Page 220 of By His Rule

Kian really needs to up his game if he wants to play with the big girls.

It’s almost four o’clock in the afternoon when Kian scribbles a note and slides it over for me to read. We’re watching a presentation on the future plans for The Regency and how the new manager envisions taking it to the next level, given its recent poor performance.

Her ideas are good, but her delivery is dull as hell, and I’ve found myself drifting off a number of times.

Make an excuse to leave.

Something is waiting for you in our room.

Go relax and then be ready to leave at six.

I glance up at him, hoping that I’ll be able to read the answers to my questions in his eyes. But there is nothing.

I study him closer, but he gives nothing away.

“Go, I’ve got this.”

I narrow my eyes. Do you, though?

His returning smirk tells me that he can hear my silent question loud and clear.

I wait for a natural pause in the presentation before I explain that I’m not feeling well and duck out.

My stomach is a riot of nerves as I ride the elevator alone, and it doesn’t get any better when I step out and head toward our suite.

Kian could have literally done anything.

My mind runs wild with ideas, most of them kinky as hell, because after the night—and morning—we shared…well…

But as I enter our suite, everything looks normal and smells fresh. The scent of our night is no longer filling the air.

The second I walk into the bedroom, I find a box on the end of the bed, but I quickly discover that isn’t it.

Soft, flickering light from the bathroom steals my attention, and my breath catches when I step inside and discover what he’s done.

The entire room is filled with scented candles, and the huge tub in the middle of the room is overflowing with bubbles.

My chest tightens, knowing that he did this for me, but it also makes everything even more confusing.

This is boyfriend/relationship territory, and that is not where we’re at, or where we’re going.

That being said, there is no way that I’m going to let it go to waste. But not before I check the contents of that box. There’s no way I’ll be able to relax until I know everything.

52

KIAN

If my brothers could see me now…

They’d probably think that I’d had a lobotomy on the flight down here.

But I can’t help it. I just want to make her smile and, of course, stop her from trying to convince both of us that last night was a one-time thing.

I like to think that this morning in the shower was a good clue that I’m not happy leaving things at last night, but this is Lorelei we’re talking about. Who the hell knows what goes through her head most of the time?

I sit on the couch in our suite, wearing a pair of tan pants and a dark gray polo shirt, waiting for her to emerge for her six P.M. deadline. But just like always, she makes me wait until the very last second.

When I came up with the idea for what we could do tonight, I figured that none of the outfits I packed for her would work. Okay, that’s a lie. I just wanted her to wear something that I hand-selected.

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