A twisted new enemies to lovers romance, in which a damaged billionaire with a dark past and his childhood sweetheart fall in love—literally—is out tomorrow from authors Parker S. Huntington and L.J. Shen, and I have a little sneak peek for you. This is Oliver Von Bismarck’s book, whom we met in My Dark Romeo and My Dark Desire.
Excerpt
I drifted to the industrial walk-in fridge, retrieved a cold brew, and plopped beside him, sending my best winning smile his way. He frowned at his screen. I was a thorn in his side. Little did he know, I was about to make him bleed.
“So.” I slurped the coffee loud, a major pet peeve of his since we were kids. “I was thinking…for our wedding…”
He ground his teeth through the obnoxious slurps, forcing himself to look up at me. “Yes?”
“Dallas mentioned you hosted her wedding here.”
“I did,” he drew out the words, his apprehension obvious.
“She sent me a binder of your emails printed out. The ones you sent her with suggestions for the wedding.”
I left out the part where we’d giggled on the plane about how ridiculous most of them were and collectively agreed that Oliver needed to step up his trolling game. I, on the other hand, needed no help in this domain.
Ollie closed his laptop, choosing his next words carefully. “Those were a joke.”
“Were they? I found some great ideas in the binder.” I conjured the eight-inch binder and plopped it on the table. It rattled the entire frame with its weight. “Plus, Dal said you seemed enthusiastic about them, so I thought I’d incorporate as much as I can into the wedding.”
“Dal?” he echoed, watching me flip mindlessly through the pages.
“Yeah. Her nickname, silly. I’m not gonna call my best friend by her government name. I just… I don’t…” I shrugged. “I feel so blessed to be in a relationship with you.”
“You do?”
“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You would never let me down. Never lie to me. Never abandon me like my parents and Cooper did. You put me first, always.” I stared right into his eyes, watching him flinch with each word I speared him with. “I love you, Oliver.”
He said nothing.
What could he, when he was absolutely none of these traits?
I sighed, stopping on a page I’d bookmarked. “I don’t want to be a bridezilla and make the wedding all about what I want, so I’d rather simply take your suggestions and run with them. Not that I even remember what I want anyway. This solves that problem.”
“Yeah. Totally.” He seemed lost in thought, still caught on my earlier description of him.
I leaned over the table and snapped him out of it with a hard kiss to his cheek. “It’s like you were thinking ahead of time when you compiled this.”
“What I was thinking was that I’d fuck with Romeo and Dal, since neither particularly wanted to marry one another at that point in time.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. They’re obviously in love. Who would marry someone for any other reason than love?” I paused and forced eye contact, arching a brow. “You love me, right?”
He averted his eyes. “Of course.”
“What do you love most about me?”
“Your creativity. Perhaps you could apply that creativity to plan a wedding from scratch.” He reached for the binder, trying to pry it from my fingers. “You don’t need this.”
I swatted his hand away. “Don’t be ridiculous. You already put in all this work. It would be a shame for it to go to waste.”
“No, really.” For the first time, he seemed genuinely panicked, probably remembering all his foul suggestions. “It’s no problem.”
“I want us to perform the ‘Love is an Open Door’ duet.” I paused. “You know, the song from Frozen.”
His brows shot up. “You want us to sing a Frozen song?”
“Yes.”
“At our wedding?”
I nodded. “It’s a good duet. You’re no Santino Fontana, but I already signed us up for some singing lessons. She’s a reputable coach. Broadway actors swear by her. Her waitlist is wild, but I pulled some strings.”
“Shoot.” His eyebrows would be glued to the ceiling at this rate. “I don’t think I can swing it. Busy time at work.”
“Don’t worry about your work. I already contacted your assistant and asked him to block the appropriate times for our sessions.” I waved him off and snatched his macchiato, only to make a face and spit my sip back into his cup. With an exaggerated grimace, I pushed it back to him. “Oopsie. Just remembered I don’t like macchiatos. I’m making such good progress, aren’t I?”
“Astounding.” He stared into his backwashed coffee before flicking his eyes back up to me. “Wait.” Ollie frowned. “Didn’t Princess Anna not even marry that dude at the end of the duet?”
“Correct.” I paused, surprised. “How do you know? Do you have nieces and nephews?”
“Uh, no.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his high cheekbones a little flushed. “How would I not know? It’s general knowledge.”
“For a middle-aged man without kids and young relatives?” I narrowed my eyes. “Hardly.”
“First—I’m not middle-aged. Second—fine. Frozen on Ice was fucking hot, okay? What’s not to like? Two hot sisters in a cat fight, ice skaters with great asses, and snacks.” He gestured to himself. “I am only human.”
“My favorite human,” I corrected him. “I know you didn’t specify what musical number you wanted to perform in the binder, but I feel like the song suits us so much, ya know? And don’t worry, I marked down several suggestions we can follow to a tee.”
“We really don’t need to.”
“Where is it?” Brows furrowed, I flipped the pages and snapped when I found the right one. “Here. Matching tattoos. That is such a romantic idea, Oliver. I’m thinking a full-blown portrait of each other’s faces in color. I know you only added black-and-white to your lookbook, but our love is so full of color that it would be a shame to dull it.”
A greenish tinge eclipsed his cheeks. “How about we pin that tattoo idea? We can start with the Frozen du—”
I cut him off. “When is our wedding, anyway?”
“We haven’t set a date yet.” He added under his breath, “And thank God for that.”
“I think it should be super soon. Like, this-month soon,” I said with conviction. “No point in waiting. Neither of us are spring chickens anymore. I want to start making babies right away.”
“You should probably get your memory back first.” He coughed into his fist. “I mean, you haven’t even chosen a dress.”
“Oh, but I have.” I slapped my palms over the dining table, sending a vintage cigar box careening across the surface.
He stopped it from hurling to the floor with heroic instincts, set it next to him, and pinned me with the reluctant gaze of an exhausted parent entertaining his toddler during a sugar rush from Hell.
Oliver laced his fingers together and studied me. “When did you have time to find a dress?”
“On the jet to Baylor. The girls and I watched the Barbie movie.”
He rolled his tongue over his inner cheek, folding his arms over his chest. “Uh-huh.”
I pointed between us. “We look so much like Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling…”
“Excuse me, but Ryan Gosling fucking wishes he had my jawline.”
“All the same.” I shrugged. “Anyway, she wore this gorgeous pink mini dress—”
“Mini dress.”
“…and I just thought to myself it would look so adorable on the altar. Especially if you wear a matching Ken outfit.”
“I’m not wearing a matching Ken outfit.”
I gasped. “Why?”
“Because I’d like to salvage however little I can of my pride after that Frozen duet.”
Perhaps I’d laid this on too thick. Oversold my brand of unhinged. I needed to make my acting more believable if I wanted to draw out his torture.
“Ollie. These are your ideas. What’s the problem? Or is it me? Do you not want to marry me?” I cupped my mouth and started to tear up, mentally thanking an Oscar-winning client for teaching me the trick to crying on cue. “I thought you loved me.”
Two maids in uniform strode into the kitchen carrying groceries, spotted me crying like a baby, and pivoted, speed-walking away to avoid the scene. Oliver looked between them and me, losing his patience.
“Fine,” he snapped, balling his fists. “I’ll wear a stupid Ken costume. Christ.”
“Stupid? It’s designer. Dal gave us the hook up. The suit is spun with real gold threads and studded with red diamonds. They cost almost twelve mil apiece.”
His eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
If Ollie hadn’t ruined my life, I’d feel sorry for him right now.
Find it on Goodreads:
Connect with Parker S. Huntington:
Connect with L.J. Shen:
Dark Prince Road - Recommended Reading Order
(standalone stories with interconnected characters)
You Might Also Like...
by