Page 35 of Captivated By You

“I would relish the opportunity. I’m on board with this initiative, as you know. I think it’s going to be a tremendous success for Kingcaid.”

“As do I. That’s settled, then.” I casually played with my cuff links. “Maybe you could ask the intern here to support you. It might be a good way to further develop her people skills.”

“Great idea. Kiana would enjoy that.”

There’s my opening.

“How is she performing?”

“Extremely well. She’s bright, articulate, an absolute hit with the guests and the staff alike. She has a lot of great ideas. Sometimes too many.”

He chuckled, and I joined in.

“Can’t ever have enough ideas.” I glanced around. “Is she around? It would be rude of me to visit and not at least check in.”

“She’s due in late today. She had a doctor’s appointment. She said she’d be here around ten.”

Was she ill? My heart jumped into my throat and then plummeted to the floor. Fuck. Was she pregnant? I counted back the weeks to our one-night stand. Eight? Right in the zone. We’d used protection, but it wasn’t a hundred percent effective. As Johannes so delicately put it, every time you got your dick wet, you risked expanding the world’s population.

“Right.” My voice rasped, and I cleared my throat. “I won’t keep you any longer, Philippe.”Go away so I can mull over my vivid imagination in peace.

“Great to see you, Asher.” He shook my hand and strode off toward his office. I checked my watch. Nine thirty. I left the hotel and walked a block to a coffee shop on the corner. I ordered a flat white to go and spent the next twenty minutes hanging out near the hotel, ensuring I had a view of the front entrance.

Ihadto know if I’d knocked her up.

And if I had… what then?

The condoms… they had to have worked. People visited the doctor for many reasons. Just because Kiana had didn’t mean she was pregnant. But the timing… God… right in the hit zone. And if she was and wanted to keep it…

I shook my head. Cross that bridge only when necessary.

I spied her approaching, her attention on her phone. She narrowly avoided bumping into a middle-aged man coming from the opposite direction. Her lips formed an apology. I strode toward her. We were forty feet apart when her head came up and her eyes collided with mine. Hers flared wide, and her gait stalled. Locking away her obvious surprise at seeing me, she stood tall and came toward me.

“Mr. Kingcaid. What a pleasant surprise.” She dropped her eyes to my empty hands. “What, no gifts? How disappointing.”

I suppressed a smile at her formal greeting tinged with a hint of sarcasm. “Miss Doherty. The pleasure is all mine. And, no, I’m afraid that today it’s just me.”

She canted her head. “What are you doing here?”

I wrinkled my forehead. “Visiting my own hotel, you mean?”

“No. That’s not what I… it’s just that I didn’t expect to see you.”

“I’ve been traveling.”

“Oh, nice.” She glanced at the phone still in her hand. “I, um, have to go. I’ll be late.”

“Philippe tells me you had a doctor’s appointment this morning.”

Her pupils dilated, eclipsing her rich honey irises. “Isn’t that inappropriate or something? Employee confidentiality? Surely there’s a law out there somewhere about sharing personal information without permission.”

“Are you pregnant?” I blurted.

Her mouth popped open, jaw slack. “I beg your pardon?”

“Well, are you?”

“That’s… I’m… what the fuck, Asher?”

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