Page 11 of King’s Kismet

We followed her to a large circular desk with two computers and a man in his mid-thirties on the phone. The woman typed on her keyboard, writing serial numbers beside each item I had on the list.

My druid tapped his fingers on the countertop. “Since she’s purchasing so much furniture at once, will you be delivering it?”

“After we’ve verified payment and marked the items as sold, we can,” she muttered without looking up. “But we charge extra per piece, and the waitlist is three weeks.”

“Well, that won’t do,” York whispered to me, pursing his lips.

I shrugged at him before speaking to the woman. “We’re not talking about buying a single bedroom suite. We’re talking about buying an entire house full of furniture—”

“And I’m telling you, after we verify you can afford the purchases, we can then deliver it to you in about three weeks. Maybe longer. We’ll charge our standard fee,” she snipped.

Though she was quiet after that, her thoughts rolled across the counter, slapping me in the face. “Becky with her daddy’s money. I hate rich customers. Get me that. I don’t like this. I want it in white. Deliver it tomorrow. Jesus. Does she want us to sleep on it too?”

I tilted my head to the left, and York sighed, rubbing his right hand over the back of his neck.

“Who owns this company?” I asked, my tone conversational.

“My grandfather,” she stated, uncaring of her attitude.

“What’s his name?” I continued.

She rolled her gaze upward, over the top of her computer to stare at me. “Why?”

“Will you call him, please?” I inquired politely, sugary sweet, as I pushed the smallest bit of compulsion on her. “Tell him Becky, with her daddy’s money, would like to talk to him about this misunderstanding you and I are having.”

Her demeanor changed from snippy to downright hostile, but her thoughts were filled with panic as she stormed away from the desk to do what I commanded. “Was I talking out loud?”

“You’re going to buy it, aren’t you?” York asked, bumping me with his elbow.

“Yep.”

His island eyes glimmered with mischief. “Are you going to liquidate it?”

“Who knows? We should have gone to a franchise store,” I grumbled. “But I really love the things I picked out. I couldn’t find them anywhere else within five-hundred miles.”

The man at the desk ended his call and turned his attention to us. “Can I help you find something while you wait?”

“Maybe you can help me secure a delivery date within the next week.” I grinned sweetly. “I’m willing to pay double to receive it before Friday. Everything I want to purchase is in stock—”

“I’m sure we can fit you in,” he placated, his voice low and smooth as he studied my purchase list. “Otherwise I’ll deliver it myself.”

“That won’t be necessary,” I told him, holding my hands up. “The company you contract out has a great reputation for being on time and overseeing the care of their products—”

“So do I, miss…” He trailed off, waiting for my name.

I bit my tongue. “King.”

“Miss King,” he purred, eyeing York for a moment before giving me a megawatt smile. “No ring?”

“She doesn’t believe in the sanctity of marriage,” my druid replied, his accent thicker as his anger surfaced.

So it wasn’t just me.

“And I don’t need a ring on my finger to prove anything to the outside world,” I added, hooking my thumb at York. “His time is all I need.”

A flash of images rolled across the man’s mind, ranging from my face on a porn star’s body to his hand gripping… probably someone else’s dick. The skin color was all wrong for it to belong to this guy.

“And a warm body in your bed.”