Page 19 of King of Wands

My mind scrambled. It was my job to have the smooth answers. I needed to say the right thing to guide King’s public image. I needed—

“Fuck off.” King glared at the man, put his arm possessively around my waist, and steered us inside the building—which was probably the worst possible response. By midnight it would be all over that King was attached and in love with a mystery woman. A non-response like that would only allow them to write their own versions of the truth. This was bad. Very, very bad. Maybe I could run back out and answer questions myself?

“Don’t,” King ground out.

“But you just—”

He spun in front of me, stopping us. His eyes glowed with emotions I couldn’t name. “Is it really so awful if they say we’re together?”

Together!My mouth fell open because...because...he was serious. “King...this has nothing to do with how I feel. I work for Braun-Evans.That’sthe problem.” When we asked him to appear in public and have a social life we wanted smiles and good optics—not a potential office place harassment suit.

“Fuck the company. How doyoufeel?” He tugged a hand through his blond locks before his hands fell to his sides. “I’m sorry. That was...I don’t know what that was.” He wouldn’t look at me again and I was starting to believe it might be a defense mechanism.

I moved in front of him. “You want to know how I feel? I’m confused. I’m also scared.” If I was going to be honest I might as well be brutal. “Technically I work for you. I’ve barely gotten my feet wet and now the first thing people will know about me is that I sleep with the men who are my boss.”

For the briefest of moments I thought King might punch the wall, but he didn’t. Instead he let his anger silently seethe. “Thisis why I hate publicity and parties and images. It doesn’t fucking matter what the truth is.”

He was oh, so right about that. “Whatisthe truth?” He liked to hold my hand but not look at me. My body wanted him and my mind found him fascinating. I didn’t know if I’d recognize the truth if it smacked me in the face. I was so confused and I didn’t understand why that confusion made me panic, but it did.

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “And maybe that’s the problem.” He finally, genuinely looked me in the eye again, and it took my breath away. He was as confused as I was and hoping for answers I couldn’t give him.

“Maybe, until we do know more, perhaps you could keep things more professional?”

“Maybe,” he muttered. “Or maybe we could not care for one night.”

I...had no answer for that. The press wouldn’t be allowed inside with us and the people there most likely wouldn’t know or care who I was. What was done was done and it wasn’t all that bad. King’s anger and possessive hold on me could be explained in a dozen different ways.

“Try it,” he whispered, taking my hand in his and guiding me inside the ballroom.

It was like being plugged into a wall socket. Warm tingles electrified me from head to toe, so much so I barely took in Marcy’s party. The room was dark and dressed in shades of blue. Twinkle lights accented tables, bars, buffets, and a dance floor. A live band played modern versions of classical songs intermixed with classical versions of modern songs (think Metallica’s S&M album.) People moved and danced, spoke and drank.

I didn’t see any of it. My senses were too overwhelmed by one man to absorb anything else. His strong hand held mine like he’d never let me go. He smelled incredibly male and gave off a presence that I was sure made most men quake.

And tonight, right now, he wanted me by his side.

“I can honestly say I’m surprised you’re here,” Adam said as he and his wife came to join us. Adam wore a handsome black suit with a dark red tie that matched Elizabeth’s dress. They peppered us with questions about the work I was doing, all while I kept trying to understand how it felt to have my hand held by King.

It felt good, but it also feltgood.

Something Elizabeth seemed to notice. Her eyebrow crept higher and higher until eventually she was all out staring at our hands with open curiosity.

“You’re coming to the race, right?” Adam said.

Wait...was he talking tome?I looked up and around and...yep. All eyes were on me. Adam’s expectant, Elizabeth’s wary, King’s hopeful.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, I wasn’t planning to. Should I?”

I’m pretty sure Elizabeth rolled her eyes while Adam’s dropped to our hands and I realized he knew full well we were holding hands the whole time. I even got the impression heexpectedto see us holding hands. “Well, itisour home race. You should come to at least one this summer and this is the easiest.”

That made sense, of course. Most of the staff would be there, except for the teams that always worked out of the factory analyzing data on race day. I hadn’t planned on attending because I had no desire to watch cars drive in laps for two hours, not that I’d tell anyone here that.

“Plus, with your work on King’s brand, it makes sense you’d be there on race day. Maybe even in the garage with us.”

In the garage. Where family and VIPs sat. Where the cameras wandered and the public watched hoping for information. “I’ll think about it.”

“No, you should come and keep me company,” Elizabeth said. “It’ll give us a chance to plan a day for you to visit me. Plus I can help you learn the ropes.”

At this point did it matter? King would be working, focused on the race ahead of him. My presence shouldn’t affect him, but the way he looked at me made it seem like the most important thing in the world. I might be bored but I might also learn a whole lot...while making King smile, which was something I wanted to do more and more.

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