King's Passion. Adrianne Byrd

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СКАЧАТЬ wait up,” Grace called after her.

      However, slowing down was the last thing Victoria wanted to do. She wanted to hurry and get out of that place as fast as possible. She burst out the back of the club only to be blasted by some hard-bass music booming from the surrounding speakers. She pressed her fingers into her ears and kept moving, but then the woman on stage in front of her caught her attention and her angry strides slowed.

      The woman on the golden pole was amazing. She couldn’t even begin to understand how it was even possible for someone to hold themselves upside down with one leg while twirling around. Then she stopped, folded herself back up while her legs split open into a perfect V. It was erotic beyond belief, yet at the same time graceful. Slowly, she glided down the pole until she gently settled down into the textbook full split. Then the dancer did something that she’d never seen before. Somehow she was able to make both butt cheeks pop, then one at a time.

      “How in the world?”

      Just then that Quentin character she met earlier turned his head and caught her checking out the show. He flashed those dangerous dimples at her and waved.

      “Ooooh,” Grace said from behind her. “Now, I wouldn’t mind five minutes alone in the back with that one.”

      Victoria groaned as shame and embarrassment part deux washed over her with even bigger waves.

      “Are you ladies sure that you don’t want to audition?” Quentin yelled above the music. “We’re always looking for more talent.” He winked.

      “Let’s get out of here,” Victoria said and then turned for the door. After a few steps, she realized that Grace wasn’t behind her. Rolling her eyes and huffing out a frustrated sigh, she marched back, grabbed Grace by the arm and dragged her out of the club before Quentin convinced her to jump on that pole and quite possibly break her neck.

      “Oooooh. He was cute,” Grace panted. “Did you see him?”

      “Yes. I saw him. Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.” She shoved open the glass door.

      “You mean sort of like that gorgeous wolf that pawed your breasts out of your dress in the back office?”

      Victoria cut her gaze over at cousin. “So if I jumped off a bridge would you do it, too?”

      Grace blinked.

      “Exactly. Get in the car.” Victoria rolled her eyes and opened her door. But before she could hop in behind the wheel, she saw King—she didn’t even know which brother he was—jog out of The Dollhouse and head toward her. “Get in the car, Victoria,” she mumbled under her breath and wasted no time doing just that.

      “Ms. Gregory, wait up!”

      Victoria slammed her door and locked it just as Eamon reached it and tried to open it.

      “What 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 СКАЧАТЬ