Hero (Hero 1)

Surprised, I was quiet a moment. I gazed around at my apartment, trying to work out what it was about it that Caine liked. It couldn’t have been more different from his place. “Why?” I said.

He shrugged and kept eating. He frowned at something he read and turned the page.

Okay, that wasn’t an answer, and it looked like I wasn’t going to get one.

I decided not to push it and take the fact that he’d admitted he liked my apartment as a score for the day.

We sat in silence until we’d finished breakfast, and when he was done Caine thanked me again, leaned over the counter to kiss me, and then left. There was no arranging to spend the day together, no word of meeting up at night. Nothing.

I stared glumly at our empty plates.

But at least I’d gotten a kiss good-bye this time.

CHAPTER 15

Sex followed by the quiet breakfast foreshadowed what was to come. Saturday night Caine didn’t come over to my place. He called the next day and said if I was around he’d come over that night.

And he did.

We had mind-blowing sex in my living room and then he left.

Monday through Thursday that was pretty much our lives. We worked together under the pretense of complete professionalism. I went home around six thirty and Caine came over around ten thirty. We fucked and then he went back to his apartment.

There was nothing romantic about it. Yeah, it was hot and that heat only seemed to be getting hotter, but Caine’s walls were still high and impenetrable and I had no clue how to break them down.

I was failing miserably.

But then two things happened that gave me a spark of hope. The first was that Caine had an art gala to attend that Friday evening that was being hosted by the wife of one of his board of directors. As soon as I arranged for one of his tuxes to be pressed, I was on tenterhooks, worrying about the person he would invite to go with him. I couldn’t attend because we’d decided to keep our relationship private. However, we also hadn’t discussed whether we were going to be exclusive during our affair. I was more than gratified, then, when Caine told me that he was going to the event solo. Still, I wished I’d had the courage to ask him about exclusivity so I could know for certain one way or another.

Come Friday the second thing happened to give me my answer …

The stationery room was about to pay witness to my printer-induced rage.

I’d spent the last twenty-five minutes fiddling around with the digital computer screen on the damn thing, trying to work out why on earth it wouldn’t print.

“Argh!” I smacked the side of it. “What is wrong with you?”

“This is just a guess but I’m thinking it’s the tall lady physically abusing it.”

Recognizing the voice, I cut Henry a look out of the corners of my eyes. He was lounging against the doorframe, grinning at me. “I should warn you that I am this close to committing printercide, and if that doesn’t calm me down I’m moving on to homicide. Closest person gets it.”

Henry chuckled and ignored my warning by walking casually into the room. “Let me have a look.”

I stepped back, doubtful. “I’m not sure there’s any point.”

“I’m offended,” he said, not sounding the least bit as he leaned in to look at the screen. “You think a Lexington doesn’t need to know such provincial things as fixing a malfunctioning printer?”

“Well, yeah.”

He chuckled and started flicking through the screen. He hit a button and suddenly the printer whirred to life.

My jaw almost hit the floor. “How did—but how …?”

Henry reached for my letter as it printed out. He handed it to me with no small amount of smugness. “You look like you’re going to cry.”

I took the papers from him and nodded. “I feel like I might. I’ve been in here for twenty-five minutes. They were the longest twenty-five minutes of my life. And then you walk in, spend two seconds with the thing, and just fix it. Voila. Like it’s nothing.”

“Oh, poor baby.” Henry laughed and put his arm around my shoulder, leading me out of the room toward my desk. “You should have called.”

“How was I to know that Henry Lexington is fluent in Printer?”

“Ah, well, there are a lot of things about me you’d learn if you gave it the time.”

I rolled my eyes at his flirting, more than used to it by now.

“Where have you been?” Caine stepped out of his office door, stopping us in our tracks. Displeasure registered on his face when he took in the sight of Henry with his arm around me. I gently extricated myself from his friend’s grasp.

“The printer wouldn’t work.” I waved the letter at him.

“For thirty minutes?” he snapped.

I frowned at his tone. I thought we were past him talking to me like that. “Yes,” I snapped back. “For thirty minutes. I don’t do printers. Luckily Henry came along and fixed it.”

Caine’s eyes narrowed as they swung back to his friend, who stood watching us carefully. “Oh, did he?”

Henry raised an eyebrow at the predatory tone. “Do you have a problem with that?”

Instead of answering his question, Caine continued to glare at him. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds and then Henry said to me, “Always a pleasure, Lexie.”

I smiled at him, refusing to be cowed by Caine’s temper. “Henry,” I murmured, and gave him a little wave as he left.