She, the Kingdom (She #1)(11)

He twisted the door, and I stepped in, turning to face him. “Thank you,” I said. More than a little drunk, staring at him while he stood on my porch, looking tired but beautiful and open to a sort-of-extramarital-affair. My insides reacted, and I tensed.

“Goodnight. Lock the door.” He pulled it shut in my face.

I stumbled over to the dining room window, watching him step off the porch with a bit of bounce in his step, as if he was proud to have somewhat won me over. I returned to the door, locked it, and turned around, feeling unsettled. For the first time in a long time, I felt lonely.





Chapter Four

The sun was just peeking from the horizon, but I wore the darkest sunglasses I could find. I put the Taurus in park in the lot of my favorite coffee shop and groaned. I hadn’t been so hungover since my wedding reception. There were no other vehicles except for the three sitting in employee parking. I was glad. I looked like hell; the shop was close to the hospital, and I didn’t want anyone seeing me.

I pulled open the door, the chime sounding above me and making my shoulders jerk up to my ears as a piercing pain shot through my head from my forehead to the nape of my neck. The smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, and I stumbled toward the counter like a zombie. To my surprise, a man was already standing at the pick-up counter, hunched over, palms flat on the green countertop in front of him. He looked up, dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. We were wearing nearly the same thing: gray sweatpants, a white V-neck T-shirt, and untied Nike trainers.

“Morgan,” he said, standing upright. He looked terrible, so I didn’t feel quite as embarrassed in my wrinkled lounge wear.

“Mr. Kingston,” I said, taken off guard. We weren’t at work, but also not at a party. I wasn’t quite sure how to address him.

“Max!” the barista called. She didn’t just set his large cup of coffee on the counter; she handed it to him with a smile like they were old friends.

“Thanks, Katie.”

“And it’s just Max to you,” he said, turning to me with a sleepy smile.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Long night,” he said.

“Oh. Was Sophie upset that you brought me home?”

“You remember that?” he asked, running his fingers through his dark hair. It was sticking up in places like he’d just rolled out of bed. One side of his mouth turned up, and I chuckled. As exhausted as he was, he was still being pleasant. Nothing like the man who’d insisted that I be let go.

“I wasn’t that drunk. But… are you… are you okay?”

“No sleep.”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly realizing what that meant. Sophie had punished him by holding out. “I’m… sorry?”

He breathed out a laugh, and I walked backward a few steps toward the register.

“Can I help you?”

I looked down at the name tag of the man behind the counter to confirm what I already knew. I was tired and didn’t want to address him by the wrong name. “Yes, Colin. Could I have a large, triple, half-sweet, non-fat, caramel macchiato?”

“That’s just obnoxious,” Max said.

I looked over my shoulder long enough to glare at his grinning, gorgeous, detestable face, and then returned my attention to Colin.

Colin stared at the register. “He said it, not me.”

“Is it obnoxious?” I asked.

“I’m not allowed to say, ma’am.” Ma’am? I came here five days a week when I’d worked at the hospital and was known as ma’am. Max had just moved to town a few months before, and already he was a regular.

I paid, fully aware that the one cup of coffee could have almost paid to replace the ancient coffeemaker that sat broken at home, but I was too hungover to care. I walked over to the pick-up counter with my arms folded over my middle, and turned my back to Max.

“You can’t be mad if it’s the truth.”

“Oh, yes… yes, I can. I show you some concern after what you did to me, and you call me obnoxious? What’s wrong with you?”

“What did he do to you?” Katie asked, looking a bit worried.

“I drove her home after a party. She was drunk, and her friends were drunker.”

“He fired me,” I seethed.

“Well,” Katie began. “I mean, if you were drunk.”

Max let a chuckle escape, and I narrowed my eyes at the young, cherub-faced brunette who was on a first-name basis with my former boss. If only she knew what he had offered me, maybe she wouldn’t be so quick to defend him.

“She wasn’t drunk at work. We downsized,” he said, an edge of defensiveness in his tone.

Colin set down my enormous cup of coffee, and I swiped it off the counter, turning for the door.

“Morgan,” Max called after me.

I unlocked the door of the Taurus and pulled on the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. “Shit,” I hissed. I set my coffee on top of the car and pulled again.

“Let me help,” Max said.

I started to argue, but if his help meant I could be free of him forever, I was happy to step aside.

Max jiggled the handle a few times, and then pulled up, and the latch came free. He took a step back, holding the door wide open. “Have a safe trip home, Ms. Clarke.”