King (Alliance #2)

I carry my drink over to the small round table in the back corner of the office and sit down, figuring this is better than me sitting behind the desk.

But when she sits down across from me, her shoulders back, and spine straight, I realize it’s not much better.

She winces when she tries to twist the metal top off the bottle, so I reach across the table and open it for her. “Sorry, I should’ve thought this through and met you somewhere else. I just wanted to talk to you about some stuff, and thought it’d be easy to do here, but I didn’t mean for it to feel like an interrogation.”

Val blows out a breath “No, it’s okay. It’s just the whole armed guard thing is a little intimidating.”

I grimace. “Okay, well, you’re gonna have to get used to those.”

Her eyes widen. “You’re putting me under guard?!”

“No.” When she starts to pull away from the table, I reach across and place my hand on hers. “No. They’re to protect you.”

“Protect me from who?”

“I’m getting ahead of myself.” I let go of her hand and run my palm over my face. “It’s just a precaution. But there’s been some extra…bad activityrecently. And you’re connected to me, so I need you to let me do this.”

She rolls her lips. “Is this because I talked to Savannah? Because I only came over after I heard about Aspen being mean to her. I hadn’t known…”

She trails off, and that tells me everything I need to know.

Shehadn’t knownthat I stole my new bride. But she knows now.

And even though Val knows the broad strokes about my life in the underworld, I’m sure it was still a lot to take in.

I clear my throat. “Let me just say that I’m well aware of the fact that what I did was fucked up.”

Val snorts, then slaps her hand over her mouth. “Sorry.”

It’s enough to break the tension. “Don’t apologize,fucked upis probably an understatement,” I shrug.

“So, you’re not mad about me coming over?”

I think about the hot as fuck drunken sex I had with Savannah on that paint table and have to tamp down the urge to thank her for plying my wife with tequila.

“No, I’m not mad. You can come over any time you want.” I tap a finger on the tabletop. “Which is where the guard comes in. It won’t be intrusive, but there will be a car parked outside your building. And anytime you need to go somewhere, they’ll drive you.” When she looks like she might argue, I shake my head. “This isn’t up for debate. It’s for your safety.”

“For how long?”

“A while. Until I can find a crime lord to marry you off to.”

“What?!”

A full-throated laugh leaves me at the look on her face. “I’m kidding.”

She narrows her eyes at me, and recent experience has me half expecting her to throw her bottle of root beer at me. “Not funny.”

I’m still smiling. “It was a little funny.”

She lifts her drink grumbling something aboutliking you.

“What was that?”

She takes a sip before setting the bottle down. “I said, I don’t know how you convinced her to like you.”

The words hit me on a delay.

One after another.