"I can't believe you're still upset with me," Colin shakes his head, leaning against the edge of the kitchen counter. He watches intently as Arianna fixes her breakfast, as she hostilely grabs the needed objects, slamming them when she sees fit.

She barely spares him a glance.

"Well believe it," she huffs. "This is not how I expected to spend my Saturday."

"It's not that big a deal," he tries to reason with her.

She slams the bowl on the counter and spins around to look at him, "No, the actual thing itself isn't. It's the fact that you waited until the day of to tell me, Oh, by the way, my sister-in-law and both of my mother's invited you to go have lunch with them today. Who the fuck does that? You know I hate surprises."

"You don't have to go," Colin sighs.

"And have them thinking I'm rude?" she scoffs off his suggestion. "No, I'll go, but next time you pull last minute shit like this on me? I won't be as nice." Snatching her bowl off the counter, she brushes past him to head up the stairs.

"If that was nice," he mutters quietly. "I'd hate to see mean."

"I heard that!" She yells from atop the stairs.

oooooooOooooooo

"How does this look?" Arianna asks, walking into Colin's room without even knocking.

Sitting at his desk, he pulls off his red Beats by Dr. Dre and lets his eyes travel from the top of her blonde head to the bottom of her high heels clad feet.

"Nice," he says honestly.

By the look of Arianna's face, he realizes too late that that's not the answer she was looking for.

"That's it," she turns on her heel. "I'm changing."

Rolling his eyes, he gets up and grabs her arm. "Don't. You look fine."

"I look too casual," she says more to herself than him. Stretch black pants, thin white tank, a peach colored blazer, and peach high heels.

"For lunch, Aria?" He uses a ‘really' tone.

She sucks her teeth, "No, for your family."

"My families not like that," he tries to reason with her. "We don't judge by appearance."

She has to stop herself from making a sly comment about his brother and sister-in-law

"I guess," she concedes, turning to face him. "Anything else you wanna tell me about?"

"Depends." A beat. "Are you going to click on me?"

"Maybe," she shrugs while momentarily tilting her head to one side. "Maybe not. You never know with me."

"True," he ignores her scowl. "A bunch of the players from the team are going to this pool party over at the Four Seasons later today."

"Fancy." Aria snickers, turning to re-examine her appearance in the mirror. "You going?"

"Will you go with me?"

Aria pauses for a moment and looks at him, "So I can be your arm candy for your boys to gawk at? No thanks. I'll pass."

He looks at her with a mixture of frustration and confusion, "Why do you always jump to conclusions? Maybe I just want you to go with me."

"Bullshit." She rolls her eyes, "You honestly expect me to believe you want to bring my crazy ass around your friends? I'm not stupid Colin."

"I brought you around my family."

"Because you didn't have a choice, given the situation we were in, the one we're still in." She points out, feeling her anger starting to boil up. "Admit it Colin. The only reason you're doing all of this, being so nice to me, is because you don't really have a choice. It's a part of this facade we have."

Colin is silent for a few minutes and Aria isn't exactly sure if he even plans on saying anything else, so with a roll of her eyes, she moves past him and attempts to leave the room. However, he grabs her arm to prevent her from leaving, "You're unbelievable, ya know that? You honestly think that everything I've done for you, I've done out of obligation? That's bullshit and you know it. I do it because I have legitimate feelings for you, because I actually care about you. Because even though your constant bitching and empty accusations, and ludicrous suspicions drive me fucking insane at times, I still believe that I could have a future with you. But I'm getting fed up. One minute you seem willing to make this work, and the next you're ready to cuss me out. I'm willing to try, I really am. But not if you're not going to do the same and it's obvious you're not, then that's fine. I'm done." He releases her arm and walks away to return to his desk.

Arianna stands there dumbfounded, so many emotions running through her head. His little rant is not what she was expecting. She's so confused, numerous thoughts running rapid in her mind. Her mind saying one thing, while her heart is desperately trying to say another.

She stands there for a good five minutes and moves in front of him, "I.....I don't know.... how." She whispers, looking down at the ground while moving her arms so that she's hugging herself. "I don't know how to let people in." She admits. "Do you know what the last thing my mother said to me before she left me was?" He refuses to look at her, "She tol-" her breath hitches. "She promised me that she would come back for me, and she never did. Every day, I waited for her. Even when they placed me in different homes, I would run away back to the foster home because I didn't want to be with them. I didn't want them. I wanted my mother. So, I waited and waited and finally, a few months later...I find out she's given up her rights to me." She laughs bitterly, "I'm now a ward of the state." She bites her lip and shakes her head, "I told myself that if my own mother didn't want me, why would anyone else? I decided that it was best just to shut people out rather than have to face that rejection again. The only reason I let Kay and Maya in was because we all went in the foster home at the same time so they helped me get through that. They were the only two people I actually trusted-the only ones I still do trust." She drops her gaze again, "Then I made the mistake of opening up to someone and to this day I'm still suffering from it." She closes her lips and takes a few seconds to regain composure, "I don't know how to be what you want me to be. I can't. I want to, but I...I can't....I'm sorry."

This time, it's Colin who's left dumbfounded. He has so many questions he wants to ask her. Where was her father? Who was the person she regretted trusting? Were they the reason she has the issues she does? Then the bombshell that Kaydence and Maya also grew up in a foster home. It was a lot to process. Arianna has to be one of the most complicated woman he's ever been with. Physically, she's his ideal woman. Personality wise, she's the exact opposite of what he goes for. Colin's never been one for girls with baggage. However, he finds himself drawn to her, despite her numerous flaws.

"Aria," he finally breaks his silence. "I'm not asking you to change who and how you are. I know that's beyond your control.

"You're scared I'm going to leave you."

"Because you are," she whispers.

"Not if you don't want me to," he firmly reassures her. "Fuck the five months."

"I want a lot of things Colin, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen."

"Because you prevent it from happening," he counters.

"Because it won't last," she says defiantly.

"You stop things and start pushing people away before you even have a chance to see whether it will last."

"Surest way to not get hurt,"

"You're still hurting though Aria, whether you'll admit it or not."

Silence.

"I do care about you," she admits in a voice above a whisper. "But I still don't trust you. I can try though," she looks at him with hopeful eyes. "I will try."

Colin doesn't say anything and instead pulls her onto his lap and kisses her. Arias arms automatically go around his neck, enjoying the feel of his hands playing in her hanging hair. What starts out as a sweet and passionate kiss quickly turns into a hot and heavy make out session. Not really feeling their current position, Colin rises up, holding aria as if she weighs nothing and brings her over to the bed. Never once breaking their kiss, he lays on top, careful not to put all of his weight on her. Lifting up for a brief second, he removes his shirt while Aria takes the opportunity to discard her blazer. Wasting no time in resuming their kiss, Colin lets his hands travel down her body. He gropes her right breast, while his thumb rubs her perfectly erect nipple through the thin, cotton fabric. Arianna releases a lustful moan as her own hands become familiar with his broad chest. She feels everywhere where there is bare skin. Detaching his lips from hers, Colin greedily moves to her neck. She moans and closes her eyes in pure bliss as he finds her weak spot.

He teasingly runs his fingers along the top of her pants, fiddling with the button, when he feels her tense.

"Colin," she gulps, fighting to speak as he plants kisses down her body, pushing her shirt up to reveal the smooth caramel skin. "I can't."

"You don't have to," he says huskily as he unbuttons her pants and easily slides them down her legs.

"What are you-" she silences herself with an irresistible moan as he starts kissing up her thighs. "Your family-"

"Can wait." With one brisk move, he rips off her lace underwear and before she can even get another word out, his lips are on hers.

The other pair that is.

She shrieks as his tongue starts circling her clit in a teasing manner. "Oh my God," She moans; playing with her breast, as his grip on her thighs tightens. His tongue starts exploring her, licking and sucking in all the right spots, evoking load moans and borderline screams. She whimpers, feeling her lower body involuntary shutter as he continues to work his magic. She places her hand on top of his head, to push him deeper in her.

It's an unfamiliar feeling, yet one she already hopes will never end.

It feels like she's died and gone to heaven. She's found her paradise. Arching her back, Arianna becomes restive as she feels her orgasm threatening to explode. As stubborn and hardheaded as she is, Colin is thoroughly surprised and amused by how those certain traits fail to transfer over to the bedroom. He's never seen this side of her. So submissive. He'd like nothing more than to take her right now, to see just how loud he can make her scream his name. But he knows better than to push her. He could feel how apprehensive she became when he moved his hands by her pants. He won't push her.

Finally, she releases.

Arianna is still, eyes closed, as she attempts to compose herself. She feels a weight on the bed next to her, and sighs softly when she feels his fingers in her hair.

"You could have warned me," she says lamely, gradually sitting up as she looks for her underwear, then realizes he ripped them.

"Would it have made a difference?" he laughs as she sends him a weak glare.

Arianna reaches for Colin's shirt and slips it over her partially nude body. Getting up off the bed, she walks over to the mirror and pouts at her disheveled appearance. "Great, now I have to take another shower and do my fucking hair and makeup over again."

"Sorry," Colin replies in an unapologetic tone. "So was that a yes or no to the party?"