Page 24 of Havoc

“Kenna?” She raised her tone, ignoring dad.

“Yes, Mom, thank you. I’m fine.” She eyed me then nodded, but I knew she’d bring it up again when we were alone. At least she cared enough to.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Simon nodded politely, bringing a glare from my sister.

“It wasn’t a client of mine, was it?” Dad peered over at me as he cut into his steak.

“No, Dad.”

“Good, because if it was and you didn’t tell me about it, I wouldn’t know to do damage control with that client.”

“Right.” I shook my head and tossed back some more wine. Simon changed the topic, and when the conversation picked up, he gave me a quick glance and I mouthed a thank you.

Sasha, who had made it a point to sit next to me, leaned over. “Are you really all right?”

“Oh, you care?” I laughed and thought how ridiculous he was. I’d been young and naive when we dated years ago, but seriously. He’d never cared then. That seemed to be a job I’d done solo. Whyever would he care now? There was a time when my heart had been invested in Sasha; he’d been my first love. I was older and wiser now with a lot of experience in how people worked.

“I do, actually.” He cleared his throat. “I just find it interesting that the very busy owner of the hotel with much more important things to do just happens to come up on us while we we’re having a conversation.”

“You mean when you had your hand on me?” I tried to redirect his comment.

“You didn’t seem to mind when we were up on the cliff watching the sunset,” he purred. I felt a wave of nausea come over me.

“It’s really sad that you’re referring to something that happened in my teens. It’s way past time to move on.”

“Or maybe we could go somewhere and talk?” Suddenly, Hanna’s warning about him crept into my head. She said I needed to be careful of him.

My phone vibrated in my purse, and I tapped the screen to see who it was.

Unknown: Lean in and tell Sasha you’ll get him a tour of Secrets tomorrow.

My skin went cold. The thought of constantly being watched by God knew who creeped me out. On cue, I scanned the restaurant and wondered where he could be. I could be looking right at him and not know it. I decided to make a mental note of who was around me at all times so I could do a process of elimination. Simon turned his phone over to read something but didn’t text; he just flipped it back over and took a sip of his water. I pushed that thought off, Simon was like a lap dog, sweet and kind. He seemed to only want to please those around him, almost to a fault.

“Look, Sasha,” I sighed, “if you want a tour of Secrets, I can arrange it.”

“You’d do that for me?”

“I would.”

“Why?” He studied my face as he asked.

“Because.”

“Because?” He leaned in, and I held up a hand.

“Because it’s my job, actually.”

“Well, I won’t question that because I really want to see the place.” He seemed to think for a bit. “Thank you, Kenna. I really appreciate it because something tells me your boss wouldn’t agree.”

I took a deep swallow of wine. “Just know that this,” I waved between us, “will never be anything but friends. You had your chance.” I couldn’t resist the dig, but as normal, he let it roll off his back.

“We’ll see about that.” He gave me a cocky smile, and I shook my head, thinking how juvenile he was.

“Don’t look now, but that boss I just mentioned, he’s at the bar.” Sasha slid an arm around the back of my chair as he said it.

“He’s here for me.” I ignored his arm and excused myself from the table. I tossed my napkin on my chair and went to meet Grim before he decided to come to our table. Grim pushed off from the bar top he leaned against as I drew close.

“I see you went to dinner?” He cocked a brow.

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