Savage Love

“Okay,” Kallie said breathlessly as she pulled away. “Tomorrow night for dinner.”

“Let me know what you want to do. And this time, don’t forget.”

“I won’t,” she said. “I promise.”

He got out and opened Kallie’s door, then kept his eyes on her all the way into the building. And the entire ride home, Ash was in heaven. The domesticity with Kallie was not something he ever thought he would want. But with her, it was all he wanted. More than he ever thought possible for his life. A beautiful, intelligent, independent woman who wanted him for other reasons besides his money. It was almost too good to be true.

Ash rattled off his address to the driver and they pulled away from the curb.

But not before Ash admitted a truth to himself.

He was falling for Kallie. He’d never felt this way before about any woman, but he knew that was what he felt. He loved her. Every inch of her. And he wanted to spend as much time as she would allow him to make her feel that love.

He had to make dinner special.

Kallie deserved nothing less.

Chapter 18

Kallie

Kallie couldn’t stop thinking about her dinner date with Ash. She’d called him after work the other day and told him that going out sounded like a wonderful idea. He told her he’d make reservations and to wear something that made her feel beautiful, so she had every intention of getting off work early and buying a new outfit. She had a little bit of money saved away, so she figured she could splurge.

She felt like a lovesick little schoolgirl, and she adored it.

She hunched over her desk and worked on a few quotes. She’d had a busy morning and she needed to get them done before she could go shopping. She scribbled down some notes and recalled the places she had stepped into, then wrote out the official quote and stuck them in envelopes. Most people sent quotes with email, but Kallie enjoyed the paper trail. Having an official copy as well as a carbon copy for her records was a lot harder to dispute in court than an email that could be altered at any given moment.

She sealed the last envelope before her cell phone rang out in her purse.

“Kallie Semple.”

“Kallie. It’s Eris.”

“Eris?” she asked. “You sound panicked. What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen the Daily News today?”

“Uh ... no. I don’t make it a habit of reading the tabloids.”

“Well you should. You need to pull it up. Now.”

“Why? What does it say?” she asked.

“You,” Eris said. “It says you.”

Kallie had no idea what the hell that meant, but she figured someone might’ve snapped pictures of her and Ashly in the park. She recalled the incident with one of his exes at the restaurant that day and figured maybe she had tried to orchestrate something. Kallie figured a woman like that would try to pull something in order to sway the cards in her favor, and it had been obvious how much that woman wanted Ash.

But it was obvious how much Ash wanted Kallie, and that was all that mattered.

Not some stupid tabloid that—

Kallie gawked when the front page of the Daily News finally loaded on her computer. And it was worse. So much worse than she could’ve ever thought. Her face was splashed all over it, and on the front page she was holding hands with Ash in Central Park. But a picture right next to it was one that made her stomach sink.

One that made her want to vomit.

“What the fuck is all this?” Eris asked.

It was a picture of her and James. Kissing in front of that damn restaurant.

“They did take pictures,” Kallie said with a whisper.

“What did you say?” Eris asked. “Kallie, are you at your office?”

“Eris ... I ... I ... I—”

“Start at the beginning. What the hell am I actually looking at?” she asked.

But Kallie didn’t know how to answer her. What was she doing, being plastered all over the gossip magazines? And the Daily News wasn’t the only one reporting it. They were simply the first. Article after article, dragging her name through the mud and calling her things she could’ve never dreamed in her wildest imaginations were actual phrases people called other people. Her hand began to tremble and tears brewed behind her eyes. It was hard to breathe. Hard to speak.