Page 86 of King of Pain

“To make me so beautiful that you can’t resist making a mess of me?”

“You don’t need money to make you more beautiful. You’re stunning. It’s just more fun to mess what’s been painstakingly organized.”

I roll my eyes as he slides his hand lower. Even knowing we need to leave, my core tightens, the tingle of desire spreading through me.

That’s when his phone rings.

He lets out a sigh and takes a step back. “You’ve been saved,” he chuckles as he picks up the phone. “Hey, Roman. Everything good?”

Roman and Maddie are about to get married too. They’ve been delaying because they’re building a shelter for wounded animals. It’s going to be a nonprofit division for Kincaid, with Roman splitting duties between Kincaid and his passion project.

We’re the only ones who don’t have a date for our wedding. Luke says he doesn’t care when or how we do it, just so long as I’m wearing the engagement ring so that other men know I’m claimed.

I shake my head every time he says it. Men are not banging down my door. But I like that he’s worried they might.

I focus back on my fiancé, who is scowling like something is seriously wrong.

“What?” I mouth, worry skittering through me.

Our lives are pretty normal in New York. I go to school. Luke has started a new business refurbishing old cars.

Not only is he great at it, he’s already turning a hefty profit… I know because I keep his books. But I think he’d work on cars even if he made no money. He’s so happy doing it.

I can feel it. He’s excited to get up every day and go to work.

And I feel that way too.

Working with the pediatrician this summer was a revelation. I can’t wait to get started on my career.

But every time we come back to Vegas, we get pulled into Luke’s old life.

He hangs up the phone. “Arabella sat us with Mason and Charlotte,” Luke growls. “I know she wants us to make up.”

I give him an encouraging smile. I agree. Mason made the wrong choices. But he had a lot of valid reasons for them.

Even I can see that.

And if I’m honest, missing that internship has turned out to be one of the best mistakes of my life.

But Luke isn’t just mad about that. He’s also upset about everything that’s happened with Arabella over the last six months…

“Smile and be nice,” I say, applying a little more gloss on my lips before I pass Luke to collect my clutch from the bed.

“I don’t want to play nice. I want to bash in his face.”

Professionally, they’ve mostly worked things out. Personally, it’s a different story. Charlotte says that the boys just fall out from time to time. A hazard of so many alphas in the same space.

And I have intimate knowledge of what a jerk Mason can be. But deep down, I think his heart is the right place. So I offer up a compromise.

I look back at Luke, cocking my head. “I’ll make you a deal… be civil and I’ll blow you halfway through the reception.”

Luke pauses, cocking his head. “Your blowjobs are the best.”

I give him an encouraging smile. “So you’ll be civil?”

He makes a noncommittal sound. “I’ll be civil cause I know you want my family to be yours too. But I’ll take the blowjob.”

I step up to him and kiss his cheek, leaving a kiss mark on it. “Thank you. Now let’s go before we’re late. I’ve got bridesmaid duties to attend.”

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