily walking in the kitchen. She yawns before coming right in front of me and wrapping her arms around me, resting her head on my chest.

"Morning." I wrap one arm around her waist.

"Missed you in bed." She grumbles as she looks up and kisses my jaw, "Missed your face."

I grin, because she had been persisting me to shave from a long time now and I let her do the honours yesterday. Because 'C'mon, babe, it can't be harder than shaving your legs.'

That ended up with two cuts on my cheek.

Lifting her face up with a finger under her chin, I kiss her lips, "I love you but you should be in bed."

"We have to go to work."

"I have to go to work. You have to go to bed."

She frowns at me, "I need to fall back into routine in order to move on. You realise that, right?"

Her words make me sigh because I know she's right but I don't want her to feel any kind of burden. I look at her as she moves out of my arms and sims down the stove.

"Chocolate chip pancakes." She says, looking at the batter and I nod. "I'll get freshen up, take a shower and wake up Emily."

"Need help?" I ask and she shakes her head. She's about to move out when I pull her back to myself, searching her eyes, "Did you sleep well?"

She shrugs, "Better than yesterday."

I nod as I let her go. It takes me time to prepare breakfast because I also pack a sandwich for Emily even though she gets meals from school. After some time, I move to the bedroom and notice Diana slipping into one of her office skirts.

Her make up is done and she looks almost ready as I move to take out a suit from the closet. I settle on a dark grey one with white shirt before looking at her again.

"You both ready?" I ask.

"Yeah, she took a bath, and I just need to do her hair after she dresses herself up. You can use the shower though." She tells me.

This is the first time she took effort to get ready or out of bed. Ever since we came back, I rejoined office the next day itself because of the workload and Shelly usually came over to give her company. Even Charlotte and Paul stopped by at some point but she wanted to be left alone by then.

Emily had to go back to school, so I woke her up, helped her and then dropped her off in the morning while Shelly picked her up.

After getting out of the shower, I notice that both of them are probably already in the kitchen having breakfast. I change into the clothes before getting out. Diana smiles as she slides a plate filled with pancakes with side fruit to me.

"Morning, Em!" I smile at her and she gives me a toothy grin in return.

"Morning, Aaron."

Diana barely eats anything, receiving a look from me, "You finish that and then we can talk about going back to work."

She looks down at her plate and then back up at me, "I had fruits."

"Two pieces of watermelon do not count as fruits." I frown, seriously worried about her and she runs a frustrated hand through her hair.

"We'll go for brunch, sounds good?" She asks and I mentally debate before agreeing.

I pick Emily up from the stool before putting her down, "Grab your bag, time to go to school." I tell her before chewing on the last piece of my pancake.

She hurries into her bedroom before coming out two minutes later with her backpack, which has minions on it. The one she got for Christmas.

As we make our way to the parking lot, I unlock my car and throw my office bag in the backseat while Diana helps Emily with the seat. A minute later she slides into the passenger seat and nods at me.

Emily talks about what activities her teacher told they would be doing today. Diana turns around in her seat to look at her.

"You got your coloring kit?" She asks, because Emily mentions something about card making.

"Yes!" She gets an excited response.

When we reach Emily's school, Diana gets out to help Emily out before sending her off.

"Bye Em, have fun." I smile at her and she leans forward in the space between the seats to place a peck on my cheeks.

My eyes move to Diana's phone that's blinking with light in the middle console. I frown as I pick it up to see Nate's name flashing on it. As soon as she enters the car, I hold it up in her face.

"Why is he calling?" I ask, displeasure taking over.

She takes the phone from my hand, and lets it ring as she turns to me, "I wouldn't know, I haven't picked up the call."

"Don't play sassy with me." I tell her before turning the engine to start driving towards the office.

"Don't ask stupid questions." She gives me an annoyed look, making me tighten my grip on the wheel.

I hate to walk on eggshells around her, but I would feel like shit if her mood were to get worse because of something that left my mouth. So I try to keep my mouth shut every time she seems to be getting ticked off from small things. And that's happening a lot these days.

"Have you talked to him since we came back?" I ask her, remembering the last conversation I had with that man didn't go so well.

He came to the funeral, and asked to keep Emily with him but I straight out said no, because I knew that's what Diana would have said had she been concerned about this at all but she had more concerning issues at hand than him.

He tried to pull that, 'I'm her father' bullshit with me. But I just glared at him until he sighed and walked away.

"Yeah, he was thinking about coming to the city." She says, making me snap my head at her.

"Seriously? And you forgot to mention it to me?" I focus my eyes back on the road.

"Aaron. Don't do this." She rubs her temples and I bite my tongue from saying something I would probably regret.

I don't respond to her until I park the car in the building's basement. Even then, as we get out of the park, I just take her hand in mine but she doesn't snatches it away, which is probably a good thing. Because last thing I want is to fight with her.

In the elevator I turn to her, "Just let me know anytime you want to go home?" I say and she nods.

As we enter the office, I let her hand go and she moves to the front desk while I make my way to the office, not speaking anything further even though the silence with her is probably going to kill me.

Lucy passes me a huge grin as she passes. "How's your girlfriend?" I ask her.

"Hot. Sexy. And many other things."

"Not what I mean when I ask about her." I chuckle lightly and she gives me a smile, "Diana's back."

Her smile immediately drops, "Okay. I think it's good for her to fall back into routine."

I nod, "That's what she told me."

She waves at me before walking away and I make my way to my office. There are already files lying on top of it, making me inwardly groan.

I get so engrossed in the work, that I actually startle when there's a knock on the door. Diana steps inside and gives me a small smile as she looks at me.

"Hey."

"Hi." I push away the data screen as my eyes start hurting.

"Wanna grab lunch?" She asks and I look at the time to realise that it's definitely past brunch time, it's two in the afternoon.

The last part makes me frown as I look at her, "Who's picking Emily?"

She smiles as she closes the door behind her and comes to sit on my desk, hovering over me a little, "Shelly."

"Oh."

Her lips turn into a grin as she bends down to kiss me on the lips and even though I want to be mad at her, I kiss her back because I've been missing her so terribly these days. We live together yet it feels like she's so lost in her thoughts.

"I'm sorry about this morning. I should've told you about Nate. Nothing's confirmed though." She tries to reassure me so I nod, not wanting to fight over that douche anymore.

"What do you want to eat?" I ask, saving the data sheet before turning it off.

"Indian."

"For lunch?" I arch an eyebrow and she nods.

She doesn't talk much as we leave the office. We walk down a block before we come to a halt in front of the Indian Restaurant. She lets go of my hand as we enter. The waiter shows us to a table and both of us take our seats before placing our orders.

"Do you want to go out tonight?" I ask her and she smiles at me with amusement.

"Are you asking me out?"

I laugh, "Depends. Do you want me to?"

"We're past that stage, don't you think?" She says and I nod. "I talked to my father."

"How's he doing?" I ask as the waiter comes back with our food.

"Sounded tired, but he says he's fine."

"And you're worried about him." I state and she nods.

"Yeah. I just wish he would leave the service and move here already." She says, indulging in the food.

"Baby, you know that he would never do that. He holds a lot of pride in what he does, so he wouldn't be willing to lose it like this." I try to make her understand.

"I know." She says with her mouth half full. After chewing, she speaks up again, "Georgina called. They're having a party tonight."

"It's Thursday night." I feel the need to point out and she shrugs which makes me frown, "You wanna go?"

"I'm thinking about it." She mumbles, so I barely catch it. But then she meets my eyes, "I need a break, and tonight feels like a good opportunity to take it."

The thought worries me but when I look at her, I feel like she really does need a break after all that she has been through since past month. She's finally having a full meal which makes me smile so I agree before I can change my mind.

"I'll try to wrap up the work early." I tell her and she gives me her breathtaking grin.

"Thanks."

"Are you leaving after lunch?" I ask but she shakes her head no in response, surprising me.

"I'm thinking of starting to work full time now, she's grown up enough to be left with a baby sitter, right? The idea wasn't pleasing earlier because I got overprotective but Mom recommended it. It will take time, but I'm sure she'll somehow adjust to it." She explains, surprising me further because I knew she talked a lot to her mother in the last few days, I just didn't know what.

"Doesn't sound bad. You should talk to Em though." I tell her honestly and she nods.

"We can leave together today. She'll be staying with Shelly either way." She informs so I agree.

When we make it back to the apartment, it's past seven. The traffic contributes to it, along with the fact that I couldn't wrap my work up until six thirty. But Diana didn't look like she cared. Shelly was keeping Emily for tonight and dropping her school tomorrow as well, but we still had work in the morning.

"Babe, black or gray?" I ask holding up two full sleeves v-necks and she eyes it for a second before pointing at the black.

"I'm rushing for a quick warm shower then I'll do my make up." She says before shutting the bathroom door behind her and it takes a lot of inner debate before I decided not to follow her inside.

After she gets out, I take a shower myself and pull on the black v-neck and blue jeans. I turn to her as she dries her hair, "I'll be out in the living room." I tell her and she nods.

I decide to microwave a frozen pizza because every time we go to a party, we end up skipping dinner. After what seems like an hour, Diana steps out of the bedroom and I've never been so glad of sitting down on a couch because I'm sure I would have tripped just looking at her and would've broken my neck.

She's wearing a black dress, but the cloth sticks to every part of her skin, ending right in the middle of the her thighs and the cleavage line is low enough to show the skin, but still leaving a lot to the imagination.

But I don't need that imagination, I can literally see what's underneath it because the dress suits her like a second skin.

My eyes move to hers and I notice her staring at me, probably reading the expression on my face so I change the topic because the apprehension in her eyes are clear as a day.

"We're not leaving until you have at least two slices." I say and she moves towards the couch to sit by my side.

When she does, my eyes move to her back, almost making me bulge them out when I notice how low cut it is, exposing almost all of her skin. Fuck. If any guy even stares at her today, I'm not thinking twice before punching him.

I notice her face and she looks absolutely beautiful. Her hair are left loose and her make up is done as she chews on the pizza, giving me a sideway glance.

"Can we leave now?" She asks, finishing the three slices which makes me so happy.

"Yup." I say, getting up and getting my car as well as apartment keys.

"Can I drive?" She says as we approach the car and I hand the pair of keys to her. "Really? I thought I would have to argue."

"I'm not that bad." I grin and she kisses the corner of my mouth.

She seems so much better than she has been in the past entire week, that if she would ask me to hand over my balls to her, I probably would. If it would make her happy — I would do anything.

When she pulls in Georgina's apartment parking, I recall that she probably lives with her boyfriend, Ashton.

We take the elevator but notice a few people our age — girls dressed up and guys in casual clothing. Two guys give each other a look as they glance at Diana's body but I pull her closer to myself, my glare set on them.

Thankfully the elevator door slides open so we step out before Diana rings the bell of an apartment door. I've never been here, but I don't complain when Georgina opens the door, immediately pulling Diana into a hug.

"Bitch! Where the fuck have you been." She literally yells in her ear, making me take a step away from her.

"Busy." Diana says but puts on a grin on her face as we step inside.

I realise that apart from Derek, no one really knows what happened in her friends of group and neither does she want to tell anyone.

"Aaron." I hear a familiar voice and turn my head to see Ella who giggles. Great. She's already drunk.

"Hey, El." I smile in amusement as she gives me a hug.

"Hands off my man." Diana pinches her side, making her yelp as she falls back into Connor's arms who just appears.

"You probably prayed often because your girl doesn't get drunk easily." Connor looks at me, making me laugh as we go inside where some rock music is bursting with lights dimmed off a little.

"It's called talent, Con. I've built up my tolerance over the years, don't insult it like that." Diana playfully pouts at him.

He shakes his head at us as Ella wriggles out of his grip to dance. We lose sight of them moments later as Diana takes my hand, going at the back of the living room. That's when I see the familiar faces.

"Woohoo girl, looking hot." Ashton whistles as he looks at Diana but she just rolls her eyes in response.

"Did you girlfriend loosen her leash on you, Ash?" She smirks at him and he laughs before standing up to give her a hug as I let her hand go.

"Brother." Derek smirks at me.

"Asshole." I smile innocently at him and he laughs before looking at Diana, his smile faltering a little as he looks back at me with concerned eyes. I shrug in response and he nods.

Diana and I sit down on the couch across them and she keeps her elbow on my though, sitting close to me and my hand goes to her bare back but I keep it still.

"Who's up for shots?" Georgina asks and the smile on Diana's face already gives me the answer.

She's here to get drunk and forget.

I'm not going to be the one to stop her though. Shane has some red head sitting on his lap but the way he keeps ogling at Diana makes me glare at him. Derek elbows him, then gestures his head in my direction and Shane's eyes meet my deathly look.

He coughs, sitting up a little, taking the girl with him before he looks away completely, making me relax a little until Diana speaks up.

"Aw Shane, are you afraid of losing another shots match?"

He smirks, pushing the girl off his lap as he leans forward. "Bring it on, Diana." He winks, then turns his head to me, giving me a smug look.

Diana must notice it because she turns to look at me, resting her hand on my thigh before moving it up, and leaning forward in the ear.

"Relax, it's your name I would be screaming in the bed tonight." She whispers, making my eyes widen in surprise as I gape at her.

She grins before turning to the tequila filled shot glasses. If it weren't for everyone, I would literally drag her away from her and make her scream my name, but I control my impulses, even though my hand moves down a little to her lower back.

"Anyone else who wants to bet?" Ashton asks, pulling out a twenty dollar bill from his pocket. "I'm betting on my girl."

"And I'm betting on mine." I say before pulling out thirty dollars and Derek smirks, shaking his head at me before mouthing 'whipped'. I shrug, "What? She always wins."

Diana laughs, turning to kiss me before Ashton does the countdown and Georgina, Shane and her look at the five shots in front of them. She picks hers up, downing all of them within a minute and half, but she doesn't stop there. When she notices that Shane still has two shots left, she picks them both up and downs them, one at each, making my mouth fall in surprise.

"Dee!" I pull her back, noticing her huge beaming face.

"Earned you money, babe." She kisses my jaw and I run a hand through my hair as Ashton hands over my thirty dollars, his twenty, and two more twenty dollar bills that belong to Shane and the redhead.

"Come on, you need to stay hydrated." I pull Diana up from the couch and immediate dizziness must hit her because she almost trips on her stilettos.

Somehow I manage to find the kitchen and grab a clean glass before filling it up and giving to her. "You've lost your damn mind." I mumble as she gulps on the water.

Connor appears in the kitchen and looks at the two of us, "Listen, Ella and I are leaving. We just came for an hour and she got drunk. Both of us have work in the morning." He tells us and I nod, giving him a small smile.

Diana waves at him and he gives turns to me, "How many shots?"

"Seven."

"In a go?"

"Yup." Diana grins proudly, making me shake my head at her.

"Good luck." Connor chuckles before leaving.

Her eyes move around the kitchen before they set down on pretzels which make me frown, "You're not having that because I know you, you would thirsty as hell and then you'll not stick to water."

She pouts at me, "No rules tonight." She scolds me before reaching for the pretzels and making me groan. "Why aren't you drinking?"

"When do I ever drink?" I ask.

"You have wine with me."

"Sometimes." I point out, because that only happens when she's alone and forces me into it.

I'm just not a fan of bitter taste that comes handy with alcohol.

"If I find you champagne, would you drink it with me?" She looks at me with her big eyes and her lower lip jutted out.

"Well, if we stick to one glass each, then I might." I try to reason with her because there's no way in hell I can say no to that face.

She grins before searching each cabinet and coming up with a sealed bottle of champagne in her hand. I have no idea how she even knows where their personal stock is, but somehow she managed to get her hands on it.

"And now all we need are champagne glasses." She frowns.

I chuckle picking up clean red glasses before taking the bottle from her hand, "It's a house party, babe. We'll manage fine with these."

After managing to open the bottle, she fills the glass to top, which makes me frown because these glasses are a lot bigger than champagne glasses and that's the quantity I had in mind when I agreed for one glass.

But I don't say anything as she clinks her glass with mine, "Cheers." She grins and we both sip on it.

Somehow ten minutes, both of our glasses turn up empty as she starts moving her body to the beat of the music bursting throughout the apartment. She refills her glass but when my fills only till half, I stop her.

"I have to drive." I remind her and she nods.

Georgina walks in the kitchen and looks at the two of us, "Here you two are and we all thought you both were fucking in the bathroom." She smirks at me and I cough on the the champagne.

Diana laughs before turning to me, "Don't act like you're innocent. You would be up for it." She says.

Before I can respond, Georgina looks at the champagne bottle, "Fuck. Seriously?" She asks and I shrug.

"You should learn to hide better."

She rolls her eyes, "Just don't tell Ashton that it was you guys."

Diana turns to me, "And I'm going to dance. Catch you later." She tells me quickly before dragging Georgina away.

She also takes away my champagne and I walk over in the living room, plopping down besides Derek who's texting on his phone.

"So, what's the verdict?" I ask, grinning in amusement at him.

"How hard is it to land a fucking girl!" He groans, rubbing his temples and making me laugh loudly as my eyes move to Diana who's moving her body to the beats as she laughs with Georgina, the red cup in her hand.

"Welcome to the real world." I pat his shoulder.

"I think I might need to come to you for good guy tips." He looks so annoyed which only adds to my fun.

"You sound like a whiny child. Like Brian." I chuckle and he narrows his eyes at me.

"So, this brother of yours.. is he better looking than me?" He asks.

I pull out my phone and he raises his eyebrow when he sees that my wallpaper is a sleeping photograph of Emily that I stole from Diana's phone. I ignore his look as I open my favourites to pull out a photograph Diana clicked of Amelia, Brian, Lily, Ian and me.

"There ya go." I hand over the phone to him and he stares at it, his expressions blank for a while.

"We're the better looking family." He decides for himself, pushing the phone back at me and I smile.

"I look awesome either way." I shrug and he shakes his head at me. "Don't be jealous. He can be a dick like you sometimes."

At this, he smirks, "Well I think then he and I would get along just fine."

"You mean by pulling my leg?" I arch an eyebrow and his expressions tell me that I'm right.

I stand up and look at Diana dancing with three other girls. Ashton and another guy whom I don't know has joined them so I turn to Derek.

"Be right back. Keep an eye on her." I tell him as I walk away to bathroom.

It takes me two minutes to find it and then there's a couple making out heavily in front of it, which is worse because the door was locked. After knocking at least five times, another couple walks out and I groan before going on.

I realise that I've been gone for at least ten minutes due to people hogging up the space. When I get out of the bathroom, I realise that the apartment is awfully quiet, which makes me frown as I enter the living room to realise that the music has been shut off.

"Fuck!" I curse when I see Diana standing on top of the table by the couches as Derek mumbles something by her side.

Pushing people aside who are probably waiting for a show, I go to the front and stop right in front of her, "What are you doing?" I ask, looking up.

At this, she looks down at me, "Aaron. I was waiting for you before I could start." She grins before clearing her throat and looking at everyone.

"Dee, get down the table, baby. C'mon." I give her my hand but she swats it away.

"Diana." Derek says, sounding a little pissed as he glares at her, "You don't want to do this."

"Oh, c'mon Der! Don't be selfish. You know my secret, it's only fair that the rest of our friends do too." She says.

She has to be out of her damn mind to reveal about Emily like this to her friends. I know that's what she's talking about. She must be drunk by now, seven shots and three glasses of champagne must do that to you.

"Babe, not right now. Please." I reach to hold her by her waist and put her down but she steps away.

"A lot of you don't know me." She starts, "But I'm sure most of you do considering this is Georgina's party and those who get drunk together, know each other."

"Oh, c'mon Diana, get to the point!" A guy shouts whom I don't know at all.

But these people have been partying together before I even came back to New York. So they must know each other at least from names. I look at her and her dress has riled up further to her thighs making me seethe in annoyance.

"Alright, so I've a secret. More like a secret possession," she smiles to herself before her eyes meet mine and she doesn't even look drunk. It's like she's doing it out of proper thinking but I wouldn't know that until tomorrow. "Her name's Emily, and I love her to death." She blurts.

"Are telling me you're lesbian and we slept together?" Another guy says from the back which makes me snap my eyes before my jaw twitches.

"Fuck off, Holler!" Derek snaps at him, and holding me back before I can literally punch the guy.

"No, I'm telling you I have a daughter and she's absolutely amazing." She says and I can feel the silence falling over. "Now, you must think I'm a terrible mother because I used to sleep around.. and I probably am a terrible mother."

"Diana." I try to reach her again because I can see her resolve breaking.

Georgina, Ashton and Shane are the only ones I know and they look shocked as hell as Diana continues to talk. Especially Shane, he looks so pale that he would fucking faint.

"No, babe.." she gives me a sad smile, "let me finish. I need to stop hiding, that's what you always told me, right?"

She sighs, turning to her friends, "Speaking of mothers, I found out mine had cancer a month back and she died three weeks back. Worst nightmare I've been going through. But I wish I could give my baby even half as much of a love as she gave me in seventeen years and her last few days."

Her hand reaches out to take my outstretched one and a breath of relief fills me as I wrap my arm around her waist to let her down but she keeps her hand on my shoulders to stop me.

"Oh, and before any of you wonder. She's not your kid. She's three and super amazing." She grins before looking at me and nodding so I pick her up in my arms before putting her down on the floor.

She gives me a satisfied smile, "I feel relieved."

"You're insane." I whisper and she leans down to kiss me on the lips as she studies my face. "And you're not a terrible mother, Dee. You're amazing to her, and you have to believe that because that girl loves you so much." I rest my forehead against her and she nods, tears spilling down her eyes so I wipe them.

"Can I still call dibs on being godmother?" Georgina asks from behind us, making Diana laugh as she rests her head on my shoulder and looks sideways at her friend.

"Ella and Connor are godparents." She shrugs.

"Fucking told you they knew already." Ashton wraps one arm around his girlfriend before looking at Diana, "We wouldn't have judged, you know? We're bunch of fuck-ups. Being a Mom only makes you the most normal of us." He says and I know his words mean the world to my girl because she moves out of my arms and hugs both Georgina and Ashton.

"Thanks guys."

She steps aside and looks at Shane who still looks a little dazed. But then he turns to Derek, "You knew?"

Derek shrugs in return, "This one slipped through." He points at me and I put my middle finger in the air in response.

"He knew before any of us?" Shane looks surprised, and annoyed.

That only adds to my pleasure as Diana walks back into my arms, "He's the only one who showed interest in me without wanting to land me in his bed."

"Fair enough." Shane nods but doesn't say anything further because I think he's still surprised or shocked, I don't really care.

"Can we leave?" I ask Diana and she nods, moving to pick up her stilettos from the floor but before she can bend down and probably expose her underwear to the world, I pull her back from the elbow.

I bend down and pick them up for her, holding them as we begin to leave once she tells her friends bye. Just as we approach the door, I turn to her.

"Dee, hold onto these for a second." I say and she frowns but takes it nonetheless.

I walk to the guy, Holler. I guess that's his last name. He's talking to two girls with his back to me so I tap his shoulder.

"What?" He asks, turning around and looking a little annoyed because I disrupted his conversation.

My fist talks for me as I punch him square in the jaw and he stumbles back, making one of the girl's drink spill a little as he crashes into her.

He steps forward to probably punch me but Derek steps in with an amused smile on his face, "Leave, you idiot." He laughs at me and I just shrug before walking away.

Diana's lips are parted in surprise when I reach her and she looks back at the guy before turning to me. I tug on her arm and make her follow out of the apartment to the parking until we're in the car.

"Seriously?" She laughs and I shrug.

"Didn't like what he said." I tell her and she grins before focusing her attention out of the window.

We don't live far away so it only takes us fifteen minutes to drive back and when we reach the apartment, I unlock the door and let Diana slip in. But before I can even switch on the lights, she drops her heels and reaches for the button of my jeans.

I laugh, gripping her hands, "Dia—"

She cuts me off as she kisses me, desperation clear in her actions as she makes me stumble back a little  before I regain my balance, my arms coming around her waist as I kiss her back because I've missed her to the point of insanity.

"Aaron." She groans as my hands trace her bare back and we step further inside the apartment.

When we reach the hallway, I pull her up in my arms and moan when her hands find themselves inside jeans, "Baby.. are you sure?" I ask because she has been keeping her distance from me.

"Yes." She moans as my teeth nibble at skin above her breasts, "Fuck, Aaron.. please."

"You're drunk, Diana." I point out as my lips find hers again. "And you're—"

"None of that shit." She shushes me up as she tightens her grip around me, making me moan loudly.

"Bedroom." I say but she shakes her head.

"I don't want gentle. And I know that's the last you want, so.." my hand finds the hem of her dress as I pull it over her head, her hand leaving me before she removes my shirt. "God, it was so fucking hot to see you punch him."

She pulls down my jeans and I step out of them before she wraps her legs around my waist, her back supported against the wall as I hold up her weight.

Shutting out any rational thoughts that I have, I slide away the fabric separating us before I enter her, feeling her around me and almost losing it then and there. Her teeth dig in my shoulder blades as she tries to keep in her screams as I start moving.

When I pull out completely, a whimper leaves her before I thrust back in, "Shit." I curse realising how she's trying to keep up with my movements, meeting my every move as she tugs on her my hair roughly.

As we both meet our ends, I rest my head on her shoulder, trying to catch my breath before I tighten my arms around her and move us inside the bedroom. She grins at me as her back hits the mattress and pulls me to herself.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, as I unknowingly trace the white lines on the side of her breasts, she speaks up.

"I want to see Daniel Brown again." She whispers and I look up to meet her eyes.

I study her face and even though she had a lot of alcohol, I know that this is something she wants to do. So I lean up, kissing her neck as I nod.

"Okay, I'll book an appointment for tomorrow."