I hear the knock on my door. I glance down at the time on my phone—seven fifty-five. He’s five minutes early. I finish applying my red lipstick before I head to the door. I check through the peephole first before I open the door. Cedric is standing there in a suit. I exhale, happy that I wore appropriate clothing for once.
I am happy with the response he gives me. His eyes drop to the cutouts on each side of the black dress before dropping lower to take in my exposed legs. When his eyes find mine again, I see the appreciation there.
“You look even more beautiful, if that’s possible.”
“It’s possible. You look beautiful yourself,” I say, eyeing his tailored suit and toned chest that is visible because he left the top two buttons unbuttoned. “I mean, you look handsome,” I say, flushing a bright shade of pink already.
“Don’t be.”
He holds his arm out for me, and I take it.
We walk down the hallway and into the elevator in relative silence. It’s when we get to the casino floor that I realize that Cedric doesn’t know that I’m Kinsley Felton, daughter of Robert Felton. Maybe he won’t notice the stares as we walk through the casino floor, arm in arm.
“Good evening, Kinsley,” one of the bartenders says.
I nod my head in her direction, smiling. I try walking faster to get us out of here as soon as possible, but Cedric doesn’t take the hint. Instead, he seems uneasy, and more and more employees begin staring at us. Some seem shocked to see me walking, hand in hand, with a man. Others just smile knowingly. And others just give me a friendly nod of recognition as we walk through the floor.
It gives me time to see Killian. He’s sitting at the bar in the center of the casino floor. He’s not alone. A young woman is sitting with him. She touches his arm and smiles. He smiles, too. I thought I was the only one he really smiled at. I thought I was special. I’m not.
I tear my eyes from them as Cedric escorts me out the doors.
“Do you work here?” Cedric asks when we are outside.
“You could say that.”
He stops us, as my answer didn’t cure his curiosity.
“My name is Kinsley Felton. My father used to own the company. Everybody in there knows who I am because of it.”
I run my hands through my long blonde locks. I twist and twirl them as I wait for him to change how he acts around me, but he doesn’t.
“That’s cool.” He shrugs. He begins walking again, but then he suddenly stops.
I curiously look at him. “Something wrong?”
“Wait…you don’t work as one of the slutty bartenders or something? I’m not sure I could handle dating someone who has men ogling them every night.”
I laugh. “No, I’m not a slutty bartender, but I am a model. What do you think men do when they see my ads or magazine covers?” I raise an eyebrow at him.
“Good point.” He sighs before he softly kisses me on the lips.
It’s a nice kiss. It doesn’t send fireworks exploding throughout my body though.
He pulls away with a look of contentment on his face. “I guess I’ll just have to be jealous then.”
I smile against his lips. “I guess so.”
“I do like jealous sex.”
I twist away from him. “Me, too,” I say. But I’ve never had jealous sex before, and even though we spent half the day making out while mostly naked, I’m not sure I’m ready to have sex with this man.
Cedric quickly catches up to me and loops his arm back around me.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
We walk less than a block when Cedric stops. “Right here.”
I smile without looking at the restaurant we are stopped in front of. I already know which one it is. It’s one of my favorites. My father has taken me here hundreds of times.
“Is this okay?” he asks.
“It’s perfect.”
We take a seat in the beautiful restaurant. A piano player plays softly in the background, and red roses sit on the center of the table.
“Do you like red wine?” Cedric asks.
“Yes,” I say.
I glance down at the wine list and find that my favorite is listed, the one Killian got me hooked on. I’m just about to suggest it, but Cedric interrupts me.
“I think we should share a bottle of the house cabernet. Is that okay with you?”
I sigh. I’m not going to get my favorite. But that’s okay. I don’t want to be thinking about Killian anyway. And drinking that wine will make me think of him. It will make me wonder if he has already convinced the woman he was with to go to his hotel with him—although I don’t think Killian would have to do much convincing. I think most women he meets would willingly jump into bed with him. That means, if he’s asked, she’s already made her way to his bed.
“Sounds perfect,” I say, trying not to think about Killian.
I watch Cedric order our wine. It felt nice that he asked my opinion before just ordering for me. I’m so used to Killian, who just orders whatever he wants.
“Where did you go to school?” Cedric asks.
“Yale.”
His eyes widen. “Seriously?”
My smile drops from my face. “Yeah. I studied theater…although I don’t think that’s what I want to do. I don’t technically have my degree yet, but they should be sending it soon. I missed finals, but my grades were high enough that I didn’t need to make them up.”
“Why did you miss finals?”
I look down, not ready to hear his I’m sorry that is going to follow what I say next. “My father died the weekend before finals.”
He reaches his hand across the table and grabs ahold of my hand in a comforting manner. “I’m sorry.”
I smile weakly. “Thanks.”
An awkward pause passes where I don’t want to talk further about my father, but Cedric isn’t sure if he can change the topic or not.
“I’m not really sure about what I want to do next with my life,” I say. That’s not completely true though. I just don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life. I know it doesn’t involve marrying Killian. “What do you want to do once you finish your law degree?”
“I want to start my own firm. I like corporate law. And then I want to settle down with a beautiful girl like you. Somewhere warm.”
“Of course,” I say, smiling.
“And I want to marry her. I want to have kids with her. I want my life to be her.”
I blush. “I hope you find that someday.”
His eyes stay transfixed on mine. “I’m getting close.”
His eyes sparkle, and I quickly lose myself in them. It would be nice to be married to someone like Cedric. He seems nice. He seems like a gentleman. He seems like husband material, unlike Killian who is too focused on his work to ever give proper attention to a wife and family.
“Kinsley?” my grandfather says.
I turn and see my grandfather standing at the end of our table. He has a stern look on his face. I see Killian standing behind him with a small smirk on his face.
I try to pull my hand away from Cedric’s, but he doesn’t understand what’s happening. He just tightens his grip as his thumb slowly moves over my palm.
“Hi, Granddad,” I say.
“Who is this?” he asks, looking at Cedric.
“This is—” I start.
But, of course, Cedric, being a gentleman, jumps in immediately.
“I’m Cedric Allum. I’m her date for the evening—and, hopefully, if she will have me, for many dates after this.”
I wince at his words, and Cedric looks at me in confusion.
“I’m not just a model,” Cedric says in a rush, thinking that is the reason that my grandfather and I are so unhappy with what he just said. “I just do that on the side for some extra money, same as Kinsley. I just graduated with a business degree from UNLV. I got accepted into a law school in Chicago. I plan on being a lawyer, sir.”
My grandfather is paying him no attention. Instead, he is looking at me. “I think you’d better end the date now, Kinsley.”
I nod, unable to argue with him in such a public space. I don’t look at Killian. And I don’t look at Cedric as I begin to stand from my chair.
I take a deep breath before I do my best to look strong as I look at Cedric. “I’m sorry. You’ve been wonderful, but I think it’s best if we stop this here.”
“Why? I thought this was going well.” He glances up at my grandfather. “If your grandfather and”—he looks at Killian—“your brother would like to join us, they are more than welcome. Then, they can get to know me a little better and feel more comfortable with us going out.”
I chance a glance at Killian when Cedric calls him my brother. His smirk is gone. He’s rubbing the back of his neck in annoyance instead of the anger I was expecting. It seems he doesn’t even see Cedric as worthy of a challenge.
“That won’t be possible,” Granddad says.
“Another time then?” Cedric asks.
I smile weakly at his persistence, but he needs to learn when to give up.
That’s when Killian steps forward. “I’m sorry, Cedric, but you need to go home and forget about Kinsley. Don’t call her. Don’t think about her. Don’t try to reach out to her in any way. Plenty of other girls are out there who would be more suited to you.”
I close my eyes to keep the sting out of them after what he just said.
“I think Kinsley is plenty suited to me,” Cedric says.
“No, because Kinsley is my fiancée,” Killian says.
Cedric gasps. Then, he looks to my left hand to find that a ring isn’t there. His eyes narrow in my direction. “You’re engaged?”
I twist my hair as I look at him. I don’t know how to answer that. I’m not technically engaged. At least, I wasn’t the last time I spoke with either of the men glowering over me, but it’s too complicated to say that I’m not engaged.
Cedric takes my lack of an answer as an answer. “She’s all yours,” he says as he throws his napkin down on the table before storming out.
I don’t bother to follow him with my eyes when he leaves. I feel like crying. I feel like going home and spending the night taking a long warm bath, trying to forget what just happened.
“Come on, Kinsley. We have a table for us set up upstairs. We will have them add another chair. You’ll eat with us,” Granddad says. His voice is dripping with disappointment.
I just nod, unable to say any words without losing it. I feel so embarrassed. I watch as my grandfather begins walking, but Killian hovers over me, waiting for me to follow my grandfather.
I take a second. “How could you?” A tear falls.
“You can’t be with him. He’s not a good guy.”
“And you are?” I shake my head in frustration. “You can’t tell me you want me to make my own decisions about my life and then make every decision for me. You can’t tell him I’m your fiancé one minute but then tell me you don’t want to marry me the next. You can’t pick up a random stranger at a bar one minute and then say I can’t go on a date myself. Talk about indecisive. What do you want, Killian? Other than the CEO position, what the fuck do you want?”
I close my eyes when I realize I just cursed in front of a table with children. I never curse. But Killian brings out the worst in me, the absolute worst.
“I want to marry you,” are the words that leave his lips.