Page 45 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

“I owe you an apology,” he said. “Maybe several.”

She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. He was fixated on his finger, tracing over the dark blue splint. She could hardly feel it through the thick material, but just knowing that he was touching her made her whole body feel restless for more.

“It’s not your fault I sprained my thumb,” Cynder said, trying to steer the conversation back toward the shallow end. The room felt too heavy suddenly.

“Not for that,” Xander said, the spark of humor returning to his eyes. “You did that all on your own. It was fun to watch, actually.”

Cynder smiled. “It was satisfying. Not as much as I thought it would be, but he had it coming.”

Xander still held her hand, his fingers moving over the splint, but he didn’t say anything more and he didn’t look at her. It was an intimate touch, made somehow acceptable because the splint kept it from being skin on skin. Close, but not too close.

“I’d accept your apology, but I think I need to know what you’re apologizing for,” Cynder said.

“I’m sorry for being confusing and difficult and rude.” Xander gave her a quick smile. “If you’ll forgive me, I was hoping that you’d come back to work. The office feels strangely empty without you.”

His words made her heart soar. “I just started. How can it be strange without me? Honestly, Xander, I’m not sure I should come back at all. This isn’t a real job. I bullied you into giving it to me. You felt bad and I took advantage of that. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You need a job, though, right?”

“I mean, clearly. But I’m not an assistant. Not really.”

“Isn’t that what you were doing for Looking Glass?”

Cynder stared, not sure how much to tell him. Both Lucy and Wyatt thought she should be honest and this was a perfect opportunity. Here, her story connected to the story Xander knew from the woman in the mask. It would be so easy to confess. She didn’t want to wonder anymore how he felt about her compared to the woman in the mask or how he would react when he found out the truth.

The words caught in her throat. Fear held them there.

Cynder couldn’t be the one to tell him. But if he figured it out himself, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad? Heart thumping, she began. “I’m not an assistant. I used to help run Looking Glass.”

Xander lifted his eyebrows. His finger continued stroking her hand and she couldn’t decide if she was glad for the distraction. “Interesting. Go on.”

“My father and I built Looking Glass. Well, he did. I started in high school, just on the weekends. Back then I was an assistant. It’s been years. I’ve been a full partner since college. I thought we’d be running it forever. Then he met Gail and they got married.”

“Someone fell in love with Gail?” Xander said. “Sorry, I know this is your dad we’re talking about.”

Cynder giggled, despite herself. “Trust me, I know. Please don’t judge him based on that, though. It was an anomaly in his otherwise flawless judgment. I think she cast a spell on him. Anyway, I think over time he would have realized how awful she was, but they were married for about a year when he had the heart attack.”

His fingers spilled over from the splint to the skin on the back of her hand. She cleared her throat, pressing down the ball of emotion forming there. Tentatively and ever-so-slowly, his fingers moved across her hand until his palm met with hers. The touch sparked through her body. Loosely, he laced his fingers through hers.

Cynder’s breath caught and she met his eyes. The brown color seemed to have softened to a warm caramel, inviting her to spill all her secrets.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She nodded, then cleared her throat and continued. “Apparently, sometime in that last year, he changed his will and left the business to her.”

Xander sat back in surprise but didn’t let go of her hand. “Really? That fast? I’m surprised within a year he would have already taken care of that.”

“I had no idea. It was quite a shock. Gail has her own lawyer who handled everything. I guess they went in together sometime and he just didn’t tell me. She probably pushed him to do it. She’s like that.”

“You and your dad were close?”

“We were. At least, before Gail. She made things difficult this past year. I had lived with him before so I moved in with Lucy. This is her place. Anyway, Gail took over at Looking Glass, fired everyone else, brought all of her kids on staff, and demoted me to be their secretary and coffee-fetcher.”

“That’s … I’m sorry. I don’t even have the words for that.”

His eyes flashed with anger and he squeezed her hand a little too tightly. Cynder couldn’t hide the grimace of pain as the nerves in her thumb lit up. Xander dropped her hand. Cynder fought the urge to grab it back.

“Sorry,” he said.

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