Chapter 54
She hesitated after dropping off her suitcase and coat. Should she make tea? Should she make it for her too! How was this going to play out? was still Kylan’s wife, as far as the public knew. Would he act any differently today, now that she would once again have an audience paying attention‘ Especially because she was a reporter?
She stood near her desk, debating about what the hell to do when her phone chimed
“Forget the tea and come here, please.”
Her mouth was dry. So dry
She
Okay. She could do this. She could go pretend that Kylan hadn’t been ignoring her for the last month. She could pretend that everything was fir Because everything was fine, right? Fine. Just fine.
She straightened out her dress, fluffed her hair, and then She took a deep breath and then made the same short walk she had taken a thousand times before to Kylan’s office.
The first thing Katrina noticed was that his door was closed. It was almost never fully closed in the morning before she brought him his tea. But okay, that was nothing weird, surely.
He would still remain loyal for the sake of appearances, right? But what was loyal anymore, anyway?
She considered knocking but decided against it at the last moment. If he was doing anything with this woman, she could be rid of the contract that felt more and more like a freaking noose around her neck.
Jet it be known. Let it be known so
She heard laughing as she pushed the door open, and her heart fluttered nervously. She wasn’t actually prepared to see Rylan f*cking someone in his office, not really.
To her relief. Kylan was sitting at his desk, and a blonde woman she didn’t recognize was sitting in her usual chair. She was gorgeous. All white teeth big breasted perfect curves, obnoxious straight smile with an obvious fake tan that was blended at a professional level. Her bright, blue eyes shone when she looked at her.
She felt like an actual deer in headlights, staring at this woman. This woman the knew had slept with Kylan. Had felt him inside her. Had seen that side of him. The side of him that he rejected her from seeing.
She wasn’t prepared for this. The sleepless nights, the dreams, the tears, the confusion. It was all rushing to catch up to her. She felt like running from all of it. From him and from her.
She couldn’t help but think about the fact that this was the sort of woman Kylan was actually interested in f*cking She felt small. Small and of little imponance, next to this woman
“Katrina, this is Nishel Smith. Nishel, this is my assistant Katrina” She vaguely heard Kylan introduce her.
Assistant. Not wife. She visibly flinched, physically unable to stop herself from doing so in time,
“Oh, Kylan. So formal. I know you married this pretty gal, too. Nishel stood from her, or really her chair, sauntering over to her and extending her hand “It’s a pleasure to meet her
She noticed two more things about Nishel. One, she was tall. She was easily a head taller than her, which meant she was almost just as tall as Kylan Two, her fingers were perfectly manicured, and her hands looked unrealistically soft
She swallowed against the bile rising in her throat and shook her hand, nearly flinching again when she realized her assumption had been correct about how soft they were.
“It’s nice to meet her, Miss Smith” Her voice sounded too high–pitched and too strained, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
Kylan was still Kylan, she realized. He wasn’t looking at her, not even for a moment
A knock on Kylan’s door pulled her away from the awkward moment and she nearly melted with gratitude when Aaron walked into the room. “Sorry, I’m a few minutes late,” he said sheepishly, flashing her a quick smile.
“Gardner, this is Nishel Smith, Nishel, this is sonchow our best
sochow our best software engineer, Aaron Gardner,
er.” Kylan sounded annoyed already,
“Nior to meet you.” Aaron shook hands with Nishel in the same fashion she did.
“Right. Let’s get going. The snow will make the drive to Elorde Enterprises a bit longer Kylan stood from his chair and allowed Aaron and Nishel to
walk out of his office first.
She bit her inner cheek, wanting to know how to set around Kylan right now. Before she could stop herself, she reached out and grabbed a hold of his suit jacket.
“Sir, can I talk to you!” she whispered to him, nerves lacing her voice
2:52 PM
Chapter 34
Kylan didn’t turn around and she was left staring at his immaculately styled undercut instead. “What is it, Katrina?” he asked her curtly.
“How do I.. I mean how should we act around her? She’s a reporter, after all” She hated how pathetic she sounded, she really did.
do…
“Today is about the Nightfall. I don’t want to pull the focus away from that” Kylan’s response caused a fresh wave of sadness to pass over her, but she didn’t want to dwell on why.
“O–of course, Sir. My apologies for insinuating, otherwise.” She quickly brushed by him, averting
ing her ga
gaze the entire time.
If he didn’t want to look at her, she wouldn’t look at him. Right?
-0-0-0-
Katrina was certain Nishel Smith’s love language was physical touch. Or rather, she greatly seemed to enjoy touching her boss.
A hand on his arm, a touch to his shoulder, a thigh pressed to his in the car.
None of it was lost on her. All of it made her want to be lost.
Nishel knew Kylan was already a married man, but that fact didn’t seem to put her off from acting however the hell she wanted. She might as well have been a part of the SUV or a machine in the damn sea of them in Elorde Enterprises.
Perhaps the worst part of it all was that Kylan didn’t push her away. Didn’t tell her to stop. Didn’t look at her
Was he trying to butter her up? Or did he really not mind the physical contact if it was from her!
It was clear they were familiar with each other in only the way they could be if they had been intimate with someone. The subtle nuance of standing too close to one another, or the body language and the invisible line that tethered two people with a history together.
It only reminded her again of Kylan’s rejection. Of his attitude toward her the last month. Of the closeness she had lost with him, even if it was fake, to begin with. Because it was fake, right? It was all fake. He told her so. He made her believe so.
