* * * *
After dinner Cailin slipped out of the formal dining room, needing desperately to catch her breath. Finding a bathroom was at the top of her list as well. Ignoring the caterers whizzing in and out, she wandered up the hall toward the front door, then made her way upstairs.
The expanse of the house amazed her. Considering Alex and Sara Beth lived here alone, the size seemed decadent, but the decor shouted loud and clear I’m for show, so the extra square footage didn’t surprise her. She figured it was just one more thing the two of them hadn’t really had much choice about.
The thought seriously depressed any party mood she might have felt.
The first few rooms she peeked into had guest room written all over them. Toward the back of the house, a secure door separated the front from what she assumed was the apartment Sara Beth had mentioned earlier when she passed Cailin the key. Unlocking the heavy door, Cailin slipped through—and walked into another world.
Here, all the warmth absent downstairs came alive. This was where Sara Beth and Alex really lived. The first room was a den, with dark, cushiony furniture, a massive big-screen TV, and all the comforts of a real home. Farther down, a small kitchen opened off the hall. A room that must be Sara Beth’s came next, and Cailin couldn’t help the surge of relief at the sheer femininity of the decor. Not a hint of masculinity. Alex was man enough that his mere presence would put a stamp on a place. If he’d lived with Sara Beth in this room, Cailin would know. And though he’d told her they slept in separate rooms, always had, some small, uncertain part of her had wondered if that was really true. Turned out it was.
Breathing deep, she closed the door and moved to the end of the hall. Opening the last door, Cailin felt Alex’s presence reach out and grab her immediately. She stepped into what had to be his bedroom, judging by the enormous bed that took center stage. Navy and chocolate, gray and cream blended into a visual display of Alex’s personality: easygoing and mellow, yet intense, deep. Alex, in all his glorious contradictions, could be felt within these walls.
Walking across the room, Cailin took a moment to make herself at home in the lavish bathroom that made her positively green with envy before coming back out to lie on the soft down comforter, luxuriating in the heavy embrace of Alex’s masculine scent. Bits of woodsy musk and lime teased her nose, and memories of the many places on his body where that scent hid rose to taunt her, causing shivers deep in her lower belly. God, she missed him. The week had been empty, just like her bed. She needed him as much as Sara Beth did, only in a different way.
“Hey, you.” The low words came around the slightly opened door.
Cailin gasped, jumping off the bed as if it were on fire. “Crap!” Hand over her barreling heart, she glared at Samantha. “What the heck are you doing here?”
Sam came in and closed the door. “I sneaked in a few minutes ago,” she said, chuckling. “Since I don’t have to be at work tomorrow, I can hide out in Sara Beth’s room until dear old Dad heads for the airport. Sara Beth and I couldn’t…” She ran a hand through her prettily mussed hair. “We don’t like being apart this long.”
Cailin nodded. She and Alex were discovering the very same thing. “So there’s no risk of John coming back here?”
Sam grinned. “Not with Sara Beth’s door locked. She and I have the only keys.” A twinkle lit her eye. “We plan to hide it later tonight and play Find the—”
“Whoa!” Cailin could feel her face flushing crimson to match her dress. “TMI, my friend.”
Sam’s full laughter bellowed out. Cailin joined in, and the two of them piled onto the love seat in the corner of Alex’s room together. Rolling her neck, Cailin sighed before lolling her head on the back cushion, facing Sam. “How do you do this?” she asked the other woman.
“You just do. If you love them, you do whatever it takes and know that, in the end, it will be worth it.”
“Will it?” Cailin asked softly. She let the heaviness that had slowly been enveloping her as she walked through Alex and Sara Beth’s house come out in her voice. “All this”—she waved a hand to indicate the room—“this is their home. The life they’ve built together.” It was a powerful mirage, one that almost had Cailin convinced that nothing she and Alex created would ever be as good. “How do you handle knowing she’s connected to him at that level, a level you’re denied, even though she loves you?”
Samantha’s eyes conveyed her understanding. “I don’t really know that I handle it. It just is. Sara Beth brings me into that life as much as she can, but it is what it is. John’s not gonna change. Now that you’ve met him, you must see that.”