Page 66 of By His Rule

Opening up her Instagram, I quickly discover that while I might not have had a clue who she is, it seems a lot of other people do.

Along with hundreds of thousands of followers, I find endless photographs of her posing in an array of beautiful places.

Travel influencer. Of course.

Explains why she might have made a beeline for me.

With a sigh, I close down the app and push it back into my pocket, although not before I check my email for a reply from Lorelei. Nothing.

My whiskey arrives and I take a sip as I wait.

It’s no surprise she’s late. Apparently, it’s fashionable or some shit. Maybe it’s meant to build anticipation. But honestly, right now all it’s doing is pissing me off.

This woman only came on to me because of my job. The only reason she’s interested is because she wants a step up in hers.

Why else would a travel influencer want to be out on a date with me?

Well, I mean…there are a few other reasons, but still…

I’m about to give up and blow her off when a shadow falls over me.

Glancing to my right, my eyes roll up a fitted dress before I find the exact same face that was staring back at me from my cell only a moment ago.

Fuck. Those images didn’t even have filters.

“Good evening, Kian,” she says in her sultry French accent that takes me back a few weeks to the event I met her at.

“Claudine, good to see you again,” I say, forcing some lightness into my voice hoping she won’t notice that I’ve no interest in being here right now.

It doesn’t matter how hot she looks, or how every other man in this place is looking over, wishing that he was me right now.

Like a moron, I hold my hand out to greet her. She takes it with a teasing smile playing on her lips before leaning in close and pressing a kiss to both of my cheeks.

“I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you again, Kian.” She takes a seat, leaving me little choice but to do the same as Rob comes over with a bottle of champagne for her and a fresh whiskey for me.

“No more,” I tell him, placing my hand over the glass. “I’m driving.”

Claudine frowns, but she quickly recovers as she holds her glass out. “To a wonderful evening.”

My stomach knots as I clink my almost-empty glass to hers.

Something tells me that this is going to be anything but wonderful.

16

LORELEI

“Of course, you’re going to have to travel with him. I thought that would be kind of obvious,” Tatum says as he sips on her virgin margarita.

We've had the best night catching up. It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve all managed to spend some quality time together. But as is usually the case, Cory got a message a few minutes ago, offering him a night of mindless fun, and he bailed, leaving us to finish up our Mexican feast alone.

“I thought I was going to be working for the finance manager, T. I doubt he goes very far.”

“Nope. But Kian does. They’ve got hotels and resorts around the world. You could end up anywhere.”

Something flutters in my stomach as I think about the kinds of luxury resorts I know the Callahans own.

White sand, clear blue sea, sun, sun, and more sun.

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