Page 87 of Bitter Prince

I fucking wanted it all from her, and I had a feeling I’d give it all up for her too. The knowledge of that truth filled me with a warm ripple of satisfaction. Warning signs should have gone on full blast, but they didn't. Instead, my soul quieted down and my heart beat in a steady rhythm, feeling at ease unlike ever before. It felt right to be with her.

I watched her take her bottom lip between her teeth as though mulling over an unpleasant thought.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked, shifting my eyes to the road. The impulsive demand slipped off my tongue, but it was too late to retract it.

Her eyes found mine, and even in the night, I could see their blue hues, pulling me into her soul.

“What kind of business do you have with my papà?” The out-of-left-field question surprised me.

“Just standard business dealings. Nothing for you to worry about.” She didn’t seem convinced. “Do you trust me?”

The look she gave me almost broke me. Her words finished the job. “With all my heart, Amon,” she whispered.

“Then tell me what’s worrying you.”

She tilted her head and all her curls shifted to one side. “I’m worried if you tell him about us, he’ll demand you break it off.”

I stilled. The ache those words caused had no business taking residence in my heart. “Why do you think that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I get the sense he doesn’t like the Leone family all that much.”

“Or he doesn’t like the idea of his daughter with the illegitimate Leone son,” I claimed, bitterness in my voice and my veins. There it was again. Something impossible to interpret passed her expression. For a girl who was usually an open book, it flared my need to know. “Or is it my mixed race?”

Fuck, did those words actually come out of my mouth? I didn’t know until now that my mother’s words bothered me. The suspicion that maybe Reina would be ashamed of me.

“You are a man.” Her words heated and her small fists clenched angrily. “I don’t care who your parents are. Green, blue, white—whatever. It doesn’t matter to me, Amon Leone. And I certainly don’t care whether they are married or not. It’s their life and they can do whatever makes them happy.” She pushed her curls out of her face, visibly upset by my words. “If my papà is bothered by it, that’s his problem. I have never let him tell me who I should or shouldn’t like, and I won’t let him dictate that part of my life now. I’m more worried that your family and mine would end up killing each other because of some feud.” I never doubted it, but she was smart. She might not like math, but she was intelligent enough to pick up on the hatred between the Leone and Romero family. “I can’t imagine a world where you don’t exist.”

My eyes back on the road, I spotted an overlook and pulled to the side. There wasn’t much to see apart from the moon shimmering over the City of Love in the distance. When I turned, I found Reina looking at me.

“Just like you, cinnamon girl, I never let my family dictate who I choose to spend my time with.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed and her fists unclenched. She might be all sunshine and rainbows on the surface, but underneath it all, my cinnamon girl hid a firecracker.

She smiled. “That’s settled, then. Us before them.”

Warmth flared to life inside me. “Us before them.”

36

REINA

Amon’s eyes bounced between mine as he adjusted in his seat, reaching over to gently stroke my face with his fingertips.

Our gazes held. Our breaths mixed.

The dark sky above us flickered with stars, but none of them compared to this boy-turned-man. I’d waited my whole life for him. He had owned my heart forever, but it wasn’t until now that it’d started to beat solely for him.

I couldn’t take my eyes off his face, my fingers itching to touch him.

“Kiss me,” I whispered. “Touch me.”

Amon stilled, his gaze burning with heat that could melt polar ice caps. He reached over and pulled me across the console. His hands remained on my hips, searing through the material while I straddled him.

My mouth clashed against his and my lips parted. He plunged his tongue into my mouth, letting me taste him. I was getting drunk on him.

The throbbing between my legs was unbearable, so I rocked against his shaft. We both groaned.

“You’re making it impossible to wait.”