Page 113 of Their Princess

Chapter Twenty-Three

ADELINA

After everything I had done—or,how I hadtriedto be with Sas—he let a whore on the back of his bike. I supposed throwing myself at my husband to be wouldn’t work when all he wanted was skank!

And Graff just rode off with him.

Rafe, the one person I thought I could trust, was around but avoiding me like the plague. Didn’t any of these infuriating men realize how many guys I had to fight off back in college? True, those college boys may have been lapdogs, but they only wanted me, which is more than I could say for Sas.

He chose a used whore.

Worse. .. to my great disappointment, Graff was turning out to be Sas’s bitch.

And Rafe—I whipped around, jabbing a finger at him, and he turned his head with his eyes pinched shut. He didn’t even meet my gaze, but the pause in his action and the drawn scowl across his brows told me something misfired inside his brain.

He jerked his head the other way and held there for several seconds.

I wanted to rail at him, but I knew from past experiences that he needed a moment to come back from wherever he had gone. So, I waited with my hands on my hips as the last of the roaring engines died away outside.

After a beat, he opened his eyes and blinked them into focus.

Normally, I would be patient with him, but right then, my blood was boiling.

I opened my mouth to speak, but words wouldn’t come, so I grabbed his shirt, rose onto my tiptoes, and locked my lips with his. Hard.

He didn’t move at first, so I wrapped my hands around the back of his head and forced my tongue between his lips. I wanted to spear someone for everything going on. For all the frustration. For being kept in the dark. For being held prisoner.

I wanted revenge.

A revenge kiss?

Hell, a revenge fuck would be so much sweeter!

Finally, Rafe relented and kissed me back. His hands locked on either side of my face, and he moaned into the kiss. His tongue penetrated me, trading off with mine darting into his mouth. My blood heated, if that was even possible beyond my anger with Sas.

But it was turning into molten lava now, my body pressing against Rafe’s as his hand encircled my waist and lifted me higher.

At last, I pulled back, not on my feet anymore.

I looked him dead in the eye, trying desperately to catch my breath, and asked, “What the fuck happened in Church?”

He put me down and stepped back, running both hands over his head. Now his turn to be stunned into silence, his jaw worked wordlessly.

Not waiting for him to find the words, I stormed out of the common room and paused at the door to the hall where I would find my makeshift bedroom.

Or should I have said cell?

Probably not, because I wasn’t locked up anymore, only trapped by not having transportation away from this hell hole.

Although, there were other things keeping me here too. Like the conundrum who was my betrothed, and my own apparently masochistic need to make him acknowledge me as a woman.

Not a kid.

Not a princess.

A woman and future wife.

Sas, if I was being honest, wasn’t the only reason I hadn’t called for a rideshare and high-tailed it away. There was Graff, who had been so sweet at the outdoor art display and who inked my virgin skin. But also, I would be leaving my protector, Zio Rafaele, who seemed strong enough on the surface to handle this shitshow alone.

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