Page 163 of My Dark Prince
I was losing myself all over again to the man who once discarded me.
I got drunk on his kiss. He cupped my cheeks, like I was something precious and unique, tilting me slightly to devour me even more.
Then, tires screeched to my right. Another vehicle slammed to a stop behind my cab.
Oliver cut the kiss short, suddenly and abruptly. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes pinned on mine. I nearly collapsed onto the pavement in a heap of unsteady knees and lust.
He didn’t bother helping me gather myself together. I latched onto the cab’s roof to steady myself. The disguise dropped. Gone was teenage Ollie, and in his place was a man that thrilled me.
He was cold yet intimate. Familiar yet strange.
This, I thought,is the real Oliver von Bismarck.
And against my better judgment, I wanted to get to know him.
In my periphery, three Grand Regent employees in uniform marched out of a white van. They held my suitcase and the things I’d dropped off earlier at my hotel, transferring them onto a luggage cart.
“By the way, sweetheart, I’ve made this a weekend vacation for both of us.” Oliver checked the time on his watch. “You’ll be staying with me in the penthouse. Top floor. We have reservations for a restaurant later tonight, but before that, we have a date.”
“W – what?” I chased after him as he tossed the cabbie two hundreds, breezing back into the hotel. “I haven’t even agreed to go on a date with you.”
He strode back to the conference room. When we reached the doors, two bodyguards blocked my way.
I pointed at Ollie, who disappeared inside. “Hey, I’m not finished talking to him yet.”
“My apologies, ma’am.” One of them bowed his head. “An order from above.”
“Let me take you up to your penthouse.” A pixie-sized woman materialized seemingly out of nowhere, heavily made-up and dressed in uniform. She laced her arm through mine. “Let’s get you ready for your date with Mr. von Bismarck.”
“I don’twantto go on a date with him.” I jerked my arm back but followed her, nonetheless.
Oliver had the tendency to cancel my leases and hotel rooms. I didn’t want to be homeless here just to prove a point.
“Ah, of course. The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth,” she murmured under her breath, ushering me into the elevators.
“He broke my heart,” I ground out after we rode up to the top floor.
She opened the penthouse door for me, not too impressed by this confession. “Well, he’s trying to piece it back together, isn’t he? It takes courage and dedication.”
It was becoming clear that Oliver wouldn’t let me go this time.
Problem was – I didn’t want to run away, either.
Chapter Seventy
Briar
Contrary to popular belief, distance didnotmake the heart grow fonder.
With space (and about fifty stories) between me and Oliver, I managed to regather my senses and restrengthen my barriers.
No, I wouldnotbe going on a date with the man who cheated on me. He could cash in his bet, sure, and I would definitely enjoy it. But it ended there. Well,afterI managed to convince Seb to taste daylight and make plans for his future, of course.
By the time five o’clock rolled through, my hackles had risen. I wore a nice backless dress, a bit of makeup, and even a French twist, cinched with an emerald clip.
“You only dressed to the nines so you can dump him looking like a bad ass.” I flattened my dress before the mirror, satisfied with how I looked. “Right, Briar?”
Oliver showed up at six o’clock on the dot, which, unsurprisingly, beat out every other frog I’d dated. I’d spent that entire decade giving men brownie points if they didn’t arrive more than ten minutes late to pick me up. Fun fact: the men girls date in their twenties teach them more about red flags than dark romance.
