Bidding on the Billionaire (14 page)

Chris let out a heavy sigh.

“Yes. I am. I got a kick out of it in college. It was a little harmless fun to play with the ones who thought I had no clue. Now I'm thirty-one, and it's a lonely place to be.” She pushed off the couch, coming to stand beside him, and leaned her head against his shoulder. “Tell me one thing. This girl you won't tell me about, is she one of them?”

Cade shook his head. “Not even close. Mom would never approve of her. She doesn't have any money or family. She's down to earth and simple. It's what I like so much about her. She doesn't expect anything from me. She takes me as I am.”

“I'm glad. You deserve to be happy, little brother.”

Cade resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Little brother. Chris had been lording that over him for most of their lives, that she was the older twin.

Letting the nickname slide, he turned his head, peering at her. “So do you.”

Chris flashed a gentle smile. “And I will be.
I
haven't given up. At least not completely. Have you heard anything regarding the lawsuit with Amelia?”

He made a noncommittal sound and turned back to watching the water. Whenever he came to the city, he preferred to stay here. He loved the view. Something about the water and all the trees in the distance filled him with a sense of peace he always wished he could take home with him. Now Hannah gave him that feeling. Too bad he couldn't take
her
home with him.

“No. She still hasn't complied. We're filing a motion to have her held in contempt of court.” He glanced down at his sister and arched a brow. “Is that all you came over for? To berate me for not dating?”

Chris let out a quiet laugh and pushed off his shoulder. “No. I had a reason, though I'm not sure you'll like it now.”

A miserable groan escaped him. Chris had taken up their mother's pastime. She seemed to have inherited the matchmaking gene. “What did you do?”

Chris flashed a sheepish grin. “The breast cancer charity auction is in a few days.”

Cade narrowed his gaze on her. “Uh-huh. And?”

“It's another bachelor auction this year. Last year's was such a success we decided to do it again, but we're short two bachelors. Two guys backed out at the last minute. Trevor Von Bosch had a family emergency, and Edward Lyle got engaged, of all things. I volunteered you and Baz.”

Baz being his best friend, Sebastian Blake. They'd gone to school together. Christina was the only one who still called him by his childhood nickname.

Chris didn't have to say it. He knew what was coming and the repercussions filled his mind. His sister headed the local charity for breast cancer research. It was a charity their family believed in and donated generously to every year. Chris had cornered him last year as well, talking him into allowing her to put him on the auction block. The prize was, of course, a date with each bachelor.

Cade closed his eyes, exhausted and overwhelmed by the prospect before him. “Oh, tell me you didn't. Tell me Mom didn't send you.”

“No, this was mine. I thought it would do you some good.” She laid her hand on his shoulder, her fingers soft and warm. “You spend too much time alone. You and Baz still aren't speaking, so you haven't been spending time with him. You don't have a girl.”

He couldn't argue with her there. He couldn't even be angry with her for not asking him first, either. Unlike their mother, Chris's concern had less to do with marrying him off than filling a need she somehow saw lacking within him. Fraternal or not, he'd shared a womb with her, and she knew him better than almost anyone.

He sighed and opened his eyes. She stared at him, a worried frown creasing her brow. “I know you mean well, but you have to trust me to find my own way. I was an awkward kid, but never helpless. You have to stop fixing.”

Another knock sounded on the suite door. His gaze shot to the door, his heart sinking into his toes. He released a heavy breath. The news he had to share with Hannah weighed on him.

Chris touched his arm. “Tell me.”

“I made her a promise I'm going to have to break.” He'd have to look Hannah in the face and tell her he had to break a rule. Any other time, obligation would make this decision easy. After all, he and Chris had gone to these fund-raisers every year since they were kids, and every year their father made a large donation. That this year's was another bachelor auction provided a complication. Given everything he and Hannah had talked about, however, he had a sneaking suspicion this particular rule meant the most to her. “I don't look forward to telling her I'm going to have to date someone else.”

Chris studied him for a moment, searching something in his face, then hiked her chin and straightened her shoulders. She strode past him with a decisive nod. “Then I'll do it. I made this mess. I'll clean it up.”

Hannah's stomach did a flip. The silence of the hallway around her did nothing for the frazzled state of her nerves. Insane. She had to be insane for doing this.

She glanced down, recinched the tie of her overcoat for the thousandth time, then looked back at the door and drew a deep breath. Of all the things she'd ever done, this had to be the boldest. The idea and execution had been Maddie's. Hell, even the tan overcoat belonged to her braver-than-her redheaded best friend.

They'd spent the afternoon in a lingerie store Hannah would never have gone into alone. The kind with the naughty stuff sitting beside the vibrators and dildos. Shoot, if it weren't for Maddie's pep talk, she never would have left her apartment this way. She bought her vibrators online. Anonymously. Never in her life had she walked the streets of downtown Seattle in a garter belt, stockings, and fuck-me-red stilettos.

And little else.

When she'd left her apartment, she'd floated on top of the world. She had to hand it to Maddie. She
felt
sexy as hell, something that didn't happen often, and the thought of Cade's reaction had her simmering on a low boil.

Standing here, staring at his hotel room door, however, the luscious warmth that had settled low in her belly when she left her apartment had faded to a cold chill. What if he hated it?

Memories filled her thoughts. A young man's cruel laughter rang in her head.
“Attracted to you? Oh, that's rich.”

Maddie's words to her a half hour ago followed on the heels of the old, painful memory.
“Would you stop worrying? You look phenomenal. No man in his right mind would turn you down, and you know damn well he thinks you're sexy. Walk tall, girlfriend, because
you
are smokin'.”

Hannah drew a deep breath for courage, drew her shoulders back, and knocked on the door again.

“I'll get it. I created this mess. I'll clean it up.”

The soft, feminine voice coming from within the room drew Hannah up short.

“Uh-uh. You open that door, and she's going to flip.”

She recognized Cade's voice. The feminine voice, however, caught her in the chest. Hannah froze. Panic clawed its way through her, setting her heart pounding in immediate denial of the thoughts flying through her mind. Namely, who on earth was the woman in Cade's room?

No. Cade wouldn't do that to her. Surely he had a logical explanation.

Or so she told herself. One too many excuses from Dane echoed through her mind. So, too, did his speech the last time she saw him, when he confessed he'd been seeing someone else for more than a few months. Her mind filled with every excuse every guy looking to back out of a date had ever fed her. All her fears collapsed on top of her. How much did she know about Cade, really? She'd taken him at face value, assuming he told her the truth. What if he hadn't? Okay, so they'd agreed it would be just sex, but she hadn't agreed to be another someone's joke…

The door finally opened to reveal a stunning brunette. She stood several inches over Hannah's meager five foot three, with long dark hair falling in lush waves past her shoulders. She also had a perfect figure, no doubt a puny size six. Her slender legs went clear up to her ears, and her breasts were well more than a handful. Hannah wanted to shrink back. Whatever her relationship to Cade, this woman was everything Hannah yearned to be.

Cade moved up the hallway behind the woman, his strides long and determined, panic in his eyes.

Fear clogged her throat. Denial rang in her mind. Hannah looked between the two of them, waiting for someone to let her off the hook, for Cade to tell her she had it wrong, that it wasn't what it looked like. She took a step back, confusion waging war with the past, but Cade's hand shot out, catching her wrist and stopping her retreat. His eyes pleaded with her.

“No, no, no. Don't you dare think it. I would never do that to you.” He turned his head, brow furrowed, and nudged the woman beside him with an elbow. “Go ahead, Miss ‘I'll clean up this mess.' Introduce yourself. You're getting me in serious hot water. You need to learn to call first and stop barging in.”

The woman turned her head, glaring back at him. “How was I supposed to know you'd have a girl in your room?”

Cade rolled his eyes. “Will you introduce yourself already?”

The woman turned back to Hannah and smiled again, this one friendly and apologetic.

“I'm so sorry to intrude on your date. If my brother here”—the woman shot an irritated glance in Cade's direction—“had told me he had a girlfriend, I might have known to call before coming over. Caden tends to isolate, and I thought…”

The woman continued to chatter, but Hannah's mind stopped listening. Two words lodged themselves in her brain and stuck there:
girlfriend
and
brother
. Understanding began to dawn as Hannah took a moment to look over the woman across from her. She and Cade had the same black hair, the same mossy-green eyes set deep in the face, even the same wide mouth. The woman stood several inches shorter than him, of course, tall and slender to his broad and brawny, and her jaw had a more feminine curve to it, but the resemblance was there.

Hannah blew out her held breath, her shoulders slumping. “Oh my God. You're his sister.”

Cade released her wrist. The tension radiating off him drained. “Hannah, this is Christina. Chris, Hannah Miller.”

Christina extended a perfectly manicured hand, done in a neat French manicure. “Pleased to meet you.”

Hannah forced a polite smile, praying it didn't look as uncomfortable as she felt, and took the woman's hand. “You as well.”

As they shook, Christina's shrewd gaze took her in from head to toe; then she turned to Cade, braced a hand against his chest, and pushed him inside the room.

“We girls need a minute.” Despite his surprised expression, she closed the door, leaving it unlatched enough to get back inside. Alone in the hallway, Christina's eyes lit up. She covered her mouth with her hands for a moment, taking Hannah in from head to toe again. Then Christina caught her in a hug so tight she almost couldn't breathe.

Christina's voice came as a whisper between them. “I'm sorry. I have to ask. Are you naked under there?”

Hannah's face heated a thousand degrees. Of all times for her to meet his family, it had to be now? She sighed. “Nearly. It was supposed to be a surprise. I'm so mortified. I'm sorry we had to meet this way.”

“My fault. Caden's correct. I should have called. But I have to admit I'm so glad I didn't. It's wonderful to meet you. You're exactly what he needs. Since the fiasco that was his fiancée, he's been isolating himself. Mom and I have been worried. As for your surprise…” Christina pulled back, holding Hannah by the upper arms, and looked her over once and winked. “Caden won't know what hit him.”

Hannah couldn't help herself. She bit her lower lip and looked down at herself. “I sure hope so. It was very nerve-wracking walking through downtown this way.”

Christina covered her mouth and giggled behind her hand. “I did something similar once, except I was actually naked. I got caught on the way and had to sit through a meeting I'd forgotten about. I was beside myself. Never date someone you work with. Come on. Let's go let Caden off the hook. No doubt he's fuming on the other side of the door, ready to strangle me.”

Christina took her hand and pushed the door open. Cade had been pacing a line between the living room and the end of the small foyer hallway. He halted halfway between and pivoted toward them, eyes shifty and anxious.

He arched a dark brow. “Everything okay?”

“Everything's great. I'm so glad I stopped by. It was nice meeting you, Hannah.” Christina hugged her like they were old friends, then straightened and winked before pivoting toward her brother. She closed the distance between them, hugged his left shoulder, and lifted on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

“Lunch, Caden. You owe me lunch before you go home. I miss you. You're too much like Dad, always at work.” She pulled back, one hand on his shoulder, head tipped back as she peered at him. “You sure you don't want me to tell her? It might sound better coming from me. After all, I made this mess. I'm so sorry, little brother. I was worried. I wanted something to pull you out of your funk, and it's always a fun night.”

“You and Mom need to stop meddling. Mom wants
heirs
. Dad says I need a good wife, to put out a good image for the firm.” Cade blew out a breath, and whatever irritation had crossed his features drained from him. “She's the first thing I've done for me in a long time. And, no, but thank you. I'd rather handle this one myself.”

Christina patted his chest.

“Mom won't hear this from me, I promise.” She kissed his cheek again, then turned and strode for the door. Once there, she pulled the door open, then paused and turned. Her bright expression fell, somberness filling her eyes. Eyes way too much like her brother's and every bit as expressive. “In case you didn't hear, Baz is back from Paris. You need to forgive him. Amelia used the both of you, pitted you against each other, for her own selfish gain. In the end, she lost. That's all that matters.”