Dirty Little Secret (16 page)

“At least she’ll be here tonight,” Sara Beth said. The dinner party John had planned for his last night in town included a host of muckety-mucks from Atlanta’s top companies. Anything to increase profits and networking. The possibility of any wheeling and dealing turning serious meant Cailin would be here, available for any “little jobs” John might think up. And while he didn’t like having her in the same room as his father-in-law, Alex wanted her here with an intensity that rattled his bones.

Brushing a soft kiss along the corner of Sara Beth’s mouth in thanks for the reminder, he turned to grab the tux laid out on his bed. The noose around his neck tightened as he shrugged into the thing. Holy fuck. This week from hell could not be over soon enough.

“Ready?” Sara Beth asked.

Alex grimaced but took her arm anyway. They moved toward the door, the silk of Sara Beth’s floor-length gown whispering against his trouser leg with every step.

“You are one fine escort tonight, love,” Alex told her, holding his bedroom door open. “It’s hard to believe so much beauty could go hand in hand with so much brains. I’m very lucky.”

“Why yes, yes, you are.” Sara Beth’s smile was the first genuine one he’d seen all week. The need to kill John rose, more vicious than ever.

The spiral staircase leading into the grand foyer always gave him a bit of a headache. All those gleaming surfaces: banisters, wood, mirrors, marble tiles… Neither Sara Beth nor he had really wanted such a showcase for a home, but John had insisted.
“You’re going to be entertaining. Your position in this company demands it, Alex.”
They’d managed to avoid entertaining at home until now. The comfortable den at the back of the second-story apartment was the most used room, along with the kitchen and their bedrooms. The rest? Just empty space for their housekeeper to come in and dust once a week. Taking a look around, he couldn’t help wondering what Cailin would think. Did she know him well enough to understand how much of this was just show, how much he and Sara Beth hid beneath the surface? Eyeing the massive crystal chandelier hanging low above the entryway, he knew she did. She understood him, inside and out. She wouldn’t mistake this place for being a reflection of his true personality.

John wandered out from the sitting room, a glass tumbler of amber liquid in one hand. “About time.” His wiry white eyebrows wrinkled as he inspected the two of them, finally giving a reluctant nod of approval. When the doorbell rang, Alex felt Sara Beth’s sigh of relief. The less time she spent as the focus of her father’s attention, the better.

Guests arrived, one after another. The volume rose as couples mixed and mingled. Along with her inherent talent for business, Sara Beth liked people, and it showed in her hostessing skills. Alex was thankful; he’d rather slit his throat than attend, much less host, one of these gatherings. John’s overbearing personality more than made up for Alex’s shortfall in that area, however. By the time Cailin arrived, his lone presence in the foyer made for sweet relief.

Opening the door, Alex stood and stared, his breath frozen. Cailin held out her hands from her sides, offering herself for inspection as she waited on the front steps. The movement showcased her delectably feminine figure, outlined to perfection in candy-red chiffon. The dress reminded him of red hots, so much so that his mouth watered. Material lovingly draped her round breasts, slinked along her nipped-in waist, and parted provocatively at midthigh to reveal Marilyn Monroe legs he desperately needed wrapped around him soon. Thank God for the tux, which helped cover an instant erection he couldn’t have stopped without medical intervention. And when she turned to close the door behind herself, he almost swallowed his tongue.

“Oh God.”

Cailin peeked over her shoulder and grinned. The bare expanse of silky-smooth skin from her neck to her tailbone gleamed in the overhead light. “Like it?” she whispered huskily.

Since all the spit in his mouth had dried up, Alex could only nod, his gaze glued to the tiny dimples winking on either side of the barely visible tops of her perfect ass cheeks. Damn.

“Where the hell did you find that dress?” he asked huskily.

“Oh, ask Sara Beth.” Cailin turned, her breasts jiggling lightly in a way that drew his attention immediately—and probably every other guy in the place as soon as they saw them. “I’m sure she’ll take me back if you like this one.”

“Uh-huh.” Fascination rose as her nipples visibly peaked beneath the soft material. The urge to find a shawl, towel, blanket—anything—and hide her in it almost overwhelmed him. He drew a shaky hand down his face.

“Alex. What the hell are you doing lollygagging in here? Come mingle, for God’s sake.”

John’s voice jerked Alex out of the haze enveloping him. He didn’t miss the softening of Cailin’s nipples as her desire fled. The rest of her body tensed.

“Um, why don’t you go ahead? I’ll stay and answer the door if anyone else arrives.”

He nodded before glancing out of the stained-glass side light. “There are only two we’re missing now.” Turning back, he fought not to get lost in her eyes again. “Be sure and come in when they do.”

“Alex!”

The tiny flinch of Cailin’s body made him want to throw something. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he told her.

She nodded, hastily turning toward the front door. He wished he could escape so easily.

John hauled him aside before Alex could enter the main living room. The man’s grip on his tux was ruthless, demanding Alex’s attention. “It’s the secretary, isn’t it? You’re fucking your secretary.”

A hot burst of rage lit his mind. Sparing a glance over his shoulder to make certain Cailin was out of range of his father-in-law’s accusations, he clamped down hard on his tongue and forced himself to silence. Denying he was sleeping with anyone but his wife wouldn’t make a bit of difference to John, even if Alex could have lied with such blatancy. Instead he simply stared at John and let the man dig his own hole.

“As much as I love Sara Beth”—at John’s words, Alex bit into the tender muscle in his mouth so hard blood surged into his throat—“a man has his needs. But a secretary?” Disgust colored the word. “That’s just cliché.”

“She’s my executive assistant, John. Get with the times.”

“Exec—” An impatient flick of his hand. “Whatever. She’s a woman, an available woman if her naked ring finger is the truth, not that it always is. But regardless, you don’t piss in your own watering hole. If you need a little something on the side, do what we always did: keep them in an apartment somewhere, far away. Not in the office.”

As if Cailin were a two-bit whore Alex just played around with. “I never said I was sleeping with her.”

“But you looked at her.”

Shit!
Was it that obvious? John was astute, but so were many of the men he worked with. Had he put the woman he loved in that precarious a position? “So? A man can look.” He threw a nod over his shoulder, knowing Cailin was visible as she stood at the front door, looking out onto the driveway. “Wouldn’t you?”

John’s eyes on his woman made bile rise in Alex’s throat. “Of course I did,” John said. “And when you’ve done your duty by Sara Beth and provided an heir, you can look—and touch—all you want. But. Not. At. The. Office.”

“Fuck off, John.” Before he said anything else he’d regret, Alex walked into the living room. Away from his father-in-law. Away from the urge to kill. And away from the fear that Cailin might one day see their situation with the very same unrosy glasses.

* * * *

After dinner Cailin slipped out of the formal dining room, needing desperately to catch her breath. Finding a bathroom was at the top of her list as well. Ignoring the caterers whizzing in and out, she wandered up the hall toward the front door, then made her way upstairs.

The expanse of the house amazed her. Considering Alex and Sara Beth lived here alone, the size seemed decadent, but the decor shouted loud and clear
I’m for show
, so the extra square footage didn’t surprise her. She figured it was just one more thing the two of them hadn’t really had much choice about.

The thought seriously depressed any party mood she might have felt.

The first few rooms she peeked into had
guest room
written all over them. Toward the back of the house, a secure door separated the front from what she assumed was the apartment Sara Beth had mentioned earlier when she passed Cailin the key. Unlocking the heavy door, Cailin slipped through—and walked into another world.

Here, all the warmth absent downstairs came alive. This was where Sara Beth and Alex really lived. The first room was a den, with dark, cushiony furniture, a massive big-screen TV, and all the comforts of a real home. Farther down, a small kitchen opened off the hall. A room that must be Sara Beth’s came next, and Cailin couldn’t help the surge of relief at the sheer femininity of the decor. Not a hint of masculinity. Alex was man enough that his mere presence would put a stamp on a place. If he’d lived with Sara Beth in this room, Cailin would know. And though he’d told her they slept in separate rooms, always had, some small, uncertain part of her had wondered if that was really true. Turned out it was.

Breathing deep, she closed the door and moved to the end of the hall. Opening the last door, Cailin felt Alex’s presence reach out and grab her immediately. She stepped into what had to be his bedroom, judging by the enormous bed that took center stage. Navy and chocolate, gray and cream blended into a visual display of Alex’s personality: easygoing and mellow, yet intense, deep. Alex, in all his glorious contradictions, could be felt within these walls.

Walking across the room, Cailin took a moment to make herself at home in the lavish bathroom that made her positively green with envy before coming back out to lie on the soft down comforter, luxuriating in the heavy embrace of Alex’s masculine scent. Bits of woodsy musk and lime teased her nose, and memories of the many places on his body where that scent hid rose to taunt her, causing shivers deep in her lower belly. God, she missed him. The week had been empty, just like her bed. She needed him as much as Sara Beth did, only in a different way.

“Hey, you.” The low words came around the slightly opened door.

Cailin gasped, jumping off the bed as if it were on fire. “Crap!” Hand over her barreling heart, she glared at Samantha. “What the heck are you doing here?”

Sam came in and closed the door. “I sneaked in a few minutes ago,” she said, chuckling. “Since I don’t have to be at work tomorrow, I can hide out in Sara Beth’s room until dear old Dad heads for the airport. Sara Beth and I couldn’t…” She ran a hand through her prettily mussed hair. “We don’t like being apart this long.”

Cailin nodded. She and Alex were discovering the very same thing. “So there’s no risk of John coming back here?”

Sam grinned. “Not with Sara Beth’s door locked. She and I have the only keys.” A twinkle lit her eye. “We plan to hide it later tonight and play Find the—”

“Whoa!” Cailin could feel her face flushing crimson to match her dress. “TMI, my friend.”

Sam’s full laughter bellowed out. Cailin joined in, and the two of them piled onto the love seat in the corner of Alex’s room together. Rolling her neck, Cailin sighed before lolling her head on the back cushion, facing Sam. “How do you do this?” she asked the other woman.

“You just do. If you love them, you do whatever it takes and know that, in the end, it will be worth it.”

“Will it?” Cailin asked softly. She let the heaviness that had slowly been enveloping her as she walked through Alex and Sara Beth’s house come out in her voice. “All this”—she waved a hand to indicate the room—“this is their home. The life they’ve built together.” It was a powerful mirage, one that almost had Cailin convinced that nothing she and Alex created would ever be as good. “How do you handle knowing she’s connected to him at that level, a level you’re denied, even though she loves you?”

Samantha’s eyes conveyed her understanding. “I don’t really know that I handle it. It just is. Sara Beth brings me into that life as much as she can, but it is what it is. John’s not gonna change. Now that you’ve met him, you must see that.”

Just the thought of Sara Beth’s father made her tremble harder than the fire-and-brimstone preachers that used to visit her parents’ church at revival time. “No, he’s not.”

“This house is just a product of their love for one another,” Sam said. “Neither of them had any siblings, so this is where they’ve built their ‘real’ family. Here they are brother and sister, even though the world sees them as a couple. It’s no different than me sharing an apartment with my brother, really.” Sam shrugged again, and Cailin had the feeling she did that a lot here, as if unconsciously forcing the situation to roll off her back. “When you look at it that way, it gets easier to handle. Knowing that when they touch, it’s platonic, not sexual. Sara Beth confessed to me once that they’d tried to…um…have sex.” She quirked a brow as if waiting for Cailin to blow up. For some reason Cailin didn’t see the need, especially when Sam smirked. “She said it was pretty bad when neither one of them could get excited—a double disaster, she called it.”

Cailin grinned at the image too.

Sam’s tone sobered. “I admire them both. Sara Beth—she’s extraordinary. The things that man has put her through… And yet she’s present, she’s right there, wholeheartedly, in every moment.”

“You love her,” Cailin murmured.

“Yes, just like you do Alex.”

The words jolted her. “I—”

Nothing else came out. Loving Alex was the only thing she knew with certainty. Nothing she’d ever felt in her life had been like this. But something held her back. Committing to a man—and admitting she loved him was a commitment—was scary enough. Committing to a married man—that was terrifying. What her heart knew and her mouth could say wrangled in her throat, each wanting the upper hand. Neither won.

Sam reached out and patted Cailin’s hands as they twisted in her lap. “I know the feeling.” Standing, she slapped her jean-clad thighs. “And now, you better get back down there before someone notices your extended absence.”