Page 53 of King

“Excellent,” Harlow says. “First, how did he ask you out? Because the scoop we have is that he’s never been interested in the women who come on to him. He blows them off.”

“We’re talking about the hottest women around,” Kiera says with a licentious wink, which doesn’t set all that well with me. I’m very well aware of how gorgeous King is and so I know women would be drawn to him. “But you’re as gorgeous as they come, so we can’t really extrapolate data from that.”

“I’m guessing you did the opposite of coming on to him and actually played hard to get,” Harlow muses, tapping a finger to her chin.

I shake my head. “It was a little more benign than that. We met at the ice rink and he offered to help me coach my niece’s team. After the first practice, we grabbed a bite to eat to discuss scheduling and that led to him asking me out on a date. I decided… why the hell not?”

“Why not indeed,” Danica says with a firm nod.

“Clearly something about you grabbed his interest,” Mazzy says. “Tell us how in more detail so we can figure it out.”

“How about I just tell you,” King says as he walks up behind me, reaching over my shoulder to set my beer on the table and slide a water glass toward Harlow.

No one looks abashed he walked in on the interrogation and King isn’t put out. I think he expected this. Positioning himselfto my side, his hand resting on my lower back, he tells the ladies, “Obviously, I saw her while she was coaching and who wouldn’t think she was beautiful? But it was her taking on an asshole father berating his son that did it for me. She was magnificent and I knew I had to meet her. The offer to coach was a ploy to eventually ask her out on a date.”

I swing my head to look up at him. “Really?”

“Really,” he admits with a charming grin. “I was too shy to just approach you and ask.”

“God, he’s so freaking adorable,” Mazzy mutters.

I feel a blush creeping up my cheeks and try to ignore the way my pulse races when he says I’m beautiful and magnificent and that he offered to coach only to ask me out. “King’s been great with the kids,” I commend. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”

“What do you do for a living?” Danica asks, but before I can answer, there’s a commotion and then someone is squeezing in between me and Harlow.

“I’m sorry I’m late. Got stuck doing press interviews.”

I turn to look at the woman on my left and am dumbstruck to see Brienne Norcross sitting there. I look around the private area and spot her fiancé, Drake McGinn, over at Rafferty’s table.

“Hello,” she says, causing me to look back her way. Her hand is poised before me and I shake it. “I’m Brienne Norcross.”

“Willa Montreaux,” I reply as I smile. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

Kiera snorts. “Please don’t treat her as overly important. It will go to her head.”

I’m appalled that Kiera would say that, but I know she’s Drake’s sister, so maybe she can get away with being disrespectful to the team owner.

Brienne laughs though and nods. “It’s true. It will go right to my head.” Her eyes flick to King, down to his hand at my backand then up to me with a wide smile. “Oh my God… someone landed King.”

“No,” King corrects. “I landed her.”

“Totally swoon-worthy,” Harlow says. “Am I right, ladies?”

They all nod but it’s Brienne who commands the convo now as she swivels my way. “What do you do, Willa?”

“She’s a doctor,” King replies before I can get the words out, and it touches me the pride I hear in his voice.

“I’m a partner in a family medicine practice here in Pittsburgh,” I add.

“Part of her work is visiting underserved communities, so she and her partners rotate days to drive to other towns.” I look up at King and he raises his eyebrows. “What? Just providing info.”

Kiera laughs, her gaze coming to me. “I think it’s adorable how smitten King is with you. The question though… are you just as smitten with him?”

“All right,” King says, cutting in over the other ladies who are all nodding in agreement that they must have the answer to this question. “Let’s stop trying to get Willa to agree she’s head over heels for me. I know the truth of things.” I’m touched that he’s intentionally taking the spotlight from me because he knows I want to keep things casual and then I’m stunned when he looks back to Brienne. “I know you already donate a lot of money to some very good causes, but perhaps the Norcross Foundation could do something for Willa’s practice. They donate their time and pay for a lot of supplies out of their own pockets. I’ll even volunteer myself for a fundraiser.”

“King,” I exclaim, slapping my hand backward to catch him in the stomach as chastisement. “You don’t just come out and ask people for money, and most certainly not on my behalf.”

“Yes, I do,” he replies, his smirk telling me that he’s unrepentant.

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