“Checking in under Carraway,” Caine said as a greeting to the young woman behind the desk.
She smiled and began typing on her computer. “Mr. Caine Carraway and a Ms. Alexa Holland. We have you booked for a deluxe executive suite, and a standard Fairmont room for Ms. Holland.”
Caine exhaled wearily and shot me a displeased look. “Again?”
I knew what he meant without having to ask. “I’m your PA. I’m perfectly happy with a standard room.”
He ignored me. “Can you upgrade the Fairmont room to a suite?”
The girl did a quick check and gave Caine an apologetic thin-lipped smile. “We only have a deluxe room available.”
“That’ll do.”
After we’d checked in and were walking toward the elevator, I said, “You really didn’t have to do that.”
“I’m not repeating myself,” he muttered impatiently.
“Right, appearances,” I muttered back.
Caine walked me to my room even though his was a couple of floors above mine. Once inside my perfectly lovely deluxe room, I spun around to face him. He lowered my bag to the floor by the television cabinet. “The dinner with Farrah Rochdale and Lewis Sheen is in the hotel restaurant,” I reminded him. “At seven o’ clock.”
He gave me a tight nod and started to back out of the room. “I’ll collect you at six fifty.”
A few seconds later he was gone and I could breathe properly again. I sank onto the beautiful bed and kicked off my heels. As I stared at the door, a feeling of melancholy began to bring me down. I fought to keep it at bay.
I just had to make it through dinner this evening and then tomorrow we were on that plane back to Boston. It was safer somehow in Boston. I could hold it together. Here, in close quarters with him, I was constantly reminded of the possibility between us, and Caine’s stubborn-ass refusal to see what might have been.
Promptly at six fifty I opened my hotel room door to Caine and I had to quickly look at my feet to hide my reaction to his appearance. He’d shaved off his scruff—the clean-shaven look was as hot as the unshaven look—and he was dressed in a light gray slim-fit three-piece suit.
“Ready?”
I nodded and closed the door behind me, following him as he started walking down the hall. He made no comment on my appearance and I tried not to let that sting.
Of course it did.
I’d dressed carefully in a simple but sexy little black dress. It had a high neck, it was sleeveless, and it came to a few inches above my knee. It also hugged my body like a second skin. I’d whipped out the Louboutins I’d gotten for free at a magazine shoot a couple of years ago. For once I left my hair loose and wavy. It wasn’t Caine’s preferred style, but I was feeling rebellious.
In the restaurant we were led over to a table where a thirtysomething woman and her fortysomething colleague sat. Farrah Rochdale was CEO of Rochdale Financial Management, and Lewis Sheen was her CFO. The company had started up two generations before, but when it had finally made it into Farrah’s hands it was struggling to draw in new clientele despite having helped some of the country’s fastest-growing businesses in the past. Caine’s company came along to save a company they believed could do well again. They brought Rochdale under their umbrella and injected money and influence into the business. It was now thriving as one of the West Coast’s foremost financial management groups as part of Carraway Holdings.
However, Farrah had requested a face-to-face meeting with Caine to discuss something of importance that would affect the company.
I didn’t know what to expect of the meeting or what was going on. I just knew I hadn’t expected Farrah Rochdale to be so young or attractive. She and Lewis stood up at our approach and I noted how tall she was. Her auburn hair was twisted up in a stylish knot and she was dressed in a gorgeous lilac wraparound dress that showcased her phenomenal figure. Farrah stepped forward to receive a familiar kiss on the cheek from Caine before he offered his hand to her CFO.
“This is my PA, Alexa,” he introduced me, and I shook Farrah’s hand first, feeling the burn of her curiosity on my face.
With much relief I let go of her hand and turned to Lewis. He smiled and took my hand, but instead of shaking it he brought it to his lips in an old-fashioned gesture that I found charming.
“Shall we sit?” Caine pulled my seat out for me and Lewis gently released my hand.
I wasn’t surprised by Caine’s gentlemanly gesture. We were in public and one of the many things Caine did that was pure class was that he always pulled out my chair for me at business meetings. Moreover, he waited until I was seated before he sat, and if I stood up to leave for any reason he always stood up too.
Lewis followed suit with his CEO’s chair, and once Farrah and I were seated, the guys settled down beside us. I sat directly across from Farrah and had Caine on my left and Lewis on my right, and I could feel Farrah’s gaze on me as I looked at my menu.
It wasn’t until after we’d ordered that Caine relaxed back in his chair and asked Farrah, “So, what’s the problem?”
She released a heavy sigh. “I want to step down.”
Caine frowned. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Caine.” Farrah sat forward, her tone suggesting familiarity between them, “You know I never wanted to take over my family’s company.”
I found myself scrutinizing Caine’s response to her and felt a burn of discomfort in my chest at his own familiarity with her. “And yet you fought so hard for it?”
There was definitely something there between them.
I couldn’t put my finger on it, yet I just knew. It was in the way they looked at each other. In their soft tones.