CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Your baby girl,” Tia said, turning to Caine. “You’re a single dad.”
“Yes.”
“Where is Sarah’s mother?” Tia asked.
“I don’t know. Sarah isn’t my biological daughter. I adopted her when my friend, Mark died a few months ago. Before Mark died, he asked me to take care of Sarah and protect and raise her as my own should anything happen to him. I don’t know who Sarah’s mother is, but from Mark’s suicide note, I believe she’s dead.”
Tia pondered this for a while. “Do you think that your mother and daughter are in danger? Is that why you hired a bodyguard for them?”
Caine quirked a lopsided smile. “Actually, I, um, I just wanted a nanny.”
“A...nanny?” Tia sputtered.
“Yeah. I wanted to hire a nanny to help look after Sarah, but my mother rejected the idea.” Caine blew out a breath. “My mom’s not getting any younger. I don’t want her to tire herself out. She went through a lot and she raised me single-handedly. Taking care of a baby by herself can’t be easy at her age. But she’s really stubborn. So I thought...”
“...that if you couldn’t hire a nanny for her, you’d get her a bodyguard instead,” Tia said slowly. She could see the whole picture now. No wonder Nathan hadn’t gone into detail regarding her new assignment. He simply told her that she was to report to the CEO of Treasure Hotel.
Tia stared straight ahead and muttered to herself, “A bodyguard in name, but a babysitter in fact.”
“Yeah. I talked to Nathan, your boss, and told him the situation. And he said he had just the person for the job. He said he would send me a female bodyguard who...”
“...would be babysitting instead of bodyguarding,” Tia finished with a sniff. “Nathan assigned me a babysitting job.”
“Technically, you’re a bodyguard, not a babysitter,” Caine said, watching her expression carefully.
Tia snorted. “I’m a bodyguard doing a nanny’s job.”
Caine opened his mouth then thought the better of it.
It was clear from Tia’s furious expression that Nathan hadn’t told her the true scope of her assignment.
Tia scowled and fumed. She was an ex-cop, a trained, qualified security personnel, and she was assigned a babysitting job.
“Safe and easy, right. Of course,” Tia muttered to herself. This was the safest job that Nathan could find for her. But she really couldn’t blame her brother-in-law. Both Nathan and Kerry had been at her side when she was sick. The cancer had spread at a terrifying rate and Tia had seen the anguish in Nathan and Kerry’s eyes as they watched her die. She knew that her sister and brother-in-law would never forget how close they had come to losing her. And she had to go and get herself shot. They loved her, and they just wanted her to be safe. She understood that, but…
“The scar on your shoulder,” Caine said quietly. “That was from a bullet.”
Tia started. Of course Caine would have noticed her scar when he removed her little black dress last night.
“Yes. I was a cop before I joined Chase Security,” she replied frankly. “I was shot by a thug. My partner was killed. I...I wanted to continue being a cop, but my sister was so scared and worried.” She sighed and said softly, “I can’t do that to her.”
She looked up and huffed out a short laugh. “Nathan wants to keep me safe and keep my sister happy. So...here I am.”
Caine frowned slightly. “Nathan and your sister...” He turned to her suddenly. “You are Nathan’s sister-in-law! Why didn’t you say so?”
“You never asked.” Tia shrugged. “What has that got to do with anything anyway?”
Caine chuckled. “I’ve always liked Nathan.”
Before Tia could respond, the car pulled to a stop in front of a grand double-story house. Caine jumped out of the car and opened the door for her. “Here we are!”
Tia forgot to object when he took her hand. She blushed a little when he laced his fingers through hers. He just did it so naturally, and it felt so right.
Instead of walking up to the large, majestic house, Caine led her to the modest little house next door and rapped on the door.