CHAPTER FIVE
Caine Taylor stepped out of his office and went to the lobby. The office was quiet and empty. Even his hardworking and meticulous COO had left. Caine glanced at his watch and raised a brow in surprise. He hadn’t realized that it was almost ten.
The offices of the senior management staff were on the very top floor of the hotel building. Treasure Hotel was a cozy, boutique hotel in the heart of the city. From his office, Caine had a breathtaking view of the entire city.
Caine dialed his mother’s number as he stepped into the elevator. His mother answered on the second ring. “She’s sleeping,” Amanda informed him.
“Yeah. I know it’s way past her bedtime now. How’s her appetite?” Caine asked worriedly.
“Sarah finished all her milk today. And she ate a bit of mashed potatoes and carrots.”
“That’s good. Is she having a fever? I read that some babies develop a fever when they’re teething.” Caine was desperately gobbling up every parenting book and magazine he could get his hands on. He was literally flying blind. What did he know about being a dad to a ten-month-old baby girl? Nothing! But he planned to learn everything as fast as was humanly possible. And being a werewolf, he did things faster than humans so he should be able to learn this in half the time.
“Sarah’s fine. No fever,” his mother answered soothingly. She heard the worry in his voice and changed the topic. “We read another Grimm fairy tale today, but I think Sarah wasn’t happy that the wolf got stereotyped as the bad guy. She knows that her daddy’s a wolf. So I changed the ending.”
Caine grinned. “Did the story end with the wolf helping the grandmother mow her lawn and prepare dinner?”
“Yes! And he also helped the grandmother turn her little cottage into a bed and breakfast, so the grandmother can be financially independent!”
Caine smiled a little. Caine’s mother, Amanda Taylor, was a strong, proud human woman and she had raised him single-handedly after his father died when he was a toddler. She worked hard and refused to accept any handouts. Caine got his wolf shifter genes from his dad. Shifters were stronger and faster than humans, but a blade through the heart would kill anyone.
After a pause, Caine began slowly, “I know you said you don’t need a nanny for Sarah...”
“I don’t,” Amanda sniffed. “I can take care of my granddaughter myself.”
“I know. But...”
“What?” Amanda demanded. “What are you planning to spring on me?”
Caine bit back a laugh. His mother was sharp as a tack.
“Well...you didn’t say anything about not wanting a bodyguard, right?”
There was a long silence.
“Mom? You still there?”
“Yes, I’m here,” Amanda answered tersely. “A bodyguard, eh?”
“Yup. I want you and Sarah to be safe.”
“Are we in any danger?” Amanda asked quietly. “Is it because of what happened to Mark...”
“No. I don’t think you’re in danger. I’m just being careful.” He swallowed. “Mark...took his own life. He didn’t have any enemies. Not that I know of.”
Caine heard his mother release a long sigh. “Okay. A bodyguard’s fine. If it makes you feel better. I know you’re trying your best. You’re a great dad, Caine.”
“And you’re a wonderful grandmother.”
“I love her,” Amanda said abruptly. “Sarah has been with us for only two months, and I love her so much already.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Caine could hear the smile in his mother’s voice when she said, “I’m proud of you, son.”
Caine wished his mother goodnight, and clicked off as he stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor.
He walked past the bar on the ground floor of the hotel and stopped when he heard the beautiful, soulful piano music. He glanced towards the grand piano and saw Kenneth’s shock of white hair over the lid.
Maybe he would have a drink at the bar and decompress before going home. Besides, there was no one home. His mother insisted on taking care of Sarah during the weekdays, so Caine only took Sarah home on weekends. He was getting quite good at changing a diaper without any accidents and he could prepare a bottle of milk in record time. He’d read every parenting book he could get his hands on from cover to cover, but there was only so much you could learn from books. Real-life, hands-on experience was the best teacher. He’d learned quite a few things on the fly himself.
Caine sat down at the corner of the bar and ordered a drink. The bartender and some of the staff greeted him when they saw him, but Caine smiled and shook his head subtly. He was off work now. He wasn’t sitting here as the CEO of Treasure Hotel. He was just a guy, having a drink in the bar, and listening to a very talented pianist.
Caine had met Kenneth in this very bar. He had seen the elderly gentleman sitting alone at the bar counter, crying into his beer. The poor man had just lost his wife in an accident, and he was trying to drink himself to oblivion.
But the beer couldn’t drown his pain. When the weeping old man stumbled over to the grand piano on the stage, no one stopped him. Kenneth put his wrinkled hands on the keyboard and started to play. He wanted to play his late wife’s favorite song, the song that they had danced to at their wedding some thirty years ago.
The small crowd in the bar had applauded wildly when Kenneth finished the song. The man could play the piano like a pro, and he played with so much feeling.
Caine learned that he was a retired accountant, and he asked Kenneth if he would like to come back and play the piano again. Caine told him that the hotel had been looking for a pianist, but none had made the cut. Kenneth didn’t give him an answer that night, but two weeks later, just as Caine was leaving the hotel, he heard the most arresting, captivating music floating out from the bar. He found Kenneth at the grand piano, playing his heart out. The man was no longer unshaven and disheveled. He was smartly dressed in a suit, and Caine could tell that he had made an effort to tame his frizzy, unruly white hair. “Martha would have wanted this,” was all he said when Caine approached him. “She wouldn’t want me to join her before my time.”
With a handshake, Caine knew that he had hired the best pianist this side of the city.