Page 90 of Dirty Boss

I nodded at my ex. “Cole.”

“Alba,” he said, gaze flicking to Vaughn.

“This is Vaughn,” I said. “Vaughn, Cole.”

Recognition flared in Vaughn’s gaze at the name, and after a brief hesitation, he stuck out his hand to shake my ex-fiancé’s. Meanwhile, Cole’s wife clung to his other side and tilted her head at me. We’d met a couple of times, and now we studied each other silently. She wore a black dress and carried a gold clutch. In her ears, little gold earrings with dangling birds swung with her every movement.

“This is Carrie,” Cole said, then cleared his throat. “Carrie, you remember Alba?”

I knew my smile looked stilted and forced. I knew I was completely failing at keeping my mask on, but I hadn’t reallyexpected to run into my ex within minutes of walking into the room.

I thought I’d been ready to be here, but now I wasn’t so sure.

When I’d met Carrie, she’d been one of the many people in Cole’s assistant pool, and I’d known—I’dknown—there was something between them. It was in the air when they were in the room together. Electricity, snapping between them, static raising the hair on my arms.

I hadn’t known their history—but then again, I hadn’t needed to know. It was right there in every look they shared. Every touch they tried to avoid. Cole had been a good fiancé to me. He hadn’t betrayed me. He’d simply treated me the way everyone else did: like I was replaceable. I was the one who’d had an affair. If not a physical one, it was at the very least emotional. I fell in love with another man, and I hit the eject button on our relationship as soon as I got the chance.

I hadn’t expected to feel pain at the sight of Cole. We’d never loved each other—not really. But he had been such a big part of my life at that time. He represented The Right Way of Doing Things. Marrying him was what I’d been supposed to do.

And now I was reminded of how easily our relationship had broken down and the fall from grace that came afterward. I couldn’t help the tightness in my lungs, the cold sweat that broke out between my shoulder blades.

Then—warmth.

Vaughn’s palm swept down my back, over my upper spine, and then coasted down the glittering lavender fabric of my dress. He slid his hand around my waist and pulled me close. My shoulders relaxed, and I managed a smile. A real one.

“You look beautiful,” I said to Carrie. I nodded to the ring on her finger. “Congratulations.”

Carrie’s smile was tentative, but it seemed genuine. She and Cole shared a look. The expression on Cole’s face was one I’dnever seen before. It was tender and so full of love that seeing it made me feel like I was intruding on a private moment. I glanced away and found Vaughn staring down at me.

His fingers tightened on my waist. “You okay?” he murmured.

I exhaled and reached up to straighten his white necktie. “Yes,” I told him. “Thank you.”

He held my gaze for just a moment, then dipped down and gave me a quick, soft kiss. Then he straightened, his arm still holding me firmly at his side. That one kiss was healing. It lasted only a moment, but it was enough to make me forget about the tension of my engagement to Cole, the fear that it would all fall apart—and then the horror when it actually did. Cole and I would never be friends, but that was okay. He didn’t seem to have any hard feelings for me; he had bigger things to worry about. And he hadn’t batted an eye at my being here, in this room, with another man. I wasn’t an outcast to these people. I relaxed into his touch, a jagged wound in my heart beginning to knit itself together.

At that moment, my eyes met Cole’s. His gaze skimmed over Vaughn’s arm, and his lips curled into a kind smile. “It’s good to see you, Alba.”

I smiled back at him, leaning into Vaughn. “Same.”

“You look happy,” he added, and glanced at Carrie. She smiled at him, and his own smile grew before he turned back to look at me. “That makes me glad.”

They were simple words, delivered genuinely, and I felt tears prickle at the corners of my eyes. I hadn’t known that I’d wanted or needed Cole’s forgiveness. But he was giving it to me now, and that wound in my heart scabbed over a little bit more. Throat tight, I nodded. “Congrats to you two again.”

We said our goodbyes. I watched Carrie and Cole drift off together, and I felt like I’d just passed the first hurdle. It wasoverwhelming. These people, this event—it was like revisiting an old version of myself. A stranger. I hadn’t realized how difficult it would be to stand up here as the new me, facing all the mistakes of my past—even if they seemed to be forgiven.

I took a sip of champagne from the glass I still held, but even the taste of it on my tongue made me dizzy. “I need to duck to the washroom,” I murmured to Vaughn, who nodded, concern drawing his brows together.

A waiter took my glass, and I wove my way through the crowd, shaking off the jitters of my first interaction. The hallway to the washrooms loomed up ahead, and I kept my eyes on it as I crossed the ballroom. I needed the relative privacy of a stall of my own to compose myself again so I could be the woman Vaughn needed me to be for the rest of the evening. So I could brace myself for other interactions that might not go as smoothly as that one.

Then I heard my name—and I recognized the voice.

THIRTY-FOUR

VAUGHN

As soon asAlba left my side, I felt untethered. She’d been glittering and gorgeous at my side, sucking all the attention away from me, which was exactly how I liked it. Now I stood on my own, surrounded by people richer and classier than I was, and I felt like my skin was suddenly on too tight. My tongue was clumsy in my mouth, and I didn’t know what to do with my free hand.

I took a sip of champagne and tracked Alba’s progress through the ballroom, hoping she’d hurry.