Page 70 of Killian

She sighed, then nodded. He sat on the sofa, but she sat in the rocking chair by the window.Nice place? What the hell?

“Celine, I know the way I treated you was wrong, and I cannot apologize enough, but I’ve been seeing a therapist and I’m on medication.” He smiled. “It’s helped me tremendously.”

“I’m happy to hear that, but—”

“Please, I love you.”

“Blaine, I’m sorry, but I don’t love you anymore.”

“Who’s the man you’re seeing?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Is it serious?”

“I’m in love with him.”

“I see.” He stood and she quickly got to her feet.

“I’m sorry to hurt you, Blaine, but it’s best if you go back to Spokane. It’s been over a year since we’ve been together, and you need to move on. Like I have.”

“Celine, I am not giving up on you yet. I’ll stick around for a while.”

“Please don’t cause problems.”

“I’ve changed, Celine, and I want to show you. I want you to at least think about us being together.”

Celine shook her head, opened the door, and gestured for him to go. But when he tried to kiss her, she pulled away. Blaine sighed, but still touched her face before leaving. Celine closed the door and leaned against it, praying that he wouldjust leave town. She wanted nothing to do with him and knew she couldn’t tell Killian about his visit yet. It might be wrong, but she hoped Blaine would disappear before Killian found out about him being here.

By Tuesday, Celine was a bundle of nerves waiting for Blaine to show up, but she hadn’t heard from or seen him since their encounter. She could only hope that he was truly gone for good.

When Wednesday arrived, she knew she’d been wrong as she watched Blaine enter the shop. With a heavy sigh, she made her way to her office and hoped he hadn’t seen her.

“I am not to be disturbed,” she whispered to Ainsleigh as she passed her, then entered her office and sat behind her desk. She prayed that Blaine would leave but she wasn’t sure if he’d seen her or not.

A few minutes later, a knock sounded on her door, but she didn’t say anything.

“Celine?” Ainsleigh called through the door.

Celine sighed with relief. “Come in.”

Ainsleigh entered the office. “A man asked for you, but I told him you weren’t here. Was that alright?”

“It’s fine. As long as it wasn’t Killian.”

Ainsleigh smiled. “No, it was a man named Blaine. He said to tell you he’d see you later.”

“Not if I can help it,” she muttered, then looked at her employee. “Thank you. I am not interested in talking to him at all.”

“Okay. He kind of gave me a bad vibe, so that’s why I said you weren’t here instead of you weren’t to be disturbed.”

“I appreciate that, Ainsleigh. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ainsleigh smiled. “You’ll never find out.”

Celine grinned. “I sure hope that’s true. I think I’ll stay back here today unless we get really busy.”

“Alright. I’ll let you know.”

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