Chapter 58

▪️Ace▪️

Ace snapped out of a dirty fantasy of Emily—dressed all in black, stalking into the bedroom where he lay naked—to stare openmouthed at Simone . It took guts to admit that, and he darted a glance at Emily to gauge her reaction, but as usual the woman remained a blank canvas.

“Go ahead.”

“I looked at Ace as an enemy instead of someone who could help, and I listened to gossip instead of giving him a chance to prove himself. I’ve always felt a little isolated here—I haven’t made any real friends with anyone on staff, so I talked myself into disliking him on sight, instead of welcoming him.”

“And now?” Emily fixed Simone with that dark, penetrating stare. “You’ve miraculously changed your mind?”

“No. Not miraculously. I already knew his ideas were good and that you were impressed with him. So when Tim contacted me and I mentioned Ace had joined the firm and that he’d worked on Croft's yacht, he fed me his version of the story about Ace’s tenur