Page 23 of Reckless Kiss

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head a little. “It’s not exactly normal to gather up all the agents who work with your players and throw them a party with your rich and power friends, now is it? I get that he wants to introduce himself to everyone but this is odd.”

“I hear odd is the norm.”

She nodded slightly. “I hear the same thing.”

So Kelly knew as much as I did and her unease confirmed it was nothing good. “Tonight should be interesting.”

“To say the least.”

After nearly on hour of cocktails and mingling with no sight of our host, we were called into a massive dining room. I felt almost as if I’d stepped inside of some modern version of an Agatha Christie novel. No one really knew why we were all there, the host was mysteriously absent, and the setting was peculiarly ostentatious.

I didn’t think my instincts could peg any harder into the red zone.

Untileverythingchanged. At least for me. As guests were guided to their assigned seats my eyes fell on the most beautiful woman in the room. Raven hair perfectly styled instead of down, dress much more sedated than I’d seen her before, but still unmistakable sexy.

It was my Esme.

Marie grabbed my elbow. “Come. I want to introduce you.” And to my confused horror she directed me toward the woman in question.

The head of the table sat open, but to the right hand of the host stood a man in a suit I longed for. Its clean lines were perfection. The shade of blue so unique.

“William. It’s been too long,” Marie said, stopping in front of him. “Welcome to Tampa.”

He nodded once. “I see now why you ran away. The weather is a nice change.” Then William reached out and put his hand on Esme—the woman I couldn’t stop staring at—he put his hand on her shoulder. “You remember my sister?”

It was like staring at a car accident on the side of the road. Technically I understood what was happening, but my mind simply wouldn’t accept the information.

Marie and Esme hugged. Warmly. Like old friends.

“Oh my. You’re not a teenager anymore,” Marie laughed.

“We really haven’t seen each other in a very long time,” Esme returned the laugh. She very carefully avoided looking my direction.

“I wanted you both to meet my right hand man. Anything you need from Bancroft Sports will come from me personally or Leo.” Then she turned to me. “Leo Hancock, this is William and Rosalind Brown.”

My confusion was complete.

Was she Esme or not?

“William. Rosalind. It’s very nice to meet you.” I shook his hand heartily but when I turned toRosalindshe hesitated. Avoided my gaze. Her breath hitched.

Dear god itwasher.

I didn’t understand anything.

She slid her delicate hand into mine and electricity jolted up my arm and down my spine, triggering memories of holding her hands while I fucked her slow and deep.

She shivered, yanking her hand away. Remembering the same things?

“We should sit. You remember how father is about dinner?” Esme/Rosalind asked Marie with a cocked eyebrow. “Nothing has changed.”

“Then we should find our seats,” she said quickly.

My mind buzzed in a way that usually only happened if I were to drink too much, something I hadn’t done since college, so it was an even more disorienting experience. Marie slid into a seat beside William, Greg on her other side. Five seats further down the long table I finally found my name.

It gave me an excellent view of the woman I knew, but didn’t. Rosalind? I rolled the name around a few more times and sanity began to sink in. I went back to my research. William was the oldest and very involved in his father’s empire while the daughter was the mystery. No matter what research I did, how deep I dug, all I came up with was her name.Rosalind.She didn’t work for her father, seemingly had no digital footprint.

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