Page 81 of Notorious Park Avenue Prince

“You want me to read a book? What part ofI’m not going to do anything scholasticdid you not hear?”

King grabbed several slices of bread and popped them into the toaster. “Reading can be fun. You just have to find something good.”

“Oh God.” I rolled my eyes. “The next thing you’re going to say is you want to teach me how to cook.”

“That’s an option too.”

“That’s a no. But dodging lightning in the pool is sounding really good about now.”

Zac snorted. “Moron.”

I shrugged and fell silent, once again cursing Mother Nature for ruining my fun as King served up three plates of fluffy scrambled eggs and toast, along with a carafe of chilled OJ that his chef had freshly squeezed the night before.

It wasn’t too bad for someone who didn’t do “fancy,” and once our stomachs were full, we moved back to the comfort of the main room. Or should I say,theygot comfortable working. I got busy being bored.

Ten minutes passed.

Then twenty.

When it hit thirty I got up from my spot out on the covered balcony and headed back inside.

It wasn’t that I always needed to be entertained but?—

Oh, who am I kidding?

“Sooo, while you two sit in here like the world’s most depressing episode ofSpring Break Gone Nerdtastic, what amIsupposed to do?”

King looked up from his laptop, where he was no doubt working on some kind of final torture test for his students.“Whatever you like. You have free rein of the house. Entertain yourself.”

Zac chuckled from the corner of the couch, where he sat with his feet tucked up under him and the books he’d brought splayed out on the cushion beside him. “I’m not sure he knows how to do that.”

“Yes I do.” I mean, I’d neverhadto, but I was sure I could—if I wanted to.

“Oh yeah?” Zac pulled the cap off a red pen, and I eyed it with disdain. He’d marked up plenty of my papers with that sucker. “Then what are you going to do?”

Good question. A swim was out. So was a walk. And these two were being all quiet and studious, so that left what? Twiddling my thumbs? Reading a book, like King had suggested? I didn’t fucking think so.

“I’m going to talk.” I looked down at King. “Isn’t that what you always tell me I should do more of?”

Whether it was to humor me, or he was genuinely interested, King closed his laptop and slid it onto the side table by his recliner. “Definitely. Did you have something in mind?”

I did, actually. Zac had said something to me yesterday about King and a significant other, and it had been niggling at the back of my mind ever since. Not because I was jealous, like Zac suggested, but because no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I was curious about King. I was usually the one who knew everything and anything, but it seemed with him, I’d finally met my match.

“Oh, you know, just a littleadultconversation.”

King’s lips curved as he spread his arms wide across his lap and his robe fell open. “Want to come over here and have it?”

Fuck yes I did, but I knew the second I got on his lap all talking would cease, and I reallydidwant to have this conversation.

What the hell was that about?

“I don’t think so. I don’t cuddle.”

“Right.” King ran his eyes down over me, and my pulse skipped a couple beats. “That would be too intimate.”

“Exactly, that’s for couples. People in love.” I looked to the empty end of the couch by Zac. “You think you could move your precious books?”

“You have hands.”

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