Page 88 of The King's Maiden

I was going tokillLandon Scott.

Scrambling to get my feet under me and get out of there only made it worse. I practically slithered my naked body all over Max’s in my attempts to get away.

Vivian’s outraged and high-pitched shrieks rang in my ears as I flailed uselessly.

Max jerked my body upright and locked his arms around me.

“Stop squirming,” he gritted out through clenched teeth. Once he righted me on my feet, he snapped at Vivian, pointing to my shirt on the ground. “V, shut the hell up and make yourself useful. I swear to fucking god only you can bitch about a problem while actively prolonging it.”

She clamped her mouth shut, but huffed and stomped over to my shirt. Meanwhile, I did the only logical thing I could think to do at that moment and bit down on Max’s arm—hard.

His grip slackened and I pushed away from him, losing my footing and landing on my butt.

I glared up at him from the floor. “Don’t be such a fucking asshole, you—asshole!”

“You’re defendingher?”Breathing hard and clutching the arm I’d marked with my teeth hard enough to draw blood, he glared down at me. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

I shouted at him, “You don’t have to talk to her like that!”

“I was trying to help you!” he roared back.

“I don’t need your help, you fucking brute!”

“Sure as hell looks like you do, Princess! Or did you forget that you almost face planted in thecommunalkitchen before I saved your ungrateful bare ass?”

“I didn’t ask you to save me! And if I want to walk around this whole house naked as a goddamn blue jay, I will!”

That drew both of our attention to the fact that I was very nearly as naked as a goddamn blue jay.

When he opened his mouth to respond, nothing came out. And although I needed to get the fuck out of there, I froze.

His eyes zeroed in on my heaving chest as if my nipples had become homing beacons. He glared down at my naked body and swallowed, his throat bobbing as his eyes jumped from my breasts to my skimpy black thong before snapping back to my face.

My eyes nearly bugged out of my head at the dark, lust-fueled and hatred-filled look he pinned me with.

The heat of that one prolonged stare could have set the room ablaze. Or my fucking panties.

I snapped my thighs together. “Are you just going to stand there? Give me my shirt!”

Vivian made a noise so shrill it sounded inhuman. “Shut up, both of you!”

She snatched my shirt off the ground and shoved it into my chest. Tugging on Max’s arm, she pulled him away from me so quickly I had to wonder if she’d noticed his stare.

I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it out of my head.

But thankfully, Landon chose that moment to walk back into the kitchen.

“Quinn?” He caught sight of me on the floor and ran over, dropping to his knees in front of me. “Oh, shit. Are you alright? I thought you’d come tearing after me for that and then when you didn’t—Did you fall? Are you hurt?”

His genuine concern almost made me reconsider my plans to murder him.

Almost.

“I am going tokillyou, Landon Scott.”

That was all the warning he got before I lunged at him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

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