Page 5 of Coldhearted King

“You’re right. My apologies.” I hold my hands in the air and fight a smile.

She frowns. “Are you mocking me?”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

She stares at me for a second before a laugh bubbles up from her throat. “I’m sure you would.”

She’s even more gorgeous when she laughs.

Over the top of her head, I catch a couple of suited businessmen watching her from the other end of the bar. Barely concealed hunger flashes like a warning light in their eyes, and I let the smile fall from my face, giving them the full weight of a stare that has intimidated far more powerful men than them. They take a sudden avid interest in the beers in front of them, and I turn my attention back to the woman sitting next to me.

“Do you really want to know?” she asks, and I take a moment to realize she’s responding to my question about her ex.

I don’t really have a burning desire to hear about what this guy did to disappoint her. “Disappointing” sums up most relationships, as far as I’m concerned. But I want to keep her talking, even if it’s only until those two assholes pay up and leave. Not to mention the other men in this place that have been eyeing her since she sat down. So I nod. “Might as well get it off your chest.” By some miracle, I stop my eyes from dropping to the swell of her breasts as I say it.

She takes another sip of water. “Okay. Well, I work with him.”

I raise a brow, and she grimaces.

“I know. Not the smartest move. But I interned there during my final year of college, and we got to know each other then. He’d flirt with me, and I was flattered because he’s handsome. And older.”

“Is that your type?” I ask with a smirk.

A small crease forms between her brows, and her gaze wanders slowly over my face. “Maybe.”

Her response isn’t what I expect. Heat surges through me, arousal creating an urgent pulse in my veins. I shove it down with more difficulty than I’m used to. I didn’t come here to pick up a woman. I came here to have a drink in a place where people probably wouldn’t recognize me. Not that I think she’s looking to be picked up—not seriously, anyway. She’s just a woman who’s sexy without even trying.

Her eyes drop and she traces a line of condensation on the glass in front of her. “Anyway, when my internship ended, Paul asked me out for a drink, one thing led to another, and we kissed.”

“Just kissed?” I ask. “How very Hallmark of you.”

This time, she glares at me. “Yes, just kissed. It was...nice. I liked him, but I was focused on finishing college, so that’s how we left it. After I graduated, I was offered a job back at the company. Paul was working temporarily in our London office when I started, but not long after he moved back, we started dating.”

“How long ago was that?” I ask.

“Three months.”

“So, it only took three months for your scintillating love affair to fizzle out?”

She offers me a cute little scowl. I shouldn’t make fun of her, but I enjoy seeing the sparks flashing in her green eyes when she gets offended. She reminds me of a little kitten when you rub its fur the wrong way—tiny, all fluffed out, and hissing and spitting as if her irritation might actually scare me away.

I bet she’d purr like a kitten if I stroked her the right way, too.

“I never said it was scintillating.”

“So the guy was boring.”

“I didn’t say that, either.” She shakes her head then laughs, her irritation already passed.

It’s fascinating to me how changeable her emotions are. And how easily she expresses them. It says something about the world I live in. Honest emotion is hard to come by. “What went wrong?”

She’s quiet for a beat, staring down at her glass of water. “He just said things weren’t working out.”

“Sounds pretty standard,” I say.

This time, her laugh is humorless. “I suppose it is. Nothing special about me or my story.”

I rake my eyes over her lush body. “I wouldn’t say that.”

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