Page 91 of Unmasking Mr. Crown

“Maybe. Yeah, I guess. It was a bit of a zoo though.”

“I most definitely did. And now that I’ve combed the internet, I’m glad he did.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because Hart Lockwood is married.”

Kate read the bio from Hart’s website aloud. Dash found himself nodding as he listened, shocked that Natalie would carry on with a married man. There had to be a reasonable explanation.

“Maybe he’s no longer married and just hasn’t updated his website.”

Kate held up a hand, eyes still on her screen, “Hold up, there’s more. There’s a Deadline article that dropped recently announcing that he and his wife are writing a screenplay together. There’s no way they could’ve divorced that fast—not with the small empire he’s built with his book series.”

“Is your sister the type to date a married man?”

“Natalie’s not the type to date any man—which is why this makes zero sense. She’s completely locked in on launching her business. Trust me, if the guy in London couldn’t close the deal⁠—”

Dash’s head snapped toward Kate’s to the point of whiplash. The truck veered off the road, sending a spray of gravel from the shoulder into the air. Kate hollered his name, bracing one hand against the dashboard. He dropped an f-bomb, regained control, and continued at a much slower speed.

Dash reached over and touched her shoulder. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Hey, it’s your ass on the line with Foster, not mine,” she teased.

Dash’s lips twitched with a hint of a smile. “You were saying something about a guy in London?”

“Oh, right. So, the night before Nat moved back from London, she had a one-night stand with some super-hot, rich dude—the first and only one-nighter of her life. This guy asked her to stay but she turned him down cold.”

“Because of her business?”

Kate nodded. “When I tell you she’s laser-focused, I mean she’s laser-focused. Which is what makes this whole deal with Hart so odd.”

“Maybe she decided she’s tired of being alone. Curling up next to a spreadsheet doesn't provide much warmth.”

Trust me … I’ve tried.

“Maybe. Part of me wants to confront her about it, but after everything that went down today, now is definitely not the time.”

“Well, she is a grown woman. I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.”

“Yes, but she’s my baby sister first.”

Your incredible baby sister … who doesn’t remember me … and who I haven’t been able to stop thinking about from the second we locked eyes at the party.

Jeezus, what a deal.

What a big, fat, hairy, fucking deal.

Dash pressed her with one last question. “Think if she hadn’t been planning to move back, she’d have given this London guy a shot?”

“Oh, one hundred percent. One thousand percent, even. She had doubts right up until she boarded the plane. I had to reassure her multiple times that she made the right choice. She let a man wreck her dreams once. No way could I stay quiet and watch it happen a second time.”

So, the person who convinced my dream woman to leave London is the woman I’m currently dating?

The dynamics of this situation were so totally absurd that Dash could do nothing but snicker quietly to himself. The opening bars of Kenny’s greatest hit, “The Gambler”, echoed through the truck’s weak speakers. The lyrics went beyond metaphor. Dash tapped the steering wheel, turning over a number of quiet thoughts.