Prince Roman

by CD Reiss

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I can hang out my own shingle. Nothing gets respect in this town like a guy striking out on his own.”

  All that might have been true, but I wasn’t ready for it. I met his eyes, nearly clear in the glare of the house lights.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Be sorry if you don’t want me.”

  “Oh, Roman—”

  “Is that you saying you’re sorry?” His thumb wiped a tear from my cheek.

  “It’s me saying I want you. I’m sorry it came to this, but I love you, and I want you. And thank you.” I tried to paint my voice with humility and gratitude, but couldn’t meet the depth of what I felt in my heart. “Thank you. I can’t thank you enough for changing your life for me.”

  He brushed my biceps with his fingertips. “You’re goosebumpy.”

  The cold caught up with me. The neat up-do felt like a ton of bricks on my head, and my feet burned at the balls.

  “It’s chilly.” He kissed me gently, his lips an invitation and a promise.

  We kissed between words right on his front walk, as if I’d finally seen the light after he’d quit. As if we’d just begun the journey of our lives.

  “How about a hot bath?” he said, kissing me again. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand.

  “My feet are going to love that.”

  “The rest of you isn’t going to complain, either.”

  His hands slid down my arms and we wove our fingers together. He leaned back and we walked into his house together.

  —GAME OVER—

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  From New York Times Bestselling author, CD Reiss, comes an all new, sexy tale of secrets, intrigue, betrayal, and a love worth crossing a continent for.

  Taylor Harden is a man on the edge.

  The edge of fame. The edge of untold wealth.

  The edge of utter humiliation.

  He built an unhackable system, and in front of everyone, it’s hacked.

  His reputation goes from king to goat in a split second. Boom. Like that.

  Some dude in Barrington, USA (AKA Nowhere) has locked down Taylor’s code, and if he doesn’t get it back, he’s going to be wearing a monkey suit for the rest of his life.

  Except, this guy? This hacker from Nowhere? He’s not a guy.

  Harper Watson’s all woman. And she has a plan for Taylor, his code, and his body.

  * * * *

  King of Code is the first book in a new series of standalones.

  * * * *

  I leaned over the balcony rail to see her. Harper looked up from ground level, shielding her eyes from the sun. Her hair was in a loose ponytail at the back of her neck.

  “What are you doing?” she called.

  “I’m not leaving until you give me what you took, and the mushrooms were making me crazy. They grow behind the walls. It’s… unnerving.”

  “Unnerving?”

  I gripped the railing. Are you doing this or not? “Come up here, Harper.”

  I’d decided. I was doing this.

  I pointed toward the doors on the other side of the balcony that led to the room I’d slept in the night before. I did not say please, and I did not ask a question. One of us was in charge, and it wasn’t her. Even if she had the keys to my life on the little ring in her head, this wasn’t working if she was the one calling the shots.

  I washed my hands in the mycelium-free bathroom by my room. No time for a shower.

  The stairs creaked. A pressure grew behind my balls because I knew what was coming.

  She stood at the end of the hall, hand draped on the bannister. Branches of hair had escaped her ponytail and dropped to either cheek. I pointed at a spot on the floor in front of me. She scratched a spot on her neck, which was unremarkable except for her hand. It looked as if it had been rinsed in light blue paint and scrubbed. The tinge was in the corners of the nails and the deep lines in her wrist.

  “Come into my room and close the door,” I said.

  “You’re all sweaty.”

  “You want to do this or not?”

  If I had been trying to scare her, I’d failed. She practically skipped into the room.

  “Close the door,” I commanded again. She did it. “I want to set the rules right off.”

  “Okay.”

  “You won’t tell me why you want this or why you went to all the trouble, but if you’re trying to trap me into marriage or some shit—”

  She laughed derisively. “Yeah. No.”

  My feelings were not hurt.

  Nope.

  Not one bit.

  “Condoms.” I put up a finger. “Every time.”

  “Yes.”

  I put up a second finger. “Don’t come to me with emotional attachment. I’m not interested.”

  “Me neither.”

  My third finger made a W. “This has to be done in nine days. If it’s not, I’m leaving, and I’ll just deal with the consequences.”

  “It won’t take longer than that. I told you. I’m a really good student.”

  “All right. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  I dug my thumb into my other palm absently, thinking this might not be a bad way to spend a few days. QI4 would be back, Deepak would
spin it into a learning experience; we’d work on manufacturing our own goddamn monitors and BIOS. I could just go back to the way things were. That alone was enough to give me serious wood.

  “Take your clothes off, Harper.”

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  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22