She, the Kingdom (She #1)(2)

Rhonda seemed thrilled to share even more. “His family and close friends call him Max, but no one else dares. His sister’s name is Peaches. No joke.”

“Like her real name? How do you know?” I asked.

“This is so inappropriate,” Amelia said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She had barely touched her chicken, kale, and spinach salad that looked abhorrently disgusting anyway. Meanwhile, I was double fisting my salami sandwich and chomping away between desperate questions.

“Rhonda is married to Dr. Holsten,” Amelia said. “He’s on the board, and he’s met Mr. Kingston on several occasions.”

“We had dinner with him and his wife, Sophie, just last weekend. Such a young, beautiful, powerful couple. I’m fairly certain they hate each other,” Rhonda said, smiling.

I dropped my nearly eaten sandwich and sat back in my chair. “We’re totally getting fired.”

“You’re worrying,” Amelia scolded. “I told you not to worry.”

“So when should I worry?” I asked. “When I’m fired?”

Her tiny nose wrinkled. “Why would you get fired? You haven’t missed a day of work in years. When is the last time you took a vacation?”

“They’re actually laying people off. With severen…” Rhonda trailed off, her gaze rising to something horrifying, several feet above my head.

I closed my eyes. “Who is behind me?”

“Mr. Kingston,” Amelia said with a small smile, dabbing a napkin at the corner of her mouth. She was cool as a cucumber, always at her best during a crisis. “Good to see you again. Won’t you join us?”

I turned slowly, gawking at Mr. Kingston’s eyes, easily six feet or more above the ground. He looked exactly as I’d imagined, strong jaw, steely eyes, clean-shaven, and smelling like he’d just stepped out of the shower, because, gauging by his physique, he’d been at the gym for eleven hours. His dark hair was long enough to style, but his look was arguably conservative, as was his gray suit and crimson tie—the color of blood. Likely to get him in the mood to axe us all, one by one.

“I’ve actually just returned from lunch with my sister, Peaches.” His eyes settled on Rhonda, his expression absent of emotion.

She swallowed, terrified.

“Mrs. Clarke,” he began.

“Ms.,” I corrected.

A barely noticeable smile began at one corner of his mouth. “My apologies. Ms. Clarke, would you mind accompanying me to my office?”

I looked back over my shoulder at Amelia, who was steadfast in her calm demeanor.

“Uh, sure,” I said, pushing my tray toward my friend. “You’ll take care of this?”

“Of course. You’d do it for me. You help everyone out,” she said.

I cringed at her obvious last-ditch effort to save my job, plucked my purse from the back of my chair, slung it over my head and across my chest, and followed Kingston out of the cafeteria, watched by dozens of wary eyes. They all knew what was in store for me upstairs. A pink slip and a pep talk. In some ways, better than discussing my lack of enjoyment of oral sex over kale and salami.

Salami. Hell! My breath probably smelled like a rotten pig. I dug into my purse while we waited in front of an elevator, and popped the first mint my fingers touched. I coughed once, wrinkling my nose at the taste permeating my mouth. Kingston’s ghost of a grin returned as he tried not to watch me chew the Acetaminophen I’d mistaken for a breath mint. He held out a gold tin that looked like it cost more than my entire outfit.

“Thanks,” I said, reaching inside and placing the cinnamon tablet on my tongue. It melted quickly, making the chalky bitterness in my mouth disappear, too.

The elevator opened, and Kingston gestured for me to step inside. He followed me into an empty elevator, and the doors closed.

“So,” I began, “am I getting fired?”

“No one is being fired, Ms. Clarke.”

“Laid off?”

“That is the correct term.”

“Am I?”

Kingston looked straight forward, not-so-subtly hinting that he was ignoring my question.

“Who else is in your office?” I asked.

“Mr. Lacy and Ms. Simms.”

I nodded. “The hospital president and HR. Great.”

He chose not to respond again.

“I’m a single mom, you know. I have two kids, ten and seven. If they were sick, my mom kept them. I haven’t missed a day of work since Josh broke his arm when he was six. That was four years ago.” I shook my head. “Everyone says there is no loyalty these days, so I was determined to be loyal. Look where loyalty gets you.”

Kingston turned to me. “Do you always talk this much?”

I narrowed my eyes. “No. Are you always so quiet?”

“Generally,” he said, amused.

“I’m glad you find this funny,” I seethed.

The doors opened, and a nurse walked in, quietly greeting us both. She rode up to the next floor and stepped off as soon as the doors opened. I imagined she could feel the tension in the small space.

The doors swept closed, and we rode up three more floors. Again, when the doors opened, Mr. Kingston gestured for me to go first. Always a gentleman, even when being a heartless *.

I sighed and walked toward the receptionist. She was expecting us, and greeted me with an awkward smile. “Good afternoon, Mr. Kingston. Mr. Lacy and Ms. Simms are waiting.”