“Thank you.” I smiled gratefully and I could have sworn Caine’s eyes warmed in response.
“I’ll probably end up telling Effie, however,” he said with an air of weary inevitability. “That woman is like a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out secrets.”
I chuckled and nodded. “That’s okay.”
Caine gave me a small smile in return, just the tiniest of little lip quirks, and it warmed me.
And then he was gone.
My answering smile slipped from my lips and I stared after him, forlorn. I already wanted more from him and we were only five minutes into our casual fling.
Once we landed back in Boston, the driver took us to the office instead of home. Caine had a meeting with the board of directors and he couldn’t miss it.
I discovered quite quickly that everything between us was the same as before except that it wasn’t. Although our working relationship had the same efficient rhythm to it, things were definitely more pleasant between us. Caine was naturally quite abrupt in manner, but his grumpy impatience with me was gone.
Then there was the tension between us.
It had always been there.
But now it was actually intensified—the air between us thick with knowing and sparking with electric chemistry.
We did a good job of ignoring it in public. On the plane we ate lunch and discussed business, and when we got back into the office we each pretended we didn’t know what sex sounds the other made. I caught up on my work while Caine met with the board of directors. Every now and then I’d find myself drifting off, thinking of my grandfather and his betrayal. I’d push those ugly thoughts aside, replacing them with memories of the night before and the absolutely sensual adventure my boss took me on.
I smirked.
My boss.
That was kind of naughty.
I grinned even harder.
I’d never done anything naughty before.
I laughed quietly to myself.
“What’s funny?”
I glanced up, taken by surprise at the sudden appearance of Caine. He approached my desk, eyes alight with humor. I spun around to face him in my chair and grinned back. “I could tell you, but I won’t.”
Encroaching on my personal space, he stopped so his knees were almost touching my legs and I had to arch my neck to look up at his face. His eyes washed over mine before roaming lower. They lingered a little longer than appropriate on my legs before traveling upward. “I’m going to be here a little late tonight, but you should head home. I’ll have my driver take you.”
This was different too. Usually Caine delighted in cutting into my personal time. “Are you sure you don’t need me?”
His eyelids lowered slightly in an unconscious smolder that sent off a rush of tingles between my legs. “Not just now. But I’ll come by your place when I’m finished up here.”
“My place?”
“Mmm.” He put his hands on my armrests and leaned into me so our mouths were about an inch apart. His hot breath whispered across my lips. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way.”
My whole body tightened at the thought of what he’d do to me once he got to my apartment. I sounded a little breathless when I replied, “Shouldn’t you wait to be invited first?”
His eyes narrowed. “Lexie, may I come to your apartment tonight so I can fuck your brains out?”
Lust whooshed in my lower belly.
I lifted my gaze from his mouth to his eyes and a smile tickled my lips. “I suppose that would be okay.”
That was when he grinned at me—a full-on grin that made my heart flutter and turned me into a puddle of warm mush.
I was still staring at his office door in wonder minutes after he’d disappeared inside it.
Sun poured in through my windows, illuminating Caine as he sat at my breakfast bar, sipping coffee and reading the Saturday paper. I tried to keep my attention on the omelet I was making for us, but I found I was easily distracted by the fact that Caine was sitting, casual as you please, in my apartment waiting on breakfast.
The night before, I’d waited with those darn butterflies in my stomach for Caine to finish up his work and come to me. I killed time by calling Rachel and updating her on the situation. She thought it was exciting and announced she wanted absolutely every detail so she could live vicariously through me. Grandpa called not long after my conversation with Rach. I’d thought when I heard from him I would be able to confront him about the blood money he’d offered Caine’s dad. But I found the words stuck low in my throat, painful and resistant. I told myself that when I finally saw him in person, we’d discuss it. It wasn’t a conversation I could just start up over the phone. Yet the truth was … I was scared. I wanted Grandpa to have a reason that made sense for what he did, but I knew that he couldn’t. I knew no reason would be good enough, and I wasn’t quite ready to face the reality that he wasn’t the man I thought he was. So when he asked me if I’d found a new job I told him Caine and I had worked it out and I was going to remain in his employ. Somehow Grandpa read between the lines and he was not happy. But that didn’t bother me like it would have yesterday. Who was he to be disappointed in me, after all?
After the phone call with my grandfather I pushed him to the back of my mind in favor of overanalyzing this thing with Caine. I went over and over whether I was doing the right thing. I swung back and forth, reaching for my cell to call Caine and tell him not to come to me. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it because I wasn’t ready to give him up.
Just before midnight I let Caine into my building and opened the door to him. I was wearing a tiny silk camisole and matching shorts.
The tiredness in the back of his eyes faded when he took me in. He’d stepped into the apartment, kicked the door shut behind him, pressed me back against the wall, and slid his hands up to my waist. His lips brushed mine. “I was wrong. This is what you should wear to work.”