Page 88 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 5-8
“They were concerned.”
I can’t blame my parents for their anger and fear. Waking up to find out your daughter who went through a traumatic relationship is now engaged to the boss she’s been supposedly secretly dating for six months? Yeah, I’d be panicked and pissed off, too.
“But your mom feels better about it now?”
I shrug. After our brief morning conversation, I spent an hour on the phone with both of them that afternoon, then another forty minutes with my mom just before Aiden came back to the penthouse. Long, long conversations reassuring them I wasn’t being kidnapped or blackmailed, that I truly loved Aiden and he loved me.
How I got those words out without laughing or breaking down, I’ll never know.
“I think she’s just trying to be kind. Make sure she doesn’t push me away.”
The bell for the elevator rings, signaling someone at the bottom is requesting permission to come up. Aiden walks over to the screen next to the elevator doors and taps the monitor.
“The team fromGildedis here.”
Oh God. Thoughts of my parents fade away as my own panic surfaces. Can I do this? Can I actually pretend to be in love with Aiden Hawke?
“You twirled a stick around your neck while the stick was on fire.”
“And?” I ask as I try to get a grip on myself. “I’m the one in control when I dance.”
He pushes buttons on the monitor. A ding sounds, signaling the elevator has started its ascent.
“Forty-one seconds.”
He crosses the room and cups my face in his hands. Before I can even draw a breath, his lips are on mine.
Chapter Seven
Seraphina
AIDENHAWKE ISkissing me.
I stand there, frozen, acutely aware of…everything. His scent, the heat of his palms against my face, the press of his mouth against mine. Sensation spirals up, like hundreds of butterflies being released and filling my chest with an incredible fluttering even as my heart pounds against my ribs.
So I slide my hands up his chest and kiss him back. I part my lips, inviting him in.
He tenses. Oh no. Did I make a mistake?
I start to pull back. But Aiden slides a hand around the back of my neck as he groans.
And then he’s kissing me again. No, he’s devouring me, his tongue sliding along the seam of my lips before slipping inside. The intimacy of it sends a shudder through my body all the way down to my thighs. I press my legs together as a terribly delicious ache starts to pulse deep inside me. I fist my fingers in his shirt and hold on so I don’t collapse in a puddle at his feet.
When I entertained the occasional daydream about Aiden, I always stopped before I let my own musings go too far. Not only did it feel wrong to think about my boss like that, but being intimate with a man wasn’t something I was ready for.
But I’m ready now.
I press myself against Aiden, moan as one hand comes up my side and stops just below my breast. I’ve never felt like this, electrified from one single kiss that’s both torture and heaven.
He leans back, gazing down at me with hooded eyes and mouth stained with my lipstick.
“Aiden,” I murmur, leaning up for another kiss.
He smiles at me, the first real smile he’s ever given me. It transforms his entire face, softening the harsh planes of his cheekbones and the bluntness of his jaw as his eyes crinkle at the corners. A different warmth blooms in my chest, rooted in desire but fed by deeper emotion.
“Much better,” he murmurs.
It’s like being splashed with ice water. Humiliation replaces my brief moment of affection. Aiden might have enjoyed the kiss, but he didn’t do it because he wanted to. He did it to relax me, to make me feel more comfortable with his touch before the photographers arrive.
