Page 80 of Captivated By You

He flashed me one of his panty-melting grins. “Well, pull yourself together, because we’re here.”

A biting wind whipped around my ankles as I walked beside Ash. We entered the Chicago Kingcaid. Armed with the direction Ash had given me, I scanned around the lobby as we made our way over to the reception desk. The male staff member manning the desk looked up from his computer screen with a smile. His smile faltered as he recognized Ash, and he did this little shuffle backward before he recovered his composure.

“Mr. Kingcaid.”

“Hi, I’m here to see Si—” He gestured dismissively. “Never mind.”

I smiled an apology as Ash strode off. Turning to follow him, I stuttered to a halt, the soles of my shoes squeaking on the floor.

No. No, no, no.

I squeezed my eyes closed in the futile hope that I was seeing things. When I opened them, the horrid truth crushed my chest. I couldn’t take a full breath.

Conversing outside the lobby bar was Ash… with Simon. My fucking ex, Simon. The douchebag who’d believed his scurvy lowlife of a brother over me. His girlfriend. The woman he’d professed to care for.

This couldnotbe happening. I stared at the floor, praying for a sinkhole, or some other natural disaster, to rescue me from imminent catastrophe.

“Kiana.”

At the sound of Ash’s voice, I reluctantly lifted my chin, my eyes colliding with Simon’s. His horror reflected mine. His jaw hung open, his expression pained, and he gave the smallest shake of his head.

The nerve of the man. He wanted me to hide our past from Ash, to keep quiet, not make a fuss. In other words, be the Kiana I’d always been. The one he’d relied on to leave without a fight, when I should have stood up for myself and what was right.

Three years was a long time, and people changed.I’dchanged.

Except… I hadn’t pressed charges against Forster. I’d let him caress my ass and had done nothing. If I hadn’t met Ash that night, Forster would still be free to carry on putting his hands wherever he liked, on whomever he liked, and until a brave woman stood up to him and reported it, he’d keep on getting away with it.

Time to stop being a pushover and show the world the sassy attitude that came easily around Ash.

I squared my shoulders, painted on a cool smile, and joined the two men.

“Hello, Simon.” I looked him up and down with as much disdain as I could get away with in a work environment. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

And then, because it suited my purposes to make this little rat squirm, I did the complete opposite of what I’d drummed into Ash for weeks. I slipped my hand through the crook of his arm and smiled up at him adoringly.

“Darling, Simon and I used to date a few years back.”

Ash hid his surprise at both this slice of news and the use of a term of endearment I’d never used before with him, as well as the show of affection by linking arms. But I hadn’t finished.

“Imusttell you all about it over dinner this evening. Especially how we broke up.” I gestured to Simon. “Unless you’d like to share?”

Simon’s face turned beet red, his eyes pleading with me to lie to Ash, something I’d never do. It was one thing not to tell him about Simon and me when he was just an ex-boyfriend. Ash hadn’t exactly reeled off information about his exes—thank goodness. But now that I knew Simon worked for Kingcaid Hotels… well, that put a whole different spin on things.

I’d always planned to tell Ash why I’d resisted dating him for so long when it had been clear from the start how perfect we were for one another. And with this unexpected development, the timeline had just nudged up several notches.

“Kiana, please,” Simon begged.

Ash peered down at me, then across at Simon, and then back at me. “I’d like you to move on to the second half of what we talked about this morning, Kiana. I’ll have a chat with Simon in his office. Alone.”

“But—”

“Simon,” he barked. “Your office. Now.”

Before I could argue, Ash strode off with Simon tagging behind like a dog about to get a beating. He fired me a final beseeching look, then turned the corner and disappeared.

The enormity of the bomb I’d detonated hit me, and I braced a hand against the wall to steady my knocking knees. I’d done the right thing. I had.

Hadn’t I?

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