Page 52 of Broken King

“No, that’s okay. Enjoy a workout, and I’ll see you later.”

As I turn to leave, Marius says, “Let him go. He’s got to get ready for his big date.”

I throw him a nasty look and leave, not interested in discussing my plans with Kate for tomorrow. Marius alwayspoked fun at my being with Kate before, and it seems he’s picked up where he left off years ago.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Kate

Jessie stares backat me from my phone as I wait to hear her opinion on my new dress. As soon as I left the King estate yesterday, I went shopping and found the cutest yellow and blue sundress. Not usually a huge fan of the color yellow, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it hanging on the rack.

“Well? What am I missing?” I ask before twirling one more time to show her the whole look.

She hums like she’s considering what would make my outfit outstanding and then claps her hands. “Lip gloss!”

I stare at her in disbelief. “Lip gloss? Seriously? I’m desperate here, Jess! I need to make the best impression possible. Lip gloss is not going to help me.”

“Why? You want your lips to be kissable, don’t you? Then you need to draw attention to them.”

“First of all, I haven’t worn lip gloss in like five years. Probably more. Why would having sticky lips make them appealing? Now come on. I need to know if I should do anything else. Take another look, okay?”

She nods, and I watch her eyes move from my face down the full length of my body. She stops at my white sandals I’ve had for years and then looks me in the eyes.

“I don’t see anything, Kate. You look fantastic. If he doesn’t agree, then he’s a damn fool. I can’t understand men’s reactions to us anyway, so I might not be the right person to ask.”

“I’ll take the fantastic, and we can leave the discussion of what men might think of women for a later date. I need to be there by one, and I want to be a few minutes early, so I need to get going. Wish me luck!”

She smiles, and her entire face lights up. “You don’t need luck! Now go get ‘em, tiger, and remember I want to hear every juicy detail when we talk later, so no trying to give me that same old ‘it was okay’ bullshit. Got it?”

I love Jessie like a sister, but she really has no idea of privacy. She’s an open book with every part of her life, so she assumes everyone else is. Since I tend to prefer keeping things to myself, especially when it comes to my love life, I find her demand for details awkward.

Then again, I haven’t had many details to share with her in the past year or two, so she might just want me to remember it’s normal to be with a guy. I don’t need to be reminded of that. I simply didn’t have any interest in any.

Until I saw Ronan again.

“Yeah, yeah. Details. I want to remind you we aren’t girls here. Maybe it’s time for us to not share all the details of every encounter we have with men?” I suggest, knowing what her answer will be.

“Not share details? Are you kidding me? I’m living vicariously through you right now, Kate. All I have are the usual nights with guys, but you have a second chance with the love of your life. Since that will never happen for me, I need to enjoy this through you, so don’t go getting stingy with the details, lady.Now go have a wonderful time. Oh, and remember, don’t forget the lip gloss!”

Shaking my head, I end the call as I try to understand what her fascination with lip gloss suddenly is. I don’t even own a tube of that stuff. I haven’t for years. She hasn’t either, so what’s with this constant drumbeat for lip gloss? She probably read some article in a magazine that said it’s the must-have beauty product for the summer.

I take a deep breath and check out my look one last time in the mirror. I love how this dress hangs on me. Never someone who could say she has nice breasts, I have to say this dress highlights what I do have quite nicely.

Then again, Ronan never seemed to care about that part of me not being like any of the models, so maybe it’s not important. I just want to look as good as possible today.

“Okay, it’s show time,” I say to my reflection before heading out.

After a short drivefrom my apartment to the King estate, I park just outside the kitchen and begin to walk toward the house when Ava comes rushing out and stops me. Instantly, I wonder if something’s happened.

“Hi, Ava! I’m supposed to have lunch with Ronan today,” I explain, my disappointment preemptively building in case she’s about to tell me it’s not going to happen.

But thankfully, she gives me a big smile and says, “He asked me to tell you he’s down at the carriage house waiting for you. He’s around back on the patio there.”

Confused, I look down the road toward the smaller white house on the estate grounds and then back at Ava. “Oh, okay. I guess I’ll head down there now then.”

“Great! Have a wonderful time!”

As I walk slowly down the driveway to get to the road, I silently curse my choice of shoes for this lunch. Then again, I didn’t know I’d be walking what looks to be about half a mile in sandals that have three inch heels. I could have worn flip flops, but I don’t own actual nice shoes that aren’t heels since I always feel like dresses look best when my legs look longer.

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