insisted she keep nothing from me, no matter how bad it was?
I gave her time alone, hoping it would ease the tension that was now hanging thick in the air. It was next to impossible to stay away, because all I wanted to do was rush to her and tell her how sorry I was, but I remained in my office.
As the minutes ticked by into an hour, my body hummed with nervous energy and I couldn’t wait any longer. I exited my office, and when I approached my bedroom, I found it and the en suite bathroom empty.
Panic ran through me as I thought of her leaving. Only a few days ago I thought we were over. I’d convinced myself she was some malicious, lying woman who I was better off without. Yet now I knew what hid behind those lies, and the only thing I wanted to do was keep her safe and close.
I moved around my penthouse in search of her, growing more frantic with each passing moment. When I came up empty, I turned around to hurry back to my office for my phone only to come face-to-face with Murray, who had Kinsley standing at his side.
“Would this be the reason you look so worried?” he asked.
Kinsley crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at Murray with a look that reminded me of a scolded child.
“Yes,” I said.
“I found her exiting the building alone as I was coming in, and when I asked where you were, she said, and I quote, ‘Maybe calling his slut friend from California.’” Murray arched an eyebrow in question, only this wasn’t the time for me to explain things to him.
“Thank you, Murray,” I said dismissively and locked my eyes on the brunette beauty. She appeared even more irritated with Murray than before as he left the room.
“I think I should go home,” Kinsley announced as she turned to face me, only I didn’t listen.
I took a step toward her, knelt, and tossed her over my shoulder. “You are home.”
“Let go,” she squealed as she dug her fingers into my back and wriggled, trying to escape as I walked back to my bedroom with her.
Inside, I kicked the door closed, walked toward the bed, and tossed her onto the mattress. Her small body bounced on impact, and she tried to scurry across the mattress to gain some distance. The sassy spitfire I had grown to love returned with a vengeance. She was hurt, and I understood why.
“I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be upset.” I loosened my tie and tossed it to the floor. “Even though I walked away and said we were over, I still couldn’t get you out of my head. I tried alcohol and a lot of it, but you were still there. That look in your eyes when I walked away fucking killed me, baby. Gutted me.”
“So you decided to fuck me out of your head when the alcohol didn’t work.” She was still glaring at me.
“I couldn’t do it,” I said as I knelt on the end of the bed and began crawling toward her. “Nothing about that woman felt right. Because even though I said you weren’t the woman I fell in love with, I think I knew all along you were. Even though you went by Kiera, you’ve always been Kinsley. I know that now. I’ve always had Kinsley. Although you tried like hell to hide her from me, she was there in everything you did and said.”
Her lower lip trembled, but she remained in control.
“And she is the woman I fell in love with,” I whispered as I lowered my body to hers. “You are the only woman I want, today and every day after that.”
KINSLEY
THE THOUGHT OF ASHTON BEING so close to sleeping with another woman while I was falling apart nearly broke me all over again.
But did I have the right to be mad? After all, he had ended things with me before he met her. But if he felt about me the way he did, how could he move on so quickly?
“I’ve kept myself sheltered from the possibility of love. It was something I didn’t think I wanted. Sex was always just an escape, but even when I turned to that, hoping to rid myself of your memory, you were still there. Fuck, Kinsley, I was one drink away from alcohol poison and I shouldn’t even have been able to speak the word no,