King's Passion by Adrianne Byrd Page A

she could hear the gambling halls and pulsing night clubs calling out to her. It was truly a magical city.
    Without thinking she climbed out of bed and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and pulled back the curtain. There was a ring of people watching the Bellagio’s breathtaking fountain show. But her attention was drawn to the people walking down the new strip. They looked like a million ants from up there. But she fooled herself into thinking that she could hear them all laughing and singing as they trotted along from one hot spot to another. None of them, she imagined, had a care in the world.
    A crushing sadness washed over her and before she knew it, a few tears leaped over her lashes and managed to get as far as the center of her cheeks before she wiped them away.
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    Victoria frowned as her she whipped her head around. “Was that the door?”
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    â€œDamn. I thought I settled this with Iris already.”
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    Rolling her eyes, Victoria stomped away from the window and then marched past the master bedroom, past the living room and minibar before finally reaching the door.
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    â€œGrrrr.” She unlocked the door and then jerked it open. “I told you that I didn’t want to—”
    Her King smiled. “You told me what?”
    With one quick glance she took in his incredibly handsome face. His smile alone was postcard perfect for a toothpaste ad. In the back of her mind, she realized that she needed to say something—anything, but all she could do was run her gaze over the way his broad chest filledout his royal-blue silk shirt or even how it tapered down at his chiseled sides. From memory, she knew how hard and muscularly rippled his abs were. He probably even had that nice defining cut right were his hip and leg connected. By the time her X-ray gaze made it to his tailored black slacks a grand jury could have easily convicted her of sexual assault.
    King cleared his throat—loudly. “Good evening. It’s a pleasure seeing you again, too.”
    Victoria’s face suddenly flamed with embarrassment and instead of responding to his slick retort, she simply slammed the door in his face. Afterward, she stood there for a mind-numbing second where she tried to convince herself that what just happened didn’t happen.
    â€œUmm…that wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for,” King boomed through the door, and then added a little chuckle for good measure.
    Victoria’s eyes bugged while the muscles in her stomach rolled and twisted into tight knots, but for some reason, she couldn’t speak.
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    â€œHello? I know that you’re here,” he continued to chuckle.
    It was probably his amusement that finally got under her skin. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
    â€œWhat do you think? I came to see you.”
    Silence, mainly because she didn’t know what to do with that answer.
    â€œIf I remember correctly we didn’t exactly finish discussing business in my office earlier.”
    His hands, mouth and his incredibly hard erection pressed high against her thigh flashed before her eyes like instant recall and she had a devil of a time swallowing a huge lump that was growing in the center of her throat.What—” She coughed to clear her throat. “Whatever you need to discuss, you just need to contact my lawyer. She’ll do all the talking for me from here on out.”
    Silence.
    Did he just turn around and leave? She wasn’t sure so she leaned over and tried to see whether she could make out if she could see anything under the door. Of course, she couldn’t. She crept toward the door and then slowly pressed her ear against it to see if she could at least hear anything.
    â€œWhat if I told you that I didn’t like lawyers?” he boomed suddenly.
    Victoria jumped back as if the door had exploded.