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.
CHAPTER 22
“You look gorgeous. Let me take a photo of the two of you together.” Effie held up her iPhone and began snapping away before Caine or I could protest.
Laughter bubbled between my lips as I glanced up at Caine. He was wearing his “I’m holding on to my patience only because it’s Effie” expression. Lately he wore that expression a lot around his neighbor. “Do you think she thinks we’re going to the prom?” I muttered, teasing him.
He shot me a look. “Make it stop.”
“Caine, stop scowling,” Effie chastised from across the room.
I snorted, grabbed his arm, and grinned for the camera.