There's this silence between us that stretches longer than it should, and it wraps around my chest like a weighted blanket. My throat tightens. I stare at him like I'm trying to memorise the face of someone who shouldn't exist. A dream made real. My lips part before I can stop myself. "Were you sent by my dad to take care of me?" The question hangs in the air, trembling like the last leaf in autumn. Aiden's gaze softens. His lips tug into the gentlest smile I've ever seen. It's the kind of smile that could mend broken wings. "No" he whispers. "I volunteered." The words hit harder than I expect. Like a punch wrapped in silk. I gasp, air leaves me in a rush I can't reclaim. But before I can fully process what he's just said, he takes a step closer. His fingers ghost over my cheek, brushing away a tear I didn't realise had fallen. And then-he kisses me painfully slow. His hand cups the back of my neck, anchoring me to a moment I never want to end. And just when I think it's over, he pulls away just enough to look at me. His thumb traces the damp trail of tears down my cheek. He doesn't say anything. He just leans in again, and kisses them away. One by one. My tears. My pain. My silence. All kissed away by a boy who didn't come to save me because someone sent him. He came because he chose to.

Mia Cherie X Aaron Valentino I gasp into his mouth, my hands fisting in his soaked shirt, pulling him closer, needing him closer and needing to feel every inch of him against me. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, and I moan, my knees going weak. But he doesn't let me fall. His arms wrap around my waist, holding me up, grounding me, anchoring me to him. The rain pours down around us, but all I feel is heat, his body pressed against mine and his hands in my hair, on my back, everywhere. When he finally pulls back, we're both panting, our foreheads pressed together. "You're mine" he murmurs, his voice rough and possessive. "Say it." "I'm yours" I whisper. "Say it again." "I'm yours, Aaron." Tropes: Badboy x Goodgirl Rich mmc x scholarship student fmc Kill anyone who touches her (literally) 👀 HEA

Running from hell isnʼt easy. Especially when someoneʼs dragging you back down into it. Belligerent, brash and always in shades of black, Freya is hardly a lady. Hidden away by her father, sheʼs lived a normal life despite being born into the dark waters of New Yorkʼs underworld. Heʼs cold, cruel and calculating, with a proclivity for destruction. Feared by even Made Men, Torren is the boss of the stateʼs most leachorous crime syndicate. Freya hates his crudity and possessiveness, but she canʼt deny the way her breath hitches at his rough touch, the deep timbre of his voice, and his dark, heated gaze. Torren hates her disobedience, her recklessness, and her chaos. To him, sheʼs only something to be tamed. And after he slips a ring on her hand, snatching away her future, she makes only one vow---to become his biggest torment.

[2024 WATTY WINNER][18+] When global pop sensation, Maisie Rhodes, accidentally reveals her love songs are about someone close to her, she agrees to fake-date her best friend, August, to keep the truth buried. But with six weeks of pretending and nine years of unspoken feelings between them, she's forced to choose between protecting their friendship or risking everything for the one person she's never stopped wanting.