Maid for the Millionaire (10 page)

When they reached her atrocious little green car, she turned and faced him. Their gazes met and clung and she suddenly realized asking him to walk her to her car might have seemed like an invitation for him to kiss her good-night.

Her heart stilled. Her breathing stalled in her chest. Part of her screamed for her to grab the door handle and get the hell out of here. The other part was melting into soft putty. She'd loved this man with her whole heart and soul. He'd suffered the torment of the damned and she'd had to stand by helplessly. Now he was back. Almost normal, but better.

Was it so wrong to want one little kiss?

As his head slowly descended, she had a thousand chances to change her mind. A million cautions pirouetted through her brain. Every nerve ending in her body flickered with something that felt very much like fear.

But when their lips met, it was like coming home. The years melted away and he was the Cain she'd fallen in love with. Cain before he'd been burdened by guilt over his brother's death or the drive to succeed to bury that guilt.

The Cain she knew loved her.

He was
her
Cain.

Her lips came to life slowly beneath his. His hands slid to her upper arms, to her back and down her spine. She stepped closer, nestling against him. For the three years of their marriage she'd longed for this feeling. For the three years they'd been separated, she'd tried to forget this feeling. The warmth, the connection, the spark of need that ignited in her and heated her blood. Nobody had ever made her feel what Cain made her feel.

And she was finally discovering part of the reason was that she didn't want anybody else to make her feel what Cain could. She wanted Cain.

He pulled away slowly. She blinked up at him.

“Good night.”

His voice was a soft whisper in the warm summer night. Her lips curved upward slowly. A kiss. Just a kiss. He hadn't pushed for more, hadn't asked her to follow him home, or if he could follow her. He'd simply wanted a kiss.

“Good night.”

“I'll call you.”

“Okay.”

She opened her car door and slid inside. He stepped back, out of the way, as she pulled her gearshift into Drive and eased out into the night.

A little voice inside her head told her not to be so happy, because she hadn't yet been totally honest with him.

But she would be.

Soon.

For now though she wanted to bask in the warmth that flooded her because he'd kissed her.

 

Cain couldn't remember ever feeling so good or so hopeful about his life. It wasn't simply because Liz had feelings for him and had admitted them in the way she kissed him. He was also a changed man. He hadn't pretended to like her friends. He liked her friends. He hadn't been bored, nervous, or eager to get away to get back to work. Somehow or another over the past weeks, his longing to make up to Liz for their horrible marriage had reordered his priorities. He'd done what he felt he needed to do to pay penance for their bad marriage and as a result learned to work with Billy and for a cause that genuinely needed him.

And when the dust settled, he was changed. When he looked ahead to their future, he could see them making it work this time.

Driving home with the top down, thinking about some of the brighter days in their marriage, he almost didn't hear his cell phone ring. He'd shifted it from vibrate to ring when he directed the last call to voice mail as he'd walked Liz to her car. Though it had taken a few rings, eventually the low sound penetrated his consciousness and he grabbed the phone. Somebody had been trying to get a hold of him for the past hour, but he hadn't even cared enough to check caller ID.

If that didn't prove he'd changed, nothing did.

He glanced at the small screen and saw his sister's phone number.

His sister? What would be so important that she'd call at least three times on a Sunday night? He frowned and clicked the button to answer.

“What's up, sis?”

“Cain. Thank God you finally answered. Dad's on
his way to the hospital. Mom thinks he had a heart attack. It's pretty bad.”

All the good feelings welled in his belly turned into a rock of dread. Even if the words hadn't penetrated, the shiver in his sister's voice had.

“I'm on my way.”

Without another thought, he pressed speed dial for Ava. Her voice groggy with sleep, she said, “Cain?”

“Sorry to wake you. My dad had a heart attack. I need to get to Kansas tonight. Can you wake Dale?” he asked, referring to his pilot.

“I'm on it,” Ava said sounding awake and alert. “You just get yourself to the airport.”

L
IZ'S CELL PHONE
was ringing when she awoke the next morning. She reached over and pawed the bedside table to snag it. When she saw the name on caller ID, her breath stuttered out.

Cain.

He'd kissed her the night before. She'd wanted him to. Her insides tightened at the memory. She'd always loved him and now he was behaving as if he loved her, too. Doing things for her. Caring about the cause she cared about. Easing his way into her life.

Part of her wanted it. All of it. The attention, the affection, the connection. The other part of her was scared to death. They'd made a mistake before.

Her phone rang again and she pressed the button to answer. Her voice was soft and uncertain when she said, “Good morning, Cain.”

“Good morning.”

His greeting was rough, tired, as if he hadn't slept all night. And not for good reasons.

She scrambled up in bed. “What's wrong?”

“My dad had a heart attack yesterday. I'm in Kansas.”

She flopped back onto her pillow. “Oh, God. I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

“No, I just—” He paused. “I just—”

He paused again and Liz squeezed her eyes shut. She got it. He'd called her for support, but he couldn't say it. Didn't know how. He'd never asked anyone for support or help before.

Tears filled her eyes and her heart clenched. She'd longed for him to reach out to her in the three years of their marriage, but he hadn't been able to. Now, after coming to terms with his brother's death, after spending some time with her, he was finally turning to her.

How could she possibly not respond to that?

“Would you like me to fly to Kansas?”

He sucked in a breath. “No. You have a business to run and things here are out of our control. There's nothing you could do.”

“I could hold your hand.”

She said the words softly and wasn't surprised when he hesitated before he said, “Right now I'm holding my mother's hand.”

“She needs you, Cain.” And he hadn't thought twice about flying out to be with her. At his core, he'd always loved his family. He simply felt he'd let them down. “Is there anything I can do for you here?”

“You could call Ava, let her know there's no news but that I arrived safely.”

She smiled. That little kindness was also something she wouldn't have expected from him three years ago—or three weeks ago.

“I'll be glad to.” She paused then said, “If you'll call me any time there's news, I'll call her and keep her posted.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” She wanted to tell him she loved him. The words sat on her tongue aching to jump off. He needed to hear it. She longed to say it. But what would happen when his dad was better and he came home? Would those three little words cause awkwardness, or push them beyond where they should be in this relationship they seemed to be building? Would it cause another mistake? Especially since love hadn't been enough the first time.

“I'll call you.”

“Lucky for you you only have to remember one cell number.”

He laughed. “Goodbye, Liz.”

“Goodbye.” She disconnected the call then sat staring at the phone. She'd said and done all the right things. She'd been supportive. He'd accepted her support. But they hadn't gone too far.

But he'd called
her
. Not his assistant. He'd been vulnerable with her in a way he'd never been before. He'd even asked her to make his phone call to Ava for him.

He was definitely different.

And she had a lot of thinking to do.

 

At noon, Ellie dropped into the Happy Maids' office with iced tea and sandwiches. “So dish! What happened?”

Liz looked up from the spreadsheet she was reading, as Ellie set the iced tea and sandwiches on her desk. “What happened when?”

“Last night. With your ex. I know you told me he was withdrawn after his brother's death, but it looks like he's getting over it and…” she nudged Liz across the desk. “He wants you back. Why else would a man play volleyball in those shoes he had on?”

Liz pulled in a big breath. “That's actually the problem. I think he does want us to get back together.”

Ellie sat. “You say that as if it's bad.”

“It was a crappy marriage. We both walked away hurt.”

“Because he was closed off after his brother's death,” Ellie insisted as she opened the bag and pulled out the sandwiches.

Accepting hers from Ellie, Liz said, “There's a lot more to it than that. I didn't fit in with the businessmen and their wives that he socialized with. I couldn't plan his parties.” Even as she said the words, Liz realized that would no longer be true. Just as she'd explained to Cain as they were cleaning up after his dinner party, she had grown. Changed. “And he had a tendency to disappear when he had an important project. I spent a lot of those three years alone.”

“Things would be different this time,” Ellie said before she bit into her sandwich. “Even a person without magic could see that. He's different. Involved. Interested.” She peered across the desk at Liz. “And you're different.”

“Which sort of makes my point. We're so different that we'd actually have to get to know each other all over again.”

“But that's good,” Ellie said with a laugh. “Since the two people you were couldn't exactly make a marriage work before.” She patted Liz's hand. “Trust me. Needing to get to know each other all over again is a good thing.”

“The only thing we have in common is sex.”

Ellie laughed. Then she said, “And A Friend Indeed. He's really involved and he wants to stay involved.”

“Yeah, but I think he only went to work for A Friend Indeed to get to me.”

“At first, maybe. But I watched him last night. He was sincere in getting to know our people. He's actually mentoring Billy. He's volunteered to do more work. This guy is in for the long haul.”

Until the first crisis with his own company came along. Until a business acquaintance was more important than Billy. Until she was back in his bed and he considered that to be enough time spent with her.

She squeezed her eyes shut. There were just too many variables.

Cain called her every day, and every day she phoned Ava. “He's coming home on Friday morning,” she told Ava the following Monday morning. “His dad is recovering well from the surgery, but he wants to stay the extra four days to be sure. His mother is calm. His sister is there for both of them.”

The relief was evident in Ava's voice when she said, “That's great.” She paused then asked, “Did he say if he's coming to work on Friday?”

“He didn't say.”

“I'll have things ready just in case.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

There was an awkward silence before Liz said, “Goodbye, then.”

But instead of saying goodbye, Ava said, “He doesn't really turn to people, you know?”

Not quite sure what Ava was driving at, Liz said simply, “I know.”

“So it's kind of significant that he turned to you.”

Liz swallowed. Now she understood. The fact that
Cain had Liz touch base with his PA for him proved that Cain and Liz had a connection. Ava was probing and hinting right now because she didn't want to see Cain hurt.

“I'll call you if he calls again,” Liz said lightly, trying to get off the phone without the serious discussion Ava wanted to have. Then she said goodbye, hung up the phone and put her head in her hands.

No one knew better than Liz that it was significant that Cain had reached out to her. But she couldn't just jump off the deep end and let herself fall head over heels in love. She had to be careful. She had to be smart. Somehow or other
he
had to prove that if she let herself fall in love with him, things really would be different this time.

 

Cain called Liz with a glowing report of his dad's prognosis when he returned on Friday. It was already noon, so she'd long ago finished cleaning his house and was onto her second house of the day. He'd asked her to come over, but Friday was the one day that she had an entire eight hours' worth of houses to clean. She begged off and he accepted her refusal easily, saying he was going to take a dip in his pool before he checked in with Ava.

“I'll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

“Fran Watson's house?”

“Yes. That's the house I talked about with Ayleen.”

She hadn't thought he'd jump into A Friend Indeed work so quickly, except she knew the physical activity relaxed him. So the next morning she woke early, put on her jeans and tank top and headed for Fran Watson's house.

Because the entire house needed new floors, Liz
expected to see rolls of discounted carpeting and padding extending from the back of Cain's truck when she pulled into the driveway. At the very most, inexpensive tile or linoleum. Instead, she found Cain and Billy unloading boxes of oak flooring.

“Oh, Cain! This is too much.”

“Not really.” He heaved a box out of the truck. Though Liz tried not to look, she couldn't help herself. His muscles shifted and moved beneath his T-shirt, reminding her of times they'd played volleyball by the ocean, laughing, having a good time.

She turned away. She had to stop noticing things, remembering things and begin to look in earnest for some kind of proof that these changes in him were permanent. That he wouldn't hurt her or desert her after he married her. That he really wanted a second chance.

He headed for the kitchen where he and Billy began stacking boxes of flooring. When he returned outside, he wiped sweat off his neck with a red handkerchief.

Expecting him to say something about his dad or to be uncomfortable about the fact that the last time they'd seen each other, he'd kissed her, Liz was surprised when he said, “I got the hardwood at a discount supply store.”

She almost couldn't believe this was the same man who had called her every day with reports on his dad, the guy who'd wanted to spend Friday afternoon with her. He seemed so distant, so cool.

Of course, they were working—and Billy was only a few feet away in the kitchen.

“Enough for the whole house?”

“I'm going to do the kitchen in a tile of some sort. If you've got kids in a kitchen, it's best to stay away
from wood. Then I'm putting carpet in the bedrooms.” He caught her gaze. “Personally, I like the soft feeling of carpet when I first roll out of bed.”

Unwanted memories surfaced again. He'd always loved soft carpet, soft towels, soft pajamas. Especially hers. He'd said that was part of why he liked her. She didn't just wear soft clothes.
She
was incredibly soft. The softest woman he'd ever held. Even years later, she could remember the warmth of happiness from his compliment. And a glance in Cain's eyes told her that was why he'd said it.

Billy walked by with a box of wood on his shoulder. “I think we should listen to him. He's pretty smart.”

Cain winced at the praise, but Liz laughed, grateful Billy had brought them back where they belonged.

When the kitchen door closed behind Billy, she turned to Cain. “I think he's officially your number-one fan.”

“I just don't want him to be too big of a fan. One mistake and I can undo every good thing we've accomplished by being friends.”

“Just keep teaching him and you'll be fine.” She glanced in the back of the truck, at the stacks of boxes of wood and the table saw. “What am I going to do?”

“I pretty much figure you'll be our cutter.”

She studied the wicked-looking blade on the table saw then gaped at him. “I'm going to use
that
?”

“I need Billy's strength for the rubber mallet. I'm going to be the one on the nail gun. That leaves the saw for you.”

“Oh, good grief!”

“You can do it. It's not nearly as complicated as it looks.”

As it turned out, most of the morning was spent
ripping out the old flooring in their target rooms, and carting it to the Dumpster Cain had arranged to have in Fran's backyard. He'd brought safety glasses, gloves and all the equipment they'd need, plus lunch, because Fran also didn't want to be in the house while they worked.

“How did you have the time to get all this together?”

“I didn't stay at work yesterday. I handled the important messages, then told Ava to arrange for the lunch and the things we'd need like safety glasses, then I headed to the building supply store.”

“You did this yesterday?”

“Yes.”

She wanted to ask, “After spending an entire week out of the office, you weren't clamoring to get back to work?” But she didn't. His actions spoke louder than any words he could have said.

When they began installing the new floors, Liz did some of the cutting, but Billy did his share, too. He'd paid attention as Cain showed Liz how to use the saw and easily stepped into the role. He and Cain worked like a team that had been together for decades, not a few weeks, and Liz marveled at their connection. She marveled at Cain's easy patience with the boy, and even the way he tempered his reactions to her around Billy.

There was no mention of the kiss. No mention of the way he'd called her for support. But there was something about the way he looked at her that said more than words could that his feelings for her had grown, sharpened. When their hands accidentally brushed, he would let his fingers linger, as if he wanted the contact but knew it wasn't the place or time.

At the end of the day, he and Billy gathered the saw
and tools for installing the floors and stowed them in his truck. “One more day and the hardwood's in. Next week we lay carpet. The week after, we get the linoleum in the kitchen. Piece of cake.”

As he said all that, he punched notes into his BlackBerry. Probably a summary for Ayleen of what they'd accomplished that day.