25. Haven

25

HAVEN

"You're going to be bored."

"I'm not," he insists.

I roll my eyes. "This is not fun. It's a lot of standing around while they figure out lighting, space, direction. Well, in your case, it will be a lot of sitting around."

He stops, and since he's holding my hand, he pulls me to a stop with him. "Do you not want me to go in with you?"

We're standing outside of the studio where I'm supposed to do a photoshoot today. It's with Axle, the handsy photographer, and King has insisted on coming with me.

Of course I want him with me, but I feel bad. The man is being pulled in a thousand different directions, and he shouldn't have to come here and babysit me. "Of course I want you with me, but you were on the phone the whole way here. Whoever you were talking to was not happy about you missing a meeting today."

"It doesn't matter. None of that matters. I may have to work a little while I'm here—"

"I could have just canceled. Not now, because it's too late, but I could have last week."

He cups my face in his hands. "You will never quit a job because some man thinks it's okay to touch you."

I can't help but look at him worriedly, and he shakes his head. "You just go in there and do your thing. I'll take care of the rest."

I put my hands at his waist and tug at his shirt. Today he's in a jacket and tie, and he takes my breath at the way he fills his suit. "Are you going to be nice?"

He kisses the tip of my nose. "I'm always nice. Now let's go. You don't want to be late."

I get halfway through the door and stop. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Today, I'm modeling pajamas."

His hand grips my waist. "Pajamas?"

I smile up at him. "Well, lingerie. "

He lets his head fall down to his shoulders and grunt-whispers, "Well, fuck me."

I pat him on the shoulder. "We can do that after."

I walk away from him before I ask him to take me out of here and make good on his promise. It's been days since he's been inside me because he's worried that I'd be sore, and I'm over the waiting. I may have to take things into my own hands.

As soon as I get inside, I'm whisked away to hair and makeup and don't even get to introduce King to everyone. I gnaw on my lip as Katie does my hair, and when she gets to my makeup, she comments, "Whatever you're doing, keep it up. You're absolutely glowing."

I can feel the heat rise in my cheeks, but there's no way I can tell her than I'm glowing because I'm in love. As soon as I think it, I set back in my chair with a thud. I'm in love. I'm not supposed to be in love, that wasn't part of the plan, but I'd be a fool if I didn't guess this would happen.

I smile when my friend and fellow model Angel sits down in the chair next to me. "Hey, girl!"

"Hey, how you doing, Angel?"

She sits back while the hairdresser starts on her hair. "I'm good. I saw your boyfriend having a talk with Axle."

I knew he'd say something. King is not the type to just sit back and wait for something to happen. "He's my husband."

Angel, the makeup artist, and the beautician all stop and stare at me. "You're married?" Angel asks.

I hold my hand up as if I need to show proof, but heck, sometimes I don't believe it myself. "Yep."

They all give me a round of congratulations, and I sit and listen to them talk about the last date Angel went on. After changing clothes, I look in the mirror. I know King is going to love seeing me in this outfit, but he's going to hate that other men will see me too.

As soon as we're ready, I walk back into the area for shooting, and King and Axle are still talking. When King sees me, his eyes travel down my body and then back up again. His jaw tightens, and he says something to Axle and then walks over to me. He has his arms open, and I step into them. He leans down, kisses my bare shoulder, and then whispers, "You look beautiful."

My heart stutters in my chest. I don't know if there's anyone better than this man. He makes me feel everything. "Thank you. "

He pats me on the ass. "And when I get you out of here, I'm taking you home to bed and not letting you up until you have no doubt who you belong to."

I put one hand at his neck. "I know who I belong to."

He blows out a breath. "I hate that other men are going to see you like this."

I can relate to what he's saying. He's not up parading half naked in front of other women, but I do hate the way women always look at him. "I'm going home with you, though."

He grunts. "Hopefully, that will get me through the next few hours."

I watch him walk over to the corner and sit down. I expect him to pull out his phone, but he doesn't. Instead, he sits in his seat and watches me. The whole time, he never takes his eyes off me.

I can see him tense when Axle comes toward me, but Axle never gets within reach of me. If something needs adjusted, he has Katie do it. He is completely professional through the whole photo shoot. When it's over, I get dressed and then meet King by the door. As soon as I'm within arm's length of him, he's circling his arms around me and pulling me through the door.

We get outside, and Callan is standing at the back of the car with the door already open. "Thanks, Callan. Take us to the penthouse. I need to show Haven our apartment here in the city."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as I get in the car, King is sliding in behind me. I knew he mentioned an apartment in Jasper, but that's all I'd heard about it. "The penthouse?"

He nods. "Yeah—" He gets cut off when his phone rings. He pulls it from his pocket and holds it up for me. "It's Chrissy."

"You need to answer it to make sure she's okay."

He seems to debate it for all of two seconds before answering. "Hey, sis, we're kind of busy."