Page 72 of Broken King

“Which one?”

I smile at that question. I can’t remember the last time I had the possibility of two women wanting me.

“Sabrina.”

Marius stands up and tosses the dirty towels in the garbage near the sink. “Yeah. Dude, you yourself said I’m a horndog. Well, listen to me then because I’m seeing something you clearly aren’t. She’s into you. The problem is I don’t think it’s because you have a sparkling personality and you’re a fun guy.”

Since he never lets up with busting my ass, I drop the bombshell about who Sabrina is related to. “You know, she’s Eden’s cousin.”

His eyes grow big at that little piece of news. “Eden? Ava’s friend?”

“Yep.”

Shaking his head, he groans. “Oh, no. Not happening. There is no way she can be part of my family. Nope.”

I laugh at his reaction to my news. “I don’t plan on hooking up with her, so unless you are, I don’t think we need to worry. I just thought you should know since you seem to be interested in Eden, or at least you were the last time I saw you two in the same room together at that party last year.”

For some reason, this entire topic seems to upset my brother. “I’m not interested in Eden. Now she’s definitely interested in me, but it isn’t happening. No way. I need to go get cleaned up. I have things to do today.”

He hurries out of the room, which strikes me as odd. “Okay. Nice talk and brawl. Let’s do that again real soon.”

While I don’t really want to fight any of my brothers anytime in the near future, it feels fantastic to know I still can. When I was a kid, I could never win against them because they were so much bigger than I was. Then when I had that growth spurt in seventh grade and gained six inches in a year, suddenly I could hold my own with every one of them.

That all changed with my accident. I thought for sure I couldn’t even defend myself against any of my brothers, much less win a fight. Now that I know I can, I feel like the old me again.

But as good as that feels, I need to figure out how to make Kate see I’m back to being the person she used to know.

And love.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kate

I stareat my phone as the second call from Ronan in ten minutes makes it vibrate across the table. I know I should answer it and tell him I won’t be coming over tomorrow for lunch, but I don’t want to say that.

If only that damn brother of his hadn’t sat down to talk to us last night. If I didn’t hate Marius King before, I damn sure do now.

The phone finally stops, and I push it further away from me. Everything had been going so well between us. Now all I can think is my worries about Sabrina weren’t all for nothing.

Damn Marius!

Why couldn’t the nanny want him instead? He’s just as wealthy as Ronan, and he’s as single as they come. He’s also got the same good looks all the King brothers have, so why is she going after Ronan instead?

Even without thinking, I know the answer. Ronan isn’t just good looking and wealthy. He’s sweet, and compared to his brother, he’s a much better choice for someone who wants to behappy. Still, Sabrina doesn’t come across as a girl who’s looking for Mr. Right. Marius could surely give her what she wants.

My phone chimes, alerting me to a new text. I pull it back toward me and see it’s from Ronan. Oh, God. He probably knows I’m avoiding him and wants to know why. How am I going to tell him I can’t come over anymore because of her?

For nearly five minutes, I stare at my phone, refusing to read the message. I know what it says. Ronan is nothing if not wonderfully predictable. When he cares about someone, he doesn’t play games. He’s straight up about how he feels, so I know that text says something about how much he can’t wait to see me tomorrow.

I’ve dreamed of receiving a text like that again from him for nearly five years, and now that it’s finally arrived, I won’t even look at it. God, what is wrong with me?

My sister sits down in the chair across from me and rips open a bag of chips. Dressed in an old red t-shirt from her time at Cornell and black yoga pants with her dark hair up in a knot on the top of her head, she looks like she’s decided to stay in and lounge around here at my parents’ house today.

“Want any?”

I shake my head no. I couldn’t eat now if I had to. My stomach is in knots over what to do about Ronan.

“What’s going on? You look like something happened,” Kelly says as she chomps on potato chips.

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