Page 18 of Cruel King

I do the same thing with my shovel and nod, oddly happy about what we did together. “This wasn’t bad. Thanks for the stories about all those snowstorms. You know how to make the time pass.”

Jonesy slides his hat off his head, revealing a scraggly mess of blond hair. “Thanks. You better go inside. You’re not wearing boots, so I bet your feet are pretty damn well frozen by now.”

Nodding, I watch him take both shovels as he walks down the path we cleared on his way to the driveway. I should stay out here and help him since I know what’s going to happen if I go back upstairs.

I should do anything but go back to where Ava is sitting in that fluffy white robe with nothing on underneath and smelling so good. But I can’t stop myself. I’ve dreamed of being with her for so long, and now to have that fantasy finally close to coming true is too much temptation for me to deny.

Ava isasleep when I get back to my room. Curled up into a comma shape, she looks adorable with her hands tucked under her chin like a little kid napping. My gaze drifts over her body as she lies there so innocently, and then I see her shift position so the robe opens up. There right before my eyes her breasts are on full display, and in seconds, I’m rock hard.

She’s not anywhere as huge as those women in the magazines, but she’s perfect for her normal body and size. As I watch her knowing I should look away, all I can think of is how I’d never look at another magazine model if I had her for my own.

I shake my head to purge that thought from my brain. No. Of all the females on the planet, she’s the only one I can’t have.

Turning away, I walk into the bathroom to take a shower. Maybe the hot water will help me get my mind off all the things I want to do with her that I can’t.

In truth, it’s not an issue of can’t. I could be with Ava. Looking down my body as I strip out of my clothes, I see the evidence that I’m physically capable of sleeping with her. My cock is so hard I think it could cut glass right now, so yes, I can fuck her.

I’m just not supposed to.

As the hot water rolls over my head and down my chest, I think back to the first time I knew little Ava Sutton wasn’t just the daughter of my father’s estate manager. I’d seen her every day for my entire life, but then I looked out the window one night as my brothers and I were fucking around in the game room and there she was wearing that pink satin dress that showed every perfect inch of her body. Some guy I instantly hated picked her up to take her to her junior prom, and her father made them walk up here to meet my father. She looked so perfect and so sweet, and at that moment as she and whatever his name was in his ill-fitting tux that showcased his lack of muscles strolled up the road that beautiful spring evening, I couldn’t think of anything else in the world I wanted more than to have Ava as mine.

I never understood why Theo didn’t ask her to be his date for the prom. He’s been closer to her than anyone for years. When I mentioned it to him, he brushed off the question like it was ridiculous.

“Little Ava? She’s not my type.”

“Why? You hang out with her all the time. Why isn’t she your type?” I asked, even though I had a feeling I knew the answer before he said it.

Screwing his face into a wicked smile, he answered, “Ava Sutton is the type of girl you marry. She’s not the type you fuck around with. When it comes time to settle down, I’ll look for her. I’ve told her she’s the future Mrs. Theo King, so she knows. Until then, there’s a world full of girls to enjoy.”

The irony is Theo could have been with her any time he wanted. I never had the choice. Not after that day.

You see, while I was looking out the window at her in that beautiful pink dress that made her look like an angel, someone else was watching me. When I turned around once she and her date drove off, my father was waiting to talk to me.

“I see how you look at her, Matthias. Don’t even think about it. Stick with those girls you usually date, but don’t touch her.”

As usual, what my father said wasn’t up for debate.

I didn’t know why he’d decided I could never be with Ava while it was perfectly okay for Theo to spend hours with her that any normal person had to believe would eventually develop into something more than friends. All I knew was he’d decreed that I was never to have Ava, and that was it.

Lost in thought about that day more than two years ago, I don’t feel the heat of the water or anything because all I can think of is her. It’s been like this since that day. Almost as if telling me I couldn’t have her made me want her all the more.

I’ve obeyed his rule all this time, choosing to be cruel to her when all I wanted to be was the one person who could love her more than anyone else. What else could I do? If I was nice, she’d be her usual sweet self, and I knew how that would turn out.

Exactly as it has today.

The difference now, though, is I’m not going to deny myself the one thing I’ve wanted for nearly three years. She’s here, and there’s no Maximilian King or Theo to stand in my way.

Knowing what I want, I turn off the shower and wrap a towel around me to head back out to the bedroom. I silently tell myself if she’s still asleep, that’s a sign from the Universe that I shouldn’t do anything. If she’s awake, that’s the green light to make a move.

I slowly open the door as anticipation builds inside me. Let her be awake. Please let her be awake.

Stepping into the room, I see her sitting up in my bed staring at me.

Not a red light in sight.

CHAPTERNINE

Ava