Cruel King – Cruel Read Online K.A. Linde

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Billionaire, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
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He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as my eyes fluttered open to look at him.

“Promise?” I purred.

He held a pinkie out, and I linked mine with his. “Pinkie promise.”

11

WHITLEY

My head pounded the next morning. I rolled over with a groan as sunlight streamed into the room and flung my arm over my eyes to shield them from the stabbing pain.

“Morning, sunshine,” Gavin said, stepping out of the bathroom.

I was rewarded with the sight of him in nothing but a towel. His hair was still wet and floppy. There was an impressive amount of abs on display.

“Morning.”

“I thought you might sleep all day.”

“What happened last night? I remember getting Margaret into a car, and it sort of all goes fuzzy after that.”

His smile faltered for a second. “I had to carry you to bed.”

My cheeks heated. “Sorry.” It was starting to come back to me. Seeing Gavin in nothing but boxer briefs and coming on to him. Fuck. “And … you kissed me.”

“You weren’t going to let me sleep otherwise.”

“Right. Yeah. That …” I trailed off. I didn’t normally feel bad about this sort of thing, but Gavin and I had set boundaries, and I’d crossed them. That was okay. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“I’m guessing that means you don’t want me to ravish you.”

That memory flared too. The pinkie promise before I’d promptly passed out. He had offered more when I was sober. And now, I was sober.

He laughed softly at my expression. “I’m kidding, Whit. You look like you could use a hangover cure. But if dick is what fixes you, by all means, I’m game.”

I snorted, rolling my eyes, hopping out of bed, and bypassing him for the bathroom. He’d made it a joke again, and that was good enough for me. I could roll with that.

“I haven’t had dick in three years. I’ve survived thus far.”

His jaw dropped, and I smirked as I slammed the door in his face. I pressed my back against the wall and took a deep breath. Well, this was not going as expected. We’d been fine together all those mornings that we went for coffee. I hadn’t considered the tension that would bloom when we shared a bed.

“Fuck,” I whispered.

I should have taken him up on his offer. Maybe we needed to get it out of our systems. Except that was the exact thought process that had gotten us into this mess in the first place.

Showering made me feel better. I blew out my bright blonde hair and applied some makeup. Today was the rehearsal dinner, but otherwise, we were free to do what we wanted during the day. Gavin showed me around his hometown and then drove us to his parents’ house. Julianne and Susannah regaled me with stories of Gavin growing up, and his mom pulled out an old photo album.

Gavin groaned, trying to object, but I sat in the living room and looked at tiny pictures of him throughout the years. So many cowboy hats and boots. A picture of him roping. Something I never would have guessed my suit could do. High school football pictures and old prom shots.

“You’re so cute,” I said, pinching his cheek.

“Yeah. Yeah,” he grumbled.

The whole thing was shockingly … normal.

In fact, there was next to no acting at all. I’d known Gavin for years. It took no effort to talk to his family like he was someone important to me. He always had been until the rug was pulled. And his parents liked me, as I’d suspected they would. They wanted to like me because they loved their son.

We finished at Gavin’s house and toasted the bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner with the packed crowd that had to be nearly as large as the wedding itself. Who was I kidding? I knew small-town Texas weddings were an entire event. If this was only a fraction of the wedding, it was going to be enormous tomorrow.

Gavin and I stayed late into the evening at the dinner. Only returning long enough to collapse into bed from the desperate need for sleep. I only had moments to wonder if we were going to move on to that ravishing when I could hear his deep breathing on the other side of the bed.

The wedding morning dawned bright and beautiful. Clear blue skies that traced their way across the horizon. Not a single cloud in the sky to mar the upcoming outdoor wedding.

“Perfect weather,” I mused, sipping on the coffee Gavin had run downstairs to get for me.

“Couldn’t have asked for better.”

“Can’t wait to see Maggie’s dress. Maybe I can sneak into the bridal suite for a peek.”

He snorted. “I’m sure it’ll be outrageous and worth a small fortune.”

“As it should be. You only get married once, right?”

“In theory.”

“Yeah, I suppose in theory. The romantic in me says it’s one and done. I’d kill you before letting you leave me.”



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