Excerpted from The Dark King, by Gina L. Maxwell. Entangled Publishing, 2022. Reprinted with permission.
As she emerges from the pool, she wrings the water out of her long hair, then fluffs and separates the strands so they fall in damp pieces around her shoulders. My eyes stay pinned to her as she walks to me and takes a seat on the next lounge chair over.
She stays facing me but leans back on her hands and extends her long legs into the space between us. It’s not done in an overtly seductive way—her demeanor is casual, like it’s simply a comfortable position for her to be in—but it makes me want to devour her from her pink-painted toes to her pretty pink mouth.
Looking back out over the pool, I say, “You should wear swimsuits with a little more suit to them.”
“I packed two for a two-day trip, and if you’ll remember, I was forced to wear the other one as pajamas. I’ll admit I bought this as more of a dare to myself and didn’t really plan on wearing it, but beggars, choosers, yada-yada.” She glances down at herself, then raises her gaze again to aim an impish grin in my direction that I feel more than see. “Why, don’t you like it? This can’t possibly offend someone with a nickname like the Dark King.”
“It’s not about offense; it’s about walking around here looking like a fucking gazelle to a pride of lions.”
“Lions?” Gasping, she sits up straight. “That would make you the Lion King.”
I turn my head and glare. Not hard enough, apparently, because Bryn throws her head back in one of those sexy laughs. My mouth waters at the sight of her throat bared to me. An invitation for my lips, my tongue. My fangs.
Fuck. Me.
When she calms down again, she sits forward and folds her arms across her thighs, regarding me. “So I was thinking, since I’m your prisoner—”
“Guest.”
“Hostage—”
“Roommate.”
She sighs. “Your whatever for the foreseeable future, I think we should try to make the best out of our situation.”
I regard her over the glass as I take another drink, primal satisfaction hitting me when she squirms the slightest bit under the weight of my gaze. “How do you propose we do that?”
“I think if we’re going to remain…roommates…it should come with certain benefits, don’t you?”
“Speak plainly, Bryn.”
Her pretty hazel eyes roll. “Sex, Caiden. I’m saying we might as well have some fun by having—”
“No.”
“No?”
“Yes, no.”
“No. Just like that.” When I don’t elaborate, she pushes for more. “Why the hell not? You’re obviously not opposed to no-strings flings, as evidenced by the other night, so what’s the big deal?”
“I told you earlier. The male who was with you two nights ago was not the real me. The kind of vanilla sex we had the other night isn’t my style and I can assure you, you’re not ready for the kind of things I would do to that body.”
Bryn captures her lower lip, and her brows draw together over the slender bridge of her nose. Goose bumps appear on her arms, snagging the attention of my preternatural sight that chases them as they climb the creamy skin of her neck.
I swear to Rhiannon, I can literally see her weighing this as one of her “risks worth taking,” and I could fucking kick myself for teeing it up like that.
Maybe it’ll be fine, though. Maybe she won’t—
“You don’t know that. Let’s try it your way and find out.”
Fuck. “Let’s not. You might be curious about the darker side of sex, but I promise you won’t like what I need to get off.”
She visibly bristles, her back straightening and hazel eyes shooting daggers at me. “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t want, Caiden. Just because we tied the knot and had barely memorable sex a few times doesn’t mean you know me.”
“I remember enough to know what gets you off, and it isn’t anything close to the kind of games the Dark Fae like to play in the bedroom. And I’m their fucking king.”
“Just because I’ve never experienced something doesn’t mean that I won’t enjoy it.”
Drawing on my control, I keep my tone even and firm. “The answer is no, Bryn. Drop it.”
“Fine,” she snaps out. “You don’t want me hanging out with Fiona and you’ve made it clear I won’t be spending any time with you, so I guess I’ll just be bored to death.”
Turning away, she stretches out on the chaise like a sulking teenager, making my palm itch to correct her attitude with a few sharp slaps on her ass.
Just as I’m considering heading to my room to avoid temptation, she changes the subject. “I met one of your wolf friends today. Is he into the same stuff you are? I bet he is; friends usually share things like that in common. Or your brothers—maybe they’d be willing to spend time with me.”
I grind my teeth together, thinking of my friends, brothers, or any other male “spending time” with her, but shove my violent jealousy down deep and hold fast to my control. Setting my glass down on the small table between us, I pick up my phone and shoot off a quick text in the Night Watch thread.
No one in the back of the manor for the next 15 min.
The guys will no doubt bitch to me about it later, but I know they won’t go against my order. The entire perimeter has multiple security measures in place; they can rely on those for now. I lock the screen, turn it on silent, and put it back on the table.
“Come here,” I command.
She turns her head to me, eyebrows raised. “Why should I?”
I pop my jaw. She needs to be taught a lesson before her bratty nature pushes us both too far. “Go grab your coverup, then come back here.”
“Why?” she asks, her brat now on full display. “So you can show me what happens when I piss off the Lion King?”
“Strike three, Beauty.” One side of my mouth pulls up in an evil smirk. “That ass is mine.”
THE DARK KING by Gina L. Maxwell
For Bryn Meara, a free trip to the exclusive and ultra-luxe Nightfall hotel and casino in Vegas should’ve been the perfect way to escape the debris of her crumbling career. But waking up from a martini-and-lust-fueled night to find herself married to Caiden Verran, the reclusive billionaire who owns the hotel and most of the city, isn’t the jackpot one would think. It seems her dark and sexy new husband is actual royalty—the fae king of the Night Court—and there’s an entire world beneath the veil of Vegas.
Whether light or shadow, the fae are a far cry from fairy tales, and now they’ve made Bryn a pawn in their dark games for power. And Caiden is the most dangerous of all—an intoxicating cocktail of sin and raw, insatiable hunger. She should run. But every night of passion pulls Bryn deeper into his strange and sinister world, until she’s no longer certain she wants to leave…even if she could.
Romance Erotica Sensual [Entangled Publishing, On Sale: September 27, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781649373274 / eISBN: 9781649373281]
A dynamite beginning to a new series
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About Gina L. Maxwell
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author, Gina L. Maxwell, is a shameless romance addict with no intentions of ever kicking the habit. Growing up, she dreamed of helping people escape reality with her sublime acting abilities. It wasn’t until college when she realized she had none to speak of, thereby derailing her lifelong plans. Another ten years would pass before she discovered a different means to accomplishing the same dream: writing stories of love and passion for romance addicts just like her.
Thanks to the support of her amazing family, Gina is now the Boss of the world’s first organized romance mafia, the Maxwell Mob, and living her dream of bringing a little romantic fantasy to the world—one steamy novel at a time.
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