Lush Money (Filthy Rich) by Angelina M. Lopez

Author:Angelina M. Lopez [Lopez, Angelina M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2019-10-13T18:30:00+00:00

April: Day Two

Part Three

They had other appointments that day, people he’d promised to bring his wife to meet, dinner with the town’s alcalde and council at the local tavern, and they kept all of them. The art of faking it was one of the first skills Mateo learned. But he had nothing left by the time they returned to his home that evening. He felt as drained as a flat balloon.

He walked straight into his great room and poured himself and Roxanne a bad-idea amount of bourbon. He handed her a glass as she passed him to settle into a nearby chair, but he stayed standing, leaning back against the bar. Best not to be too far away from the alcohol.

He took a long deep drink then pressed the glass against his gut. Kept his eyes on the amber light shining in it. “Do you think I’m a bad prince?”

“Never.” Her simple, instant answer helped him draw his first deep breath in hours.

He raised his eyes to look at her. She’d pulled off her sandals and curled into the oversized chair like a cat. Her glass was in her lap, but she hadn’t drunk from it, if her soft, velvety lips were any indication. She looked back at him steadily.

“But you do think I’ve let my father...push me away from this place. You said as much last night.”

She smiled gently, paused as if gathering her thoughts first. “I...don’t think your father cares where you are. Just as long as you stay in line or out of his way. You have made it easier on him by living on a different continent.”

Mateo stared at her open, calm, nonjudgmental face. “Fuck,” he breathed. He raised the glass and emptied it. Clutched it back against his stomach. “I’m the last one to figure out how badly I’ve fucked up, aren’t I?”

Roxanne’s beautiful blue eyes, eyes he’d seen snap with anger and sneer with superiority and flash in moments of lust-driven delight, softened with sadness for him. She looked young and vulnerable and endless, like an ocean of understanding and forgiveness that would wash him clean. Without taking his eyes off of her, he carefully put down his empty glass and stepped toward her.

Roxanne dropped her legs to the floor and stood, putting the chair between them. She put her full glass down on a nearby table and said to it, “I’m exhausted. I’m going to take a shower and turn in early.”

When she glanced up at him, her eyes were timid. Almost scared. It was the first time he’d ever seen them that way. She turned from him, and Mateo watched her hurry to her room.

He leaned to touch her glass and stroked where her lips had never been. He picked it up and finished it in deep thirsty gulps.

But this tepid replacement for her cleansing kiss couldn’t burn away the reality: he’d become everything he feared being.

He was weak, selfish, unworthy, self-absorbed. Everything he’d wanted to avoid—his father manipulating him, his kingdom falling victim to his father’s greed—he’d let happen.

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