Hero (Hero 1)

I drew to a halt outside Caine’s office. The entire floor was empty.

No Arnold.

Nobody.

Caine unlocked his door, flicking on lights as he strode inside his office. I followed him in.

He turned and looked at me blankly. “It appears I missed it. I’ll take you home.”

Uh … what? I held my hand up, palm facing out to stop him. I gestured around the room, my agitation mounting. “Where is Arnold? Where is this conference call?”

He shrugged. “Obviously I missed it and Arnold locked up.”

“Without calling you?” I asked, incredulous.

He shrugged again. “Let me take you home.”

“Did you lie? Did you lie to get me out of that party?”

“I don’t lie,” Caine said, sounding affronted. “I manipulate. It’s how I got rich. Now let me take you home.”

No. We weren’t going anywhere until I got to the bottom of this. It felt like I had fire in my blood, I was that angry with him. Suddenly I didn’t care if he fired me. “You lied to get me out of a party and away from my date. Are you that much of a snob?”

“It wasn’t about that,” he snapped, his eyes sparking with his ire. “I didn’t want you there and I made that clear. When I want something a certain way I get it. I thought I’d also made that clear by now.”

“You son of a bitch!” I shouted, losing all cool. “All week you’ve made me feel like I’m nothing, like I’m worthless. And now this crap!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Monday afternoon. Henry came to your office and you forgot to switch off the speakerphone.”

The air around him crackled dangerously. “You were eavesdropping?”

I flushed. “I was going to tell you, but then I heard … Henry started talking about me and it’s only natural to listen in to a conversation about yourself,” I argued. “And you were beyond insulting.”

His expression cleared. “Is that why you said yes to Henry? To piss me off?”

“I said yes because he was complimentary. And yes, I have to admit to getting some satisfaction out of irritating you since it was so clear you think I’m beneath you.”

His nostrils flared. “Bullshit.”

I blinked rapidly at the denial. “Seriously? You’ve been treating me badly all week. Not to mention how you were tonight? You’re not a stupid man, Caine, so you had to know I was hurt when my grandfather chose to ignore me, and you just dug the knife in deeper. You’re never going to see me for me, are you?” I clenched my hands into fists. “You’re just going to wound me and humiliate me. You’re determined to make me pay for what he did.” At his silence my anger increased. “Aren’t you!” I yelled.

Suddenly my back hit the wall behind me as Caine moved me there, caging me in as he crowded me against it, his hands pressed to the wall above my head. Emotion blazed from his eyes. “I don’t think you’re beneath me,” he hissed.

The surprise of finding myself barricaded in by him had knocked my attitude down a few levels. “Then why were you cruel?” I whispered.

Remorse flickered in his eyes. “I didn’t mean … I just didn’t want you there. With him.”

And the shocks just kept coming.

I sucked in my breath and then slowly exhaled. It isn’t possible … I didn’t think so, but … I took in the aspect of his dark gaze that hinted at another emotion besides anger. “You’re jealous?”

The muscle in Caine’s jaw flexed.

My heart started to slam against my ribs and I couldn’t seem to get control of my rapidly increasing breathing. With our eyes locked, our bodies touching, the heat around us blazing off the charts, I forgot where we were. I forgot everything but him.

“Cai—”

He crushed his mouth over mine, swallowing my gasp of shock and excitement. His cologne, the heat of his skin, and the taste of him, hot and sharp … it all overwhelmed me as he gripped the back of my neck with one hand and slid the other down my stomach … He smoothed it down my hip and under my thigh.

Realizing his intent, I kissed him back harder and clung to him, my fingers digging into his back, as he tugged my thigh up so he could press deeper between my legs. My lips parted on a whimper of lust and triumph. Caine growled. The sound caused a ripple of arousal in my lower belly and I pushed into him.

His hand tightened around my neck and he groaned again, the vibration of it causing more heat to shoot through me, tugging at my nipples, melting through my belly, and exploding between my legs in a burst of needy tingles. His kiss grew more demanding, long, drugging kisses that muddled my head and took me with him to somewhere else entirely. We were panting and pulling at each other’s mouths like we couldn’t get deep enough. Caine crushed me harder against the wall, grinding his erection against me. My belly squeezed again, and it occurred to me I’d never been this turned on from just kissing someone in my life.

It was him.

I slid my hands up his back and over his shoulders, my fingers sinking into his hair as I silently begged for more, for harder, for deeper … for everything.

From him.

Caine released his hold on my neck only to trail his fingers along my collarbone. As he skimmed his fingertips slowly over the silk of my dress, shivers cascaded down my spine, giving me goose bumps and causing my nipples to peak against the fabric of my dress. His thumb brushed lightly over my breast and stilled at the evidence of my arousal.