His Surprise Daughter : A BWWM Billionaire Romance Read online

“Take a moment, Zara, this is big news.” His hand splayed on her back and he instantly regretted the move. He was too close to her and that sexy vanilla scent wreaked havoc on his focus. And the spark between them still burned at about ten million volts. But she was close to falling apart and he couldn’t let her be alone if that happened.

  “I’m fine. I will be fine. I always am.” Looking up at him, she shielded herself against any unwanted emotions that might resurface the same way he had. “Where do I need to take her?”

  “I’ll take her,” he said, and knelt down to greet the little girl. “Remember me, Cassia?”

  She nodded. “You’re Dr. Faulkner and you’re about to give me bad news.”

  “Not bad, but not great. You’re a tough girl, though, I think you can handle it.”

  Cassia looked up at Zara. “It has to be handled, so I can handle it, right, Mommy?”

  “That’s right, honey. I’m right here.”

  “Strong when I can’t be,” the little girl said back, and Caine was sure they said it a lot. Zara knelt down to eye level and spoke quietly to her daughter, explaining what was going to happen and why. “I’ll be fine, Mom, don’t be scared. Okay?”

  “I’m not scared, sweet girl, I just wish I could go through this instead of you.” She looked up at Caine. “The doctor is going to take you up to a room to get tests. When you’re all settled I can come up and hold your hand while you get tested.”

  “Okay,” she said matter-of-factly, grabbing Caine’s hand in a gesture of trust that touched him.

  “Let’s go, Cassia, there’s some cool equipment I want to show you.”

  She squealed with excited glee and listened carefully as he told her all about the machines in the lab.

  By the time Zara arrived in the room, Caine thought if he ever had a family, he’d want a smart little girl like Cassia. Too bad I’ll never fall in love or have a family.

  Chapter 4

  Zara couldn’t believe she was set to meet with Caine over lunch, she was even more surprised that she had been the one to initiate the meeting. But she was terrified for Cassia and needed as much information as possible before she could move forward and get on with their lives. If her daughter needed a new kidney, Zara would make sure she got it. I have to.

  They decided on an out of the way restaurant near the hospital in Anchorage. Zara arrived at the Italian place fifteen minutes early to get her thoughts together before Caine arrived. He was the last person she wanted to see right now, wanted to be around while any of this was going on. But he was the one in charge. The one who could save her little girl. His little girl too. But that was another issue for another day.

  Today they had exactly one topic to discuss. Cassia. When the waiter stopped at the table she asked for chamomile tea because she needed to calm her racing heart, to push the past into that corner of her mind where it had been locked away for eight long years. There was no reason to bring up the past. Not anymore. She’d dealt with her emotions back then and shoved the rest deep down.

  Where they belonged.

  “Zara.” Caine’s voice was gravelly and she looked up with a wary smile.

  “Caine, hi. Thank you for meeting with me today. I won’t take up too much of your time but I’m hoping you could answer some questions.” She was rambling but the look in his green eyes told her he had more on his mind.

  “That’s fine. How are you?”

  Her smile tight, she answered shortly. “Fine, thanks. So what are our options for donors? I’m getting tested this week, but I don’t think it makes sense to put Mom or Dad through it when it’s unlikely they can donate. What about anonymous donors?” Her research indicated it was unlikely but she hoped that was internet lore, not truth.

  Caine smiled and Zara cursed him for having such tempting, kissable lips. He hadn’t been her first kiss but he’d been the best. The most memorable. “Your mother dropped off her and your father’s medical histories and you’re right. She has high blood pressure and he has diabetes, but the real problem is overall health. It is unlikely either Brenda or Lyle would come out of this completely healthy.” He sighed and ordered sparkling water from the passing waiter. “You are a good candidate, and Cassia’s father.”

  Shit, shit, shit. That was not the news she wanted to hear. “Anonymous donors?”

  He shook his head, brushing his overgrown hair from his eyes with a mirthful grin. “Not recommended due to Cassia’s age. It could require several rounds of anti-rejection meds, which will be too much for her small body. It might cause further damage to the new kidney.”

  Zara released a soft cry and bowed her head, shoulders trembling as Caine systematically took away all of her options to save their daughter’s life. She would have to tell Caine the truth about Cassia so that he could save her if she couldn’t. She jumped when his warm hand covered hers, capturing his worried expression when she looked up. “Let’s see what my results are and then we can move forward.” She knew it was a coward’s move but she needed time.

  Caine nodded and sat back, his gaze never left hers. “So, Cassia tells me you’re a head doctor?” He smiled and her own spread as he told her about their conversation.

  “I am a child psychologist and I work at a private clinic between Girdwood and here.” They’d talked for hours about what their life would be like together. Caine would be a pediatrician, healing tiny bodies, while she would heal their minds so they could grow up happy, healthy and with the best chance for a good life. Together. “And you’re a pediatrician, not a neurosurgeon.” She winced inwardly at that slip that she remembered anything about him. His dreams. The waiter stopped and dropped off plates of steaming pasta and sauce, Bolognese for him and ravioli for her.

  Flashing her a sardonic smile and a casual shoulder shrug, his voice was free of any emotion when he spoke. “Living the dream.” It didn’t sound like he enjoyed his life all that much. “But at least I’m not in Florida.”

  Zara wanted to scream. Were they really sitting here engaging in small talk like there wasn’t an ocean of history between them? Then she was angry. “I’m glad you got what you wanted.”

  “Not everything,” he grumbled into his glass.

  Cry me a damn river. Time to stop the personal talk. “How long will it take if I’m good to donate?”

  He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he answered the question. In detail. “If there are no complications, she should be out of the hospital within a few weeks.” This was a different Caine, more pensive and less effusive. “You stayed in Alaska.”

  “I did.” They were not doing this now. Not ever, if she could help it. “Life happened so I got my education here.” Where her parents could watch Cassia while she went to class and did her practicum hours in grad school. They were a godsend and Zara knew she wouldn’t have achieved her dreams if not for their help and sacrifices.

  “You look beautiful.”

  I guess we’re not pretending anymore. “Thank you, Caine.” They stared at each other for so long she thought they should feel uncomfortable…or something. Instead, all she felt was heat. White hot heat she felt all the way to her toes. Alright, I guess we’re doing this, then. “Married?”

  “Nope. You?”

  “Nope.”

  “Dating?”

  “Nope.”

  “Me either.” He smiled that knowing smile. Caine knew he was getting to her and he was enjoying that fact. A little too much in her opinion.

  “You’re a rich doctor, Caine, if you’re single, it’s by choice.” She refused to play this game with him, engage in this flirtation with him as though he hadn’t simply abandoned her, but completely disappeared from her life after proclaiming his love for her. What a fucking joke.

  “Maybe I’m just waiting for the right woman.”

  “I’m sure she’s out there.” She pulled a few bills from her purse and folded them into the leather case. “Thank you for meeting with me today, Caine.”

  “Stay.” The wor
d was firm but not demanding so Zara stayed where she was. “Why are you so eager to get away from me?”

  Zara sucked in a deep breath to cool her anger. Don’t do it. Whatever you do, do not do it. Talking herself down wasn’t helping, and neither was staring into that handsome face that haunted her for years after he’d disappeared. “Why? Because last time I let you get close to me you broke my heart and disappeared. That’s why, Caine.” She was absolutely not going to storm out like some scorned woman. Instead, she would quietly and calmly leave the restaurant and wonder why she thought meeting him was a good idea.

  ~

  Caine sighed heavily after Zara left with all the dignity of a queen. He hadn’t disappeared, not exactly, and not how she meant. The truth was it had taken years before he’d disappeared completely, but it had been his mother who’d so carefully orchestrated his disappearance. Only he’d found out too late what his mother had done.

  It didn’t matter anymore, though, because he was different. He was no longer the carefree, fun-loving young man Zara had fallen in love with. He was sullen, moody and short-tempered. He didn’t really do love or commitment anymore and he had no plans to get married or start a family. His job was his wife and children, his career was his family. Caine’s only goal was to save as many children as he could, giving them a second chance to live the life he once wanted for himself.

  He would do the same for Cassia, not for Zara but for Cassia. She deserved a good, long life. And if that made Zara happy too, well, that wasn’t really any of his business. Since she already paid the bill—leaving him looking like a chump—he got up and left too. That lunch was a bust anyway. He hadn’t learned anything about her life or what had happened in the years since he’d last seen her. She had a seven-year-old girl and was a pediatric and adolescent psychologist. Oh, and she was single, never married.

  Which only made him wonder more about Cassia’s father. Zara said nothing at all about him, and from what he gathered the man wasn’t a potential donor for the little girl. Shaking his head, Caine couldn’t believe Zara had ended up with a guy who would abandon her and their child. And she met him soon after I left. That thought stung, making him remember how he’d felt after they lost touch.

  Two weeks had passed since he’d last spoken to Zara and Caine had begun to wonder if what they shared was simply a vacation romance. He didn’t think so. They talked on the phone every single day of the past month since he and his family had left Alaska. And that night they’d shared just a week before he left had been magical.

  He’d rented a hotel room for the evening in Anchorage since they both had the next day off. Zara deserved romance, so rose petals decorated the bed and expensive bubble bath filled the tub. It had all been so perfect because that’s how much she mattered to him. And he’d been special to her too, she told him as much when she gave her body to him for the very first time. “I love you Caine and I want you to be my first time. My first everything.” Her words, her actions, her eyes. They had all been genuine, so why had she given up on him?

  As soon as his mother’s assistant replaced his phone he’d checked the history and there had been nothing from her. What the hell? He had to speak to her, hear her tell him they were over. That they would never get married and have a house full of kids like they talked about. Like he’d been dreaming about since he’d met her.

  Reaching for his new phone, Caine decided to call the lodge where they’d met since he couldn’t find her phone number. Find out why she stopped calling. “Hello, may I speak with Zara Brown?”

  The voice on the other end of the line sighed. “Zara doesn’t work here anymore. After she got written up for spending all that time with the hot kiddie instructor, the boss, Stephan, went nuts. He rode her hard, made comments and was so hostile she finally left.”

  That was the last thing Caine wanted to hear because that meant he had no way of getting in touch with her. Maybe she was mad that he’d cost her the job. “Do you know how I can find her?”

  “No, I haven’t seen her since she got back from Florida.”

  She’d been in Florida? It couldn’t have been a coincidence that she’d come here. She had to have come for him. But why hadn’t she come to him? “Thanks,” he told the chipper voice, and hung up.

  Why hadn’t she found me?

  Caine had been unable to answer that question and he’d asked himself that for weeks. When no answer came he finally decided to return to Yale to finish his degree and get into medical school just as his parents had been nagging him to do for weeks. Caine had stopped partying and jetting off to exotic locales on a whim. Caine had stopped being photographed with a different woman every night, mostly because he’d stopped dealing with women altogether for more than a year. He became more than the rich party boy the tabloids made him out to be.

  That had been because of Zara. He’d fallen in love with her, someone who had shared his values, his goals and desires in life. She had changed so much for him and yet had no idea.

  In hindsight, he could see so much about what happened back then. His mother’s fingerprints were all over the whole damn thing. His lost phone and “accidentally” being given a new one with a new number. And then her trip to Florida without ever seeing him.

  “Dammit,” he muttered to himself. The clearer picture made him wonder about the man he was today. He had no doubt he would be a different man if things had turned out differently with Zara. She’d given him the courage to go after what he wanted and ultimately to stand up to his parents over his career path.

  But did that really change anything? Caine wanted Zara. He was certain of that now, but she had a child, and he’d decided years ago that the only children in his life would be the ones he treated.

  At the end of the day, he decided that no, it didn’t matter. Not really.

  Chapter 5

  “Thanks for letting me come out tonight, Mom.” Cassia was out of breath and tired all the time, but she’d shown flashes of her old self so Zara decided they would go out for pizza for dinner.

  “You don’t have to thank me, we both needed to get out for a while. Have some fun.” It was hard to do, though, when your little girl was getting sicker with each passing day. It had been several days since she’d been tested as a donor for Cassia and there’d been no word from the hospital or Caine. He hadn’t even shown up for her appointment, for which she was grateful but also a little disappointed.

  “I want bacon and mushrooms on my pizza.” She smiled, knowing Zara didn’t not like mushrooms.

  “That’s fine, your half can have that and I’ll get ham and veggie pizza.” She stuck her tongue out playfully, drawing a half laugh, half yawn from the little girl. “And no soda for either of us.”

  “Fine,” Cassia replied with the world’s most put upon sigh. “Are you worried, Mom?”

  “I am, but I think Dr. Faulkner is a good doctor and will make sure you’re alright.”

  “But what if you’re not a match? We never talk about my father but he might be match, Mom, that’s what the doctor said.”

  Zara sighed because every single world her little girl spoke was the truth. They never spoke about her father because Zara had no idea what to say. She couldn’t tell her daughter that her father was a liar and a user who didn’t want them. Either of them. So she said nothing other than, “He’s not around.” She’d promised herself that if she wasn’t a donor, she would tell Caine the truth. “I know, and I will.”

  Cassia was lost in thought for several long moments, giving Zara a moment to regroup and shift her focus. “Why hasn’t he been around?”

  She felt her heart cracking and splintering, making it difficult to breathe. “Cassia, the answer is not something any little girl should hear about her father, do you understand?”

  She nodded. “He was mean?”

  She wished. If he’d been mean, it would have been easier to get over him. But he was wonderful, kind and patient, brilliant and sexy. His one glaring flaw, the lying and the usin
g. “He wasn’t mean, but he wasn’t very kind either.” It hurt to think about the way his mother, Deborah Faulkner, had treated her. Talked to her like she was trash, actual trash, not even the help.

  “He didn’t want me?”

  She shook her head. “Or me.” After that ill-advised trip to Florida, Zara had waited hopefully for months, for Caine to decide to be the man she thought he was and find her and their baby. The day Cassia was born, she stopped hoping. “But I will make sure he gets tested if I can’t be your donor, okay?”

  Cassia nodded and then her face brightened. “Hi, Dr. Faulkner! It’s me, Cassia.” She waved and Zara refused to turn around and watch him walk their way.

  “Hi, Cassia, Zara. How are you ladies doing this evening?”

  “Good. I’m feeling good today so Mom said we could have pizza. George’s has the best pizza, are you having pizza too?”

  Caine gave her an indulgent smile and nodded. “Yep. What do you recommend?”

  “Bacon and mushroom is the best, George makes them crispy just for me,” she answered proudly. “Want to eat with us?”

  Zara froze and she knew she would have to look up now. His green eyes smiled, the same way Cassia’s did when she knew she’d painted her mother into a corner. “Fine by me.” It wasn’t fine at all, but this was the man who would help keep Cassia alive. She could play nice. “You can share Cassia’s half of the pizza.”

  He smiled and it hit Zara right in the stomach. “What’s on your side?” She told him and his eyes continued to glow with amusement. “That doesn’t sound so bad. How about I buy two beautiful ladies dinner and you let me eat a little bit of both?”

  “Yay!” Cassia’s hands shot in the air, clapping with a giant smile on her face. “You can sit by me.”

  Zara ignored the stinging sensation behind her eyes as well as the clenching feeling in her heart watching the two of them together. Father and daughter, so alike in so many ways, yet so unaware of it.

  She hoped to keep it that way.