Page 4 of King of Wrath

I cock my head. I know I’m attractive, but this guy likely dates super models and I am not that. I may have been trained to be the perfect lady but inside, I’ve got a brain, a decent one. Which is why, I start quickly doing some math. I’ve got way more curves than the average Vegas stick figure. In other words, I’m no Barbie. Why did he seek me out? Intel? An in with my father?

Either way, if he’s hoping to use me, I have every intention of using him right back.

He makes polite conversation for twenty minutes before he leans over and whispers in my ear. “Any chance I can get your number, beautiful?”

I do my best to bat my eyelashes, knowing I likely look ridiculous. But I take his phone, typing in my digits.

Jess is leaning over me, her cleavage on display as she gushes. “You know, we come here this time every week.”

He cocks that brow again. “Really? So if I were to come here next week with some friends, we could all make a night of it?”

I nod, genuinely enthusiastic this time. A group date is perfect. I can hang all over him without too much worry, and then I’ll convince Jess to help me sneak out for a real date.

She’ll agree.

But I have no intention of actually going out with him.

No. That’s my moment, and I’m going to use it to leave Vegas and never return.

I’m running away. And Gris Smith is my ticket out.

CHAPTER TWO

Jake

I foldmy hands sitting forward in my seat as the bride, Kim Evingston, makes her way down the aisle toward my nephew, Leo Kincaid.

Not that I recognize him. I mean, he looks mostly the same. Bulging muscles, large frame, big white-teeth smile.

Only everything else is different.

Leo normally carries this edge of anger…it rolls off him in waves, lashing out at everyone and everything he passes.

But just like that…the edge is gone.

In its place, is a wide-open, joyous smile as Leo extends his hand to the woman he’s marrying.

His eyes are light and filled with…joy, as he bounces on the balls of his feet.

Leo is fucking bouncing.

I frown, trying to decide what I think about all of this. We’re in the midst of a war and one of our fiercest soldiers is grinning and bouncing.

But beyond that, I can’t deny that I’m happy for him.

Kim is pregnant with his baby, not that she’s showing at all. As a dancer, she’s still as slender as ever.

She reaches him and he pulls her into his arms, kissing her long and hard.

“Ahem,” the Justice of the Peace clears her throat. “The kissing is supposed to happen at the end of the ceremony.”

Leo’s grin only widens. “Don’t worry. There will be plenty of kissing then too.”

The small crowd laughs.

Next to me is Luke, my nephew, Leo’s cousin. He’s got the same thick muscles and normally surly disposition that Leo’s got.

He’s smiling as he watches. “You ever see Leo happy like this?”

---