“Alex.” Sara Beth’s voice.
Cailin felt his head turn. “Out,” he yelled. The sound froze Cailin into stillness, as if the lack of movement could hide her as well as her closed eyelids had. Alex never yelled at Sara Beth. She was too sweet, too delicate. She didn’t deserve to be yelled at, not like Cailin.
“But—”
“Please.” The word was milder, entreating. “I’ll join you in a moment.”
Silence. Then the door clicked closed. Alex sighed, his breath gusting across the exposed skin of her shoulder, the upper crest of her breast. The betrayal of her nipple puckering in response nauseated her. How could she? How could she?
Alex stepped back, his hands releasing her, his support gone. Cailin let herself fold down, arms wrapped around her knees, her forehead coming slowly to rest on top as she tried to meld her back with the cold tile wall behind her. There was nowhere to run, to hide. All she could do was cover her body and pray he left before her mind totally shattered.
Minutes later a warm, fuzzy white towel settled around her back. Alex’s hand skimmed her wet, swollen cheek. She jerked back. She deserved this. She’d lusted after a man she’d known was married, had allowed him to touch her after she’d known he was married. She deserved whatever she got. She just prayed, for Sara Beth’s sake, that what she’d done had not destroyed the other woman’s obvious love for Alex completely.
“Cailin.” When she didn’t raise her head, Alex forced her chin up with uncompromising fingers. He stared deeply into her eyes, unreadable, unblinking. After several minutes he said, “Come into the office after you clean up.”
She shook her head. She couldn’t; she wanted escape.
“Yes, you will. Don’t worry about the gala; I’ll take care of it. Now clean up and come to me.”
The slow, simmering burn of resentment rose in her belly, but Cailin nodded. If it would grant her a few minutes alone to gather the shards of her heart and pride, she would agree. Nothing else could carry her through the humiliation waiting on the other side of that door.
Alex gave her chin a hard shake. “Answer me.”
“Okay,” she snapped as she jerked her chin out of his hold, narrowly avoiding banging her head into the wall. Looking at him again—no, she couldn’t do it. She just needed a few minutes. Then she’d face the music like a good girl. She’d never known how to be anything else until she’d divorced Sean. Until she’d met Alex.
His satisfaction worked its way under her skin even though she couldn’t see it in his eyes. The hand hovering near her face dropped to her arm, gave a slight squeeze, and he was out the door, the sound of it closing the most comforting thing she thought she’d ever heard.
Taking another deep breath, Cailin steadied herself, stood, and started to dress.
ALEX STARED AT his shaking hand as he closed the door to the bathroom. Instinctively his grip tightened on the doorknob, his only connection to the woman on the other side. Cailin had stolen his control faster than he’d ever dreamed possible.
“God, Alex, I am so, so sorry.”
Rubbing his other hand roughly down his face, then back up to partially cover his eyes, he turned to Sara Beth. Words couldn’t express the jumble taking over his head right now, nor did he want them to. All he could do was shake his head back and forth, hoping his complete lack of…anything…communicated its way to her.
Sara Beth seemed to get it. Of course, she usually did. Walking over, she grabbed his still-quivering biceps and firmly dragged him away from the door. Once they reached the opposite wall, where their conversation wouldn’t filter through the door and upset Cailin further, she hugged him. “I couldn’t find you. Ian went ahead to the dinner, and I told him we’d follow as soon as you came back. But you didn’t.” Now it was her turn to shake her head. “I would never have done that to Cailin.” She peeked up at him, arms still wrapped around his churning gut and the lifeless limbs dangling at his sides. “You, maybe, but not Cailin.”
Alex didn’t laugh. He couldn’t even smile. His mind remained across the room, in that bathroom with Cailin.
“Alex.” A rough shake caught his attention. “Get a grip. She’s gonna be out here any minute. You’ve got to tell her.”
Again with the head shaking. Where had all his smooth words fled to?
Sara Beth donned that stubborn face he knew from vast experience didn’t bode well for whatever he decreed. “Look,” she growled, “either you tell her, or I will.”
“Tell me what?” a wobbly voice asked behind him.