Page 57 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

“Just when he’s stressed or has a problem he can’t solve. See? He likes you. That’s the problem. I think.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Cynder said. “It’s all over. He was so mad at me.”

Lucy’s voice shouted through a door at the back of the apartment. “I’ll be out in a second!”

Cynder watched as Wyatt’s whole body turned toward the sound, a smile already slipping over his face. Was that how it was supposed to be? It looked so easy. He met Lucy two days ago and asked her on a date. The way he felt about her was so clear that he couldn’t even hide it.

If Xander had really been interested in her, wouldn’t it have been that simple? Maybe she was the one complicating things, with her complete lack of experience with relationships. She was probably misreading all of his signals.

When Wyatt turned back to her, his face fell. Clearly her misery was written all over it. “Man, you’ve got it bad. Obviously you really like him. But I really do think Xander likes you. He doesn’t know what to do about it. I know he’s got the reputation and seems to go out with women all the time, but he doesn’t actually date and he never has relationships. He hasn’t wanted to. Maybe he doesn’t know how? It’s different with you. If I can be honest, I think you’ve both done equal parts to screw this up.”

Cynder made a face. “I’m sure I did a lot. But what he did was worse.”

“Oh, really?”

“He got me fired, then hired me, then fired me! Just for starters.”

“He got you fired after trying to get your disgusting co-worker-slash-step-brother in trouble for harassing you. He paid for your urgent care and he came to get you when you pretended to work from home. And he trusted you enough to let you handle Olivia. Meanwhile, you set him up for some kind of elaborate speed-dating bachelor contest thing that’s going to make him completely miserable and is, frankly, embarrassing. All while lying about your other identity.”

Cynder glared at him. “Glad to know that you’ve got my back, Wyatt.”

He held up his hands. “I’m just being honest. I said this earlier in the week, but if you two sat down and talked about your feelings honestly like mature adults—”

“Hey, Wyatt. I’m ready.” Lucy’s voice cut off whatever Wyatt was saying.

He had already jumped to his feet and was holding out the bouquet of flowers as Lucy walked into the room. She took the flowers and stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m terrible with plants and all the blooms will probably fall off by the time we get back tonight, but it was a really nice thought.”

“Leave them on the table. I’ll put them in water for you,” Cynder said. “My thumb is a little more green than yours.”

“Your thumb is sprained,” Lucy said.

Cynder shrugged. “It’s still better with plants than your two non-sprained thumbs.”

“You look amazing,” Wyatt said. “I hope you’re hungry. I have dinner reservations and then wanted to see what you felt like doing after. Movie, music, coffee, whatever you want.”

Lucy giggled. “You might want to quantify that a little bit. Without some good guidelines, whatever I want might be a little too extreme for you.”

“No way,” Wyatt said. “Try me.”

Laughing, Lucy put her arm through Wyatt’s and he grinned down at her. Cynder’s stomach twisted. This. This is what she wanted. It didn’t seem so hard. Wyatt was right that she should have been honest with Xander from the beginning. Her reasons seemed so stupid and childish now.

A huge part of it had been fear. The fear of the unknown. The fear of being like her father and falling for completely the wrong person. Fear of loving someone with a completely different kind of life and in social circles she never would have seen herself in. The fear of not being good enough for someone like Xander. The fear of her inexperience.

Fear of really falling in love.

“Cynder? You okay?” Lucy and Wyatt both looked concerned.

“Okay is a relative word. You guys go. Have fun. Don’t stay out past curfew.”

“Okay, Mom.” Lucy rolled her eyes and blew her a kiss.

As the door closed and the sound of their conversation faded, Cynder wondered if somewhere, Xander felt as alone as she did.

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