Tempting the Crown

by Violet Paige

  The tables around me turned over with new couples, or groups of friends. I told the waitress I was taking a moment to finish and then I’d leave. She seemed impatient for me to give up the table.

  Trying to salvage the night didn’t matter. It was late. Greer was gone. I needed to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow. I had clinic in the morning. I could head home and soak my feet in the tub before crawling into bed.

  I pushed the chair backward to rise when I felt it ram into something solid. I whipped around.

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” I quickly assessed my victim.

  “It’s all right, sweetheart.” He smiled.

  I forced myself to blink. I made the mistake of thinking I had run into one of the servers. No, I backed my chair into sex-on-a-stick. Holy shit.

  “Really? You’re okay?” I asked, realizing I was able to speak after all.

  “No harm.” He had brown eyes that were laced with hints of darkness.

  I knew this was the part where I was supposed to say something trivial and walk away, but I didn’t want to move. It was there in my stomach, the unmistakable zing of excitement from laying eyes on someone so attractive it made my pulse rush faster.

  It was a quick second. A tiny flash of time when my eyes raked over his sharp jawline and the shadow of stubble on his chin. I noticed the points of ink darting under the sleeve of his T-shirt. No wedding band. No date standing next to him. My eyes lifted to his.

  If I were Greer, I’d ask him to sit and have a drink with me. I’d ask for his name and maybe even be bold enough to get his number. But I’d never been that forward before. And I wasn’t my roommate.

  I attempted a flirty smile. “Glad you’re okay. Sorry, again.”

  “It’s not the first time someone has assaulted me with a chair.” He had unbelievably long eyelashes that were as dark as his eyes.

  “You’ve been hit with a chair? You must be in a dangerous line of work, or get in a lot of bar fights.”

  He shrugged. “I used to, but I’m really trying to give up the bar fights.” His voice was husky and severe. It didn’t sound like a joke.

  Could he see that my breath caught? That I was completely focused on every word that came from his mouth even though I’d heard less than twenty? I couldn’t fall for this dark and mysterious shit. I knew better.

  Turn around, Emily. Walk away. I didn’t need to get reeled in. There was a hot bath calling my name at the apartment. My feet needed more attention than this stranger.

  “Well, you can’t say something like that and not tell me about what you did,” I baited him.

  I couldn’t help myself. I blamed the cosmos for my sudden brashness. That and the fact that I liked how he smelled. His cologne wasn’t overpowering, but every time he tilted his head I could smell juniper and a rich spicy scent.

  “Is that so?” he challenged.

  I nodded. “It is. You owe me at least one story for running into my chair.”

  His eyebrows rose. “I ran into your chair?”

  “Isn’t that how it happened?”

  “I say we round up some witnesses and get the truth.” He looked over one shoulder and then the other. His skin was a golden bronze. He must spend time outside. “Should we try that table?” He pointed to a couple making out behind us.

  Damn it. I was calculating a list of all his traits in a two-minute exchange.

  “What if we order a round and call it even?” I suggested. I resisted the impulse to rest my fingers on his forearm. I could see where the muscles rippled under his skin.

  He pulled out the chair for me. “I’ll agree to that if you tell me your name.”

  I tucked the bottom of my dress under me as I took the seat. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Who was I? I’d never hit on a guy like him before. Much less a guy who looked like he did.

  “I’m Emily.” I smiled.

  “I like it. It’s different.” He sat in Greer’s old seat. “I’m Vaughn.”

  Even his name was hot.

  Another waitress appeared at the table. She noticed Vaughn and never looked at me. “Can I get you something?”

  “What are you drinking?” he asked me.

  “Oh, I’ll take another Cosmo.” I had a rule about not switching liquors during the night. Three Cosmos put me on the wrong side of alcohol consumption, but I couldn’t turn him down.

  “A Cosmo for her and a bourbon and coke for me.” He stared at me while he ordered the drinks, dismissing the server.

  “Got it,” she responded.

  I swore the waitress winked at him.

  He pushed forward on the table. “I’m not crashing a date or anything am I?”

  “A date? Oh no.” I shook my head. “My roommate was called into work and had to leave.”

  “I was wondering why a pretty girl was in here alone. Something didn’t add up.”

  Pretty? He thought I was pretty. Had the man seen a mirror? I tried not to stare at his features, but there was something strong and confident about him. Maybe it was how the lines of his face made perfect angles. He had a solid jaw and sharp cheekbones.

  I knew the line made me blush. “I could ask the same thing.”

  “Are you calling me pretty? Because that might be a first.” There was something serious about the way he flirted. Maybe it was the low tone of his voice.

  I immediately glanced at my drink to escape how he made me feel.

  “I just wrapped a meeting with some co-workers,” he explained.

  “What do you do?” I asked.

  “I’m in lending.”

  “Oh.” I tried not to sound disappointed. I don’t know where that came from. I expected him to say he had some kind of fascinating position I’d never heard of.

  He smiled at the waitress when she handed us our drinks.

  “Yeah. Not really that exciting,” he admitted. He must have noticed my reaction.

  “So was that a line about being in a dangerous line of work? Do you secure death-defying loans?”

  He chuckled as he kicked back the bourbon. “You’re a smartass.”

  I wasn’t going for smartass. I was going for flirty and self-assured. I bit my bottom lip. I wanted him to see me as confident. As confident as he was.

  “It wasn’t a line. I used to do dangerous. Not anymore. I gave it up you could say. Let’s call it retirement.”

  I felt my pulse race again. There it was. The thrill of something reckless and different.

  “What did you do?” I twirled the lemon twist on the surface of my drink.

  “I don’t talk about it much.”

  “And what keeps you from talking about it? What were you? Some kind of special operations trained killer?” I giggled at my own joke, but I saw the way his midnight eyes cut into mine.

  “Oh,” I whispered.

  His stare was intense. I had pressed too hard. We were strangers. I didn’t have a right to pry into his personal life. I took a sip of my drink, trying to ignore the excitement that ran through my spine from the way he answered me.

  A few seconds passed before Vaughn spoke again. He seemed comfortable with the silence.

  “Let’s talk about you. What do you do?” he asked.

  “I work at American University. Well, actually I don’t work-work there. I was selected for a program.” I realized how flustered his eyes made me. He followed my lips with piercing focus. “I’m in sort of a residency program for attorneys.”

  “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a lawyer.” He sat back in his chair. “You look too sweet for something like that.”

  Maybe I had disappointed him. I wondered what line of work he thought I was in before I started talking. Did he think I did something fun and sexy? Or was he like everyone else who thought the innocence in my eyes meant I wasn’t old enough to do something harrowing?

  “Who said I’m sweet?” I bit my bottom lip.

  He picked up his glass. “Good point. Keep talking, pretty girl.”

  Shit,
what was he doing to me? I felt feisty all of a sudden. I felt like there was a hellcat inside of me who wanted to come out and play. But really, how long could I pull that off? He’d see through my charade before my next sip of vodka. I decided to stick with the truth.

  “I don’t practice law like I did. Not anymore—not like that. I was at a firm for two years after law school, but I realized I wasn’t cut out for that kind of law. I didn’t have the stomach for it. Maybe it’s a little like your retirement.” I had a feeling Vaughn wasn’t the kind of man who shrank from confrontation or a fight.

  I hadn’t taken my eyes off the glimpses of his tattoo. I wanted to see what the full ink looked like on his arm.

  “And you decided to retire to D.C.?” he questioned.

  “Sort of. When the chance to help clients at a clinic and teach opened up, I applied. Plus, my college roommate is in D.C. and she really wanted me to move.” I tried to gauge if I was spilling too much information.

  He made me feel off-balance, but it was fun. I enjoyed trying to stay centered around him. Every time I tipped too far, I tugged myself back up and then let the pull of his eyes or the gravel in his voice tilt me to another dizzying place.

  “How long have you been in D.C.?” he asked. He pushed the ice around on the top of his drink.

  “Three days.”

  He laughed. “Three days?”

  “My room isn’t even unpacked. I’m lucky I have clothes.” I smiled.

  He tipped the glass over his perfectly shaped lips. He lowered it slowly. “Maybe I’m not so lucky then. You without clothes sounds like something I’d like.”

  The tingle spread through my body. God, he was hot and a fucking amazing flirt. The words rolled off his tongue effortlessly. It was as if he wasn’t even trying.

  “Hey, you owe us forty bucks!”

  I was jerked out of the cloud of lust by a fist slamming a drink bill on the table. I looked up and recognized the guys who sent drinks over when Greer was here.

  Vaughn stood up. I saw his chest rise and just how imposing his frame was. The guys were dwarfed by his broad shoulders and the expanse of his chest.

  “Who the hell are you?” he growled at them.

  “She owes us money.” They pointed at me in unison. I could smell the beer on their breath.

  I shrank in my chair, shaking my head. “I-I didn’t ask for the drinks.”

  Vaughn wedged himself between the angry assholes and my chair. “Take your bill and fucking pay it.” He grabbed it from the table and shoved it the closest one’s hands.

  I swallowed. What was happening?

  “I can pay it,” I whispered.

  He looked down at me. “I’ve got this.” His voice was rough and commanding. Holy shit.

  I nodded.

  “We’ll pay it with your credit card.” The idiot didn’t seem to realize who he was facing. I knew enough to put my wager on Vaughn.

  Vaughn straightened his shoulders. “Let’s make things very clear here.” He looked at each of them. “Take your check. Take your fucking attitudes. Take your asses back to where you came from. She’s not paying.” With each word his voice grew lower and by the time he was finished speaking the jerks had leaned forward to listen intently.

  I waited for them to retaliate, but instead they backed up and returned to the bar, exchanging dirty looks at us over their shoulders.

  Vaughn cleared his throat and sat down.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure who around us had seen the exchange.

  “I did have to do that. You didn’t deserve it. And I wasn’t going to put up with those dicks treating you like shit.”

  I needed to steady my breath. The adrenaline was pumping through me. I’d never had someone stand up for me like that. It had to be the sexiest thing I’d ever experienced. Was he real?

  I saw his shoulders relax.

  “And I thought you had given up bar fights.”

  There was a naughty gleam in his eye. “That wasn’t a fight, sweetheart. You should really see me fight.”

  The shiver running through me was wicked. He was right. He hadn’t laid a finger on either of them, yet the testosterone was dripping from his posture, his voice, his eyes.

  “You wouldn’t have let it get that far though, right?” I didn’t know why I was questioning him. Would I have walked away if he had decked one of them? Would I be any less turned on by how he defended me? Was I worried that maybe he had once been involved in something illegal?

  “I take things as far as I want.” His voice was low and even. “I set the limits. Always.”

  There was an edge to Vaughn. On the outside he was calm, but there was a barrier he was willing to break through.

  “Thank you.” I grinned.

  “Not a problem.” He winked. “Anytime.” He checked over his shoulders and smiled when he saw the douchebags paying the tab.

  “All right. So back to you. You were telling me about your move here.”

  “Was I?” I couldn’t think of anything before Vaughn stood in front of me like a protective wall. The moment I actually enjoyed being the rescued damsel.

  “Yes. Boxes and a new job,” he reminded me. His eyebrows rose playfully.

  “Can you believe I haven’t made it to the White House yet for a tour?”

  “Sounds like you’re a busy woman right now.”

  I placed my empty glass on the table. “I’m trying to get my bearings.”

  He leaned forward and I inhaled deeply, trying to memorize the way he smelled. It might be the last time I inhaled a man so intoxicating.

  “Maybe when you get settled in, I’ll give you a call. Dinner sometime? Maybe I can take you to the White House.”

  I met his eyes head on. His question sounded like a promise, but he was giving me an out. A chance to postpone things. There was something about Vaughn that excited me. He was gorgeous as hell, but there was more to him than that. I didn’t think I could define it, especially not this close to him. Words were jumbled and fuzzy.

  “I-I…” I scolded myself for not getting it together more quickly. “Yes. I’m free this weekend. I’d love to see the city.”

  Truth was I was always free. My calendar was wide open. Greer was my only lifeline here and she didn’t have time to give me between the demands of her job and Preston. I wasn’t anxious to have another night of being the third wheel, or pretending like I wanted to know Preston any better than I did.

  He looked down at the solid watch on his wrist, it glinted under the lights. “It’s getting late.” He didn’t use his phone to check the time.

  He stood from the table. “Let me walk you outside and make sure you get a cab.”

  I wasn’t ready to go, but I had clinic in the morning, and something about his words made it seem as if I was supposed to follow him outside.

  I found myself being led through the bar with his palm on the small of my back. His hands were wide and firm, pressing his fingertips into my skin with a possessive touch. We stepped outside and I heard the noises of Georgetown filter around us. Somewhere in the distance a dog barked. A car honked as it rolled past us, setting off a chain reaction.

  Vaughn whistled as one of the taxis slowed in front of the bar. I stepped toward the curb.

  For the first time all day it didn’t feel sweltering outside. There was a warm breeze that wisped over my skin. The city felt different at night—there was an air of romance in the history of the buildings surrounding us. A couple walked by holding hands. I scooted closer to Vaughn.

  “Thank you for the drink.” I was close enough to smell the juniper on his skin. God, he smelled incredible.

  “Thank you for plowing into me.” He winked.

  He opened the door to the car, but I hesitated.

  “And thank you for earlier. For handling that situation.” I wanted to tell him how hot and heroic I thought it was, but he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who wanted i
t to be a big deal.

  “Oh wait. You need my number.” I felt silly giving it to him, but there was no way I was riding off without a way to hear from him again.

  He pulled the phone from my hands and typed his digits into my messages and hit send. His phone beeped.

  “Got it.” He smiled, returning the phone to me. I dropped it into the straw bag.

  “Okay. So…” I wanted to say something cute and flirty. Something memorable. Something that wouldn’t let him forget me, but before I had a chance his hands slid to the side of my face.

  I stopped trying to talk or think.

  His eyes locked on mine and I saw the glimpse of a smile as his mouth lowered to mine. My eyes closed as I surrendered to his kiss.

  His warm lips moved over mine with tender firmness. Vaughn wasn’t hesitant or shy. He was in control as his thumb stroked my cheek. I forgot we were standing on the sidewalk in front of a cab. I forgot about the guys in the bar. I forgot about the loneliness from the day.

  My body yielded to the rush of pleasure from this stranger’s lips, blistering my mouth with passion. I sighed lightly as his tongue twirled against mine. My hands cupped the back of his neck, lingering in the kiss. Losing myself in the moment.

  The wind picked up the edge of my skirt and I heard a group of girls giggle as they walked by. I didn’t care. I didn’t want anything to spoil the magic of this sliver of happiness. Somehow my feet didn’t hurt anymore. I didn’t care that I didn’t know my way home. The day suddenly wasn’t so crappy anymore.

  The world fell away while we stood next to the cab, breathing each other in.

  Vaughn’s hands slipped from my face. He stole another kiss before breaking away completely.

  I fought to catch my breath as he shuttled me into the backseat. My lips were reeling. My head. My chest. I was on fire.

  “Nice to meet you, Emily.” He smiled wickedly and closed the door.

  The cab pulled away from the sidewalk and I finally exhaled as I watched Vaughn fade from view.

  Chapter Three