Alexandra had her own version of screen-god sexiness right here but he was in no way interested in sweeping her off her feet. This was just a job he had to do and chances were, the moment it ended, Cane Hutchinson the bodyguard would be gone and Alexandra would never even be able to say she got to have a piece of Cane, the man, just once. Enough to make memories that would keep her warm in the lonely nights that would follow after her gorgeous leading man walked off into the sunset – without her.
Cane said her name softly, and she turned to look at him and found a worried frown on his face. “You’re all quiet. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said hollowly, shaking her head and looking away, out of her window. She’d never felt more alone than in this moment. Being an only child and motherless long before she reached adulthood, Alexandra had never really felt she was lacking that much when it came to the emotional aspect of life. After all her father loved her and she had friends, so she couldn’t say she’d been so affection-deprived or that she’d never had a support system. But now, being with Cane and yet not with him; it was ripping her in half. She’d been so used growing up and getting everything she wanted. Now, for the first time here was something she needed but too bad, she could never have it.
“No you’re not fine,” Cane told her in a tone so gruff it had her looking his way again sharply. His hands clenched tightly on the wheel, his driving slowing down only slightly on the night-cloaked road as he stared straight ahead. “I know what’s biting you, Alexandra. And only because it’s the same thing sending me right round the bend. This thing. Between us.”
“Which in essence is nothing, since you’ve been adamant about keeping the whole bodyguard-client thing strictly ‘on the level’ from the start. And trust me, I get it. I’m probably not really your type anyway. I mean, just because we’ve been thrown together this past month or so doesn’t mean it has to go beyond the…”
Alexandra’s flippant words were cut off as with a smothered curse, Cane brought the car to an abrupt halt. She gulped, hiding her surprise as she glanced his way to find his eyes gleaming with anger at her. The confines of the car felt like they were closing in tight. Cane was mostly always mild-mannered, cool headed, at best genteel. But when he was mad…oh boy, it got the core of each cell in her body pulsing. All at once it was thrilling, scary and arousing. Seeing his green eyes blaze, his face turn into a mask of pissed-off male was the sexiest and most frightening thing ever. She felt breathless, electrified. And yet a strange rebelliousness sprung up from beneath her fear as she lifted her chin defiantly.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked commandingly.
He didn’t seem to hear her question, or more probably, chose to ignore it, instead asking her in a deceptively calm voice, “Did you just say something about not being my type? Is that what you think?”
Alexandra shrugged, surprised that it was that one comment that had stood out for him. “Oh, I dunno. I mean, well, yeah,” she said defensively. “I just keep having the funny feeling that if we hadn’t met the way we had, you’d never even consider being interested in someone like me. And then being around someone for more than a month and still being able to keep yourself aloof…hmm. For all I know, you probably aren’t into black girls. But then with having to work so close by me all the time, it’s just all about the situation and how it’s forced you to be aware of me the way you say you are.”
“I see,” he said in that same dangerously soft tone. “And is that how it is for you, Ms. Duke? Is it just all about the ‘situation’? After all, your father is this corporate mogul and only one of the two African-American billionaires in the state. You’ve been more or less raised like a princess all your life; the beautiful only daughter and heiress to the Duke fortune. You’d never have looked twice at some ex-Marine bodyguard who also happens to be white and from a questionable background since hell, I was a fucking orphan and never even knew my real parents before I got adopted. A girl like you would be slumming it by having anything to do with someone like me. Right? Because I’m nowhere as rich or well-placed as the kind of man you’d want to introduce to your friends or even your father as the man you’re with.”
“You’re so fucking off it’s disgraceful,” Alexandra snapped. “I don’t date just rich guys. After all, I dated Lamar, and he was just some guy I met at a fashion show where he just happened to be working as a waiter while he claimed to be just out of business school and looking for real work. I was dumb enough to fall for his two-faced crap but at least, you can’t dare accuse me of only being interested in men who are on the same social or economic level as me.”