King's Passion by Adrianne Byrd Page B

After clutching a hand over her heart and catching her breath, she said, “Then I would say that it was just too damn bad.”
    â€œWell. Forgive me, but I thought that since you went through an awful lot of trouble to deliver this nasty little lawsuit yourself that we could sit down and settle this between us.”
    It’s a trap. He’s just going to try and seduce me again. Wait. Or had she seduced him? She couldn’t remember what her final verdict was on that hot episode in his office.
    â€œOf course, I’d rather not try to broker this thing through the door like this. People are starting to look at me strange out here.”
    She remained silent though her hand itched to open the door.
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    â€œC’mon. Open the door.”
    Victoria clutched at her clothes and only then realized that she was in her pajamas. “I’m not dressed.”
    â€œGranted, you’re not wearing my favorite dress youhad on earlier, but the last time I checked, pajamas still qualified as clothing.”
    He really is a smart-ass. She turned away and rushed to take a look at herself in the mirror. Thankfully, she didn’t look like a hot mess, but for good measure, she ran the brush through her hair a couple of times. As far as her clothes, King was right. There was nothing wrong with her two-piece pink pajamas. It wasn’t sheer or risqué in any way.
    Knock. Knock. Knock.
    â€œGeez. Talk about being persistent.” She rushed back toward the door, took a deep breath and opened it.
    There leaning against the doorframe with arms crossed and wearing a crooked smile, stood her King.
    My King? Where the hell did that thought come from? She shook her head clear.
    â€œMind if I come in?” he asked, sounding like a wolf that was bold enough to knock on Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma’s door.
    Victoria wasn’t a woman who was easily scared, but there was definitely a trickle of fear in her bloodstream as she looked this handsome devil in the eye and issued an invitation. “Come on in.”
    His lips kicked up an extra notch as he unfolded his arms and strolled across the threshold like a king entering his own castle.
    The knots in Victoria’s stomach managed to tighten more while her knees almost started to knock together. Just being around him again had her body teetering on the verge of mutiny against her lifelong habit of restraint and self-control (minus what happened earlier that evening). While he strolled inside, glancing around, Victoria closed the front door and stole another deep breath while she checked out his back view.
    Damn. This brother is fine coming and going. Seriously. She couldn’t find a bad angle on him anywhere. In a way that was annoying. It would help her immensely if she could find some flaw that would at least humanize him. After all, it’s impossible to remain angry at a man who looked like a god.
    â€œAll right,” she said, crossing her arm again. “Now what?”
    King turned and lazily roamed his gaze over her. It was probably payback for the way she had gawked at him outright when she’d opened the door. “ Now —you get dressed so that I can take you to dinner.”
    â€œDinner?”
    â€œYes. It’s this ancient practice we have around here where we sort of sit around a nice table, sometimes there’s candlelight and soft music playing in the background.”
    Victoria cocked her head and pursed her lips together.
    He just smiled and continued. “We have these people that are either called waiters or waitresses and we order what we’d like to eat. They scurry off to the back and tell this majestic cook—a master of all things culinary and whatnot. Next thing you know that waiter is placing our mouthwatering food before us and we just…dig in.” At the end of his dinner description, his smile was so wide she could easily count all thirty-two