Page 23 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

Chapter 7

Rushing toward the bathroom closest to the kitchen, Cynder almost ran over a guy around her age with floppy blond hair. “Sorry,” she said, the tears blurring her vision.

He gaped at her, but moved out of her way. “No problem,” he said. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer, but pushed past him and through the bathroom door. Lucy flipped the lock as soon as Cynder burst in, still carrying her shoes.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Lucy said. “Things were getting cagey back there. Is everything going smoothly out front or not so much?”

“Not so smoothly. Can you get me out of this fast? I need to get back there.”

“I’m on it.”

Cynder tried not to look at Lucy straight in the face. She did not want to talk about what just happened. She threw the gold mask on the counter and leaned her palms against it. It felt like someone had taken to her heart with a meat tenderizer.

Her own mind was still reeling: the whole time she had been talking to their client, billionaire Xander Callahan. Billionaire playboy, she reminded herself bitterly. But he didn’t seem that way at all. He seemed genuine. Trustworthy. Maybe that was part of the charm. And she had fallen right for it.

He must use more than just his bank account to lure women in, only to leave them crushed on the shore. Crushed was a good word to describe how Cynder felt. She almost let him kiss her. Her first-ever kiss, with a man who probably made out with a different girl every night of the week.

Had it all been part of some game? It didn’t feel that way. Maybe he really did mean the things he said. And if he had, then Cynder had fallen … but in a different way. Could she really hope for a future with someone like that? She was too inexperienced. Someone like him needed a different kind of woman altogether. Like the one she had pretended to be.

But she hadn’t really been pretending, had she? It was more that she had been more bold than she usually was. Maybe masks were a bad idea. She would never have let herself get this close if she had simply run into him at an event. Especially considering that he was a client.

She groaned as Lucy began to loosen the corset. “I’m so dead. I’m going to lose my job.”

“Did someone recognize you?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what? Are you okay? I mean, you look gorgeous, don’t get me wrong. But also really kind of not great.”

“It’s complicated.”

Lucy paused and moved to stand in front of Cynder, her eyes round and wide. “Complicated? Look at me.” Cynder looked away. At the empty stalls, at the ceiling, anywhere but at her face. Lucy practically squealed. “You met a Prince Charming! I told you!”

“Shush! And hurry. I have to get back to work before I lose my job for another reason. Things are not going well out there.”

But her best friend was having none of it. Lucy grabbed Cynder’s arm and spun her around.

“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

Cynder bit her lip, still feeling terrified, but also remembering the way that Xander had looked at her. The way his hand felt on her waist, the way he had leaned so close that she could feel his breath on her face.

“I have never in my life seen you turn this shade of red, Cynder. You didn’t just meet some guy, you fell hard. I believe in love at first sight, you know.”

Lucy’s words horrified her. “No! It’s not love. And it won’t be anything. It was a total disaster and I ran away and he doesn’t even know my name. Just, stop talking and help me get back into my clothes.”

“I’ll help you, but I’m not going to stop asking questions. Was he handsome?”

“I think so.”

“You think so?”

Cynder tried to think if she had seen any photographs of Xander Callahan. She couldn’t remember seeing any, only hearing the rumors about how he went through women. Her stomach lurched.

“Masks, remember? He had kind eyes. And a beard. Not the big hipster kind. A short, gentleman’s beard.”

With Lucy’s help, she stepped out of her dress and began pulling on the black clothes again.

---