Page 63 of The Billionaire's Masquerade Ball

He did pull back then, holding her carefully, like she might break. “I can’t believe that it was you. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was jealous too. I mean, I know it’s me, but you didn’t know it was me. Wyatt told me I should tell you, but I just felt like I couldn’t and after time went on, it only got more awkward. It’s been driving me crazy all week.” She looked down then, the smile faltering. “I almost didn’t come, though. I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me.”

Xander gathered her up in his arms again, pressing his face in her hair. “I am so sorry I fired you. That was not one of my finer moments. It was kind of a gut reaction. No one else really knows about Sarah and Ryder. It still hurts so much and knowing that you knew about them—about me—it made me feel so vulnerable. I was … scared.”

“I’m sorry that I found out,” she said. “I really didn’t mean to.”

Xander nuzzled his face closer into her. “I’m glad you know. Truly. I am. It’s only fitting because I couldn’t have a girlfriend who didn’t know about my past.”

She stiffened and for a moment he worried he had overstepped. It must be too fast to call her his girlfriend. He felt the same urge to run that had caused him to fire her the day before. Gritting his teeth, Xander forced himself to slowly lean away from her, finding her eyes with his own.

“Girlfriend?” she said, her voice coming out like a squeak.

He brushed her hair off her shoulder, then brushed it back. He took a lock of hair in his hands, running it all the way down to the tip.

“Am I moving too fast calling you my girlfriend?”

She grinned. “I think that now you’re running at exactly the right speed. If you’re asking me to be your girlfriend, I happily accept. I should tell you, though, I’ve never really had a proper boyfriend. Or—” He watched her eyes fall to his lips and his own gaze moved to hers. “—a kiss.”

Xander smiled and ducked a little so her eyes came back up to his. “Never been kissed? I can’t wait to remedy that. But in the interest of not moving too fast, girlfriend, maybe I shouldn’t. Yet.”

Her face dropped a little. “I have to confess, I’ve been thinking about you kissing me.”

Xander dropped his smile and cupped Cynder’s face in his hands. “I will kiss you. That’s a promise. But I have more words first. I am so grateful that you set up this day. Not only because you kept my past private, but because I needed it. It was painful and awful and I never would wish it on anyone, but I needed to see how I was treating people. I kept my distance and felt like that made it okay for me to go on as many dates as I wanted as long as I didn’t make a commitment or do something physical that implied one. But it was wrong. I was wrong. And your little event made me see it. So, thank you for helping me see that, even if it’s not what you intended. What did you intend, by the way?”

Cynder smiled. “I knew it would get Olivia away from finding out about your history. But then a part of me also felt like it might, um, serve you right. I didn’t quite have the honorable intentions of helping you make your past wrongs right, but I’m glad that happened too.”

“Thank you,” he said. “You put me first, even when I didn’t deserve it. Especially with the thanks I gave you by firing you.”

“Don’t talk about what we deserve. We all should have the freedom to grieve publicly or privately. You shouldn’t be forced to share your whole history with the world. It’s yours alone. But you don’t need to carry it alone. If you don’t want to,” she said. She smiled, and he wanted to cement this moment in his memory.

Xander released Cynder briefly, just enough to pick up the contract he had on the other side of the table. It wasn’t the same, but he wanted to give her something. As soon as he had it in hand, he grabbed Cynder again under one arm.

“I got you an early Christmas present. Even though I know you said you didn’t want to celebrate this year. You can’t return it, so don’t even ask.”

“Why would I want to return it?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t. But it’s kind of, um, a big gift.”

“Xander. Don’t start throwing around billions of dollars on me. I’m a normal girl. I don’t want to suddenly live some other fancy life.”

“You think I’m fancy? That’s adorable. Look, I won’t throw around too many billions of dollars. This one didn’t even cost a million. I actually got a very good deal on it. Here. Open it up.”

“You didn’t wrap it?” Cynder smiled, taking the papers in hand. She wrinkled her nose for a moment, reading, then handed it back to him. “I don’t do legalese. Can you tell me what I’m looking at?”

Xander brushed the hair back over her shoulders, smiling. “No. But I’ll tell you what I’m looking at right now,” he said, making sure he was staring right at her face. “These papers tell me that I’m looking at the owner of Looking Glass Events.”

He enjoyed watching the emotion pass over her face as Cynder went from confused to understanding to shocked. “You bought Gail out?”

“I don’t know if you remember a conversation I had with a certain woman in a mask last weekend about her business problem, but I suggested a buyout.”

“I remember, but you really bought them out? How? Why?”

Xander traced a finger over her cheek. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her now that he had started. “The why is easy. It’s your company. You and your dad’s. It should never have been hers. And she would just run it into the ground. She had no idea what she was doing. Consider it my apology gift for getting you fired.”

Cynder reached up and kissed him on the cheek, her lips lingering long enough to make him clutch her a little tighter. “Xander, thank you. It is too big a gift, seriously. But there is no way I would turn it down. I will definitely accept. I just can’t believe you would do that for me.”

“Trust me. You deserve it. I’m glad I could do it.”

---