The Breaking Season Read online K.A. Linde

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Billionaire, Contemporary, Romance Tags Authors:
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Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
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“But you already found your Prince Charming.”

I snorted. “Court Kensington as Prince Charming. Now, I’ve heard everything.”

Jem looked to Camden, dressed to intimidate today. He’d come straight from work, and he wore an all-black suit with a black shirt and tie, too.

Then she turned her sharp eyes to me. “Is that your boyfriend?”

Camden actually cracked a smile.

“Yep. That one is mine,” I told her. “I brought him here to meet you.”

Jem tapped her lip thoughtfully. “He suits you. Villain Katherine and her Dark Prince.”

English and Court laughed together.

“She has you both pegged,” Court said.

“Well, that Dark Prince is buying your princess dress, missy,” I said, leaning forward and tickling her.

She giggled. “Okay, okay. Stop.” Her eyes fluttered up to Camden’s. “Thank you for my princess dress.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “You’re most welcome. It looks perfect on you. Does it twirl?”

Her eyes lit up. “It does!”

Then she stood and rotated in circles, so her dress flew out in all directions. English pulled away from Court to turn with Jem. And soon, I was on my feet, spinning in circles with them. My dress didn’t flare out, but it didn’t even matter. I tipped my head back, a real, raw smile on my face, and laughed with them.

I got dizzy and stumbled. Camden caught me with one arm and Jem with the other. Jem was breathing heavily.

“I think that’s probably enough for today, Jem,” I said, looking at her face growing paler.

She sighed. “I hate this part.”

Camden bent down and whispered in her ear. I couldn’t hear a word that he said, but her entire face brightened, and she enthusiastically nodded her head. A second later, he scooped her tiny body up into his arms.

She dramatically put her hand to her forehead. “I nearly swooned.”

I couldn’t stop laughing as I showed Camden which room was Jem’s and watched him carefully deposit her back in her bed. A nurse followed close behind, preparing to check all of her vitals after we were gone.

As I watched Camden fuss over Jem, a light lit in my chest. Something I had never considered before, especially since I knew Camden’s father, but… Camden would make a good dad one day. Just seeing him with Jem, it made my heart want to burst out of my chest.

He fussed with her hair, and she giggled.

“See you around, Dark Prince. Come with Katherine again.”

“I’ll do that,” he said with an exaggerated bow in her direction. Then he left her in the care of the nurse and headed back out into the hall with me.

“You’re… really great with her.”

“She makes it easy,” he admitted. His gaze snapped to mine. “This is why you wanted me to come. To meet Jem.”

I nodded. “She’s sunshine. The first day I came here, I had a panic attack. You know my fear of hospitals and being forced back into them. I couldn’t even breathe. I thought it would help me to try to overcome it, but it overwhelmed me instead. Then Jem was there, and… it all receded.”

He brushed a strand of my hair out of my face. “I’m glad that she was there when you were in distress. She seems like a very special girl.”

“She is.”

“I’ve never seen you like this before,” he said seriously and then slowly laced our fingers together. “So… carefree.”

I glanced down at where our hands were joined. I wasn’t sure that I’d ever held hands with Camden before. Butterflies took flight in my stomach.

“I’m not sure I’ve been like this since… before my father was arrested. He made me feel like this once.” I let out a slow breath. “Every year my father would give me a charm for my bracelet on my birthday. It was our thing. He added to it every year.

Camden assessed me. “That was the charm that Penn gave you for your birthday.”

I nodded. “Yes. Penn kept up the tradition after my father was sent away.”

“I see,” he said softly. “I see why that would be important to you.”

I stared down at the passing tiles. “It was.”

“You seem to have made a huge difference here.”

“Oh, I don’t know if I’d say a huge difference. But I think our party went off without a hitch. We’re having a fundraising event at the beginning of March so that we can do things like this more often. I know it’s another party and that you said that I only did charity to benefit me, but it’s really not like that.”

He pulled me to a stop and tipped my chin up to look at him. “Whatever I said when I was angry, I was wrong. What you’re doing here is incredible. You’re incredible.”

“Really? I was worried you’d think that I was throwing this party to make myself look good… or something.”

“Have you posted a single picture about this party on your social media accounts?”


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