Money Man (King Maker 1)

After she disappeared, I turned back to the painting. It was tucked in the darkened corner with low light, as if it hoped not to be noticed by anyone. I often felt the same way. I wondered how long I could look at this picture until somebody questioned if I was a crazy person to stare at it.

The background of it was a robin’s egg blue. A red blob took up most of the canvas space, as if it were coming at you from the right corner. It didn’t create a full circle, leaving me to wonder exactly what the blob was. What was shown and not shown off the canvas, so to speak, was the beginning of a round something. A ball, maybe?

I nearly jumped out of my skin when strong arms came around me. “Don’t move.” I’d know that brogue anywhere. Some things, however, were instinctual. My head began to swivel to look at him when he cupped my breast and pinched my nipple through the dress. I let out a breath. The pain was sharp but gone as quickly as it had come. “I said, don’t move.”

Had anyone seen us?

“Kalen,” I breathed. His name now came so easily and naturally off my tongue, like it belonged there. “You’re here.”

“I was invited.”

His response was strange. When had he spoken to Lizzy? Then again, he’d left mysteriously in the night. Had they crossed paths in the night? But why wouldn’t she mention it?

“Now I told you that you would pay for teasing me.” He pressed into my back and the long, hard length of him was apparent.

I could see guests wandering around the place in my peripheral vision. “What are you going to do?” I asked, a little timidly but excited all the same.

“I’m dying to taste you again.” I sucked in a breath at his words. Any thoughts of an interrogation into his personal life were gone.

My dress was made of molded material, the kind that was meant to hug the body and not blow in a breeze. If he lifted it in any way, the rest of it was coming along for the ride.

Determined, he leaned in like he planned to whisper in my ear, or so it must have appeared to prying passersby. They would assume we were studying the red blob. I waited. Heck, I was curious to see just what he was going to do. The idea of getting caught was a bit thrilling.

His finger caught the front hem of my dress in the middle and tugged upwards. I could feel the rest of my dress dragging along. Maybe not at the same pace, but it was riding up as well. I thought for sure he would stop. Lizzy would kill me if I made a spectacle of myself.

“Don’t worry. Like at the restaurant, no one can see you behind me, and this time you’ve been a good girl and wore a dress.”

His legs must have been closed tight so nobody could see past him. He definitely dwarfed me. Still, I was ready to protest when his finger grazed my center.

My eyes rolled back, and I felt his shoulder when my head made contact. “Easy, lass,” he murmured as his finger penetrated my depths.

“Kalen,” I panted out in a strangled whisper.

His finger thrust in and out of me several times before he pulled it out and released my dress. The stiff material didn’t succumb to gravity as easily as, say, silk. He crossed his arm over my body, sucking his finger into his mouth. I glanced over my shoulder in time to catch it going in and I was just about undone. “You still taste as good as you look, delicious.” He straightened and stepped back from me. “Too bad you didn’t show up on time.”

I was about to complain and say something vulgar when a couple saddled up to us and the red blob. “Interesting painting, isn’t it?”

My face flushed, probably as red as the blob. “Yes, it is,” I answered automatically.

I couldn’t help but question if they’d seen what Kalen did. I refused to look at them and find out. When they stepped away, I turned, prepared to confront Kalen and maybe have a good laugh over our exploits, but he was gone.

Desperately, I strode down the main hall, searching for the man in each packed corridor. I was determined he wouldn’t leave me like that.

“Bails, there you are,” Lizzy said, stopping me.

When I saw her expression, I remembered who I was there for. I could find Kalen later as he most definitely wasn’t off the hook. Still, this was her night.

“How’s it going?” I asked. I’d tell her later about what had gone down. I didn’t want to make this about me.

“It’s great.” She listed a string of A-list and up-and-coming actors. “They were all here, or so my assistant tells me.” I wasn’t surprised. “Not to mention I heard the names of a legendary rock star, the number one tennis player in the world, and Jeremy King.” Looking perplexed, she said, “Apparently, they showed up and I didn’t see any of them.” She laughed, while I was stuck on the King name.