Page 61 of Starting Over with Her Billionaire Boss

Her mind had been made up. She was going to the airport to fly to her hometown and wallow for at least a week. When she returned, she would pack the rest of her things and drive back across the country again. Kinsley needed her friends right now. Graciously, they had offered her a place to stay. She still wasn’t sure what her final offer price would be, or what she was going to keep versus donate to the shelter Mr. Westerhouse also sponsored, but she at least knew one thing as she walked up the staircase he had made her scream on one last time.

Daegan was the worst person she could have trusted with anything more than a closing contract.

“What do you mean Kinsleyquit?”Daegan shouted. “I’m sorry, Tina, I’m not yelling at you, I just… I can’t understand why. When did this happen?” His mind raced, trying to figure out what he could have done differently.

Tina’s voice was calm and measured, a soothing balm to Daegan’s frayed nerves. Leaned back in her chair, she leveled him with a knowing look. “She quit Friday, right after she realized you’d left for Miami without telling her. She lookedhurt. Betrayed, even. Something about going back to people who actually care about her—her words, not mine. I didn’t want to bother you with it until you?—”

Cameron.It had to be. She was choosing Cameron.

“She left for another man,” he thought out loud, the words tasting bitter on his tongue.

“Now that’s ridiculous,” Tina scolded. “You’re the only man she talks to me about.”

“Tina, between the two of us, we both know Laurel is the gossiper that is in-the-know about everything around here. Evenshetold me that Kinsley is seeing someone.” Daegan was frustrated.

“Well maybe this is one time she got it wrong. Or maybe, just maybe, Mr. Westerhouse,” Tina swirled around in her chair to face Daegan. “That person isyou. Kinsley is smart. She wouldn’t blabber to Laurel and use your name; it would spread through the entire company like a wildfire!” Tina leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “Nobody trusts Laurel with anything secretive,” she laughed. “You know what happened the last time we did.”

She had a point.

“Has she ever mentioned Cameron to you?” Daegan asked, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep them from trembling.

Tina nodded. “Cameron and Brienne are her two best friends.”

“Did she mention having feelings for Cameron?” His voice was hesitant, almost afraid of the answer, wishing he had been straightforward with Kinsley about it.

Tina paused. “Cameron is a woman, Mr. Westerhouse. And I know for a fact they are just friends.” She gave him a rough pat on his leg from where he sat opposite her desk. “Best friends. If you’re worried about Cameron, you’re worried about nothing.”

Daegan was a fool. A dumb-ass. An idiot.

Shit.

Realization crashed over him like a cold wave in autumn, leaving him feeling foolish and ashamed. He had jumped to conclusions without even having the courage to ask Kinsley about Cameron directly. Instead, he’d listened to fear and written off the one person who’d given him every reason to believe in her. He could navigate multi-million-dollar deals with ease, but when it came to his own heart, he’d stumbled, cowardly and clumsy. His fists clenched at his sides as heat rushed to his face. He’d pushed her away, and now she was gone.

Then he remembered something. “But a few weekends ago, when someone came to visit her—I heard her sayhecame by over the weekend.”

“She was on the phone with me, Mr. Westerhouse. My brother is Kinsley’s contractor. They’re working on renovations for her house. That’s who she was referring to.”

He swallowed hard. He’dreallyfucked up. He had even seen the start of the renovations when he dropped off the luggage in her bedroom.

Tina continued, “That womanlovesyou. I can see it in her eyes—don’t you? I mean, I shouldn’t—” Her voice quieted, “This treads a fine line in company policy.”

Daegan’s eyes shifted to her, lips in a thin line. Company policy could wait.

She smiled. “You should go see her before it’s too late. I can have someone step into your meeting for you this afternoon.”

It would be so easy to retreat, to convince himself that he was better off going to that meeting, and letting her walk away. But deep down, Daegan knew that Tina was right. The way Kinsley looked at him ignited a fire in his very soul—that wasn’t a lie. And his feelings for her, the depth of his longing? That was the most honest thing he had ever known.

He didn’t give a damn about her house anymore. He could save Trueport another way. But there was only one chance to mend things with Kinsley, and he had to take it.

“Make sure Roger gets his last paycheck,” he said as he walked out Tina’s door.

With a heavy heartand trembling hands, Kinsley climbed into her car. She forced herself to look back at the beautiful home, knowing this would be the last time she laid eyes on it while it was still hers. The next time she saw it, she’d be signing it away and collecting the remaining pieces of her shattered life. The memories of the love and laughter she had shared with her grandmother held together every brick and shingle. She couldn’t build it again, despite how hard she’d tried.

Her flight would leave in a couple of hours. Daegan seemed to like to take off without warning; it only seemed fitting to do the very same.

Agreeing to be his personal assistant had been nothing but a mistake. She shouldn’t have moved here to begin with. If she’d had enough money, she could have followed through with her plan to turn Granny’s house into a beautiful bed-and-breakfast right away. Instead, it sat at the beginning of renovations that would never be completed.

As she turned the key in the ignition, a single, traitorous tear slid down her cheek. She loved Daegan with every fiber of her being, with an intensity that frightened her. Even though a part of her hated him, that longing refused to let her go. She would not let it consume her, she couldn’t. It would fade in time, she just needed to gain enough distance for Daegan Westerhouse to become nothing more than another sad memory.

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