Henry grinned. “What it lacks in sophistication it makes up for in entertainment.”
I leaned into him, laughing harder.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Suddenly Caine was there, towering over us both. He fairly bristled with impatience. “I need Alexa.”
“What for?” My momentary amusement was gone.
“That was Arnold. He’s got a colleague in Sydney on the phone, and it’s important I take this conference call. We need to get to the office.”
“We?” I shook my head. “Do you really need me for this?”
He bent his head toward mine, thunderclouds in his eyes. “I will need coffee and assistance for whatever else might be needed this evening. That’s what I pay you to do. To assist me.”
I could not believe it!
Was he kidding me with this crap?
I glanced back at Henry to apologize, only to find him wearing this weird, triumphant little smirk on his face. He quickly smoothed his expression. “I’m sorry to have to leave you,” I said, eyeing him in confusion.
He further confused me by shrugging nonchalantly. “When work calls you’ve got to go.”
I decided to ignore his weirdness for now. I could only deal with one puzzling man at a time. “Thank you for understanding.” I kissed his smooth cheek. “And for a lovely evening.”
He gave my hip a squeeze. “You’re very welcome, beautiful. Thanks for classing up the place.”
I laughed, my amusement dying another quick death when the impatient Caine whirled around and strode through the dance floor. I gathered my own worn-out patience before hurrying after him.
CHAPTER 9
The atmosphere between us was fraught to say the least as the limo driver took us back into Boston, heading for the financial district.
Caine obviously wasn’t in the mood to chat and I definitely wasn’t either after the way he’d treated me this entire week. His behavior had gone from being overbearingly bossy to downright insulting.
We made it to the office without uttering a word to each other. I tried to keep up with his long strides, but I was struggling in my heels and long dress.
I drew to a halt outside Caine’s office. The entire floor was empty.
No Arnold.
Nobody.
Caine unlocked his door, flicking on lights as he strode inside his office. I followed him in.
He turned and looked at me blankly. “It appears I missed it. I’ll take you home.”
Uh … what? I held my hand up, palm facing out to stop him. I gestured around the room, my agitation mounting. “Where is Arnold? Where is this conference call?”
He shrugged. “Obviously I missed it and Arnold locked up.”
“Without calling you?” I asked, incredulous.
He shrugged again. “Let me take you home.”
“Did you lie? Did you lie to get me out of that party?”
“I don’t lie,” Caine said, sounding affronted. “I manipulate. It’s how I got rich. Now let me take you home.”
No. We weren’t going anywhere until I got to the bottom of this. It felt like I had fire in my blood, I was that angry with him. Suddenly I didn’t care if he fired me. “You lied to get me out of a party and away from my date. Are you that much of a snob?”
“It wasn’t about that,” he snapped, his eyes sparking with his ire. “I didn’t want you there and I made that clear. When I want something a certain way I get it. I thought I’d also made that clear by now.”
“You son of a bitch!” I shouted, losing all cool. “All week you’ve made me feel like I’m nothing, like I’m worthless. And now this crap!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Monday afternoon. Henry came to your office and you forgot to switch off the speakerphone.”
The air around him crackled dangerously. “You were eavesdropping?”
I flushed. “I was going to tell you, but then I heard … Henry started talking about me and it’s only natural to listen in to a conversation about yourself,” I argued. “And you were beyond insulting.”
His expression cleared. “Is that why you said yes to Henry? To piss me off?”
“I said yes because he was complimentary. And yes, I have to admit to getting some satisfaction out of irritating you since it was so clear you think I’m beneath you.”
His nostrils flared. “Bullshit.”
I blinked rapidly at the denial. “Seriously? You’ve been treating me badly all week. Not to mention how you were tonight? You’re not a stupid man, Caine, so you had to know I was hurt when my grandfather chose to ignore me, and you just dug the knife in deeper. You’re never going to see me for me, are you?” I clenched my hands into fists. “You’re just going to wound me and humiliate me. You’re determined to make me pay for what he did.” At his silence my anger increased. “Aren’t you!” I yelled.
Suddenly my back hit the wall behind me as Caine moved me there, caging me in as he crowded me against it, his hands pressed to the wall above my head. Emotion blazed from his eyes. “I don’t think you’re beneath me,” he hissed.
The surprise of finding myself barricaded in by him had knocked my attitude down a few levels. “Then why were you cruel?” I whispered.
Remorse flickered in his eyes. “I didn’t mean … I just didn’t want you there. With him.”
And the shocks just kept coming.
I sucked in my breath and then slowly exhaled. It isn’t possible … I didn’t think so, but … I took in the aspect of his dark gaze that hinted at another emotion besides anger. “You’re jealous?”
The muscle in Caine’s jaw flexed.
My heart started to slam against my ribs and I couldn’t seem to get control of my rapidly increasing breathing. With our eyes locked, our bodies touching, the heat around us blazing off the charts, I forgot where we were. I forgot everything but him.
“Cai—”
He crushed his mouth over mine, swallowing my gasp of shock and excitement. His cologne, the heat of his skin, and the taste of him, hot and sharp … it all overwhelmed me as he gripped the back of my neck with one hand and slid the other down my stomach … He smoothed it down my hip and under my thigh.
Realizing his intent, I kissed him back harder and clung to him, my fingers digging into his back, as he tugged my thigh up so he could press deeper between my legs. My lips parted on a whimper of lust and triumph. Caine growled. The sound caused a ripple of arousal in my lower belly and I pushed into him.
His hand tightened around my neck and he groaned again, the vibration of it causing more heat to shoot through me, tugging at my nipples, melting through my belly, and exploding between my legs in a burst of needy tingles. His kiss grew more demanding, long, drugging kisses that muddled my head and took me with him to somewhere else entirely. We were panting and pulling at each other’s mouths like we couldn’t get deep enough. Caine crushed me harder against the wall, grinding his erection against me. My belly squeezed again, and it occurred to me I’d never been this turned on from just kissing someone in my life.
It was him.
I slid my hands up his back and over his shoulders, my fingers sinking into his hair as I silently begged for more, for harder, for deeper … for everything.