CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Caine parked his car in his garage and walked briskly into his house. He took the stairs three at a time, pulling off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt as he went. He was in a hurry to get out of his work clothes, shower and rush over to his mother’s house.
He’d been getting off work right on time for the past three weeks. And he had been having dinner every night with his family, to his mother’s delight.
“See? I knew what I was doing,” his mother had crowed as she nudged him and winked.
Tia had been with Sarah and Amanda for three weeks now, and she brought so much life and laughter into the house. Caine got off work on time and rushed next door as fast as he could. And it was only now that he realized how much he had been missing.
He had been focusing so much on his career, working late most of the time and hardly having dinner at home. He visited his mother often since she lived right next door, but on weeknights, he was usually in the office till ten or eleven. He just gobbled down a quick meal at his desk and carried on working. By the time he got home, the lights were all out in Amanda’s house.
But for the past three weeks, he had been spending the evenings with his mother and daughter in the house where he grew up. Tia was great with Sarah. She was patient and gentle, but she was also lively and wildly entertaining. She could make Sarah shriek with laughter and excitement as she crawled around the couch after the little girl. Sarah could crawl really fast, and Tia was slowly encouraging her to stand up and take her first step.
And his mother looked so much less stressed and tired now. She trusted Tia with Sarah, and she told Caine that Tia was always the first to get to Sarah when she heard the baby’s cry over the baby monitor.
Nathan had told him that Tia’s assignment would only be for a month. “I have to be fair to her,” Nathan said. “Tia is a capable, intelligent young woman. I know she wants more challenging assignments and missions. She’s not a babysitter. We all know that. And...I think Kerry is slowly learning to let go. Kerry realizes that she shouldn’t hold Tia back.”
Tia had been with them for three weeks now. And it was the best and most torturous three weeks of Caine’s life.
Caine wished his mother would stop being so stubborn and insist on staying in her old house. His mother had brought him up, and now that he was doing so well, he wanted to provide for her, give her a life of comfort and luxury. That was the reason why Caine built his large, luxurious house right next to his mother’s house. He thought it would be easier to persuade her to move if the new house was just next door.
Boy, was he wrong. Even after Sarah came into their lives, Amanda refused to move. When he tried to persuade her again, his mother had rolled her eyes and huffed, “You’re right next door. What’s the point of moving me into your big house? I like living in my own house. You know I value my independence. And this isn’t just a house. It’s a home!”
Caine saw her point and he respected her wishes. But he wanted his whole family to be living in the same house, sleeping under the same roof. He wanted this more than ever now.
Tia was next door, sleeping in Amanda’s house every night.
He wanted her in his house. Every evening when he walked into his mother’s house for breakfast, he would be greeted by the sound of Tia’s voice, her laughter and her lovely, sweet scent. He wanted to have her in his house. He wanted to see her face first thing in the morning, and hold her in his arms as he fell asleep.
Tia was so close, yet he couldn’t have her. His mother had chuckled gleefully as she watched him stare at Tia with undisguised yearning over the dinner table.
“She’s the one,” Amanda had stated one evening as Caine helped her load the dishwasher. “I knew it the moment I met her. And...I have never seen you like this before. No woman has ever had this effect on you.”
His mother had done this on purpose. She had arranged for Tia to be with her and Sarah round the clock, so she could see for herself how well Tia cared for the baby. And she wanted to see if her son was really serious about this young woman.
“The three of you belong together,” Amanda had told Caine last night as Tia put Sarah to bed. “You make a lovely family.”
Family.
Caine smiled. He found that he was really enjoying family life with Tia.
Tia was already part of his family. His mother and daughter loved her. So did he.
He wanted to take things further with Tia, but she seemed determined to keep their relationship strictly professional. “I don’t want any distractions while I’m on a job,” she had told him.
Was that what he was to her? A distraction?
But the woman was driving him to distraction! He had never wanted any woman like this before. He loved everything about Tia. He loved the way she cared for Sarah and Amanda, he loved her sweet, vivacious nature, and he admired her strength, determination and dedication. Tia was young, but she had gone through so much.
She didn’t let fear and regret hold her back. There was so much love and courage in her heart. She continued fighting the good fight, but she made compromises for her loved ones. She didn’t turn up her nose at this babysitting job. Instead, she made sure that she was the best babysitter-cum-bodyguard ever.
But they all knew that this was just a temporary assignment for her. Tia was a bright, capable woman, and she had a very promising career in front of her.
He wouldn’t hold her back.
But—he couldn’t let her go either.
He had found his mate.
But no one told him that finding her was the easy part.
His wolf was going crazy. And so was he.
Caine wanted to claim Tia and keep her by his side. He wanted to hold, cherish and love his mate for the rest of his life.
Was that too much to ask?
No wonder Tia and Amanda got along so well. They were both iron-willed, infuriating, impossible women!
And he loved them so damn much.