King Me (Forever Wilde 7)

King winked at them both, and I dutifully barked out a laugh, reaching out to shake hands with Jacques and kiss Serena’s cheek with a murmured compliment about her lovely gown.

“What are you doing in Greece?” Serena asked. “We thought you would be back in Colorado with your family.”

Colorado? King’s family lived in Texas.

“They hired some extra help on the Christmas tree farm this year so I could come to Greece with my sweetheart. I had a wonderful trip here years ago, and Ethan knew,” King said, looking at me with affection that took me by surprise, “it was my dream to come back one day.”

Suddenly, I remembered it wasn’t King Wilde they knew. It was David Kennedy. While King had given me some basic intel on his David Kennedy alias, like where he lived and what he supposedly did for a living, we hadn’t had time for lots of background and honestly hadn’t thought we’d need it.

I rested my hand possessively on King’s lower back. “I couldn’t wait any longer to bring him here. The look in his eyes when he talks about Greece is… Well, let’s just say I plan on bringing him back many more times in the future.” I gazed lovingly at him and moved my hand around to his hip to pull him tighter to my side.

It felt incredible to claim him in public even if it was all an act. Pretending he was truly mine was like having a taste of what it would be like. And it would be pretty damned good.

King leaned in and pressed a kiss to my cheek, giving me a whiff of his expensive cologne. “You spoil me,” he murmured before turning back to the couple with a cheeky grin. “Not that I’m complaining.”

They chuckled and began gossiping about fellow tennis players, allowing me to continue searching for our target. After a few minutes with no luck, I began politely excusing myself so I could have a better look around. I leaned in to kiss King’s temple before telling him I was going to grab us some drinks from the bar. “Would you like anything?” I asked Serena and Jacques. They declined since they already had cocktails in hand.

After meeting King’s eyes one last time, I smiled at him. “Be right back, sweetheart.”

His eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the endearment, but he quickly schooled his expression and returned my smile. “Take your time. Nobody likes a rushed old-fashioned.”

I left the three of them and made my way deeper into the stately home toward the ballroom. There was a bar just inside the giant vaulted room, so I went there first. After placing my drinks order, I rested my elbow on the bar and scanned the room. A deep, booming laugh caught my attention near one of the large round tables against a nearby wall. There stood Elek Kemény holding court with a table full of sycophants hanging on his every word.

He was surprisingly charismatic. I could tell right away that his easy charm and commanding presence attracted people to pay attention to him. He was also larger than I’d expected. Maybe not taller than I was, but he was very muscular. In person, he looked even more built than his brutish butler bodyguard. He looked more like a Hungarian farmer than Hungarian royalty. How anyone could mistake him as descended from the Károlyi line was beyond me.

One of the men sitting closest to where Elek stood looked up at him with stars in his eyes. Demitri was the man whose prints we needed. Now it was a matter of getting the two men separated so we could get close enough to Demitri without tipping Elek off to our unusual interest in his date.

As soon as the bartender handed me the two drinks, I made my way back to King.

“Here you are, sweetheart,” I said, handing him the old-fashioned.

“Thanks, babe. Did you have any trouble finding the bar?” he asked, clearly meaning our target.

“I found it right away.” I took a sip of my drink. “The ballroom is awfully stuffy though. Let’s wait a bit before we go in there if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.” King turned to his friends. “I think I’m going to show Ethan the music room and maybe the terrace views as well. Would you care to join us?”

Please don’t join us.

“Oh no, thank you,” Serena said. “I’m going to drag Jacques into the ballroom and force him to dance. It was great seeing you and wonderful meeting you, Ethan. Hopefully David will bring you along for our next round-robin.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “I’d love that, as long as you promise to go easy on me.”

Once they’d wandered off, King took my hand and began leading me toward the back of the house where three sets of wide double doors stood open letting in cold, fresh air to mitigate the heat coming out of the crowded ballroom. He started to duck into a room off to the side but froze for a split second and turned us around.