Page 116 of Tempting the President

Aria moaned again, but this time, Hailey laughed.

By the time he got to his room, he was laughing out loud, even as Aria was doing her damned best to bite his shoulder off. “I’m sorry.” He tried to sound like he meant it but failed. “You are just too fun to provoke,terataki.” Kellion laid her gently on his bed, and the sight of her on it made his heart clench once more.

She might have started out as his rebound, but now?

He wasn’t sure if she still was, the way Aria made him feel. Stroking her hair, he murmured, “We’re here.”

She nodded, her gaze like a trapped, lost deer.

“It will be all right, baby.” He gestured to his room. “You can change whatever you want, redecorate it if you will. This is our place now.” She didn’t answer, but he could feel the tensionemanating from her stiff body. Frowning, Kellion asked, “What’s wrong?”

It took a long while before she answered. “Please...” Aria swallowed. “Please don’t...regretthis.”

He sucked his breath in at her words, knowing how much it had cost his woman to reveal her vulnerability. Stroking her hair, he said hoarsely, “Only if you promise me the same.”

Her lips curved, her smile fragile and strong at the same time. “Impossible...to regret...when...you’re the reason...I’m livingagain.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Dear Ashton,

I’m currently staying in another person’s house.

I don’t want to say the person’s name. If I do, it makes things more real.

Love, Your Big Sis

ARIA

IT WAS MY FIRST BREAKFASTwith Kellion’s biker family, and it was pure torture. Totally not the Afxisi’s fault. It was all Kellion, with the way he had me sitting on his lap while feeding me slices of buttery pancake.

“She looks like she wants to cry, Vice President,” Yuri murmured mildly.

Kellion grinned. “I know. That’s what makes it so fun. She really likes me feeding her, and that’s what’s making her cry.”

I pinched one denim-clad thigh, hating how his words were shamefully true.

Kellion jerked. “That hurts.”

Yay. I pinched harder and was rewarded by Kellion’s grunt of pain.

The club’s Secretary laughed. “I can see why you call her a little monster.”

When breakfast was over, I tried dissuading Kellion from joining me in class, worried that it would have him late for his meeting with the other officers. “I just...don’t...want...” My throat still hurt a bit, and frustrated, I pulled out my board and wrote what I had to say.I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE I DON’T MAKE A BAD FIRST IMPRESSION ON THEM.

Kellion shook his head. “Relax, baby. We won’t be late, I promise.” Taking my hand, he led me to the elevator. “Besides, if I don’t go with you, who’s going to be your model for your session?”

I shrugged.Who cares?

His eyes narrowed. “Let me just make it clear to you once and for all,terataki.”

My eyes widened at how his voice had become soft. I had known him long and well enough to understand his soft tone meant someone was in trouble, and in this case that would be –me?

“Anytime you need a male model, you call me. You choose someone else, and I’ll beat the shit out of him, and it will be on your head when that happens.” A cold smile touched his lips. “Understood,terataki?”

I saluted him.Yes, sir.

His lips twitched, and his serious mood dissipated.