Page 74 of Bitter Prince

I lowered my hand, running it over his erection, the hard, thick length of him bulging in his jeans. I wanted him inside me. I wanted to make him feel as good as he made me feel, but we were running out of time on this ride.

The moment I cupped his erection, he hissed out a breath and gripped my wrist.

“Not today.”

His fingers were still inside me, but he didn’t want me to make him come. My eyes met his, and I knew he saw questions in them. Vulnerability.

“We can wait,” he grunted.

“Why?” I questioned. “If you say it’s because I’m not eighteen yet, I’m going to scream. Your knuckles are deep inside me, for fuck’s sake.”

He let out a breath of amusement. “Who taught you how to speak that way?”

I shrugged. “Athena writes filthy romance novels. Sometimes I read them.”

He kissed me on the lips, softly nipping my bottom lip. “So it wouldn’t surprise you if I pulled my fingers out of you and licked them clean?”

Heat ignited within me and my cheeks flushed. “No,” I lied, although I hadn’t read anything like that anywhere before. “Let me see.”

As we neared the carousel’s landing platform, his fingers slid out of me, my arousal coating them, and I watched as he brought his fingers to his lips and sucked them clean.

And I was ready for another round of whatever this man was willing to give me.

30

AMON

The next day, I sat in the library of my home in Jolo, one of the Philippines’ southern islands. Since we were getting nowhere with Romero’s safe—wherever the fuck it was—I decided it might be time for a different approach.

Which meant hacking into my cousin’s safe in Japan.

I was a thousand miles away, watching the crystal blue waters shimmering under the sun. I bought this place three years ago with some of the first millions I made. Why? Because this place was the closest thing to heaven and the house was surrounded by blue waters, the shade of Reina’s eyes. It was the only place where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder in case someone stabbed me in the back. It was mine and mine alone.

The long winding road was lined with statues of Shinto gods—Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi—and cherry blossoms along both sides. I was christened, but my mother still raised me mostly Buddhist, as was common among the Japanese.

I leaned back in my chair, watching the view and feeling more at home than I had anywhere else in the world aside from my mother’s home country. Aside from being with Reina.

My brother entered the office looking like he swallowed a lemon.

“Please tell me you got off the moody train.”

He grimaced. “Actually, it’s only gotten worse. Father wants to see us. Mother too.”

Aggravation lit in my chest. I wasn’t ready to see them. I was used to feeling this way about my father, but never about my mother. I knew what she wanted to discuss, and I wasn’t in the mood for it.

“Tell them we’re chasing a lead.”

Dante’s gaze narrowed. “That’s a first.”

“What is?”

He looked away from me, his eyes on the horizon that I’d been admiring only moments ago. “You dismissing Mother. Or lying,” he mentioned casually. “I do it plenty, but never you.”

“I’m not lying,” I said, ignoring my brother. It might be a slightly twisted truth, but it wasn’t a lie. The truth was that I needed some space from Reina or I’d never make it to her eighteenth birthday. She’d put a spell on me and it was pulling me under.

Her soft little moans. Her whimpers. They were all ingrained in my brain cells and refused to leave me.

“So what lead are we chasing?” he drawled with a knowing look in his eyes.