Page 26 of Cruel King
Once again, she frowns. Touching my leg, she says, “I’m sorry. They don’t know what they’re missing with your drawings. Thank you for doing me.”
For a second, I don’t know what she means, but when her face turns bright red, I figure out she was referring to drawing her, not fucking her. She looks adorable and so embarrassed as she covers her face with her hands, though.
“Oh, my God! I didn’t mean it that way. I meant thank you for drawing me.”
I pull her to me and kiss the top of her head. “You’re welcome. For both things.”
That makes her laugh, and when she drops her hands from her face, she’s more beautiful than ever.
CHAPTERTWELVE
Ava
I openmy eyes and it takes a second or two to remember I’m not in my own bed. After Matthias and I spent time talking about his drawings and he sketched my picture, I must have fallen asleep.
Looking over toward the window, I see it’s still snowing. This really is a blizzard. Thank God I made it up here when I did, or I might be buried alive out there.
I see his sketchbook sitting on his nightstand and look around for any sign of him, but he’s not in the room. I could rip out that naked picture of me and take it so I can be sure no one will ever lay eyes on it since I don’t know how I’d explain that. As I sit up to reach for the book, though, I decide not to steal it.
He promised me he’d never show a soul, and I believe him. As he said, it will be our secret.
Wide awake now, I search for the white robe and find it carefully folded on the back of the chair at his desk over near the door. He must have done that when I was sleeping. Slipping it on, I tie the belt and walk out into the hallway to find him.
After peeking into every one of the bedrooms and not finding him, I make my way down the hallway to the last room to check on this floor, the game room where the King boys spend nearly all their time when they’re home. But he’s not there either.
Did he go back outside to help Jonesy? I smile at that and imagine the groundskeeper is going to think he died and went to heaven with all the assistance today since I know all the men who usually work for him are off for the holiday week.
I walk downstairs and hear someone talking, so I follow the sound and end up just outside the living room of the King mansion. An enormous room with more furniture than I think we have in my entire house, the main attraction during this time of year is the fourteen-foot Fraser fir Christmas tree decorated with all white lights and silver decorations standing in front of the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows so anyone driving up to the house can see it. I’ve never seen that many ornaments anywhere else but the King family tree.
Matthias paces back and forth across the width of the room as he speaks to someone on the phone. Dressed in light gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt, he’s as stunning as when I saw him dressed in a tux that time.
I watch as he listens to whomever he’s talking to and see his expression grow darker as the minutes pass. Unsure if I should walk in or stay outside in the hallway, I wait near the doorway until he finishes and tosses his phone on the sofa closest to the fireplace on the far side of the room.
When he sees me, he waves me in, but he still looks unhappy. “That was my father. He and your father and my brothers have to stay in the city because of the storm. I told him about the heat going out in your house, and he said to make sure you’re comfortable in one of the guest bedrooms.”
Matthias sounds so cold as he tells me all of that. His voice devoid of emotion, he once again reminds me of a machine. I had hoped after we had sex that he wouldn’t revert to being that way, and I have a hard time hiding how disappointed I am.
“Oh. That’s nice of him,” I mumble as I look past him at the tree and its sparkling lights.
He grabs his phone off the sofa and walks toward me as he says, “I’ll take you up to your room.”
My room? I had hoped I’d stay with him in his room. What’s happened to make him change back to this unfeeling creature again? Did I talk in my sleep and insult him in some way?
I want to ask, but he doesn’t give me a chance before he breezes out of the living room and begins walking down the hallway. Hobbling to catch up, I reach him at the top of the stairs when he stops at the first bedroom on the second floor.
“Eleanor makes sure her people keep all the rooms clean, so this should be okay,” he says flatly, like he’s talking to a perfect stranger.
He opens the door and walks in with me following behind him. It’s a beautiful room, just like every other part of the King home, but I’m not even paying attention to it. All I can think of is asking Matthias what’s changed between us.
Instead, I make a split-second decision, and when he stops just inside the door, I tug on his arm to get his attention. He turns around, and standing on my tiptoes, I kiss him, even as fear fills me that he’s going to push me away.
When I step back, he smiles down at me, and he’s that same guy who laughed with me in his room earlier. “I’m guessing that’s because you like the room?” he jokes.
I shake my head. “No. That’s because I like you. I thought you might be angry with me, but I couldn’t imagine why. Did I talk in my sleep or kick you and you fell out of bed? I move around a lot when I sleep.”
Cradling my face, he kisses me again. “No. I’m sorry if I seemed off downstairs. Talking to my father always puts me in a weird mood. He had me on the phone for twenty minutes explaining things to me like I’m some goddamned simpleton. He made me promise three times to make sure you’re okay.”
With a smile, I laugh and ask, “Did you tell him you knew I was okay because I was sleeping in your bed?”