I remember the woman I spoke to when I made that call. She was so nice to me, so understanding—right up until she wasn't.
"The next day, I got an email—I was being terminated, effective immediately. And there was nothing I could do about it. I opened my laptop, dusted off my job board profile, and got to work. Except I didn't get any hits. Odd, in our industry, even for a smaller fry like myself. It took me six interviews before someone finally admitted that nobody in your line of work was likely to hire me, because I'd been blacklisted overnight."
"He ruined your career because you wouldn't fuck him?" It's as if he can't fathom someone doing something like that. "I can't—did nobody stop him? Stand up to him?"
"When you have the kind of money that America's Sweetheart, Theo Swanson does, you don't get told no, and you certainly don't need to worry about being put in your place."
For the longest time, I tried my best to ignore the warning signs, and in the end, it came back to bite me in the ass. "So, that's what happened. But I don't understand why he's stalking you still, harassing you after all that."
Ah, that's the rub, isn't it? "Theo had this fixation about his people belonging to him, and him alone. He used to joke that he was super possessive and jealous. That we were his. But I thought it was one of those workplace atmosphere jokes, like how he wouldn't let go of a good employee if he could avoid it. Instead, I realized a little too late that a part of him is batshit crazy, and he meant that he thought he owned us, mind, body, soul. When I told him no, when I left and then took steps to separate myself from him, he saw it as a challenge. And about a week after I was fired, the phone calls started. Then the flowers would randomly show up. But that's all the farther he ever went, and since he made it all disappear as it wouldn't taint his reputation, I assumed he'd never do anything drastic. But I think yesterday sent him over the edge, because to him, I'm still his belonging. His plaything. Because he was able to keep me unemployed for so long, begging for scraps to survive, he thought he had me under his thumb, and that I'd never go anywhere."
A hand cups my jaw and makes me look up at his stunning face. Those eyes, always so hard, so determined, are currently filled with sadness and regret. "You don't have to worry about him or his games ever again, Denali. I don't plan to let him get close enough to eventhinkabout touching you."
He tugs me into his embrace, and from where I'm sitting, it's all I can do to wrap my arms around his torso and hope for thebest. When his hands rub circles on my back, I start to sob, and all the emotions break free and choke me with their intensity.
At some point, Kai sits down next to me and pulls me into his lap, and I don't fight him, because it feels so good to just let go, to have someone care this much about me. I haven't had anyone in so long, it's like a shock to my system. And the fact that it's Kai, when I've wanted to be in his arms for so long now, when I've fantasized about what it'd be like for a man like him to look in my direction?—
"Why do you care so much, Kai? I'm just your assistant. I'm nobody to you."
I don't dare look at him as he forms his answer. I'm scared of what I'll find in his eyes.
Rebuke. Shame. Disgust. Embarrassment. Confusion.
"Kara,you're so much more than that to me."
What?
chapter twenty-six
Kai
I've triedto be slow, tried being gentle. But Denali is intentionally being obtuse, so I realize I'll have to pull out the big guns to make her see what I've been hoping to show her all night. To get her to accept what I know is going to be impossible to comprehend, after all she's been through.
"Remember when Reese left the house the other day, claiming I moan another woman's name in my sleep?"
Her lips quirk up at the memory. It's the first time I've seen her smile all night. "How could I forget?"
Yeah, okay, it's funny. It is. But it's more than that now. I don't want her to see the funny side. I want her to see the truth behind my rushed denial, and this equally rushed admission.
"At first, she thought I was getting aroused by sports cars." I try to give her a hint, hoping she'll put the pieces together on her own.
But she disappoints. "Why would she think that?"
The way her nose scrunches as she tries to work it out makes me groan. I want to lay down next to her and just kiss her stupid. Wanna leave her head spinning as I peel my clothes off her body and make her see a side of me I'd forgotten existed a long timeago. I wanna show her that there are good men out there, and tell her that I want to be one for her.
But the words stick in my throat.
"Kai?"
I sigh and close my eyes now, hoping that not looking at her would make it easier. But it doesn't. In fact, it's harder this way. I want to look at her, want to see the expression she wears when she finally realizes what she means to me now. How deep I've fallen in love with her. How there's no way back now.
"Because," I say slowly, praying that she understands, that she doesn't hate me. "The name I whisper in my sleep isn't a name at all." My eyes soften, and I take her face in my hands, pulling her atop me as I utter the words that will seal my fate, or break me. "It'skara."
"Kara."
"Yes,"I breathe, hoping this isn't too much, too soon.
"That's not a she." She slides from the bed, and I come with her, already watching my future slip away from me. Denali takes a step back, and I take one forward, worried that somehow, what Reese has done here has ruined the tenuous relationship I've built with my lovely assistant. Thekarafrom my dreams. "That'sme."
