King's Wrath (Sydney Storm MC 5)

He’d stepped out into the hallway at the same time I’d turned around, and I’d run into the back of him. In an effort to steady myself, I reached out and gripped his arms.

“Goodness, someone has their cranky pants on,” I muttered, letting him go as I found my balance again.

Turning, he stared down at me, his cranky mood clear in his eyes. “Are you finished with Skylar?” His question came out as a bark, matching his mood.

Jesus, I didn’t have the energy to deal with his bad temper. “Yes. I’m just leaving now, but I got lost in your hallways.”

He took that in before turning away from me, and barking out again, “Mace! Get your ass here. I need those pills and I have a job for you.”

“Do you speak to everyone that way? ’Cause I gotta tell you, I wouldn’t get my ass here if you yelled at me like that.”

His head whipped back around to face me as he demanded, “What did you just say?”

I didn’t miss the way he winced, as if he were in pain. “I said that I wouldn’t get my ass here—”

Irritation flashed in his eyes. “I know what you said,” he snapped, rubbing his temple.

“Oh for God’s sake,” I muttered, rummaging in my bag for the peppermint oil I always carried. “You are freaking moody today. Come here.”

A guy joined us, looking anything but confident. Shoving a box of Advil at King, he said, “Sorry, King, I couldn—”

King cut him off with a snarl. “I don’t want your fucking excuses, Mace.”

Good Lord, I didn’t like this side of King.

Mace glanced between King and me. “What job do you want me to do?”

“Lily needs help finding her way outside.”

I shook my head. “Not yet.” I held up the bottle of peppermint oil. “First, I’m going to fix that headache of yours.”

King looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “I have pills for that. Mace’ll get you to your car.”

“Those pills will do jack for you, King. Get your ass into a chair and let me work my magic.” Mace’s eyes widened, and King looked like he was about to blow a gasket. Before he could argue with me, I added, “You have nothing to lose by letting me do this, and I can guarantee you’ll be thanking me later.”

Mace backed away slowly. “I’ll come back when you guys have finished.”

King’s eyes never left me as he said, “Don’t go too far. This won’t take long.”

Mace nodded and took off. I didn’t blame him. King did not appear to be impressed with anything at the moment, especially not with me. I should have just left his cranky ass to rely on Advil, but I knew that wouldn’t work as well as what I could do for him, so I persevered and kept reminding myself that I too could be a moody bitch when a headache was ripping my head apart.

I peeked into the room he’d exited and found it was an office. Nodding towards it, I said, “Sit,” making sure to use the bossy tone I usually reserved for my kids.

His brows lifted, but he didn’t argue this time. A couple of moments later, I stood behind him and massaged some oil into his forehead, temples and then the back of his neck. As soon as my fingers touched him, I knew this was one of my worst ideas ever. And I had a lot of freaking bad ideas. But this one took the cake. Touching him and being this close to him caused my belly to flutter all over the damn place. I couldn’t remember the last time a man made me feel this way. Shit, it had to be because I hadn’t had sex in six months. That long without it would probably make my belly flutter over any man.

Liar.

Shut up.

He’s hot.

Ah no, he’s moody as fuck.

Yeah, but he’s still hot. You would fuck him in a heartbeat.

My fingers froze in the middle of massaging the oil into his neck.

I totally would fuck him.