I knew Sabrina factored heavily into the equation, too, as she considered the kids and me a threat to her relationship with him for some strange reason. I was of the opinion that she should be far more worried about the other women that he was cheating on her with, at least according to the gossip that I caught wind of from time to time. It seemed Clayton still had a wandering dick, and I couldn’t say I was surprised one little bit.
Clayton narrowed his eyes at me, then nodded, clearly unwilling to do something as plebian as making a scene, especially in front of King. Without another word, he turned on his heel and headed to the door, with Hunter and Mia trailing after him. I heard them telling him goodbye as I frantically tried to brush the flour from the seat of my pants.
“Let me help you with that, sugar.”
I glared at King, who just flashed me a wicked grin as he rubbed his big hands over my butt, giving each cheek a little squeeze in the process. Yeah, that really helped.
“I’ve gotta tell you, I like the look of my handprints on your ass. They’d look even better against your bare skin, after I’ve –“
“Mom, that lunch was soooo gross. What time will the lasagna be ready?” King immediately dropped his hands from my ass and took a step back, putting a fairly respectable distance between us as Mia interrupted us. She didn’t even notice. She dropped down into a chair at the table, pulling her phone out of her back pocket as she did so. Without even waiting for an answer, she started tapping away, her thumbs flying back and forth over the screen at an awe-inspiring speed.
Hunter ambled into the kitchen and swiped another muffin, before announcing that he was late for an online gaming session with Andrew.
“Let me know when dinner is ready, Mom,” he called over his shoulder as he thundered up the stairs two at a time. King grinned at the noise.
“Reminds me of Jag and Rome at that age.”
“He’s a good kid, but he’s about to eat me out of house and home.”
Mia gasped as she looked up from her phone. “Oh my God! I have to go call Corinne. Miguel just broke up with her.” She jumped up and ran from the room, making almost as much noise as Hunter had as she ran up the stairs. I winced as I heard her bedroom door slam behind her, and I knew she’d be on her phone for the rest of the night, coming up for air only long enough to eat.
King looked at me in concern. “Corinne is one of her three best friends. She and Miguel have been dating for two or three days now, so the resulting heartbreak and drama will last for at least a month,” I told him dryly.
King’s eyebrows hit his hairline and his eyes widened in disbelief.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Be thankful you only had boys.”
He laughed as he shook his head. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have had the first damn clue how to raise girls.”
I knew from a few things Pop had said that King had raised his sons alone, but I wasn’t sure what had happened to their mom.
“I’m sorry about Clayton. He’s a jackass.”
King laughed and nodded his head. “Yeah, I could tell. Don’t worry about it. It takes more than that to offend me. Does he ever unclench enough to get that stick out of his ass?”
I couldn’t help the unladylike snort that passed my lips at his question. “Not in a few years, no.” At his questioning look, I elaborated. “He wasn’t always like this. Believe it or not, when we first met, he was planning to volunteer with a program that offers dental care in third-world countries once he got his degree. But, by that time we had Hunter, so he tooka job at a small general dentistry practice. After only a year, he decided to move to a larger, high-end place, which offered cosmetic dentistry as well as the general stuff. He moved over to the cosmetic end of things, and that’s when he really began to change. By the time I filed for divorce, there was no trace of the man I’d first met, and in his place was Dr. Douchebag, as my friends and I now call him.”
King gave me a sympathetic smile, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. My eyes landed on the baked goods on the island, and I remembered that I had planned to give some to him.
“I was going to give Pop some of this stuff to pass on to you, as an apology for, you know…threatening you with a knife.”
“You don’t owe me any kind of apology, but I’ll gladly acceptanythingyou want to give me,” he assured me, and I didn’t miss the sexy smirk on his face that warned me he wasn’t just talking about food.
I tried to ignore the effect his deep, throaty voice had on me, busying myself with reaching for a container to put some muffins and cookies in. I stretched up on my tiptoes to try to grasp the edge of the large cookie tin, inhaling sharply as I felt King’s body against my back. He raised his arm above me, his height giving him a clear advantage on reaching the upper shelf in the cabinet.
If I had to guess, he was about six-foot-two or so, a good nine inches taller than my own five-foot-five. I’d rarely felt dainty in my life, always considering myself a fairly average-sized woman, but King’s height and impressive wall of muscles managed to make me feel petite and almost delicate next to him. The feminist in me told me to get over myself. The red-blooded woman in me told me to getunderhim. After what hadjust happened on my kitchen counter, I was pretty sure the red-blooded woman would be more fun to listen to.
As his body pressed against mine, I held my breath, not sure if I wanted him to touch me again or not. Actually, that wasn’t true. I knew I wanted him to; I just wasn’t sure it was a good idea.
