Stealing His Princess (Kings of Conquest #2) - Adelaide Forrest Page 0,30

on the top of the ring and his shoulders slouched for a moment, like he was suddenly weighed down by a great and terrible burden. “I didn’t want to saddle us with any additional responsibilities. We have enough.”

“Yes.” And even next to me in bed, with both of us completely naked, it was like there were chasms between us. Unpassable and uncrossable chasms.

I didn't want just a moment with Aric. I wanted to say fuck the world and find a way to be with him. I thought he just might be worth the consequences and the risk. Given the emotional connection I'd felt with him while he was inside me, it would be difficult to convince me of anything else.

I knew he felt the same.

So when he stilled, his body going rigid against mine, I flinched.

He pulled back, not meeting my eyes, a moment later as he slipped free from me. His eyes rested on the space between my thighs for a brief moment before I closed my legs and curled my arms around myself for cover. He turned for his clothes without another word, making me feel like the whore the world would see me as if they found out what we'd done.

I guess it had been foolish to think he was different than the rest of them. I'd been naïve to think this could end in anything other than heartache for me, but Aric had never been just a stranger to lose my virginity to. My attraction and the instant pulse of awareness of him had sealed my fate long before I was smart enough to see it for what it was.

I had feelings for him, ones I would never be free to explore.

9

Aric

If what I’d hoped to accomplish was to destroy the reputation of the Atwaters even further, and betray the trust of my oldest friend in the process, then I was doing a wonderful job of it.

Who took the virginity of the woman who would soon marry his best friend? Not a King who valued his reputation and strove to improve the status of his Kingdom for the benefit of his people. Not a man who had made promises to the ring he wore on his right hand. Not a man who’d promised to be better than those who had borne him.

"You’re about to say this is a mistake," Bristol murmured from the bed where she was still naked. Rosy and warm from our lovemaking, her voice was soft, but her face was set in determined lines as I sprung from the bed. “I will gut you,” she warned. She hardened her eyes into a glare as I hurried to get dressed, but they glistened with the threat of tears despite her attempt to channel her feelings into anger. Emotion clogged my throat, knowing I would only make it worse in the coming moments. That there would soon come a day when Holden was the one who held her and comforted her when someone hurt her.

"You're going to be Holden's wife," I pointed out as I buttoned up my slacks and zipped up the fly. "That was meant to be his to take."

"Funny how you only seem to care about that after you’ve gotten your dick wet. As it is my body, it was mine to give. Nobody had any right to take that from me. Holden will not care that I am not a virgin," she said. I couldn't deny the truth to those words, because he truly had no interest in Bristol in that way and wouldn't feel jealousy.

No, the jealousy was all mine when I thought about how I wanted to rip his throat out just at the thought of him touching her, seeing her naked body in his bed every morning. When I imagined him tasting the sweetness of her lips and feeling the soft slide of her skin against his.

"No, he wouldn't." She flinched at my agreement, just another reminder of what her marriage would be. "But he would most certainly care that you gave it to me, of all people, and only days before announcing your engagement at that." I hung my head, heaving out a troubled sigh before I said the next words. "That can never happen again. Holden can never know what we've done."

"You could have at least waited ten minutes before treating me like the filthy secret in your closet, you asshole," she hissed, moving to the edge of the bed and setting her feet on the