CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Tia frowned “My...clients? I was told to report to you...”
“Yes, I hired you, but I’m not the one needing protection.” Caine smirked and held the door open for her. “You’ll be protecting two very lovely and wonderful females. They’re the two most important people in my life.”
Tia’s heart and throat constricted painfully. The two most important females in his life.
Was he talking about his wife and daughter? Her eyes flicked to his hand. She saw no wedding ring on his finger. But...that didn’t mean that he wasn’t married.
Shit, shit, shit! Did she just sleep with a married man last night?
“Are you married?” Tia blurted out.
Right question, wrong time. She should have asked this question last night. She shouldn’t have assumed anything.
Tia stood completely still, her heart pounding painfully in her chest as she waited for an answer she might not want to hear.
Caine closed the door and took a step towards her. Tia refused to back away. She wanted the truth, however painful and ugly it was.
“Are you married, Caine?” she repeated, hating the quaver in her voice.
“No.”
Tia gulped and asked, “Do you belong to someone? Do you have a significant other?”
“Yes.”
Tia heard herself scream in her head.
Caine closed the distance between them in two strides and held her arm. She tried to fling his hand away but he held on tight.
“Tia...”
“Don’t touch me,” she snarled. “Sir!”
“Listen to me,” he said, gripping her shoulders.
“No,” Tia snapped. “I can’t believe...argh! I’m so stupid. I...” She kicked her chin up and glared at him. “You’ll get another bodyguard from Chase Security, Mr Taylor. I can’t...I’m turning down this assignment. I’ll call the office now, and my replacement should arrive in less than an hour...”
“Tia, please,” Caine said. He refused to let her go, and Tia considered punching him in the jaw. He was a cheater, a liar! He had cheated on another woman, and he still had the cheek to look so smug.
“Take your hands off me, Mr Taylor,” she warned, reaching for her weapon under her jacket. “You...you’re a cheater.”
“Are you going to let me finish or not?” Caine asked, half in amusement, half in exasperation.
“No. I think I’ve heard enough. Now please step aside.”
“Tia, I never, ever cheat. And I never make promises I can’t keep. That’s the truth.” He looked deep into her blazing eyes and said softly, “I will never lie to you, Tia.”
“You...you have someone...” Tia whispered angrily. She’d thought that Caine was a good man, and that there was something special between them. She’d even hoped to see him again. What a bloody fool she was!
“Yes.” Caine smiled. “I only met her last night.”
“What?”
“I met an amazing woman last night, in the bar of this hotel. She was smart, confident and incredibly sexy. I made love to her, but she disappeared before I could get her full name or her number. When I took her in my arms, I knew. My heart knew. She—is my...” He hesitated as he searched for the right word. “Significant other.”
Stroking her cheek softly, Caine said, “You asked if I belonged to someone. My answer is yes. I belong to this woman. Her name is Tia.”
Tia stared into Caine’s intense, hazel eyes and saw that he was telling the truth. He wasn’t lying to her.
It was supposed to be a one night stand. But things were getting complicated real fast.
“Caine,” she whispered. She gazed up at him, and saw that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. The scorching heat between them was burning up all her brain cells.
Tia swallowed hard and stepped away.
She had to keep her distance in order to keep her sanity and composure. The chemistry and attraction between them was undeniable. She saw the want and hunger in Caine’s eyes and her body responded in the most inappropriate way. Her nipples hardened and pebbled under her suit, and her core pulsed and ached for him. She could remember how good it felt to have his solid, muscular body moving and pressing against her. It had felt so damn good to have him deep inside her…
Why did he have to look even sexier and more desirable in the daytime?
“Caine,” she said huskily.
She had to clear her throat twice before she could trust her voice again. “Mr Taylor, sir. I...I believe we were going to meet the two most important females in your life.”
Caine quirked a smile. “Yes.”
“Shall we go?” she asked, straightening her jacket and resuming her detached, professional demeanor.
“Sure. It’d be faster to take my car, so...”
Tia was already at the door. She held the office door open for him with the barest hint of a smile. “After you, sir.”
Tia made it a point not to walk too close to Caine as they made their way to his car. When her hand accidentally brushed against his in the elevator, she had jerked at the electrifying sensation.
If they touched again, she was afraid that they would end up tearing each other’s clothes right off.
In the car, Tia tried not to sneak glances at Caine’s strong, handsome profile as he drove. She kept her eyes on the road and took note of their surroundings and where they were headed.
“Last night,” Caine began with a slow smile. “You didn’t tell me you’re a bodyguard.”
“You didn’t tell me you were the CEO of the hotel,” Tia shot back without missing a beat.
Caine chuckled. “Well...if I’d told you...”
“Last night would not have happened,” she said firmly.
“Why?”
Tia narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? Because you are my client. I don’t like to complicate things.”
“Why should things be complicated?” Caine asked with a teasing smile. But his eyes were heated and his voice was roughened by a low, feral growl.
Tia bit the inside of her cheek. She was sure he could scent her body’s reaction to him in the enclosed space of his car.
They both knew what the other was thinking. They were thinking of getting naked and doing it right here in the backseat of his car.
“You said that you didn’t hire me as your bodyguard. So—who am I guarding?” she asked. She would focus on the job and nothing else.
Caine smiled. “My mom. And my baby girl, Sarah.”