Dirty Little Secret(33)

“Sara Beth isn’t in love with me,” Alex explained. “She likes women, not men.”

“But…so…” Cailin’s caramel-colored eyes brimmed with confusion. “Why…?”

“My father,” Sara Beth said, apparently following Cailin’s stuttered train of thought better than Alex. “He’s very…traditional. I’ve been groomed since I was a teen to have some role in the company, but Dad refuses to allow anyone of the female gender”—her fingers crooked into air quotes—“to lead his precious empire.”

“Without a marriage, Sara Beth stood no chance of inheriting as she deserves. In fact, John threatened to leave a hundred percent of his money, not just his company, to someone else if she didn’t have a ring on her finger by the time she turned thirty-five.”

Cailin seemed to find her tongue. “Why not just let him?”

Sara Beth shrugged. “I could, and if it were just the money, I would. But not the company. Too many people depend on my family, on me to support them, to take care of their families. I can’t allow that responsibility to go to just anyone after my father retires. I need to take care of them myself.” A tiny smirk tilted the edge of her mouth. “And because I’m too damn stubborn to accept the word ‘no.’ I’ve pushed myself to be the best, to earn the right to run the company I love. I won’t let the fact that I have the wrong private parts stop me from fulfilling that dream. But Dad refused to give me a chance. He wanted a man to run the company. He wanted a ring on my finger, so we gave him one, sort of.”

Cailin looked at Alex. “So you…”

Alex allowed his fingers to finally tangle in the blonde snarls outlining her face. “I volunteered.” No way in hell would he have let Sara Beth do this alone, or risk her future on some other man.

Cailin jerked backward, away from his touch. The distracted look on her face told him it was mostly reflex, probably left over from the past month, but it burned all the same. She chose that moment to look up, to focus on him. Lord knew what she read in his eyes, but she reached out and took his hand in hers, settling them both on her knee.

“So, you’re not…together.” Raised eyebrows made clear what Cailin meant.

Sara Beth’s pert nose wrinkled. “Ew! No. That would be like going to bed with my brother.”

“But it’s obvious you love each other.”

“We do,” Alex assured her. “We’ve been best friends since we met as teenagers. But we aren’t in love.” He squeezed her hand hard. “There’s no fire. Not anything like it is with us.”

A pretty pink blush stained her cheeks, a more natural hue than the hot flush her crying jag had left behind.

“Besides,” Sara Beth interjected, “Sam wouldn’t share.”

“Sam?” Cailin blinked. “Oh. Sam.”

Sara Beth took her turn blushing. “It’s easier to have my ‘female friend’ sleep over than it is for Alex to have an overnight guest.”

“Which is why I haven’t. Ever,” Alex assured Cailin. “Even while we were engaged. But that night at Thrice, when I saw you…” The impossibility of putting the feeling into words drove him to silence. Cailin nodded, either because she understood or because she’d felt the same way.

Sara Beth punched him lightly in the arm. “Not for lack of trying. I’m not a selfish bitch.”

“No, you’re a woman who stands to lose everything if her father caught even a hint of scandal,” Alex reminded her.

Sara Beth’s mouth tightened. “You can’t go on like this forever, Alex. As much as I love you, it’s not fair for you to be alone.”

Cailin added her other hand to the pile on her knee. “He’s not.”

Her words sparked something in his chest he couldn’t identify. Ignoring it, he frowned at her. “You don’t know what you’re agreeing to. Living in secrecy wears on you. It doesn’t get easier; it just gets harder.”

Cailin opened her mouth to speak, paused, glanced at Sara Beth, then seemed to come to a decision. “Alex, I want you. I…care about you.”

Shock kept him silent for a long moment. “You what?”

She firmed her shoulders. “I care, Alex. This month has been…”

“Hell.”

“Yes.”

Fire shot through his veins. Alex leaned forward and took her face between his hands. The kiss was hot and carnal and everything he really wanted it to be. It didn’t end until Sara Beth cleared her throat, then finally gave a loud, laughing, “Hey!” to break them apart. Being able to see Cailin’s bemused smile made the interruption worth it.