Page 70 of Exposed

King licks his lips. “I know.”

“Don’t worry about Tim,” Brax interjects. “He’ll be cool.”

“Oh, Tim is so not going to be cool,” Micah argues.

King’s eyes fall shut, and he pulls in a deep breath. “Great.”

“True,” Brax relents. “He’s just getting back in town from taking Teagan to school. Maybe he won’t listen to the recording and just let us sum it up for him.”

“It is what it is. I’m hanging up,” King warns and lets go of my bottom.

“Wait!” Micah tries, but King doesn’t wait on anything. He disconnects the call and kills the engine.

I lower my voice. “Are you in trouble?”

“Baby.” Oh, man. He might throw that word around casually, but it seeps into my pores and penetrates my entire body. It warms me all over just like he does. “The technology is good. Until I turn this mic off, they can hear everything you say.”

I clamp my mouth shut.

“And no, this isn’t middle school. I’m not in trouble. And even if I were, I wouldn’t give a shit.”

“I’m a rule follower.” My hands slide down to his chest and smooth the lapels on his jacket. “I take it you’re not.”

King touches my chin to tip my face to his. “I always do the right thing, but some rules are idiotic. That means I bend them at times. Other times, it means obliterating them.”

“And this?” I trace his bottom lip softly with the tip of my index finger. “This is against the rules?”

“Micah knows every rule in the book. I think a good guess would be, yes, this is against the rules.”

I look down to my fingers that are fidgeting with his icy blue tie. “I feel bad.”

“That doesn’t do much for my confidence. That’s the last thing I thought you’d feel.”

A small smile touches my lips. “You know what I mean.”

He leans in and presses his lips to my forehead. “Let’s get inside. We can talk about that more when I’ve got you locked up for the night.”

Hmm…

Locked up by King Jennings who is single and staying the night with me again.

My life has gone from a boring, depressing one-star tale to more excitement and drama than my heart knows how to handle.

14

MINE

King

Call it intuition or wishful thinking, but I packed a bag.

Even though when I packed it, I told myself it was because we’d be going back to the office to debrief and wearing a suit one minute longer than necessary is a crime. I’ll take my BDUs over business casual, business formal, or just plain business any day.

With her shoes in one hand and her purse tucked under her arm, I claim her hand and carry my bag in the other. I’m not worried about Randall Becerra or anyone else.

I can’t fucking wait to get the wire up. If I only knew what Dex said after our meeting tonight. Going live first thing in the morning is too late in my book.

“Oh no,” Goldie whispers and pulls me to a stop.

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