Henry chuckled and ignored my warning by walking casually into the room. “Let me have a look.”
I stepped back, doubtful. “I’m not sure there’s any point.”
“I’m offended,” he said, not sounding the least bit as he leaned in to look at the screen. “You think a Lexington doesn’t need to know such provincial things as fixing a malfunctioning printer?”
“Well, yeah.”
He chuckled and started flicking through the screen. He hit a button and suddenly the printer whirred to life.
My jaw almost hit the floor. “How did—but how …?”
Henry reached for my letter as it printed out. He handed it to me with no small amount of smugness. “You look like you’re going to cry.”
I took the papers from him and nodded. “I feel like I might. I’ve been in here for twenty-five minutes. They were the longest twenty-five minutes of my life. And then you walk in, spend two seconds with the thing, and just fix it. Voila. Like it’s nothing.”
“Oh, poor baby.” Henry laughed and put his arm around my shoulder, leading me out of the room toward my desk. “You should have called.”
“How was I to know that Henry Lexington is fluent in Printer?”
“Ah, well, there are a lot of things about me you’d learn if you gave it the time.”
I rolled my eyes at his flirting, more than used to it by now.
“Where have you been?” Caine stepped out of his office door, stopping us in our tracks. Displeasure registered on his face when he took in the sight of Henry with his arm around me. I gently extricated myself from his friend’s grasp.
“The printer wouldn’t work.” I waved the letter at him.
“For thirty minutes?” he snapped.
I frowned at his tone. I thought we were past him talking to me like that. “Yes,” I snapped back. “For thirty minutes. I don’t do printers. Luckily Henry came along and fixed it.”
Caine’s eyes narrowed as they swung back to his friend, who stood watching us carefully. “Oh, did he?”
Henry raised an eyebrow at the predatory tone. “Do you have a problem with that?”
Instead of answering his question, Caine continued to glare at him. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds and then Henry said to me, “Always a pleasure, Lexie.”
I smiled at him, refusing to be cowed by Caine’s temper. “Henry,” I murmured, and gave him a little wave as he left.
“My office,” Caine bit out. “Now.”
Scowling at his back, I followed him inside and shut the door. “What is your problem?”
He whipped around, his face like granite. “My problem? My problem?”
“Well, mine isn’t that I have a hearing problem,” I huffed. “No need to repeat yourself.”
“Alexa,” he warned.
“Don’t you ‘Alexa’ me.” My hands flew to my hips. “I was going about my job minding my own business when suddenly I found myself hurtled back into the past where my boss talks to me like I’m garbage under his shoe.”
“And I stepped out of my office to find out why my PA wasn’t answering my calls to discover it was because she was too busy flirting with my best friend, who had his hands all over her.”
I froze at the realization that Caine was still jealous.
Exultation rushed through me and it took all of my self-control not to grin in triumph. Caine was still jealous of Henry and me? Even though there was nothing going on between us. That had to signify something, right? A person wasn’t jealous and possessive over someone he didn’t care about. Right?
“There’s nothing between me and Henry,” I assured him. “He flirts. It’s meaningless.”
Caine glowered. “You don’t need to flirt back.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were. And I don’t want you to do it again.”
I took a tentative step toward him. “I would never do anything to encourage your best friend, Caine. You must know that.”
Regret instantly flashed in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know you wouldn’t …” He shrugged. “It’s just … I just … Not Henry, okay?”
Sensing how important it was for him to hear the words, I nodded. “I won’t flirt with Henry. I promise.”
Appearing altogether uncomfortable with the whole thing now, Caine gave me a sharp nod and reached for his phone, avoiding eye contact. “I’d better go meet him.”
Catching Caine in a vulnerable moment was surprising, but it gave me that hope about our no-strings messed-up-affair. I also thought it was an opportunity to clear up something. “Caine?”
“Hmm?”
“I know this is just sex …”
He stiffened at the sudden turn in conversation and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Alexa—”
“But maybe we should discuss if this affair is exclusive or not.”
“Exclusive.” His voice was terse, like he was pissed I’d even had to ask. And then it seemed to occur to him that he’d answered the question emotionally. “I’ll see you after lunch,” he muttered, and strode past me.
I jumped at the sound of his office door slamming shut behind him.
How was I supposed to interpret that? On the one hand his seeming possessiveness could be construed as a step forward to him admitting that he had feelings for me. On the other hand, he’d raced out of here like I’d suggested we wear a vial of each other’s blood around our necks.
Having an affair with Caine Carraway was not only deliciously physically exhausting, but not so deliciously emotionally exhausting too.
That night my uncertainty won.
Caine didn’t come to me after the gala. In fact, I had no word from him at all that night or the next morning.
I did not have a good feeling about that.
“Go get him.” Effie nodded at Caine’s door.
I grimaced. “He’s going to be pissed I just showed up like this.”
And by “like this” I meant it was Saturday afternoon and I’d decided I was done playing this Caine’s way. We weren’t getting anywhere playing the game by his rules, so I’d decided to start acting like a grown woman. If I wanted to see Caine, there was nothing to stop me from going to see him. I didn’t have to work around his schedule. No, sirree, I did not.
The whole acting like a grown woman thing deserted me when I got to the building and suddenly feared Caine outright rejecting me by refusing to allow me up to the penthouse.
So I’d called up to Effie instead and explained the situation.
As Caine had warned me, Effie knew we were having an affair. She was also smart enough to know I was angling for more and she also liked me enough to want me for Caine.
Effie was on my side.
It was a small comfort, but one nonetheless.
Effie sighed at my less than inspiring performance of “a woman on a mission to win her man.” “You don’t know that. Now knock on the goddamn door before I do it for you.”
Realizing she would do just that, I pressed the buzzer. As soon as I did, Effie hurried back to her penthouse. She could certainly move for an old lady.