Page 61 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

Wyatt finally looked to Cynder and his smile widened. “Well, isn’t this a surprise. The woman of the hour.”

“What was that about? Why were they here?” Cynder asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know. You will soon. Xander hired them to take care of the event today. The one you so cleverly set up.”

“How did it go, by the way?”

“I think that Xander was visited by a lot of ghosts of girlfriends past. He did a lot of apologizing and sweating under his suit coat. But he didn’t find the girl of his dreams. I’m pretty sure he’s about to.”

“I don’t know about this,” Cynder said. “I should probably just go.”

“Nope,” Wyatt and Lucy said at the same time. Then they both said, “Jinx!”

Cynder met Judy’s eyes. The older woman smiled, even as she shook her head. “I want to be happy for them, but it might be just a little too annoying.”

Lucy punched her in the arm. “You know the solution to that, right? Go get your man.”

“He’s in the conference room,” Wyatt said.

“You really think I should go in there?” Cynder twisted the fabric of her coat in her hands. She needed it to cover the splint so he wouldn’t immediately know it was her.

Wyatt nodded. “You have to. I think that he’s pretty miserable right now. He knows he messed up a lot of things. Give him a chance to do the right thing.”

“Get in there, muse.”

Cynder tried to steady her legs, which felt wobbly and unsure. But she knew that she had to go. She had to know, finally, how Xander really felt. If he didn’t want her, fine. She wouldn’t be worse off than she already was. He couldn’t break her heart any more than he had, right?

It was that tiny splinter of hope that moved her feet down the hall to the conference room and Xander. But as she stood outside the doorway, she had to face another moment of panic. It was too soon to use big words for how she felt about Xander. But she suspected that she had tipped well past the point of simple like or attraction.

Maybe it was naïve or maybe she was letting the shared grief forge more of a bond than was really there, but spending so much time with him this week left her feeling devastated at the thought of really walking away. Or of just friendship. She wanted more. It was terrifying, but not as terrifying as the idea of not at least trying to fight for this.

Cynder stepped into the conference room. Despite the floor-length gown, mask, and long coat she held over her arm to hide the splint that would have immediately given her away, she felt completely exposed. Afraid he would immediately recognize her voice, she didn’t speak, waiting for him to notice her there.

Xander looked up and she watched his face. His eyes went wide with surprise first as he recognized her. Placing his palms on the table, he lifted himself halfway out of the chair. And then something else passed over his face. It was an emotion that almost pushed her into running straight out the door.

Cynder felt that splinter of hope explode into something much larger and much more painful as she watched Xander’s face close off with unmistakable regret.

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