Page 65 of Notorious Park Avenue Prince

“Because I don’t want to be.” He brushed a fly from his knee before lowering it into the water.

“Couldn’t deal with someone blowing the whistle at you every five seconds to tell you to fix your form?”

“Myformis fucking perfection.”

“Sure it is,” I said, shooting him a wink.

“But if you must know, I swim to unwind and relax. If I were to make my hobby a sport, I’d never be able to clear my head.”

“From your busy prank-planning schedule?” King asked.

I snorted as East shook his head.“From my father.”

King’s eyes flashed with what looked like concern, but it was gone so fast I thought I’d imagined it. It was clear he wanted toask more, and now I was curious why East needed an escape. We hadn’t exactly opened up to each other about our lives before. Hell, I hadn’t even known he enjoyed swimming.

“Why would you need to clear your head from your father?” I asked.

“Because he’s a demanding son of a bitch, that’s why.” He lifted a shoulder. “All rich moguls are.”

I looked to King, who had to fall into that category somehow. We didn’t know shit about what he really did, who he really was, but all we’d learned about him so far certainly followed the rich mogul track.So did the demanding part—not that either of us were complaining.

“Are you…involved in his business?” King asked. It didn’t escape my notice that he seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

“Oh, you know, here and there. It’ll be more when I graduate. Idohave a busy schedule right now, as you know.” East smirked. “All those pranks to plan.”

There he was. That impish side was never too far away, always just under the surface.

I pushed off the tanning ledge into the water, going under to get my whole body wet before breaking back through the surface. King and East watched as I stood up, the water lapping at my waist.

“Oh fuck it,” East said, getting up to join me. “Who needs a tan?”

He dipped under the water, and just when I expected him to surface, I felt his arms wrap around my legs to pull them out from beneath me. I fell back and barely had time to hold my breath before crashing under.

“You fucker,” I sputtered, wiping my face as East laughed from somewhere behind me.

“You really should be more prepared,” he said as I turned to face him. “Aren’t you the brains? Gotta be ready at all times for a surprise atta?—”

He was dragged under the water by a dark figure beneath the surface, and I glanced back at the ledge to see King had silently disappeared while we weren’t watching.

He and East came up for air at the same time, and King licked the water from his upper lip. “You were saying?”

East slicked his hand back over his hair, and where I thought I’d see a scowl, there was a small smirk.“Would you look at that? Mr. Hardass knows how to have a good time.”

King swept his gaze around his gorgeous property. “Was that ever a question?”

“Let’s put it this way—I wasn’t sure if you knew how to havefun.” East skimmed his hand across the water, splashing it at King, who took hold of his wrist and pulled him flush to his body then planted a hard kiss to his lips.

“I know how to have fun, little prince. But I also know when to turn it off.”

East squirmed in his hold. “Well, you’re definitely not turnedoffnow.”

King chuckled and shoved East in my direction. “You were doing so well there for a moment.”

“At being what? An adult? That’s right. You want conversation, not sex, for a while.” East cocked his head. “Is that a stamina thing?”

“You just felt for yourself it wasn’t.”

“Okay, fine. Conversation, huh?” East looked at me. “I’m pretty sure we can come up with something. The question is, are you going to answer anything we want to talk about?”

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