“We’ll make time. It’s not every day my PA gets crapped on.”
Our eyes met and that warmth flooded through my whole body now as we grinned at each other.
Just like that … all my earlier worries were crushed by the return of my hope.
Usually when I stepped foot onto the redbrick-paved, tree-lined sidewalk of Charles Street, I was in my element. It was my favorite street in Boston with its quaint gas lamps, antique stores, restaurants, and boutiques. There was something fresh in the air there, and much like the gardens, it was like wandering into a little oasis from city life.
Yet the content calm I usually felt walking down Charles Street was gone.
Two weeks had passed since the weekend I’d spent with Caine, and although he seemed done with throwing up walls between us, he also seemed done with keeping us a secret. Something I hadn’t agreed on.
I glanced around the street, busy because our gorgeous summer was still going strong and it was a Saturday. This was also Caine’s neighborhood, which meant we were more likely to run into someone we knew here. Someone who would wonder what Caine was doing dressed in jeans and a T-shirt wandering down the street with his PA by his side. I, also, was not dressed for work, having reverted to my shorts, tank top, and flip-flops.
It was Caine’s idea to spend the day shopping. It was Henry’s mother’s birthday next week and he needed to buy her something. It was not my idea to accompany him, but when Caine wanted something he could be pretty persuasive … with his mouth. And okay, his tongue.
I squirmed, remembering his method of persuasion in the bed this morning.
I really needed some willpower.
I wondered if it was for sale on Charles Street.
“If someone sees us, they see us.” Caine sighed, obviously annoyed.
Clearly my anxiety had not gone unnoticed. “We’re playing a dangerous game here,” I argued.
“Really?” He stopped to peer down into the basement store window where ladies’ clothing was displayed. “I thought we were walking down a fucking street.”
Oh, he was cursing. He was pissed.
“Caine—”
“That would look good on you.” He changed the subject, jerking his chin down toward the teal dress. It had a conservative cut, but the material was extremely clingy. Classy but sexy.
“However, it would not look good on my credit card statement.”
In answer, Caine slipped his hand into mine, causing me to look around quickly to see if anyone was watching. He didn’t seem to notice my wariness because he was too busy leading me down the stairs into the boutique.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“You’re trying the dress on.”
I frowned, confused by his actions. Was he just trying to ignore the argument that had been about to brew between us? “No, I’m not.”
The willowy saleswoman approached us with a gleam in her dark eyes as she took in the sight of Caine. A few weeks ago the modellike young thing with her sculpted cheekbones, perfect Afro, and silky coffee skin would have caused a sharp streak of possessiveness to bolt through me. Not now. Sure, I still felt a thrill go through me that I was the one who’d just rolled out of bed with him, but the jealousy that had come from a lack of reassurance was muted now. It was manageable. And I realized that Caine hadn’t gone at all caveman on me these last few weeks either.
Progress.
So when he pointed to the dress and said, “Size six,” I humored him.
Thirty seconds later I found myself stuffed into a tiny dressing room.
I spun the tag over on the dress and balked at the price.
Yeah, there was no way I was buying this freaking dress no matter how good it looked on me.
I huffed and yanked my tank top off.
“You look so familiar to me,” I heard the saleswoman say to Caine.
I practically rolled my eyes at the purr in her words.
Caine didn’t reply.
I smirked.
Certainty.
The word made me relax as I thought about it. I wouldn’t feel that certainty if I didn’t feel sure of Caine’s feelings for me. Although we hadn’t discussed changing the terms of our affair, there had also been no more mention of it coming to an end. We didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want it to end. Ever.
I froze middressing.
I was falling in love with him.
“Do you work around here?” the salesgirl tried again.
“Close by,” he said, and then the privacy curtain moved a little, jolting me out of my breathless realization. “Are you done?”
I sought to sound normal and not at all overwhelmed by a life-altering recognition of my feelings. I cleared my throat. “Unless the dress is supposed to be worn with my boobs hanging out, no.”
“Smart-ass,” he muttered, but I could hear his amusement in the word. Just as I tugged the dress up, Caine slipped inside the dressing room, taking up way too much space.
I stared up into his face, suddenly impatient for the right time to tell him how I felt.
I’d never been in love before. When was the right time to say it?
Caine was too busy checking me out in the dress to deduce that my thoughts had gotten mushy. “You look beautiful.”
I flushed with pleasure and smoothed my hands down the gorgeous material of the dress. “Thank you.”
He reached for me, coasting his own hands down my waist until they settled on my hips. He gave me a little tug until I was pressed up against him. “You’re getting this dress.”
I ran my hands up his arms and gently let him down regarding any fantasies he was creating about me in this dress. “No, I’m not. The price tag … it’s extortion.”
“Who said you’re buying?” He made a move toward the curtain, but I tightened my hold on him.
“Caine, no.” I shook my head adamantly. “You are not—”
He shrugged out of my grasp with an imperious rise of his right eyebrow and then disappeared out of the dressing room.
“Caine,” I hissed.
Cursing under my breath, I began to remove the dress, my hands stilling when I heard him say to the salesgirl, “We’ll take it.”
I huffed and shrugged back into my own clothes. By the time I got out of the changing room, it was too late. He’d bought the dress. I kept my silence as we walked out of the store, my new dress inside the paper bag dangling from my wrist, but as soon as we were back up onto street level, I stopped.
Caine glanced over at me and sighed at whatever he saw on my face. “What?”
“Why did you do that when I asked you not to?”
“Because you looked good in it and I wanted to buy you it.” He sighed again. “Lexie, I’ve never bought you anything before.”
“So?”
“So last week you bought me a movie and a book just because you thought I might like them.”
I was still confused. “So?”
“So the week before that you bought me a bunch of cushions and shit I don’t need for my apartment and for my office.”
I grinned. I had done that. I’d finally felt confident that I could introduce a little “nesting” into his life. “That sounds less like a gift, and more like an annoyance.”
Caine gave a huff of laughter. “True. But it was still a gift. And you did it just because. The dress? It’s just because.” His eyes suddenly smoldered and I melted under them. “And because I’d like to fuck you in it.”