Page 61 of Resisting Royal

CHAPTER 30

BIANCA

It pained me to admit it, but Royal wasn’t so bad. I mean, yeah, he was sort of a jerk, but after we talked in the car, I felt like I understood him more. I was fully aware that I was a game piece in his life. Something he could move about and manipulate, not that he really did. But, what I got from his confession the most was that he was lonely. A man of power, starved of real attention, and I pitied him. Not because he couldn’t get everything he wanted—because he most certainly could—but because he had no faith in how genuine a person could be that he assumed a contractual marriage was all he would ever get.

I could prove him wrong, show him that you didn’t need to force someone to love you just to have a fraction of what everyone else had. I could actually consider dating a guy like him. Well, if I looked past the murder and blackmail. He actually made good marriage material.

“Your dress is taunting me. I’m torn between wanting to rip it to threads or have you wear it daily.” His husky voice whispered in my ear as he snuck up behind me, handing me a drink.

I reached for the drink, turning my head toward him. “You like green?”

“Blue. But on you, I like every color of the rainbow. This dress was made for you.” His palm not holding a drink smoothed down my side and latched onto my hip.

I should shy away, and for a moment, I was tempted to. But why resist him just to fight, when I was almost positive at this point embracing him would be so much better? I leaned back into him. “You’re mighty complimentary.”

“You leave me no choice.” His palm squeezed my hip. “Are you having a good time? Do you need anything?”

I looked around. “It’s fun enough, I suppose. I almost got married . . . again to that big guy in the corner. Also, that blonde,” I pointed to the man grabbing a beer, “said he will willingly challenge you for ownership of my assets.”

I felt his back stiffen. “It seems like I will, in fact, be killing some people this evening. It’s a shame, I thought of this as a little mini vacation.”

“Stop.” I slapped his arm. “You will kill no one. There’s a lot of men here and besides Emma, Dot and I, there are maybe 2 other females. Of course, the men would joke.”

He grunted his response as he glared at the offender’s back. “I would rather kill them. It’s more enjoyable.”

“If you kill them with all these witnesses, you will never get the full fledged vacation instead of just the mini one. It would be a shame because I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii.” I brought a finger up and tapped my chin. “Or maybe Jamaica. How do you feel about the Bahamas?”

He spun me in his arm so that my chest was flush with his, and I had to look up to see his eyes. “You would go on vacation with me?”

I rolled my eyes dramatically enough that he couldn’t miss it. “Who else would I go with? That big guy in the corner?”

He growled. The predatory sound vibrating in his chest while spiking my heartbeat. “I wouldn’t joke on such a serious matter, Amore. Not when it comes to you. No other man will touch you. You name the place and time, and we will be there. Anywhere you want to go.”

“But where do you want to go?” I asked, actually interested in learning about him for once.

He thought for a second before replying. “I’ve always wanted to see the northern lights, but then I suspect you would be bundled up with so many layers that I would wish I chose a sunny island somewhere.”

“We can do both,” I pointed out before I realized that I was planning a vacation, more than one vacation, like this relationship was meant to last that long.

A smile lit his face at the suggestion. Royal Russo was handsome. His dark hair and dark eyes the definition of dark and dangerous. But when he smiled—a gesture so rare I had to wrack my mind trying to figure out if I had indeed even glimpsed it before—well . . . he was breathtaking. Stunning. A piece of fine art.

He was mine.

My heart skipped at the thought as my mind gave a halfhearted scowl. Royal nodded his agreement. “We could do both.”

I swallowed hard, trying to hide the emotions that no doubt were crossing my face. Instead, I pulled back and offered my hand to shake. “I think you have yourself a deal.”

His eyes flitted to my hand before he tentatively took it and gave it a gentle but firm shake. “You know, sealing a deal with a handshake seems so masculine, which is hard to accept while you wear lace and heels.”

I licked my lips before reaching up and wrapping my hand around his neck to pull him to me. When his lips were close enough to mine, I whispered, “It’s a deal.”

Then, I kissed him. I fucking kissed Royal Russo, and I did it like the world was ending, and his lips, his body, were my only saving grace. Right there in the middle of a room full of men with their cat calls and crude remarks, I aligned my body with his and held his lips to mine.

When we parted, both struggling to take air into our lungs, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, “Was that the next move?”

I licked my lips, more out of nervousness than actual need. His taste still fresh, his intoxicating smell surrounded me and made me dizzy. I blinked, trying to bring my thoughts into coherent phrases to voice, but nothing was coming out. Was kissing him the next move? I cleared my throat. “I—I don’t know.”

I felt his chest rumble in amusement as he brought his lips to my ears again. “It’s a yes or no question, love. No, you don’t want to have a soul-searing kiss with me again, or yes . . . you’re ready to move up one level.” I started to answer, and he bit my ear to stop me. “But Bianca, think really hard on that answer because there is no going back.”

I didn’t get a chance to think or decipher what was happening before he was pulling away, his body leaving mine as he walked away and disappeared into the crowd of people.

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