King's Crown by Marie Johnston

Author:Marie Johnston [Johnston, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Marie Johnston

Emilia was gone, but Aiden lingered. He crossed the door between our offices and I thought that was it. But he closed the door and came back to my desk, taking a seat.

I settled back. Now what?

His expression was placid, which for him looked like he was angry as hell. That was him. He scared more people than he comforted. “Tell me about this Kendall Brinkley.”

“Why?”

“She’s going to be working for us. She obviously made an impression.”

Did he think he could fool me? “What are you really asking?”

“Is she hot?”

“Yes.” I wasn’t going to bluff about her looks. “Why do you think Emilia thought she’d win Beck over?”

“Interesting.”

“Is it?”

He studied me. I was used to his type A ways. His need for control and meticulous style made him perfect to take the helm of this company in the future. But I’d grown weary of being on the receiving end of it.

He kicked an ankle over his knee and leaned on the arm of the chair. “Why didn’t you sleep with her?”

“I meant it when I said I was going to change. I didn’t approve of what you did to Kate.”

“Married her and gave her a life with anything she could ask for?” His tone was flat.

“I never saw what I did before as using women, but I see the error of my judgment now, just like I see how it influenced you.”

His expression darkened. Kate was an off-limits topic with him. It gave me hope. He was either ashamed of what he’d done, or he cared for her. I hoped for both, but I wouldn’t know until he turned thirty and was free to divorce her and keep the money away from the Cartwrights.

“So, you wanted to sleep with her. But you didn’t?” He made it sound like an improbability.

“You want honesty, Aiden? Yes. I wanted to sleep with her. As soon as I saw her. She’s cute, she’s smart, and she treats me like a normal person. It’s intoxicating. She’s intoxicating. But I was resolute about my decision to quit dating and there was no way I was going after someone who might be interested in one of my sons.”

Aiden tilted his head, true confusion in his eyes. “And what about when she decided she wasn’t interested in the job? Which I have my doubts about.”

I leaned forward, putting my elbows on my desk. “She turned out not to be interested in being set up with your brother, or she would’ve interviewed, but I doubt she would’ve followed through. She’s dedicated to her family. And your brother was a jackass on the phone about it.”

“Why? He doesn’t like Grams shoving women off on him.”

“Because he thought she’d found a bigger payload in me.”

Aiden snorted. “As if he thought you’d be interested in someone enough to settle down.”

I blinked at him. I wanted to argue, but he was right. I hadn’t wanted to settle down any more than I wanted a prostate exam. I still didn’t want a cold latex-covered finger up the ass, but the idea of settling down wasn’t as undesirable as before.

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