Page 63 of Gilded Princess

A plain black tee molds over every dip and strains around every muscle on Leo’s chest. His tattoos look dark in the low light, swirling down his arm. His green eyes look darker than I remember, or maybe they’ve just never looked at me with such contempt.

It’s a little messed up, but his angry smolder is turning me on.

I know it’s not the right time—I know that—but I can’t stop the thoughts from forming. Whether by accident or not, they left a space between them—one just big enough for me.

Just call me Goldilocks.

I rake my teeth over my bottom lip and squeeze my fists for a moment, letting the tension rise. It balloons between the three of us, rising and expanding to suffocate the oxygen until only desire remains.

I’m sure they’re not feeling the same thing as me, but it’s like a switch in my brain was flipped, and I can’t get the idea out of my head.

The one where I get to have them both.

“Not really. Our parents are close, so we grew up together,” Dante explains.

I nod like I get it. And on paper, sure, I do get it. But staring between the two of them, I don’t really.

When did my life start feeling like fiction?

The silence stretches, leaving nothing but emotions and feelings to fill the space between the three of us.

I shift on my feet, indecision thick on my tongue. I bite my lip to stop myself from blurting something—anything—to ease the tension. What would I even say though?

I’m in uncharted waters, and I selfishly don’t want to mess anything up with either one of them.

“Ah, Leo, you’re here. Sorry I’m late, I got caught up,” Matteo says, scaring the daylights out of me.

I visibly jerk at the sound of his voice. Jesus, he’s like a ninja with his silent moves. I’m sure it didn’t help that I was preoccupied by the two men in front of me.

“No worries, brother. I just got here.” Leo stares at me, his lips twisted in a smirk.

“Everything okay?” Dante asks, without taking his eyes off of me. I’m not sure who he’s asking, but I nod a few times, anyway.

Matteo walks in the room, stealing my attention from the other two. Black button-down shirt, dark pants and shoes, tousled hair in a way that tells me he had his hands in it not too long ago.

He’s a bad boy fantasy come to life.

He walks into the room and stops a few feet away from Leo. He casually rolls up his sleeves, revealing his dark tattoos inch by delicious inch as he looks between the three of us with a raised brow.

“Madison, meet my brother Leo. Leo, meet Madison Walsh, my ex-girlfriend.”

A scoff slips from Leo’s mouth, his lips twisting into a cruel smile. “Your ex-girlfriend, yeah? That’s just fucking rich.” He pins me with his gaze, the contempt lashing at my skin.

In the corner of my eye, I see Matteo freeze with his hand on his sleeve. I don’t move my attention from Leo, though.

“Is there something you want to say, little brother?” Matteo’s emphasis and inflection on the words little brother prick my ears, but I’m locked in a battle of sorts.

Leo’s eyes harden, and he tips his chin back. I recognize the vengeful look, and I bolster myself for the impending damage he’s about to inflict. I shake my head, the movement small and quick. He raises a brow with a smirk as if I’m asking him not to tell Matteo about our time together.

I’m not.

I straighten my spine and drop my weight into my back leg. Folding my arms across my chest, I tip my chin right back at him in the universal elitist-prick language I’m sure he’d recognize. I’m not scared.

His mouth spreads into a ghost of a smile, but it’s gone before I can blink. He settles into the couch and looks at his brother with a shrug, the picture of nonchalance.

“Just telling Dante about the girl I was seeing, you know, the one I took to Aunt Louisa’s place. I haven’t been able to reach her for a week, and she bailed on our last date. Total no-show. Which is so fucking weird, because this girl.” He pauses to drag his teeth over his bottom lip, looking from Matteo to me. “She was fucking thirsty for my dick, bro.”

My cheeks warm with his insinuation. I lean on my years spent with Blaire and her minions and sharpen my tongue on my frustration.

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