Caught on Camera with the CEO (10 page)

She picked up the bag of nails and interrupted Alex again. ‘Give me a hammer.'

‘Pardon?'

‘A hammer.'

‘I'm not sure that's such a good idea.' Alex stood back from his work. ‘You've got such precious fingers, very little thumbs.'

‘Lucky, aren't I? Means they're easy to miss,' she said smartly. ‘What makes you think a girl can't hammer in a few nails?'

She'd done all the DIY in the little flat her mother and she had rented—well, as much of it as she could without doing worse damage. Plumbing was beyond her, but nailing up a few fence palings was a cinch. She went to the end of the fence and got started.

Alex had dug the last of the holes for the back fence and he and Lorenzo concreted the poles in. They'd obviously worked together a lot. And she wasn't noticing how good Alex looked grubby.

Finally they stopped for food. Alex magicked a hamper from in the boot of his car. Dani stared at the yummy pottles he was finding forks for.

He noticed her salivating, and his grin was too cocky. ‘I know a great deli.'

‘How come you two are so good at this?'

‘Summers working on a farm. Fence post after fence post.' Alex handed her a pottle of pasta salad and a fork.

He'd spent his summers working? She was pleasantly surprised—would have thought a richer-than-rich playboy prince like him would have been off gallivanting round the globe every semester break. She looked at the perfectly straight fence posts. Nope, he was definitely experienced with this.

As soon as she filled the pit that was her stomach she turned her back and got on with her section. Banging in the nails was a rewarding way to burn off some of her energy. It was accruing again, in giant tubfuls—the desire to be with him.

‘What makes
you
so good at this?'

She jumped. He was standing right beside her, tracing his finger along the palings where she'd hammered the nails in a neat row.

‘Necessity.'

His brows lifted. ‘Is there nothing you can't do all on your own, Dani?'

‘Not a thing.' She slung the hammer back into the tool box, glanced up to see a frown on his face. ‘What?'

He brushed the backs of his fingers along her jaw, slid them up to sweep that annoying bit of fringe back. ‘Are you sure about that?'

His tone was different—loaded with meaning. He wasn't teasing her. It wasn't a reference to the way he'd played with her in bed last night. His eyes held none of that heat; instead it was all seriousness, all concern.

Eli.

Her heart started thundering. If she asked Alex to help, it would happen. He would find him. And wasn't that what she wanted more than anything in the world? Suddenly she was scared. Really, really scared of what she might find. And too scared not to search. She watched, distracted, as Alex and Lorenzo loaded the rest of the gear on the truck, then all three stood for a moment and admired the pristine fence.

Alex shot Lorenzo a look. ‘Tempted?'

‘Like you wouldn't believe.'

Alex laughed. ‘Bad boy. Come back for a drink instead.'

Dani saw Lorenzo glance from Alex to her and then back to Alex. ‘Not today, thanks.'

Once they were in the car she just had to ask. ‘What was he tempted to do?'

Alex grinned. ‘Renz liked to tag as a teen.'

‘Graffiti?' Dani's brows lifted. ‘Did you help him get on the straight and narrow?'

‘Are you kidding?' Alex laughed. ‘I got him the paint.'

He disappeared upstairs when they got home. Dani's body had seized up in the car; it was all she could do to hobble to the kitchen. She got ice-cold water from the fridge and carefully sat on a stool.

‘Tired?'

Warm fingers slid beneath her tee shirt and walked up her spine.

‘Yes.'

‘Come on.' He sounded husky.

Heaven help her, she thought she might be too tired even to manage that. He chuckled and picked her up, easily loping up the stairs with her. He went straight through his bedroom to the en-suite bathroom adjacent to it.

‘Oh.' She blinked.

There were candles lit everywhere—tons of them, all different sizes, but all that gorgeous deep red, and her favourite berrylicious scent. Out of the window the autumnal sky was closing in, a blue-grey that darkened with every beat of her heart.

‘Alex…' She looked up at him, registered his slightly smug smile, and his arms tightened. She put on a pout and shook her head. ‘Don't think this is going to get you any extra points.'

‘I don't need any more points.' He grinned and then tipped her into the bath, clothes and all. She went right under and emerged with a splutter, sending fluffy white bubbles everywhere. She knelt up and looked at him, watched as he yanked his shirt off his head. Sinking back into the delicious, almost-too-hot water, she melted as he scuffed off his jeans. Heaven.

He laughed as she sighed, stepped into the bath behind her. Oh, yes. He didn't need any more points. She turned to face him and he pulled her close, the tips of his fingers making patterns with the bubbles on her skin. ‘Wet tee shirt.' His eyes gleamed. ‘Nice.'

‘You're a gentleman and a rogue, Alex Carlisle.'

He blew some of the bubbles from her arm. ‘What makes you say that?'

‘You do this—' she waved a froth-covered hand at the flickering candles that cast a warm glow in the room ‘—set it up so beautifully and then you dunk me in fully clothed.'

He leaned back, water streaming over his bronzed body emphasising the lean, hard muscles, and his brows flicked up and down. ‘Irresistible impulse.'

‘Succumb to them often, do you?'

‘Around you. Yes.'

She gazed at him, experiencing a rather irresistible impulse of her own as his silky-smooth words washed over her with that undertone of laughter as the chaser.

Utterly
irresistible.

She rose to her knees, leant forward and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. ‘Thank you.'

Lifting far enough away to focus, she saw a curious expression in his eyes.

‘I'm glad you like it,' he murmured.

‘You remembered the candle from the hostel.'

He nodded.

‘You're very good with details.'

The curve of his mouth deepened.

She leant closer to him again, her voice merely a hot breath by his ear. ‘What else are you good at?'

He inclined his head just that touch so his faintly stubbled jaw brushed her cheek. ‘You sure you want to find out?'

‘Absolutely.'

 

What felt like hours later she was finally naked and her muscles utterly slack, her legs floating in front of her as she used Alex like a lilo. She didn't think she'd ever felt so relaxed. The tiredness swamped her—the long months of hard work and heartbreak as she'd cared for her slowly dying mother were finally taking their toll. The devastation at her father's callous abuse of them. What kind of person stole at a time like that?

Dani would give anything to have her back. Just anything. But there was nothing she could do. Except the one last thing she'd asked. Maybe she could bring peace to her mother's final rest—and peace for herself.

She was too tired, too desperate, not to take the help Alex had offered. Her pride in her independence had to be shelved. ‘What you said yesterday…'

‘About the investigator?'

She felt the reverberations in his chest as he spoke—even as softly as he had—and felt reassured by the solid strength of him.

‘Yes.'

His wide palms stroked down her upper arms. ‘You don't have to tell me about it. I can just make the appointment for you.'

She smiled sadly. He was offering her privacy, offering her help, but she wanted to share it now—it was a burden that had got too heavy for her, but that would be nothing to him. ‘My mother had a son eight years before she had me. Here in New Zealand. She named him Eli. She adopted him out.'

‘And you want to find him.'

She nodded. ‘We've never met. He doesn't know I exist. I only found out about him just before she died. I only have the vaguest details and I've tried, but I can't get anywhere.'

‘You don't have any other family, do you?'

She shook her head—none that she recognised.

‘The PI will help.' Alex sounded all CEO certain. ‘We'll call him tonight.'

‘It's Saturday.'

‘They work all hours.'

Like him. Unless he was in party mode. ‘Shouldn't you be going out somewhere?'

‘Nowhere else I'd rather be than here.'

Dani rested her head back on his chest and smiled at his hot-chocolate-smooth words—he always had the right answers, didn't he? But now, having told him about her search, she felt her exhaustion quadruple. She closed her eyes.

‘Don't worry, Dani.' She heard him from a distance. ‘We'll find him for you.'

D
ANI
looked up at Alex's deep sigh.

He'd laid his cutlery down and his smile curved lopsidedly. ‘We have to go out tonight.'

‘We do?' She nearly choked on her last mouthful. He'd picked her up from work bang on time, spun her in his arms the minute they got to the top of the stairs of his house, kissed her while walking them through to the kitchen and made the most of the big bench. When they'd finally come up for air and done their clothes back up, they'd sat down to dinner. All she wanted to do now was fall into bed—and play some more.

Yesterday had been divine—according to Alex the ‘day of rest' meant no getting out of bed all day. In between the ferocious sex they'd dozed, she'd read the newspapers, he tapped on his laptop and they'd snacked on whatever they could find in the fridge. She was still hot from it—and exhausted in equal measure.

‘Drinks with the charity divas. It won't take long but I need to put in an appearance.'

‘I don't, though.'

‘Yes, you do, you're the newest employee and they're all
very keen to meet you. Besides, you're my excuse to leave early. You'll have a headache.'

‘What? No way. You can have your own headache.' She watched him clear the plates. ‘Do we have to dress up?' She didn't want to take up his offer to buy her some clothes—an offer he'd repeated in the guise of a loan—but the fact was, apart from a few work skirts and shirts and her one little black dress, it was jeans and tee and that was it.

‘Casual is fine.'

But after a quick shower she put on one of her quality cotton work shirts, tucking it into her jeans and securing them with a belt. She pulled on her boots instead of the trainers she preferred to jog round in when she was doing ‘casual'. Her casual and his casual were two quite different things. As a last touch she slid in the clip he'd given her the night of the dance. There were a couple of other women in jeans, Dani noted when they got there, but their jeans were designer.

It was a much smaller gathering than the dinner had been, much more informal and much more intimidating. The dinner had been too busy and too loud for any real in-depth conversation with anyone. This was more like appearing in front of a selection panel for an elite club. She was sure she was being judged—and that she was failing.

Alex held her hand and she was grateful for that because, beneath the tastefully mascaraed lashes, she was getting a few scarily close looks. The princesses of society all seemed to have gathered together and now they inspected her with barely veiled curiosity. She made her head stay up high; she would not drop it and stare at the floor. But she was nothing like them—she didn't have the breeding, the elite education, the looks, definitely not the wardrobe. His fingers gripped hers tighter and she sensed him looking at her.

She met the look and murmured softly in his ear, ‘How many of the women in this room have you slept with?'

‘Not even a tenth of how many you're thinking.' He lifted her hand to his chest, pressing it against the fine merino sweater so she could feel the steady beat of his heart, and grinned broadly at her. ‘Not feeling insecure, are you?'

‘Oh, no.' Hers was going machine-gun–style.

He grinned. ‘They just want to get to know you.'

More like they just wanted her out of the way so they could get to him. Now she understood why his arrogance was so innate. People thought he was wonderful—they just about bowed and scraped as he made his way across the room. And now they were doing the same for her—granting her a kind of power just because of her perceived association with him. Except for her they had sharp eyes, even sharper smiles. She didn't fit in and they knew it.

She looked around desperately as Alex chatted to an older couple. Another jeans-clad woman stood across the room, alone and on the outer. The thoughts so readable on her face mirrored the ones inside Dani—she wanted to get the hell out of there.

Dani murmured an ‘excuse me' and walked towards her, ignoring Alex's movement to keep her close.

‘Hello,' Dani introduced herself to the woman. ‘I'm Dani.'

‘Sara.' The woman smiled shyly. ‘It's my first time.'

‘Me too.' Dani gave her a look and both their smiles went wider. ‘What brings you here?'

‘I'm representing one of the charities the fund is considering supporting. I'm doing a presentation at next week's board meeting and they invited me along tonight so I could meet some of the board members. To break the ice.'

Well, the ice was shatterproof in some corners of the room.

‘Tell me about your charity.' Dani grinned. ‘You can practise on me.'

It was so nice to talk about someone and something else for five minutes. Dani was tired of smiling and ‘mmming' and ‘ahhing' and trying not to give her secrets away. They took a drink from a passing waiter and bonded.

Every so often Alex would glance across to her and she saw the keen question in his eye—not so much an ‘are you OK?' kind of caring question, but a ‘what are you up to?' keen observance. She turned her back on him and made herself relax. Another charity worker joined them, then another, and they found chairs and talked about their projects.

‘How's your head, Dani?' Alex bobbed down behind her seat and enquired—all seeming solicitude.

‘It's fine.' She smiled brightly, deliberately missing the message in his eyes. ‘Honestly, that delicious dinner really seemed to do the trick. I feel so much better than I did an hour or so ago.'

She turned back to Sara and the other women sitting beside her and smiled. ‘So tell me more.'

Sara's cheeks were deep pink as she looked from Dani to Alex and back again. ‘Are you sure you have time?'

‘I have all the time in the world.' Dani looked up and smiled sweetly at the tall man towering beside her. ‘Don't I?'

‘Of course.' His smile was set charm, then he walked off.

Dani beamed at Sara, savouring the moment—she did like to tease him.

Another half-hour passed and she was engrossed in conversation. Well, almost engrossed—her Alex-radar was as on as ever. She was aware of him watching her almost stalker-like. And she lifted her head when he approached again—with unmistakable purpose.

‘I'm very sorry to interrupt, Dani—' Alex broke through the circle of chairs and held his hand out to her ‘—but it really is time for us to go.'

‘You haven't met Sara—'

‘Alex Carlisle.' Alex immediately turned and took Sara's hand instead. Shaking it briefly. Then he wrapped his arm around Dani's shoulders and literally hauled her to her feet.

‘I'm sorry I've talked at you all evening.' Sara stood too.

‘Not at all,' Dani reassured her with a genuine grin. ‘I really enjoyed hearing about it.'

He didn't drag the goodbyes to the hostess and Dani was so amused by his impatience she was able to rise above the cool nods she got from some of the queens.

Outside they walked to where he'd parked.

‘You meant it, didn't you?' Alex unlocked the car.

‘Meant what?'

‘That you enjoyed hearing about Sara's work.'

Dani slid into the seat. ‘So what if I did?'

His smile broadened. ‘And you can be so nice to people. So social.'

‘I'm house-trained too,' she said witheringly. ‘Isn't that an advantage?'

His smile gave way to laughter then.

‘Well, really, Alex, what did you think—that I'd sit there sullen and stupid all night?'

‘No, but nor did I expect you to have half the room hanging on your every word and have them falling over each other to talk to you.'

‘That wasn't me,' she said acidly. ‘That was my status. Walking in with Alex Carlisle, I couldn't be anything but a success.'

‘Why do you insist on hiding behind a wall of sarcasm
from even the vaguest compliment?' He accelerated. ‘Dani, it was you. I've seen far more famous women, far more supposedly
important
women, fail to have anything like that effect on a group like that. You charmed them.'

‘I didn't. I just talked to them.' Dani fidgeted with the side seam of her jeans. ‘Why were you in such a rush to leave, anyway?'

‘I want you.'

OK, that was to the point and something of a relief given the lust she was grappling with. Even so, she couldn't resist a tease. ‘But I have a headache,
remember
?'

 

Alex dragged himself away from her warm, sleepy body, showered and dressed. Made himself a nuclear-strength coffee and forced the bitterness down his throat. He needed the caffeine hit. He powered up the computer on the desk overlooking the garden, then checked his phone. There were five messages waiting. He scrolled and then stilled. One was from Patrick, which he ignored. One was from the investigator.

Alex didn't care how early it was, he was paying the man enough to be able to call him any time—even two hours before dawn. The guy was impressively lucid considering he'd just been woken—but there wasn't much to report. Nothing on Dani's brother. Not good enough.

‘Where else can you look? There must be something, right?'

He was increasingly determined to find him for her. The investigator explained the problem—when searching the birth records, Dani's mother's name wasn't coming up anywhere, which meant that at the time of her son's adoption the original birth certificate was sealed. So, without a court order, the only person who can access the full details on the certificate is that child himself—no one else, not even his sister. The in
vestigator needed to find him through other means. He asked if Alex knew any more details.

‘No. I don't have more details—no date, no photo, no nothing. There can't have been that many babies adopted out that year. Check the ones before and after. Just find him.' He jabbed the end button and tossed it in the bench. Damn.

A faint sound alerted him. Whirling round, he saw her—in the doorway, her wide eyes searching his, so full of fearful hope. Alex winced. He wasn't big on bursting bubbles for people. And so he did it quick—less painful that way, right?

‘There's nothing yet, sorry, Dani. It's not looking good.'

For a moment she did nothing, the shock etched on her face. She believed he could help, didn't she? Frustration burned hotter inside him. He wanted to be able to. He wanted to smooth away that pinched look—to sweep the pain from her eyes. He moved. But she did too—turning her back to him.

‘I'm going to make breakfast.' She opened the fridge. ‘Pizza. Sounds weird, I know, but it's the only thing I can cook. You've got ready-made bases in here. I saw them the other day. Spinach and egg. Some people think it's gross but I love it.'

Alex said nothing, just stood on the other side of the bench and watched her sudden burst of busyness. She put the bases, spinach, eggs and cheese down. Found his biggest knife.

‘Do you have pasta sauce? I need some pasta sauce.'

Hell, she looked tired. And suddenly he too felt exhausted. Maybe they should both just go back to bed—to sleep.

By now she had the board. The green leaves were under the guillotine.

‘Dani.' He risked life and limb and put his hand on hers. ‘We'll do everything to find him for you, I promise. Everything.' He applied more pressure to his grip. ‘You can trust me, OK?'

‘Sure.' The knife hit the board.

Bang, bang, bang.

No more talking. She wouldn't look at him. She wasn't going to let him in on it—her disappointment, her fear, her hurt. And that made him almost as disappointed himself.

His phone beeped again and he wanted to chuck it in the waste-disposal unit. He wanted to help her. Wanted her to have the success that he hadn't—to find the happiness she wanted. Instead he was rendered useless.

When he looked up from tapping out a message she'd abandoned the spinach. ‘I don't feel like pizza anymore.' She put the knife down. ‘What a mess.'

‘The housekeeper will take care of it.'

But she wasn't talking about that mess and he knew it.

Her shoulders slumped. ‘I'm sorry the search is taking up your time, Alex. I know you have more important things to be doing.'

Was that defeat he'd just heard from her? He saw the way her fingers trembled as she tucked her hair behind her ear. Well, that wasn't right. He wanted the strong, sassy Dani back.

‘You mean, you think I actually do important things?' He tried to tease her out. ‘I thought I was only about swanning around and seducing the nearest available woman.'

‘OK, I admit that when you've done your seducing for the day you might put some effort into your work, as well.'

Clearly she was not herself.

‘Why, thank you.' He walked to her side of the bench, determined to bring the sparkle back to her eyes. ‘But you're mistaken about something.'

‘I am?' She finally looked at him. ‘What?'

‘I'm never done with seducing for the day.' He smiled down at her. Then his smile stuttered as he saw how the pain
came from right inside her, her big brown eyes dulled with sorrow and uncertainty.

He wound his arms around her and pulled her close for a plain old-fashioned hug, tempering the desire that surged every time he got within three feet of her, pressing her head into his shoulder so he didn't have to see that hurt anymore, because somehow it hurt him. And he wanted to pretend he really was helping somehow.

‘It's going to be OK, Dani.' It was all he could think of to say. And it wasn't enough. He couldn't guarantee her anything, but in this moment it didn't stop him trying.

 

Dani figured she must be the worst temp ever. She hadn't been paying any attention to what Cara had been saying. All she could think about was the news Alex had relayed. The disappointment was overwhelming.
Nothing.
No leads—no possibilities. She might never find Eli. She might never get to tell him how sorry their mother was—how she'd thought of him every day—how she'd wanted to love him. Dani might never find her family. The thoughts cut her heart. She had to focus on something else—like answering letters or inputting numbers. But futility drummed a relentless beat—she wasn't going to do it; she wasn't going to be able to do it for her mother.