Page 32 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

And after all I’d put up with tonight, I deserved to watch him go.

Chapter 10

The next day was Sunday, and after he’d finished his morning run, Rafe insisted on driving us to church. Aunt Sylvia accepted on my behalf. Which I was not okay with, but there was nothing I could do.

He was wearing a very expensive suit that made him look like he’d just walked out of a James Bond movie, and he was clean-shaven again. It made me sentimental and wistful, so I forced myself to pay attention to the sermon instead. My immortal soul probably needed it.

Especially since my mortal body was interested in breaking some commandments with Rafe. It was like every molecule in my body wanted to gravitate over to him. Like he was some black hole and I was incapable of resisting.

After church ended, Whitney found me and grabbed me with her free hand. She held Gracie with the other. “You didn’t call.”

“Call?”

She rolled her eyes so hard I was surprised she didn’t see her own brain. “About your date with Tommy Davis. What happened?”

Tommy had become such a minor player in last night’s craziness that I had actually forgotten about him. I glanced over at Rafe, who clearly stood within earshot. He had offered Aunt Sylvia his arm and was helping her to his car. I took Gracie from Whitney, perching her on my hip. It made me nervous when she forgot and held the kids this far along in her pregnancy, and I wanted to wait until Prince Misleading was gone. “Remember how much I wanted to go out with Tommy in high school?”

“Definitely.”

“That’s what happened last night. I went out with Tommy from high school. Or the college version of him. It was unfortunate. And it made me sympathetic toward Brooke, which is the worst.”

“Did he kiss you?”

“He did, and it was gross. And it didn’t help that I had Rafe’s to compare it to.”

“What!” she gasped. “What do you mean? Did Rafe kiss you, too?”

“Before the date.” Gracie was sucking on her thumb, and she laid her head on my shoulder. It was close to her naptime. My pulse felt a little frantic just thinking about the kiss.

“Obviously. He had to mark his territory. Or he wanted you to be thinking about him the entire night and not Tommy.”

“It doesn’t matter what his reasons were. And he’s not going to do it again.”

She looked so crestfallen. “That sucks.”

“Not unless I ask him to.”

She perked right back up. “Excellent. So now we just have to—”

Pastor Dave interrupted us, asking to speak with me. I put Gracie down, and she toddled off with her mom. He and I discussed the upcoming church bazaar meeting. We were closing in on the date of the bazaar and needed to finalize the details. I asked if I could pass out a sign-up sheet next week to the congregation for some of the food assignments. He agreed to let me do so.

By the time we finished talking, the church had emptied out. My eyebrows knit together as I tried to figure out where Aunt Sylvia had gone. Maybe she was out in the car with Rafe? They wouldn’t have left me behind.

I put on my coat and opened the front door. Rafe stood outside, his car running. I didn’t see Aunt Sylvia in the front seat. He opened the door for me like he was my own personal chauffeur. But as he closed the door behind me, I realized my aunt wasn’t in the backseat either.

“Where is Sylvia?” I asked as soon as he joined me.

He started the car and signaled with his blinker, checking his mirrors before leaving the parking lot. “She got a ride home with Amanda.”

I let out a huff of disgust, folding my arms as I leaned back in my seat. Did she really think her matchmaking schemes were going to work? She knew what he’d done. She was the only one who really understood how deep his betrayal had gone.

“Will we have time for a cooking lesson today?”

Ugh. I’d forgotten about that. “I’m going over to Whitney’s after I go home and get changed.” There was no need to mention that I hadn’t actually been invited. She’d understand, and she’d want more details about the thing we were calling a “date” with Tommy.

“How about after that?” He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel while he talked, and I tried really hard not to think about how much I loved it when he ran those same fingers through my hair.

My mind scrambled to find reasons. Truthful ones. I wouldn’t lie. “I have homework.WoWstuff. Lists to make up for the church bazaar—”

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