“Babycakes, over here.”
—which was in the arms of Cyrus, the guy she had been secretly dating for three years, and yes, she was honestly hoping that the more times she told herself this, she would eventually believe it.
Cyrus watched in satisfaction as his secret girlfriend of three years came rushing to his table. She was still a pretty little thing, and he was confident that this year, he was finally going to score big.
Just gotta be patient,he reminded himself.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s fine,” Cyrus said expansively.
Kyara was about to sit opposite him when he made atut-tutsound. “I missed you. Come sit by me.” Cyrus patted the space next to him.
Kyara forced herself to smile as she joined him in the booth and did her best not to flinch as his arm brushed against the side of her breast.An accident, she reminded herself. Yes, it happened all the time, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t an accident. Some people were just...clumsy, and that was why it was better to focus on...on...the booth.
The booth vinyl was sticky under Kyara’s thighs, and her coat sleeve had caught on something tacky on the table edge. Anything was okay, anything than the possibility that the man she had been secretly dating for years might not be clumsy after all.
“So...”
Cyrus was smiling at her, and that smile...that smile was as harmless as ever, and that was additional proof he was just clumsy.Right?
“How is it, working for The Executioner?”
The usual unease crossed her expression, and Cyrus pinched her cheek. “Oh, c’mon. You know I was just joking, babycakes.”
Kyara did her best to smile. Yes, of course, Cyrus was just joking. However—
She didn’t have a chance to speak since Cyrus was already talking about something else.
“I just remembered something.” Cyrus set his mug down with a thunk. “I’ll be away for the weekend. I’m joining Marketing in their trip to Vegas.”
“O-Oh.” Kyara tried to make sense of this, and while she knew she wasn’t stupid, she...she just couldn’t figure it out. “You work in Accounting,” she blurted out. “So why would you—”
Cyrus was winking at her, and she could only shake her head. “I’m sorry, I still don’t get it.”
He pinched her cheek as soon as she admitted this, and she quickly pulled away because honestly, his pinching hurt. He always told her he did it because he found her adorable, but he didn’t have to hurt her for it?
“I’m the numbers guy, babycakes. That means I can help them win in the casino.”
Kyara finally saw the light. Or maybe it was the opposite, and she was once again struggling not to see how Cyrus’s actions were the opposite of light. Then again, who was she to judge? Maybe they were just planning to hit the tables after office hours? But in the daytime—
“Does that mean you’re going to work remotely? And your boss—”
Cyrus cut her off with a groan. “How can you still not get it, babycakes? My boss isn’t really my boss. Not when I’m Henry Wallace’s one and only beloved son.”
A waitress came to their table at that moment, tired-eyed and silent, setting two glasses of water down between them and saving Kyara from replying...because she still didn’t know how to react every time Cyrus talked about the one thing that everyone had already known three years ago. Everyone but her.
Cyrus wasn’t the first-placer she thought he was. And the reason she thought he was popular? It wasn’t what she thought it was either. Small-town idiot that she was, she hadnotknown that Cyrus was actually the only son of Wallace International’s CEO, and...and...
He wasn’t evil,she reminded herself.
That mattered.
Cyrus might not be the man she thought he was before, but he wasn’t evil like the men her mother dated, and so it was very, very important that she didn’t be greedy and take that for granted.
Cyrus wasn’t tall, dark, and handsome like they all were, and...and she shouldn’t forget that he also had a job, never mind if it wasn’t something he actually earned for himself. No one was perfect anyway, and in fact, Cyrus would be the first one to admit he was no angel, just like she’d also be the first one to defend him fornotbeing a monster, and that...
That mattered.
