Page 49 of Wild King
“So I’m not a bad guy? Has the world been alerted to this change?”
That makes her beautiful smile return. “Why yes, it has, in fact. I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen that you aren’t public enemy number one.”
“I know,” I say, nodding because I do understand how hard she’s been working to clear my name. “And thank you.”
We fall silent as we eat the rest of our dinner, but when we finish, I know it’s time I finally give her an explanation for what I did to her. She deserves to know my leaving the villa that day had nothing to do with her or anything she said or did.
As usual, it was all me fucking up a good thing.
In the distance, a rumble of thunder sets the tone for what I need to confess. I’ve waited too long to say the words she deserves to hear, and it’s damn time I set the record straight.
“Salem, I’m sorry about walking out on you at that resort. It was wrong to do that, and I know you probably still want to slap me across the face for being such a shithead. Feel free. I deserve it. I just want to say that it wasn’t anything to do with you. I left because I didn’t know how to tell you the truth.”
I stop and let out a heavy sigh as I hang my head. “That I’d created a mess back here and had to return home because it was blowing up and Matthias demanded I handle things. I figured you wouldn’t want anything to do with a man who was being accused of sexually harassing someone at work.”
She surprises me when she asks, “Why would you care what I thought? We didn’t even know one another’s names. We were just two people having a good time, weren’t we?”
“I guess I was doing more than that, even if I didn’t consciously know it at the time.”
“So it wasn’t just a wham, bam, thank you ma’am thing down there for you?” she asks, just as surprised as I am.
With a chuckle at how surreal this feels, I shrug. “Go figure. The player caught some feelings there.”
“There are worse things, you know.”
“Like having the entire world hate you for something you didn’t do?” I ask, looking into her blue eyes for some answer that doesn’t make me feel like shit.
Salem stands from the island and grabs another slice of pizza. “Don’t worry about that. You’ve got the best fixer in the business working on your situation. Trust her. She’s damn good.”
She’s even better than damn good. Now if I can get her to want me the way she did back at that villa I’d be the happiest man on earth.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Salem
As much asI loved hearing Kellen admit he cared even a little about me down in the Turks and Caicos, I wasn’t able to tell him how I truly felt back there. I still feel too vulnerable, too easily bruised by him, so once dinner was finished, I went to my room to hide away.
He has no idea how tempting he is when he’s close to me and I can’t help but remember those incredible hours we spent together. Too tempting for me to be safe.
Unable to sleep, I stare up at the white ceiling above me and wonder if there’s any chance Kellen and I will ever be able to be those people we were down in the islands. Maybe that’s impossible, though. There, we were two anonymous people just having a good time. Here in real life, we aren’t pretending to be anyone else. We can’t. Here all we are is a man who’s screwed up and the woman who’s responsible for helping him fix the mess he’s made.
Not exactly the kind of circumstances that lend themselves to falling in love.
I shake my head at the mere thought of that. Love? Who was thinking that? I know neither one of us were at the resort, so why is it popping into my head now?
Since I’m not going to be getting any sleep, it seems, I guess I’ll head to the kitchen for more pizza. At least that will make me happy.
I plod out of my bedroom and down the hall to find Nathan seated at the island eating a slice of pizza. Seems he had the same idea I had.
He doesn’t seem tired, strangely enough, even though it’s nearly two in the morning. When he sees me, he smiles and nods his head.
“I hope I didn’t wake you up. I got hungry, so I grabbed a slice of pizza. I think this might be the best pepperoni pizza I’ve ever had.”
As I grab one of the last two slices of sausage and pepper pizza, I say, “No, it’s all good. I wasn’t able to sleep anyway. Why are you up so late?”
I sit down across from him and take a bite of my late night snack before remembering I need a drink. Seeing Nathan doesn’t have one, I point at the refrigerator and say, “I’m going to grab a soda. You want anything?”
He looks down at his pizza and then up at me like he just realizes he didn’t get anything to wash his food down with. “Yeah. Thanks. I’ll take an orange soda.”