Page 79 of Unforgiving Queen

Because one thing was for certain: Dante Leone was the devil reincarnate. There was no way in hell I’d marry him.

29

REINA

My heels clicked against the pavement as I neared the entrance to my apartment, five shopping bags hanging from my arm.

I dreaded going back.

Phoenix avoided me. Isla was off with her hook-up man. Raven apparently ran into her old flame and was busy extinguishing it. No idea what that meant. Athena remained tight-lipped about whatever the hell she was doing.

And I… I’d spent the morning on a shopping spree attempting to forget about yesterday’s disaster date.

I entered the lobby of our building and stepped into the elevator. The doors began to close when an expensive-looking boot shot out. My eyes slowly rose from the boot wedged between the metal doors, then traveled up the long, muscular, jeans-wearing leg attached. That intoxicating citrusy scent reached my nostrils and I squeezed my eyes shut. I knew who that boot belonged to.

Amon fucking Leone.

I raised my head and met a slightly battered face. A muscle pulsed in his jaw and an angry flush branded his thick neck.Welp. This is new.

“Good date last night?” His voice was deep, his gaze caressing mine.

Oh, so this was about his brother and me.

“It was,” I quipped, flashing him a sweet smile. “I can’t wait for a repeat.”Fucking not.I let my gaze travel over the length of him. “Although it looks likeyouhad a rough night yourself.”

A slow smile—the kind that prickled the hair on my neck—pulled at the corners of his mouth. My heart sped up into a breathless rhythm and heat rushed beneath my skin, all the way down to my toes. He turned to face the elevator doors, and before I could think about what I was doing, my gaze traveled down his body. Broad shoulders. Smooth muscles. A sculpted ass no man had any right to have.

I swallowed. God help me. Only he seemed able to ignite this lust.

“You won’t be going on any more dates with my brother,” he commanded, his tone sharp and self-righteous. My spine hardened into a stiff board.

“Actually, I will,” I gritted, glaring at him. “In case it escaped you, I’m marrying him.”

Sure, I was working out how to get out of the arrangement, but I wouldn’t be sharing that detail with this man. Regardless of the fucked-up sibling status between Phoenix and Dante, I couldn’t bear to be the one to hurt Phoenix.

“You. Will. Not.” Amon turned and took a step toward me. A small one, just enough to make me crane my neck to meet his gaze and for the tips of his shoes to kiss mine. It could barely be called a touch, but it stoked the embers burning through my veins.

“I will.” I tilted my chin in defiance, probably looking like a spoiled brat, but I didn’t care. Instead, I focused on those endless midnight eyes drawing me in. “Don’t come around if you don’t like it. In fact, I’m telling you it’s best you don’t come around—period. I’m marrying your brother.” Years of pent-up anger, sorrow, and animosity rose up, and the broken part of me wanted to hurt him. Just like he’d hurt me. I almost died while he held and kissed another woman. After he promised me forever. “We’ll be busy having sex, lots and lots of it.”

Fucking disgusting.

The thought of sex and Dante in the same sentence made me want to barf, but I focused on the exhilaration of revenge. No matter how small or insignificant it was. Amon didn’t need to know that I’d rather slice my own throat than ever be intimate with his crazy brother.

“In fact, now that I’m more experienced,” I taunted sweetly, “I’m pretty sure it’ll be a lot more enjoyable.”

Fury carved savage lines into his beautiful face, and the kindled heat in my lower belly warned I was too close to temptation.

“Careful, Reina,” he said dryly, his tone dark and smoky. There was also the hint of a threat lying beneath the surface that didn’t escape me. “Push me too far and we might cross a line beyond the point of return.”

It was a warning, not a proclamation of love. It wasn’t even a seduction. Then why oh why did it set an inferno raging through me?

I shrugged, feigning indifference. “We crossed that line three years ago,” I reminded him coldly. “Move on, Amon. I did.”

The elevator dinged open and I stepped out, walking backward.

He took a small step forward. I took one back. He took another step, and my back hit the door to my apartment.

“It’s up to you what you do,” he drawled, his darkness swirling around us. “But I won’t hesitate to resort to drastic measures if you don’t break it off with Dante.”