The door behind her swung open, and Alex snapped, “Yes, Tammy.”
The receptionist ignored his tone and rushed into speech. “Mr. Brannigan, I was trying to reach you, but no one was answering.” She looked at Cailin askance. Great, now she’d earned an L for lazy to go along with her S for slut. Lovely. Before long she’d have a whole alphabet to display. “Miller in Development says they’ve got an emergency and he’s fixin’ to pull out what little of his hair is still left if you don’t get down there straightaway.”
Alex grunted. “Where’s Ian?”
“Mr. Walker is out for a personal day.”
Alex nodded. “I’ll go immediately.” When Tammy had departed, he zeroed in on Cailin, branding her with a look. “We’ll finish this when I get back.”
Not if I can help it, she thought as she watched him head out the door.
Chapter Four
“Open up, Cailin!”
She sat leaning her back against her front door, the stained-glass inset just over her head, so she didn’t have to see Alex’s shadow. The close call to make it out of the office before he returned from the meeting had pumped adrenaline into her blood, and now she hid, heart pounding, shocked that he’d followed her home. Why go to all that trouble for a one-night stand—a one-night stand he’d cheated on his wife with, at that?
“Cailin, your car is in the driveway. I know you’re home. Open the door so we can talk.”
Again? No, thank you. She’d had enough talking today. Enough for several todays, as a matter of fact. A frozen still of his face right before he told her exactly what kind of woman she was had branded itself into her brain.
Yeah, if we don’t talk again, ever, I’ll be perfectly happy, she thought as she pressed the heels of her hands into her eye sockets.
Keep telling yourself that, girlie. Seems there’s more than one liar in this whole scenario. Not to mention, it won’t be easy to manage considering you are the man’s executive assistant.
She wrapped her arms around her ducked head and tried to close out the voices, both the one from outside and the one in her head.
“Cailin, I’m sorry, okay? Please open the door.”
He sounded so much like Sean that tears gathered in her eyes. What was it with her and men who just wanted her when it was convenient, then wanted her to disappear? Open the door. Go away. Do what I tell you. Don’t touch me. I want you. I don’t want you. She had become a yo-yo on a string, just waiting for the moment it would snap. Praying for it to snap. But instead all she got was the back-and-forth.
No more.
She’d learned the power of silence from an expert; Sean had wielded the weapon like a master, and now it was the only thing that could save her. So she waited.
An actual growl escaped Alex’s mouth as he pounded on the door once more. She could hear the rumble through the solid wood and glass that shook against her back. Could he see her shadow? Did he know how close she was to him? How close she was to caving?
She squeezed her eyelids shut tight. That’s what she hated more than anything: the traitorous part of her that remembered his touch, his breath, his words. The part that wanted desperately to say to heck with his marriage, his wife, everything, just let him love her, and if he couldn’t love her, touch would be enough. This terrible, painful, ugly part of her she’d never known existed had sprouted like Jack’s bean stalk overnight—or in an afternoon—and nothing she’d tried so far had cut it completely down.
But she’d manage. Time would do the job. I am not an adulteress. She would not hurt Sara Beth Brannigan that way. She stiffened her muscles and her resolve.
Alex could go to hell.
The sound of something solid bumping the glass above her head had her jerking to look. The imprint of Alex’s forehead rolling back and forth arrested her breathing. His words were low, lost. “Talk to me, Cailin.”
No. God, no.
As she watched, Alex turned and put his back to the door, sliding down to mirror her earlier position. His head was just visible above the bottom of the glass, and she could see he’d turned to the side so part of his face rested against a yellow rose. His words came through the door clearly.
“I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you this morning. I am, I swear. I was…angry. I lashed out at you when it was really the situation I was mad at.”
Me too. But you were still a jerk.
She startled when he seemed to read her thoughts. “I was a jerk. It won’t happen again.”
Cailin wrapped her arms back around herself, then firmed her trembling lips and raised her chin as if he could see her. No, it definitely won’t. I’ll be stronger tomorrow. Her defiance wavered. Just…leave me alone tonight. Please. Let me wallow like the idiot I am.