Chapter 13

L ila's cheeks heated as she gingerly padded down the stairs with King. All three of his roommates were in the kitchen eating some form of breakfast. Judging from the streak of mischief in Jason's baby blues and the knowing looks on Will's and James's faces, she immediately intuited that she and King hadn't been quiet last night.

If someone had told her 24 hours ago that she'd be at King's house, minus her virginity, she would have laughed in their face. But here she was, freshly fucked and deliciously sore, hand in hand with her "no labels" sex…buddy? Companion? Demon? In front of all of his roommates.

"Coffee, Alexander?" Jason asked with half a smirk.

Lila wasn't sure if King wanted her gone but given the fact that they'd had sex not once, but three times the night before, she was in desperate need of some caffeinated sustenance.

"Yes, please."

"You look like you didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Jason snickered as he handed her a cup.

Lila sipped her piping hot beverage instead of replying. Normally, she'd dilute it down with milk and sugar, but mornings like this one called for the strong stuff. Again, she wasn't sure how to navigate the whole "morning after" routine. She was trying to take her lead from King. He shifted so he was standing behind her, his body flush with hers, one of his arms braced against the kitchen island in an almost…possessive(?!) way. Okay then…

"Shut up, Jay," King growled, his free arm gently encircling Lila's waist from behind in such a way that her body instantly responded. He leaned down and kissed her neck. "Can I have a sip of that, La?" he whispered in her ear. Holy shit, this guy was going to melt her insides if she wasn't careful.

Suppressing a shiver, Lila turned in his arms so that she was leaning against the counter and facing him. As soon as she saw his expression, whatever nervousness had been floating around was abandoned and replaced by an arousal so intense, it flooded her veins. She passed the mug to him, and he took a sip, his eyes never leaving hers. They continued the back and forth for an indeterminate amount of time. It could have been a minute; it could have been ten. But they continued to look at each other long after King placed the empty coffee cup on the counter.

Everything about this man was intense. But there was a gentleness deep underneath the surface that Lila had seen for the first time the night before, when he'd handled her with such care. When he worshiped her body and prioritized her pleasure over his own. When he'd gotten a warm washcloth and cleaned her up after their first time. She needed to be cautious, because if she allowed her thoughts to fully go there, she would fall for him, hard .

"Is it just me, or is it getting warm in here?" Will joked, successfully breaking them from their sexy staring contest.

King made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a groan at the same time Lila laughed. Which, to her great delight, elicited a small smile from King. She circled back around to face the others and made an effort to chat with them about soccer prognostics for the rest of the season and questioned them about their classes. She also agreed to pick up a couple of Jason's shifts because the scheduler at The Pub had forgotten that soccer had started up again. All the while, King caged her against the counter, his thumb lightly stroking her hip bone, and she could feel every inch of his very impressive and very hard dick pressed against her ass. Soon, the other three abandoned the kitchen, leaving Lila and King alone. He spun her around to face him, cupped the side of her face, and leaned down slowly.

"I have coffee breath," she whispered.

"So do I," he said right before he lightly nipped her lips with his teeth then soothed them with the tip of his tongue. "Open for me, La."

She didn't refuse him. She didn't think that she'd ever be able to again. Not when he kissed her like the world was burning down and she was his only source of water. Soon, he lifted her onto the countertop and nestled himself between her legs, creating just the right amount of friction between their bodies to drive her insane.

"I want you," Lila breathed, briefly breaking their kiss.

"Are you up for it? I worked you hard last night." King looked down at her with a concerned expression that was tinged with lust.

Lila tried not to let King's awareness of her comfort light her up like a Christmas tree but miserably failed. "I'm ready for you to work me hard again, King. Fuck me, pretty please," she cheekily replied with her best attempt at puppy dog eyes.

He laughed softly against her mouth, hoisted her up, and wrapped her legs around his waist. Without breaking a sweat, he led them up the stairs back to his room, where he made quick work of stripping her out of her clothes. She returned the favor, and soon they were on his bed, ferocious, passionate, and yes, loud, as he flipped her onto all fours and took her from behind.

Too soon, she was coming, hard, and she felt the weight of his collapsing body as he followed. Lila didn't hate it. King kissed her between her shoulder blades before he carefully pulled out, going into his bathroom to throw away the condom. She was admiring his amazing ass when her phone buzzed.

Lila reluctantly rolled over to where her phone was lying on King's nightstand. It was then she noticed she had about ten texts from Wren and a couple of missed calls.

"Shit," she whispered.

"What?" King asked as he got back into bed and sidled up next to her. She rolled to her side so they were almost nose to nose. "Is there an emergency or something?"

Lila hummed. "Nothing like that. Wren's just been calling and texting since last night. I hope she's not worried."

"She know you were coming over here?"

"Maybe," she hedged, insecurity creeping in unbidden.

"Maybe?" King gently prodded. His brow was furrowed, just a little bit, almost like he was hurt.

She reached out to smooth the lines down on his face. "Okay, yes, I told her, just for safety purposes. But if you don't want me to tell her we had sex, I won't." Lila's gaze sank to the sheets. "If you want to keep things quiet, I mean."

"You're not a dirty secret, La." He looked mildly offended at the idea, which surprised the hell out of her. "Neither am I."

She sighed in relief. "Okay. I just wasn't sure if this was a one-time thing or a secret thing or whatever. I mean, it's fine if it is, I—"

King cut her off with a kiss that left her breathless.

"First off, this isn't a ‘one-time thing.' I'm pretty sure it's already been a four-time thing. And I have no intention of stopping, not when it's already this good. Do you?"

"No."

"Good," he grunted.

"Glad that's settled, then," Lila deadpanned before shooting off a text to Wren, assuring her that she was alive and well and properly fucked.

"Wanna go get breakfast?" King asked as he absentmindedly ran his fingers from her shoulder down her arm and over the curve of her waist and hip.

Lila's stomach growled in response, and they both laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes." He grinned.

"That's a hell yes, apparently," she responded.

They spent the rest of the day together, and it wasn't until much later, when the sun had already set and King had walked Lila out to her car and was kissing the shit out of her while grinding on her against said car, that she fully realized the magnitude of the fact that this whole thing had an expiration date. She pushed the thought from her mind and decided that regardless of whatever the future held, what they had now was worth it, no matter the cost.