I put myself right in front of him, getting a good idea of what this is about. I bring him to a stop, putting my hands on his shoulders and meeting his eyes. “King, it’s just me. What is it?”
King’s tongue rolls over his lips, and as he looks into my eyes, he relaxes, curling his arm around my waist. “I love you, Elodie Ravenwood,” he whispers, letting out another shaky breath.
My brows furrow and he stares at me as though he just dropped one hell of a bomb. “What?” he rushes out, pulling out of my arms and instantly starting to pace again. “Fuck. You weren’t ready for that. Shit. I’m sorry. I just … ahhh FUCK. Just pretend I didn’t say shit. We can just pretend that I didn’t go and open my big fucking mouth.”
I raise my chin, meeting his stare. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I laugh. “I already know.”
King pulls back, stopping in his tracks and giving me a confused stare. “The fuck are you talking about? I’ve never said that I love you before.”
“Does talking to your sister in the hospital ring any bells? I get it. You were pretty fucked up over losing your dad, but I’m not going crazy. Your sister laughed about you being in love with me and you said ‘so what if I am.’ I mean, you didn’t exactly say the words, but you didn’t have to. It was there.”
King watches me for a second, his lips pressed into a tight line. “So, you picked up on that, huh?” he questions. “I was trying to say it without actually saying it because you weren’t ready, but I guess it wasn’t as discreet as I was hoping.”
My eyes widen. “Oh, you were going for discreet? Yeah, you missed the boat on that one. You might as well have had it written in flashing lights. You couldn’t have been more obvious.”
“Well, shit. So, you’ve known all this time?”
The massive, cheesy-as-fuck grin that spreads across my face is response enough, and King just shakes his head and throws his arm over my shoulder. He pulls me into his chest, crushing me there as he wraps me in his warm arms. His fingers hit the bottom of my chin and he pushes it up until his lips are coming down on mine.
I welcome his kiss eagerly, happily ignoring the growling coming from my hungry stomach. His tongue sweeps into my mouth and I have to resist biting it, more so when his hand slips under the fabric of my tank and claims my skin as his own.
He pulls away and drops his forehead to mine. “I’m not looking for you to say anything back. I know you have an … unusual situation with all of us guys, but I promised you at the start that if something were to change that I’d let you know.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, pushing up and pressing a feather-soft kiss to his lips. “I appreciate that, but just so you know, while I’m not ready to go throwing that word around, I do really care for you. For all of you. I’m not just playing around with you guys. This, for me, is as real as it gets, and if I were to lose you—any of you—it would kill me.”
“I know,” he murmurs. “Which is part of the reason why I don’t need to hear those words out of your mouth. I can see it in the way you look at me, in the way you seek me out in a crowded room. You might not be able to verbalize how you’re feeling, but you practically scream it in your actions, and that’s more than enough for me.”
Despite my body being pressed right up against his, I somehow manage to sink into him further. “So, why now? You said you wanted to wait to tell me until I was ready, but what makes you think that I was ready?”
A soft laugh rumbles through his chest, and I pull back so I can look up at his perfect face, only to see a guilty cringe staring back at me. I narrow my gaze and watch him carefully and he lets out another heavy sigh. “Would you believe me if I said it was because my love for you was just too strong that I was compelled by my heart to let the words fly or some sappy bullshit like that?”
“King …” I warn.
He laughs. “Alright, so after Cruz dropped his ‘I love you’ bombshell and you didn’t tear him a new asshole, I figured that I was in the clear.”
“What?” I laugh. “But that was weeks ago.”
“True, but Cruz is a proud man, and I didn’t want to take away from the moment he had with you. I also didn’t want you to think that I was telling you just because he did. I wanted this moment to be just between us.”