Royal S.O.B. (A Bad Boy Romance) by Kaitlyn Kevette

appeal to her?

 
    The
more he thought about Princess Adelaide, the more he was attracted to her. It
was more than the craving for the forbidden fruit, it was a necessity for his
fast beating heart. It was a no-exit situation for Kenrick; there was no option
for him but to get her, by fair means or foul.

 
    But,
given their respective positions – she was also princess in her own right, now
holding almost an equal rank as him – any foul method was likely to kick off a
scandal. Which meant there was just one option open to him: He had to win her
over.

 
    Fair
and square.

 
    Kenrick
just sat there thinking of Princess Adelaide. That was what he was doing those
two full days. He would have breakfast late in the morning, not even look at
his usual newspapers. He would have lunch towards evening, and he would not
even watch television. He would have dinner, if at all, by midnight. His entire
life had gone topsy-turvy.

 
    This
was not Kenrick. This was definitely not Prince Kenrick Royce. The royal scion
who played with the lives – and bodies – of countless women, now suddenly at
the mercy of just one. Doomsday was near; what was never thought possible was
now coming true.
     
    It
struck him that he knew nothing about Princess Adelaide. As far as he was
concerned, his new stepsister was a total stranger to him. She, on the other
hand, probably knew all about him. He was this celebrity, among the most
well-known faces of the times, and easily one of the top trending names on the
Web.

 
    That
was it – he had to know about her. He had to get a complete lowdown on this new
woman in his life; well, not yet in his life.

 
    But soon will be , he assured himself.

 
    "I,
Prince Kenrick, have to know her," he kept repeating to himself, like a
man gone crazy.

 
    He,
who had never even bothered to know the names of the women he'd bedded, now
suddenly wanted to know everything about this one woman he had yet to bed – and
had not much hopes of bedding.

 
    And
that woman happened to be his stepsister.

 
    But
how to know her? She was so like a wall, so impenetrable like a rock. How was he to know her? Was there a way,
a shortcut, to understand this enigma called Princess Adelaide?

 
 
    *****

 
 
    Well
into the wee hours of the night, Kenrick lay in his bed, tossing and turning.
This was a new experience for him… he was forever the one who gave others
sleepless nights. And now he was at the receiving end. Some quirk of fate!

 
    The
farther she was from him, the closer he wanted to go towards her. And the more
she detested him, the more determined he was to win her over.

 
    That
was the challenge facing Prince Kenrick Royce.

 
 

Chapter Nineteen

 
 
    She'd
finally chosen a poem.

 
    It
was, according to her, the most hard-hitting among all eight, and most
faithfully reflected her precarious position just then. She was handpicked, as
it were, from her comfortable existence and placed inside this palace, which
was fit for royalty, but where a commoner like her felt suffocated in it.

 
    It
was as if the gods were envious of her and the comfortable life that she'd been
leading. They wanted some cruel fun to kill time, and they chose probably the
happiest girl in all of the universe. And so they bundled her out into this
locked dungeon with the softest mattresses and coziest pillows.

 
    The
poem was titled 'The Golden Cage'.

 
    She
rang Cate.

 
    "Hey
Catie," she said into the receiver.

 
    "I've
decided to go with The Golden Cage ."

 
    "I
knew you would," her friend replied.

 
    "It's
very powerful."

 
    "Now
let's keep our fingers crossed."

 
    "Oh,
not to worry, I'm sure you'll win the special jury prize," assured Cate.

 
    "Well,
really," said Addie.

 
    "I'm
not concerned about winning. If I could get my message across, about this divide
between royalty and the middle class, I would think my job done."

 
    "Addie,"
chimed in Cate.

 
    "Are
you