Page 78 of King of Temptation

Kim

Leo’s family arrives, all of the men standing around the island. I disappear into the master bedroom with the iPad and find myself looking at baby furniture.

I know we need couches and tables, but I’ve never bought any of this stuff and I don’t even know where to start.

So instead of buying anything, I call Charlotte.

She instantly picks up. “Kim!” she says by way of introduction. “Did Mason just tell me that you moved with Leo to the burbs?”

“Charlotte,” I say, my voice trembling a bit. Telling her is better than telling my mom, but it gets more real when she knows.

Maybe that’s why I didn’t tell my best friend the other day. Once I do, I need to have figured some stuff out and I need to face someone I love knowing that I made the exact mistake I tried so hard to avoid.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…” I swallow down a lump, deciding this is a Band-aid-ripping kind of situation. “I’m pregnant.”

My words are met with silence.

“I know. It’s the thing I swore I wouldn’t do. I lost my head when I met Leo and?—”

“Kim,” she cuts me off. “Just tell me one thing…” There is a long pause where I feel myself tensing. “Is he good to you?”

I stare at the phone, trying to understand where that one came from. Of all the things I expected Charlotte to say, that wasn’t it. “Yes. Why?”

“He doesn’t get rough?”

“Never. Why would he do that?”

More silence. “If he ever crosses a line, you have Mason get involved, okay?”

“Charlotte. Leo would never physically hurt me. If anything, he…” He worships me.

“I believe you. It’s just, Leo has a dark side and I don’t want him to hurt you.”

I promise her that I’m fine, but the words unsettle me. Charlotte didn’t seem worried about me having a baby nearly as much as she worried about me being with Leo. It wasn’t what I anticipated at all and I’m trying to reconcile Charlotte’s perspective.

I know there was some stuff that happened between them but maybe it’s time I asked some more specific questions.

I’ll ask Charlotte but I want Leo’s side first. I hear the front door, so I set down my phone and the iPad and head out to the landing.

Roman, Luke, and Jake are just leaving.

Roman looks up at me and gives me a smile and a wave. He looks more like Leo than Mason, which is funny because he acts like Mason. I wave back, feeling my cheeks heat. Do they all know?

Luke nods and Jake salutes. “Welcome to the family,” he calls. “Glad I got to see you dance before Leo got his hands on you.”

My brows lift as Leo punches Jake’s arm. “Don’t mind my uncle. He needs a feminine touch.”

All the other guys laugh and it’s the kind of laugh that you know there is a secret there. I cock my head, assessing all of them as they leave. Guess I don’t get to be in on this secret.

Three other men enter, all impeccably dressed, carrying a large case between two of them.

I look down at my clean leggings, the heat in my cheeks growing darker. I should have worn something nicer.

“Set up on the island,” Leo says before he trots up the stairs.

He reaches my side and takes my hand. “Ready?”

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