Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

Vaughn straightened his shoulders. “Let’s make things very clear here.” He looked at each of them. “Take your check. Take your fucking attitudes. Take your asses back to where you came from. She’s not paying.” With each word his voice grew lower and by the time he was finished speaking the jerks had leaned forward to listen intently.

I waited for them to retaliate, but instead they backed up and returned to the bar, exchanging dirty looks at us over their shoulders.

Vaughn cleared his throat and sat down.

“You okay?” he asked.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure who around us had seen the exchange.

“I did have to do that. You didn’t deserve it. And I wasn’t going to put up with those dicks treating you like shit.”

I needed to steady my breath. The adrenaline was pumping through me. I’d never had someone stand up for me like that. It had to be the sexiest thing I’d ever experienced. Was he real?

I saw his shoulders relax.

“And I thought you had given up bar fights.”

There was a naughty gleam in his eye. “That wasn’t a fight, sweetheart. You should really see me fight.”

The shiver running through me was wicked. He was right. He hadn’t laid a finger on either of them, yet the testosterone was dripping from his posture, his voice, his eyes.

“You wouldn’t have let it get that far though, right?” I didn’t know why I was questioning him. Would I have walked away if he had decked one of them? Would I be any less turned on by how he defended me? Was I worried that maybe he had once been involved in something illegal?

“I take things as far as I want.” His voice was low and even. “I set the limits. Always.”

There was an edge to Vaughn. On the outside he was calm, but there was a barrier he was willing to break through.

“Thank you.” I grinned.

“Not a problem.” He winked. “Anytime.” He checked over his shoulders and smiled when he saw the douchebags paying the tab.

“All right. So back to you. You were telling me about your move here.”

“Was I?” I couldn’t think of anything before Vaughn stood in front of me like a protective wall. The moment I actually enjoyed being the rescued damsel.

“Yes. Boxes and a new job,” he reminded me. His eyebrows rose playfully.

“Can you believe I haven’t made it to the White House yet for a tour?”

“Sounds like you’re a busy woman right now.”

I placed my empty glass on the table. “I’m trying to get my bearings.”

He leaned forward and I inhaled deeply, trying to memorize the way he smelled. It might be the last time I inhaled a man so intoxicating.

“Maybe when you get settled in, I’ll give you a call. Dinner sometime? Maybe I can take you to the White House.”

I met his eyes head on. His question sounded like a promise, but he was giving me an out. A chance to postpone things. There was something about Vaughn that excited me. He was gorgeous as hell, but there was more to him than that. I didn’t think I could define it, especially not this close to him. Words were jumbled and fuzzy.

“I-I…” I scolded myself for not getting it together more quickly. “Yes. I’m free this weekend. I’d love to see the city.”

Truth was I was always free. My calendar was wide open. Greer was my only lifeline here and she didn’t have time to give me between the demands of her job and Preston. I wasn’t anxious to have another night of being the third wheel, or pretending like I wanted to know Preston any better than I did.

He looked down at the solid watch on his wrist, it glinted under the lights. “It’s getting late.” He didn’t use his phone to check the time.

He stood from the table. “Let me walk you outside and make sure you get a cab.”

I wasn’t ready to go, but I had clinic in the morning, and something about his words made it seem as if I was supposed to follow him outside.