“Don’t tell me. With the threat taken care of, I don’t need a personal bodyguard anymore, do I?”
He sighed deeply. “That’s up to your father to decide. But for now, he sees no reason to continue with the security arrangements contracted with the firm I work for. But that’s not what I came to tell you. The thing is…I’m off on another assignment.”
If Alexandra thought her heart couldn’t sink any lower, it did now. “What? But…your injury…”
“It wasn’t much more than a nick,” he told her quietly. “And besides, I’m to act mostly in an advisory role. I’ll be leaving the country in two days.”
Alexandra hated that her lips were trembling. She hated that she felt so weak and helpless. She’d been through a lot when she’d been taken but it didn’t account for her being bed-ridden and weak. But the doctors had advised her to rest after the strain she’d suffered in those harrowing hours. And yet all the drugs and pills must have got her feeling all emotional and vulnerable, which showed in her words as she breathed, “Why are you still mad at me?”
Cane stared at her in stark surprise. “Why on earth would I be mad at you?”
She was breathing hard, holding back the sobs but unable to keep the tears from spilling from her eyes. “For leaving the house on my own. Disobeying your instructions. If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been outside alone when Lamar attacked. I almost got myself and you killed and I know you hate me…you fucking hate my guts…”
“Oh my God, Alexandra, I don’t hate you,” he growled, shooting forward and grabbing her face, making her look deeply into his eyes. “How can you even think me capable of that?”
“Then why are you leaving?” she moaned.
A ragged sigh escaped him, and he rested his forehead against hers for a moment. Then he raised his head to look into her eyes. “I don’t hate you,” he repeated clearly, his clear green eyes pinned to hers. “But I can’t…Alexandra, I can’t give you what you want.”
“Why? Because I’m a billionaire’s daughter and you’re a just a bodyguard?” she spat, eyes filled with hurt and pain. She regretted her words immediately and wanted to take them back, but he was nodding.
“You could say that. And now, I have another job to do. So I’m off to do it. That’s who am I, Alexandra. It’s all I am. And I can’t expect you to have to deal with that. But for what it’s worth, I’m happy you’re safe.”
“And I guess I should say thank you now for rescuing me,” she said bitterly, her heart crumpling as he pulled away.
“Your father has already done that, many times. Besides, protecting you was my job, so I really don’t need you or anyone thanking me for doing what I was assigned to do,” he said calmly.
“Still…I appreciate what you did,” she told him softly, her eyes downcast as she clenched her hands on the bed covers.
“I know you do,” he said in a tone just as gentle, and her gaze lifted to find him looking fixedly at her face as if to memorize every feature. Alexandra’s heart pounded and suddenly, she was reminded of Cane’s kiss, and how the earth had shifted when his lips touched hers. It was one sensation that had stuck with her of all the things she’d been through that day.
“You’ll be fine,” Cane suddenly said with a small smile. “You’re graduating in a few weeks, and before you know it you’ll start your dream job designing wedding dresses that look like they came out of a fairytale.”
“Too bad my fairytale couldn’t come true though, huh?” she said with an unsteady smile that didn’t hide her pain. He stared at her for a few moments but before he could say another word, the nurse reappeared and said it was time for Alexandra’s lunch and then a nap. Alexandra wanted to scream at the woman that she wasn’t a fucking invalid, but didn’t want to act that way in front of Cane. Not that it mattered anymore what he thought; she’d probably never see him again.
When he was gone, she could barely get half-way through the lunch served in her room before she waved the dishes away and asked to be left alone. And spent her ‘nap’ crying soundlessly into her pillow as she remembered the sight of Cane walking away without a backward glance.
***
“Alex? Are you okay?”
She blinked away her painful thoughts and saw her father looking quizzically at her. “Sorry. I was miles away.”
“Figures,” he said drily. “But I was asking, don’t you want to know who I just finished speaking with?”