Page 24 of His Two Hidden Masks

Holy hell.

The man I’d fucked was standing next to my father.

5

Ipainted another smile on my face. I was getting very good at hiding my true feelings.

James looked both different and the same to me. I wondered if it was the light or just the circumstance of our meeting. His wavy dark hair was less unkempt, he looked rested, and he’d shaved. His cheeks were smooth, while I’d remembered them stubbled.

His clothes were changed. He slipped away in the morning and must have returned to the room to shower, shave, and dress after I left. I wanted to ask him why he left in the morning without saying goodbye, but I said nothing.

After all, I agreed to the terms of our one-night stand, which was first names and nothing more. Still, how dare he make love to me all night, disappear, and show up and offer to shake my hand as if we’d never met?

“I’m James Street of Street Entertainment,” he said. His hand extended, he glanced at me with those wide dark eyes.

His lashes were as long and beautiful as I remembered. They were ridiculous and gorgeous and I was standing there like atongue-tied fool, remembering all the parts of me he tasted hours before.

Mouth dry, I reached out and shook his hand, trying to be cool.

“Isabella Uzano,” I said. “Charmed.”

James nodded, but his eyes did not linger on my face. He did not smile. He betrayed nothing of our night of passion.

“Excuse me,” my father said, touching James on the arm. “I need to check with Nico on a few things before we begin. I will see you at the table.”

“Of course,” James said. He nodded and blew on his porcelain cup as if it were hot.

We faced each other. It was awkward.

“I see you found yourself an espresso,” I said. “You know, I can ask the kitchen to prepare a flask of our finest American coffee for you, if you prefer it ‘to go.’” I smiled and raised my eyebrows.

Discretion was what I had agreed to, and I knew it was childish, but I wanted a tiny acknowledgment of our shared secret.

“Excuse me?” James said, leaning toward me as if he had heard me wrong.

“Coffee?” I said, lowering my voice to a discrete level. “In a flask?”

“I’m sorry. Did you just offer me coffee in a flask?”

“I was making a joke,” I said, trying to diffuse the situation. “Yesterday…”

“I drink tea,” he said abruptly. He nodded toward the conference table. “I should take a seat.”

“Of course.”

My father arrived at the head of the table. He pulled out a chair to his right and waved for James to join him.

Could I just melt into the floor now and disappear? I kicked myself for bringing up our night together. It was against the rules, and he was obviously lying to send me a message.

But who lies about hot beverages? I remembered him having a bit more of a sense of humor, but who was I kidding? I did not know this man at all.

I needed to know more about James Street. Scratch that. I needed to know more about this acquisition and stop thinking about how I spread my legs for a gorgeous man. It was time to pull myself together.

Six men and women in suits filed into the ballroom and took seats at the conference table. This must be the acquisitions team, I thought. So, was this an acquisition or a hostile take-over? I hoped my father knew what he was doing.

As I walked toward the boardroom table, my pulse thumped like a drum, each beat a reminder of my mistakes. I needed to be on high alert if I was going to gain control of this situation.

I underestimated my father’s anger at me, I underestimated Roberto’s shame, and I trusted the wrong person at the wrong time, James Street. The man I slept with was going to take over my family’s business. What was the universe telling me by sending my one and only one-night-stand into this meeting room?

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