The sight of Henry perched on my desk caused me to hesitate a little as I returned from the copy room. I knew even before noting that curious smile of his that he would want to know what was going on between Caine and me.

But it wasn’t up to me to discuss my boss’s personal life with his friends (even if I happened to be his personal life), and after spending an absolutely amazing day with Caine all day yesterday, I didn’t want to ruin the newfound intimacy between us.

I slowed to a stop in front of Henry and gave him a knowing look. “Mr. Lexington.”

He grinned. “Lexie.” He cocked his head to the side in thought. “You know, if you’d been smart about it and chosen this guy”—he pointed to himself—“your name could eventually have been Lexie Lexington.”

I snorted. “All I’d need were cowboy boots and a broken heart and I’d be a country singer.”

Henry’s eyebrows drew together. “Huh. You’re right.” He chuckled. “And a very beautiful one at that.”

“Henry, stop flirting with me.”

“I’m just waiting to see if Mr. Carraway comes bursting out of the doors to tell me to stay away from you. He’s awfully possessive of his PA.”

Sighing, I nudged him off my desk. “Why don’t you stop with the joking around and just say what it is you want to say?”

He eyed me carefully. “Caine is a good friend. I knew something was going on between you two from the start, and although he’s never been the most forthcoming guy, he was weirdly cagey about you. And I wasn’t joking about the whole possessive thing. You have no idea how many times he bit my head off when I mentioned how attractive you are. It came as no surprise to me to find you two going at each other on Saturday night.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I didn’t think it would be a surprise to you. I knew what you were up to the night of the Andersons’ ball. Really, Henry, you should consider leaving banking for matchmaking.”

He smirked. “So you two are together. No surprise. To anyone. You have to know most of his staff has been speculating about you two since the beginning.”

Uncomfortable at the thought, I frowned. “You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”

“No.” He stepped toward me. “Which brings me to my point. Why is it a secret? I know Caine well enough to know he could give a fuck if anyone knew he was sleeping with his PA, so that’s not the reason for the secrecy.”

And there it was. The question I’d seen burning in his eyes the moment I saw him perched on my desk. “Henry, if Caine wants to tell you his business, he will. Ask. And see. What you don’t do is ask me. I’ll never betray his confidence.”

Henry studied me a moment, all humor and teasing leaving him. “You care about him,” he murmured.

I didn’t reply. There was no need. I’d worked out a while ago that Henry Lexington was more perceptive than he let on.

“Lexie,” he said, his voice low, concerned, “Caine isn’t … No matter how he feels for you … don’t expect …”

My heart was pounding in my chest. “Don’t expect what?”

“Just …” He reached up to clasp my shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You’re a good person, and I’m glad you’ve got his back … but I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Uneasiness settled over me, and I fought desperately to push it back. Henry’s opinions were based on what he knew of Caine, but he didn’t know how his friend acted around me.

He didn’t know that this weekend was a breakthrough for us.

I held on to my confidence, letting it bite back at the uncertainty. “I won’t,” I promised.

“I’m still not sure it’s a good idea for us to be seen together here.” I glanced warily around us.

It was a warm Thursday afternoon and Caine and I had been in Beacon Hill for a brunch meeting. To my surprise he’d suggested we stick around during our lunch hour, some of which we passed with a stroll through the public gardens. We walked over the bridge, watching tour guides pedal by on the swan boats.

“I think as long as we don’t start groping each other, we’ll be fine,” Caine said.

My eyes flew to his face at the irritation in his words. Sure enough, the telltale sign of his annoyance was in the twitch of muscles in his jaw.

It had been nearly a week since the party and I’d never felt closer to Caine. However, this was the first sign he’d shown me that hiding our relationship bothered him.

I kept my silence, not sure how to address the issue since there was really nothing we could do about it. Of course, I knew we couldn’t go on like this forever, but until I had some sure sign from Caine of the permanency of our relationship, I saw no point in taking on the headache of trying to work out how to deal with my father’s family.

Just thinking about it gave me a headache. I sighed and stepped off the path, the grass tickling the exposed parts of my feet as I wandered down to the lake edge to watch the ducks and geese. A squirrel, completely unconcerned by my presence, shot by my feet and scurried up a nearby weeping willow tree. I tilted my face up to the sun and closed my eyes.

A few seconds later Caine’s arm brushed mine.

“What are you thinking?” he said.

“How peaceful it is in here. How uncomplicated.” I opened my eyes to meet his curious gaze. “People jogging, people sunbathing, people doing yoga, strolling, sleeping, relaxing. The worries get left outside on the street. They pick them back up as soon as they walk out of here.”

“And what are you worried about?”

Honestly, everything, I thought. You, me, my grandfather, my job. None of it was weighed down by the solidity of any security. Not one thing was permanent. Not me and Caine, and certainly not my position in his company, because if we ended, then my career ended. And my grandfather … My relationship with him was as uncertain as it was secretive. I could leave Boston and it would be like our days together had never happened.

I tried to shake off the sudden melancholy, wondering how I could go from being so happy to so scared within the span of five minutes.

I gave Caine a small smile. “Nothing.”

His gaze sharpened, as though he didn’t believe me. He moved toward me and just as he did I felt a wet plop hit my head.

My eyes widened as Caine’s flew to my hair. “No,” I said in denial.

His lips twitched. “Yes.”

Horrified, I gave a little hysterical laugh. “Please tell me … a bird did not just shit on my head.”

Caine gave a bark of laughter.

“Caine!” I watched him give in to his amusement, and if it hadn’t been for the smelly bird poop in my hair, I would have been delighted to see him laugh. However, this was not amusing! I grimaced, raising a hand to my hair but afraid to touch it to discover where the mess had occurred. “It’s not funny.” I slapped him across the arm and that just made him laugh harder. “You choose now to be immature? I have bird shit in my hair!”

“Stop it,” he breathed, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. He choked on his mirth, taking a step toward me. “Keep saying that and I won’t be able to stop laughing.”

“It’s not funny.” I wrinkled my nose. “It’s vile.”

He smiled, his gaze going to the mess. “You were just so serious and then …”

“Bird poop,” I finished. He choked again and I held up my hand in warning. “Don’t even. I have to go back to the office. I can’t go with—” I cut myself off, not wanting to set his hilarity off again by using the phrase bird shit.

Suddenly the humor of it hit me.

Caine Carraway laughed like a schoolboy over bird poop.

Who knew?

As he watched my lips twitch, Caine’s demeanor warmed with tenderness. “We’ll head up to my apartment …” He looked around, his gaze arrested on something. “For now …”

Confused, I watched him stride back over the path and stop at a bench where two college-age kids were sitting. He said something to them and then pulled out his wallet. I watched as he handed them money and in return they handed him their water bottles.

Warmth flooded my chest as Caine came back to me. “How much did those cost?” I eyed the bottles.

“Ten bucks.” He shrugged. “But they’ll wash it out so you don’t have to walk to my apartment with bird shit in your hair.”

“My hero.”

He threw me a warning look that did nothing to dispel my secret giddiness. “Just lower your head.”

I did as he said, smiling all the while as he very carefully poured the water into my hair and gently worked the bird poop out. A few minutes later, he squeezed the excess water out of my hair and eased my head back. My gaze appreciative, I dug in my purse and pulled out the mini hand gel I kept in there.

“Thanks.” He took it, slathering the stuff over his hands.

“No, thank you.” I gazed upward to his apartment building, visible on Arlington. “Do we have time for me to shampoo?”

“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.”

A delicious shiver rippled over me at the thought. “So it’s a gift for the both of us?”

“Yeah. One that will hopefully keep on giving.”

I laughed and moved to lean into him, completely forgetting where we were.

“Alexa?”

The familiar voice stopped me. My pulse raced as I spun around to face my grandfather.

Although we’d spoken on the phone, we hadn’t seen each other in weeks. Caine’s revelation held me back from arranging a tête-à-tête with my grandfather. Not too long ago I’d cherished them. But after discovering the truth, I dreaded meeting up with Grandpa. So I put it off again and again. I suspected my grandfather was blaming my relationship with Caine for my distance with him. It had only increased his disapproval. Seeing the look on Grandpa’s face when his gaze darted beyond me to Caine, I knew that disapproval hadn’t lessened any. I’d always thought his feelings were born from concern, but now I was questioning everything. Was Grandpa really worried for me or was he just worried that somehow my closeness with Caine was going to unleash the secrets we’d all buried?

“Gran—” The word was abruptly cut off at the sudden appearance of my grandmother as she came striding out of the jewelry store next to us. I tried to hide my reaction, pretending all the while that my heart wasn’t banging away in my chest.

Adele Holland’s face hinted at what must have been her youthful beauty. Her style and perfectly coiffed ash blond hair and tip-tilted crystal blue eyes were still very attractive. She looked at her husband and then at me and scowled in confusion. Caine edged behind me, drawing her gaze, and that was when understanding paled her features.

Of course she knew who Caine was. I watched as she surmised that he was the reason for the awkward tension in the air.

“Edward?” she whispered in question, looking anxious and scared, and much less of the dragon lady everyone said she was.

“Well, we should be going.” Grandpa cleared his throat and gave us a jerky nod. “Mr. Carraway, miss.” He took my grandmother’s arm and led her past us.

I stared at the spot he’d just been standing in, and ignored that ache that split through me. It always woke that insidious little whisper that taunted me. Not loved enough by your father, your mother, your grandfather … or by Caine.

I felt alone. Alone, unloved, and with no one to trust.

“Alexa?”

I glanced up at Caine to see his eyes were shadowed with anger.

At the sight of it I shook off my hurt and gave him a fake smile.

That only made him madder.

Without a word he started stalking down the street in the opposite direction my grandparents had taken. I started after him, my steps slower.

And then quite abruptly Caine whipped around and marched back toward me. Features etched with determination, he yanked me roughly to him and crushed his mouth down over mine. I made a noise of surprise in the back of my throat before my instincts took over. I couldn’t help sinking into his kiss.

When he finally let me go we were both breathing hard. Caine smoothed his thumb over my cheek, his eyes still dark with passion and anger. “I could give a fuck who saw that.”

My answer was to wrap my arms around him, and to my pleasure, Caine held me tightly.

Standing there on Charles Street, being hugged by him, I was choked by emotion. Not only had I realized today that I loved Caine; I also finally understood why he hated keeping us a secret.

He knew what his revelation about my grandfather had done to me, and he knew what it did to me that Grandpa couldn’t acknowledge me in public. And I think he knew that I was questioning Grandpa’s love for me.

And Caine did not want to be the guy who treated me to the same.

He wasn’t ashamed to be with me, to know me, to want me in his life.

My arms tightened around him.

Maybe, God, just maybe … I wasn’t the only one falling in love.