LITMIR.BIZ

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took so long?” Iris asked, scooting up from the backseat and folding her arms on the back of their chairs. “Who is that? He’s fine.”

      You don’t have to tell me.

      “Ms. Gregory!” He knocked on the window and then yelled, “We haven’t finished talking.”

      “Is that what we’re calling talking nowadays?” Grace snickered.

      “Shut up.” Victoria crammed the key into the ignition and started the car.

      King tossed up his hands. “You’re the one that came to see me. Remember?”

      She shifted the car in Reverse. “You can talk to my lawyer,” she yelled back and then jammed her foot down on the accelerator. He jumped back in time to save his precious toes from being run over and Victoria felt a stab of disappointment.

      “You’re not even going to tell me where I can find you?” he shouted.

      Victoria shifted the car back into Drive and jerked the wheel to the right.

      But while she was in the middle of making her getaway, Grace powered her window down and screamed, “We’re staying at the Bellagio!”

      “Grace!” She peeled out of the parking lot.

      Her cousin whipped around in her seat, smiling like a peacock. “What?”

      “Why in the hell did you do that?”

      She crossed her arms. “You heard him. You guys haven’t finished talking.”

      Victoria seethed as she took off like she was trying to qualify for the Indy 500.

      Iris piped up again. “Okay. Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?”

      “Trust me. I’ll fill you in on every tantalizing detail when we get back to our hotel,” Grace promised.

      “I don’t know why in the hell I asked you two to come with me,” Victoria grumbled.

      “Yeah. You would hate that about now. Though I wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t walked in on you two. Lord knows how many carpet burns I saved you from. You should be thanking me. Not trying to take my head off.”

      “SHUT UP!” Iris popped them both on the shoulder. “Victoria was making out with that chocolate god back there?”

      “Girl, it was like animal kingdom up in there,” Grace laughed. “That brother had her pinned down and mounted.”

      The twins squealed with laughter before high-fiving each other like pro athletes.

      Victoria continued to stew in her seat. What in the hell was I thinking? She shook her head, but the question kept looping inside her mind. By the time they pulled up to the hotel, she just had to admit the truth to herself. She wasn’t thinking. She was just feeling—feeling things that she had never felt before.

      That’s good enough reason to stay the hell away from him.

      She exchanged her key for a ticket at the valet and then waltzed into the casino’s hotel.

      “I say you forget about the lawsuit and hook-up with Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome.”

      “I hardly think that he’s a fifty-million-dollar lay,” Victoria snipped.

      The twins exchanged a look.

      “You know I really hate it when you two do that,” Victoria said as they stepped into the elevator. “If you’ve got something to say, I wish that you would just say it.”

      “It’s just that…the lawsuit. You don’t think that maybe you’re overreacting?”

      Victoria’s mouth dropped open as she turned toward her cousins. “Overreacting? Have you forgotten how I was humiliated last week? My wedding announcement was in the New York Times. Three hundred of the most important people in New York show up for a wedding that cost my father a mint—only for my fiancé to fly to Vegas for a bachelor party and fall head over heels in love with a stripper named Delicious. Are you hearing me? Delicious. And you just calmly stand there and ask me if I’m overreacting?!”

      Grace shrugged and mumbled, “It was just a question.”

      “Then the answer is no. When I get through with Marcus and his hoochie momma—and even that lecherous club owner with the octopus arms—they’re going to wish that I’d hired a hit man to take them out of their misery.”

      The elevator dinged on the thirtieth floor and Victoria, with her anger renewed, marched out with her cousins rushing behind her. “Victoria, we didn’t mean to upset you.”

      “You know what? Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to take a long shower, get some sleep and then we can just fly out in the morning,” Victoria said, sliding her card key into the lock. “I’ll just catch up with you two later.”

      “Wait.”

      “No. Really. I’m tired and I would really like to get some sleep.” More like she was on the verge of crying again and wanted to make her escape before the first tear fell.

      “Well…all right,” Iris said, looking to her sister to see if she had any pearls of wisdom that would help the situation.

      Before Grace could open her mouth, Victoria was slamming her door closed. It was a good thing, too. Not two seconds later, two fat teardrops seeped from her lashes and rolled down her face. Why did she expect anyone to understand where she was coming from? They didn’t have every society page and blogger laughing and saying mean things about them.

      “Billion-dollar Bride Jilted at the Altar.”

      “Slam-Dumped!”

      “Runaway Groom!”

      “Money Can’t Buy You Love.”

      All she wanted was not to get hurt. She had been so meticulous and so careful that she didn’t understand how this whole thing blew up in her face. Marcus was not ambitious, he was unassuming and everything pointed to low drama. No. She didn’t love him. Love had nothing to do with their union. But she had thought that they’d grown fond of one another—friends, certainly. And that was the most important thing, according to her grandmother before she died. A woman’s looks faded with time, and sex was overrated. The secret to a long-lasting relationship was friendship—companionship. She thought that at least she had that with Marcus.

      Now she didn’t even know where the hell he was. But she had a detective on it and as soon as he reared his head, she was going to ruin him. In the meantime, she would take her frustrations out on the people she could find: the owners of The Dollhouse.

      Victoria closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. There was no point in getting herself all worked up again. But while she chugged in huge gulps of air, the image of Mr. King floated to the forefront of her mind and her body became all warm and tingly. He had to be at least six-four with the skin the color of a Hershey’s milk-chocolate bar. Just remembering its rich and smooth texture had her one cavity acting up.

      And his lips—not too big, not too small. They were just right and pillow soft. And the taste of his kiss…

      Victoria’s head drifted back while she emitted a long “Mmm.” But as soon as she heard herself, her eyes sprang back open and she glanced around to make sure that she was indeed alone.

      “Get a hold of yourself, Victoria.” She exhaled and then leaned to each side to remove her high heels. But as she moved around the large suite, forgetting about her sexy King proved hard to do. She remembered vividly his surprising speed. The way he’d pinned her back against the wall. That one brief moment of helplessness and his pure dominance over her still had a way of stealing her breath.

      When had she ever come up against a force that powerful? And why had that one act made her not only aware of being a woman, but conscious of a unique power she never wielded before? At a glance someone would’ve easily thought that he was in control,

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