Page 15 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

Which made me realize that he had already thought of it.

“Easier,” he said, nodding. “But not nearly as much fun.”

What? What did that even mean?

He took a step toward me, and it required every ounce of willpower I possessed to stand still. “Or ... maybe I just wanted to see you with that all glorious hair down.”

I opened my mouth to respond but didn’t know what to say. Men did not flirt with me like this. Ever. And this very beautiful man with the face of a fallen angel said my hair was glorious. I hadn’t passed out in a long time, but I realized there was suddenly a very real possibility of it happening. “Dante, I ...”

He put a hand on my shoulder. “Rafe.”

I was almost a hundred percent sure that he’d said his name was Dante. “But I thought that ...”

This time he put one of his long, tapered fingers against my lips, making my whole body go limp. “Everyone I care about calls me Rafe. Just don’t tell the other girls.” He moved his hand away.

“Okay. Rafe.” I tried it out. I liked it. He took another step toward me so that we were practically touching. He reached out, and I wondered what he thought he was doing. My heart slammed into my ribcage so hard I was pretty sure I’d have bruises. I realized at the last second that he was reaching into his coat pocket.

He’d nearly made me stroke out. “More cookies?” I asked. My voice only quivered slightly.

“No,” he said. He held out a small red pin. “Would you take this piece of my heart?”

I knew what that was. It was the First Sight Heart.

“I would love to.” I took the pin from his hand, trying not to brush my fingers against his palm and failing miserably, which sent more shockwaves through me.

Somehow I managed to attach the pin to the bodice of my dress. This pin meant that he liked me enough to spare me that evening’s elimination. I wouldn’t be going home.

It meant he wanted to keep me around.

Chapter 5

Of course, now I knew that I would have been better off if he had sent me home at the beginning.

“The last item is the annual book drive,” Brooke called out. “Who headed that up last year?”

“Genesis Kelley.” The secretary looked terrified to say my name. Brooke somehow refrained from trying to insult me again.

“So you’ll do it again, won’t you, Genesis?” one of the council members asked. It was a good thing Brooke hadn’t asked, because I might have said no immediately.

“I’ve got a lot going on,” I said hesitantly. I didn’t want to say no and leave them in the lurch, but I was really busy. To be fair, though, I did have the most experience with that project.

Rafe cleared his throat, and I turned to see him narrowing his eyes at me. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to say no.

He wasn’t the boss of me. “Yes, I’ll do it.” It would help with my keep-busy-so-I-don’t-think-about-Rafe plan.

That got shot to smithereens seconds later. “I would like to volunteer to help with the book drive,” he announced.

Another one of those eerie silences descended over the meeting. So much for putting a stop to us working together.

“And you are?” Brooke asked. She knew darn well who he was. I’d overheard her talking about him and me after I got back from the show. You can guess the tenor of that particular conversation.

But she flirted with every breathing man under the age of thirty, and she probably thought pretending not to know who he was made her more desirable. Or something.

“Rafael.” He paused. “Rafe. Rafe Fiorelli.” It took him a second to add on his extended family’s last name. He didn’t actually have a last name. Just a bunch of first ones and a royal title.

“Fine, put Rafe Fiorelli down on the book drive list.”

Little pockets of anger bubbled up inside me. He had done that just so he could spend time with me. I didn’t need his help. I could do the book drive all by myself.

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