With that, I hung up. The phone immediately started ringing again, but I dropped it on the table and dashed into the house. The roiling in my belly was too strong. I couldn’t hold it back anymore.

I ran through the house to the bathroom by the living area. I made it to the toilet just in time to lose the contents of my stomach.

I heaved over and over, even after there was nothing left. I couldn’t believe the hatred I’d heard in Katie’s voice, the things that she said to me. I couldn’t believe I’d never noticed it before.

The intensity of her loathing for me was so strong that I didn’t understand how I could have missed it. No one could hide hatred like that.

As the heaves wracking my body eased, I felt someone crouch behind me, pressing a cool cloth to the back of my neck. Finally, I stopped and took several slow deep breaths.

“Better?” King asked.

“Yeah,” I whispered, taking the cloth he held out to me and wiping my face.

Stiffly, I got to my feet and moved to the sink. I rinsed my mouth out with water. Tia appeared in the doorway with my toothbrush and toothpaste. I gave her a grateful smile and quickly brushed my teeth.

When I was done, King wrapped an arm around my waist and led me into the living room to the couch.

“What happened?” he asked Tia, pulling me across his lap.

“I can talk,” I insisted hoarsely.

They both shot me a look, so I wisely shut my mouth.

“Some bitch named Katie.”

Sitting on King’s lap like I was, I could see the muscles in his jaw tighten. I even thought I heard his teeth grinding.

“Don’t worry, she won’t be calling back. I blocked her number.”

Damn, why hadn’t I thought to do that myself?

He nodded shortly.

Tia looked at me. “I’ll get you some tea or soda to settle your stomach.”

King’s jaw worked and I knew he was gritting his teeth. His eyes met mine. “What did she say to you?” he asked quietly.

I shook my head and sighed. “She wanted my help. I basically told her that I knew about Justin and that I didn’t really give a damn what she needed. It deteriorated from there.”

His face was so tight I worried that he might pop a blood vessel. “I take it she mentioned the fact that she and I-”

I really didn’t want to talk about it. “It came up. We both have a past. Regrettably, both our pasts have Katie in them.”

He cupped my face, his fingers threading through my hair. “I’m going to say something and I want you to listen closely because I’ve never said it to another woman before.”

I sucked in a breath and held it, but I nodded.

“I love you, Jena. You’re right, we both have people in our past, but you’re my future.”

My vision started to get blurry and my heart beat so hard and so quickly that I could feel it in my fingertips. I knew I loved King, but I honestly never expected him to say those words to me, or me to him. He wasn’t emotive. He didn’t talk about his feelings. Instead, he expressed them through actions. Hearing the words was so unexpected, I didn’t know what to say or do.

“Breathe, Jena.”

I released the air I was holding and sucked in another deep breath.

“Jesus, are you gonna pass out?” he asked, amusement in his voice.

“No, no. I just…” I took another breath. “I just didn’t think you’d ever say that to me.”

He frowned. “What?”

I waved a hand. “I didn’t think badasses ever said ‘I love you’.”

King’s eyes twinkled and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Well, this badass does.”

Though I wasn’t big on sentimentality, I did have one thing I wanted to say. I put my hand to his cheek and looked him straight in the eye. “You know I love you too, right?”

He grinned even wider. “I kinda had a feeling you did.”

“I think a beach wedding would be a good idea. Small, simple, and everyone can lay out in the sun for the rest of the day,” Tia called from the kitchen.

My eyes widened in horror, but King burst into laughter.

Still chuckling, he answered, “Sounds good to me.”

“You do realize the rest of my family is crazier than she is,” I murmured.

“I heard that!”

Wrapping his arms around me tightly, King started laughing again. “I don’t care, as long as I get you.”

Because that was an awesome answer, I melted into his arms, hugging him back. Tia was right. If joking about us getting married didn’t freak King out, he was in it for the long haul.

Chapter Twenty-Four

‡

Two weeks later, I sat in my office, pretending to work. The past fourteen days had been nothing but the same monotonous routine. King escorted me everywhere; he dropped me off at the office, picked me up after work, then back to his house.

Finally, last night, I’d blown. The cabin fever made me do it.

We were getting ready for bed, discussing whether or not I’d be going to the bar or my office at the firm, when I said it.

“King, you know I like being around you, right?”

He smirked at me. “Yeah.”

“Okay, so don’t take this the wrong way, but…”

“But what?”

“Can’t I drive myself to and from work tomorrow?” I asked.

“No,” he answered shortly, his smile immediately vanishing.

“I can’t take it anymore!” I plopped down on the bed, staring at him earnestly. “I haven’t left the house alone in weeks. I haven’t been anywhere but here and work or the bar. I need to get out of here before I lose what’s left of my twisted little mind!”

I could see the smile tugging at King’s mouth, but his response was still, “No way in hell.”

“King, please. Have someone follow me, I don’t care. Just let me go sit in a restaurant or go shopping for an hour. Something.”

The amusement fled from his face. “Did you forget that Larry has you in his sights and things are heating up between Wick and him right now? Things are about to come to a head and I do not want you in the crossfire,” he insisted. “A few weeks will be nothing in the grand scheme of things, so suck it up.”

With that, he threw the covers back and climbed out of bed. I watched as he stalked into the closet and pulled on a pair of jeans, and I realized I’d been acting like a pain in the ass.

“King-”

He lifted a hand, indicating he did not want me to speak. After he yanked on his jeans, he took the time to pull on a t-shirt, socks, and boots. Then he headed for the door.

I decided to try to apologize one more time. “King, I’m-”

“Shut up, Jena. We’ll talk when I get back.”

I stood up. “Where are you-” The door shut behind him before I finished. “Going?”

I didn’t know what time he came home, but I knew it was after two in the morning, because that was about the time I finally fell asleep.

He was gone the next morning when I woke, but I knew he’d been in the bed because his pillow bore the imprint of his head and his clothes and boots were in a pile on the floor.

I was disappointed when I walked through the house on my way to get coffee and realized that he was nowhere to be found. Instead, Tia was already in the kitchen, bleary-eyed and drinking from a huge mug.

As I went to the coffee maker to pour myself a cup, she mumbled, “King wants me to take you to work today. Said something important came up.”

At her words, my jaw went tight. I was sorry for acting like a brat to King the night before, but this was fucking ridiculous. So I said something without thinking about it? He didn’t even give me a chance to apologize before he stormed out and now he was avoiding me.

“Jena?” Tia’s voice broke through my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

I nodded and picked up my full mug. “Fine. I’ll be ready to leave in an hour. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

Without another word, I marched out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the bedroom. Taking care to shut the door like a normal person, rather than slamming it, I went to the nightstand and snatched up my phone.