His Surprise Daughter : A BWWM Billionaire Romance

by Tiana Cole

  “My surgeon!” Eyes wide she looked him over. “Surgeons don’t wear suits. Do they?” she asked, looking up at Zara, who only laughed.

  “Not usually, but I will be presenting my research to some colleagues later today. I figured if they got to see me in a suit, why shouldn’t you?” He smiled and Cassia smiled back.

  “You look very handsome, Dr. Bishop.”

  Zara stifled a laugh at the way the handsome doctor blushed. “Thank you, Cassia. Tell me how you’re feeling.”

  Cassia and the doctor carried on conversing like old friends while Zara waited nervously for the others to arrive. Ten minutes the later the room was at capacity with the hospital administration, pediatric chief, transplant coordinator, Caine, her mom as well as two other doctors all sitting around the table discussing the transplant.

  It was officially on the hospital books. Ten days away.

  Zara had no idea how she’d gotten her and Cassia home or how they’d ended up at the table with her mother and Caine, eating. She’d been in a daze since hearing that soon she would have one less thing to worry about. She couldn’t believe any of it had happened. Cassia getting sick and having Caine as her doctor, leading him to find Zara and learn about the daughter she’d thought he abandoned. Now he was the one who would save her life.

  “You okay, honey? You look exhausted.”

  Her mother’s words drew a yawn from her, stopping the lie that was poised on the tip of her lips. “I’m a little tired but I’ll turn in early tonight.” Her gaze avoided clashing with Caine’s, who probably wondered if he’d be sleeping beside her.

  He wouldn’t.

  She’d tried to tell him she loved him and he wanted sex instead. Of course she wanted it too, sex with Caine was incredible. It was always an out of body experience that left her struggling to believe anything could ever feel as great as her body entwined with his. But she’d wanted to tell him that the past was behind them, that she loved him and was ready to move forward. With him.

  Instead, they’d had sex. Which I initiated. She wanted to be angry with him but she couldn’t because she’d been the one to impale herself on his erection, but she’d imagined the extra intimacy might add to the moment, not overshadow it. Avoidance is a common technique because it works, she reminded herself, and fixed a fake smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Mom.”

  “I am worried. You have ten days to take care of yourself, Zara, because these two need you strong and full of energy. Take care of yourself so you can care for your family.” She waited, and when Zara didn’t move, she took her plate. “Go on, take a shower and go to bed. Rest well tonight and start fresh again tomorrow.”

  Her mother’s eyes were full of concern and reproach. Cassia looked worried but not afraid, and to Zara that was a win. Caine looked sad and tired, worried and remorseful. She couldn’t deal with any of that tonight. “Thanks, Mom, I will.” It was the coward’s way out, Zara was fully aware of that, but she was too tired to deal with Caine or the emotions he evoked. Not tonight. With a kiss to all three foreheads, she scurried off to her room and got ready for bed.

  Where I will absolutely not dream about Caine or his magic mouth, heavenly hands or sinful body.

  ~

  “I think it’s time we had that conversation now, don’t you?” Caine stood in the doorway of Zara’s office, where she sat on the worn green sofa with her feet tucked under her and hot pink glasses perched on her nose.

  Zara looked up at him, a blank expression on her face. “What conversation?"

  She really didn’t know? He blew out a long breath, wondering when in the hell he had become the emotional one in their relationship. “It seemed like we were on the verge of a pretty serious conversation the other day.” Actually, it had been longer than the other day, it had been more than a week. Okay, almost two weeks since he told her he loved her.

  She blinked and removed her glasses. “Oh, it wasn’t important.” Her voice was light but the rest of her could be the walking definition of tension.

  “It seemed like it was at the time,” he said, hoping to prompt her for more of an answer.

  “I thought so too.” Her gaze sliced right through him, sharp and cool all the way through.

  That’s when he got it. “Dammit, Zee, I’m sorry, how was I supposed to focus when you’re wrapped around me like that? So hot and wet and tight, it’s like heaven and all I can think of is how I want to feel and taste you all over. It’s no excuse, but I realize now that’s why you’re upset.”

  Again she blinked once. Twice. Her gaze went to his face, and when his words sank in, a smile spread those luscious lips beautifully. “Only you could make explicit sex talk sound romantic.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled because really that was the ultimate compliment for a man. “I mean it. For future reference, I can’t think of anything but pleasing you when I’m deep inside you. No serious conversations then, okay?”

  She shrugged. “It played out differently in my mind.”

  He laughed because he was sure it had. “Women are strange.” She looked up at him with an affectionate smile. “But I love you anyway.”

  She blew out a breath, arranged her files in neat stacks on her desk before turning to look at him again. His breath held while he waited for her to say something. Anything. “I love you too, Caine.”

  “But?” There was hesitation in her voice, clear as day.

  “But I’m worried things will get too hard, too real for you and you’ll run. You’ll break her heart and mine.”

  He growled in deep frustration, the anger towards his mother that he’d been burying the past couple months while dodging her phone calls now bubbling to the surface. I could kill that woman! “I understand, Zara, but I didn’t run the first time.”

  “I know. But you did run, twice after that. When you found out about Cassia, we didn’t see you for a week. After we made love, I didn’t hear from you for a lot longer.” Her voice was small, vulnerable, and Caine felt like an ass.

  He nodded, because now that he understood her worry he could soothe it. “You’re right, so I’ll just have to prove it to you.” He pulled a small box he’d paid a fortune to have shipped from California just for this moment. “Every single day from now until forever,” he said, holding the open box in the palm of his hand. “Marry me, Zara.”

  “No.”

  He frowned. “No? But you just said—”

  “That I love you? I do, I am madly in love with you, Caine.”

  “So in love with me that you can’t marry me?” There was no hiding the bitter sarcasm in his voice. Her smile was soft and he hated to see it. What was there to smile about when she just refused to be his wife?

  “Ask me again when you’re not going under the knife the next day and my answer might be different.”

  Caine smiled and closed the box, shoving it inside his pocket. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He smiled and held her hand, dotting her palm with small kisses that made her gasp.

  “I’m hoping you do.”

  Chapter 16

  Zara sat in the hospital cafeteria pretending to eat an extra dry hamburger with crinkle cut fries, heavy on the salt. Not that it mattered what any of it tasted like, it was all cardboard to her. She was a nervous wreck with sweaty, shaky palms, a sour stomach and a throbbing headache. Both Cassia and Caine were a few floors above her, under anesthesia as they prepared for the surgery that would save their daughter’s life. She could do absolutely nothing to help, change or impact what happened up there in anyway.

  She’d only come down to the cafeteria because her nerves were so frazzled she worried she was only making the other families anxious. She couldn’t help it, the two most important people in the world were under a surgeon’s knife and all she could do was wait. And wait. It had only been thirty minutes into a surgery that would last no longer than three hours and Zara felt like it had been days.

  She’d given Caine a kiss worthy of any romantic movie ending before the men and wo
men in scrubs wheeled him away, but she hadn’t let him get away before telling him she loved him. Now she could only hope the surgery went off without any complications so that they could have a future when the transplant was behind them.

  And Cassia, she smiled. Her daughter had spent her last few minutes of consciousness playing the role of matchmaker. “Do you love my dad, Mommy?”

  To say the question had caught her off guard would be an understatement. Now that her place in Caine’s life was not in question, Zara had assumed her daughter had just forgotten about pushing her and Caine together. “I think I do,” she answered nonchalantly.

  Cassia heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes in a way too mature for her. “You think you do, Mommy, or you do?”

  “You ask a lot of questions before surgery. Don’t you want to make a meal request or ice cream for a month or something?”

  “Answer the question, please,” she sang with an adorable little grin on her face.

  “Fine, yes, detective, I do love him. Satisfied?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I was kind of hoping you guys might fall in love again and we could all live together. We could be a whole family.”

  Those words were a dagger to her heart. “I thought I did pretty alright with you.”

  “You did, Mommy, and you still do. But Dad looks at you like you’re his favorite thing in whole world. You deserve that. And you don’t have to do it alone.”

  Tears trickled down her cheeks at the innocently spoken words of her daughter, voicing her biggest desires. “Thank you, kiddo, but let me worry about that. You just send a memo to your brain to keep everything working in there, okay?”

  “I am my brain, Mommy.”

  Zara smiled at the exasperation in Cassia’s voice, her shoulders fell slightly knowing that despite the significance of today, her little girl was still the same. “Okay, then you have a talk with yourself and I’ll be right beside you when you wake up. Love you bunches.”

  “Love you infinity, Mommy. Tell Dad too.”

  Zara nodded and smiled because she couldn’t look at that hopeful expression on her daughter’s face and tell her they’d already taken Caine. It all had been set up so it was timed perfectly. “I will.”

  Now, she was headed back upstairs after receiving Dottie’s text saying that Caine and Cassia were both in recovery. Inside the elevator, butterflies flapped furiously in her tummy. She was hopeful but cautious that everything had gone exactly as it was supposed to. Both Cassia and Caine would be healthy and whole. And healthy.

  “Zara Brown, is that you?”

  She looked up and cringed inwardly at the shaggy brown-haired man with the scruff on his cheeks. “Stephan, hi.”

  He was the last person she wanted to see right now. The last time she’d seen the man he’d been a petty jerk with a chip on his shoulder. “How are you?”

  “Fine. You?”

  He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “Pretty good, thanks.” He gave her body the standard perusal before his gaze landed on her face again. “What brings you by?”

  His attempt at small talk told her something, but she was too eager to get to her family to figure out what. “My daughter had a kidney transplant and I was just headed back up to the recovery rooms.”

  “Wow, tough break. Sorry about that.”

  “Thank you, Stephan. Look, I really need to go. It was nice seeing you again.” And I hope to never do it again. By the time she reached the recovery rooms, her heart was in her throat.

  ~

  Caine woke up from surgery to the sweetest sight he had ever seen. His daughter and Zara in his room. “Hey, girls, how did everything go?”

  Cassia beamed a weak smile at him from her bed just a few feet away. “We’re both alive so I’d say pretty well.”

  He chuckled, taking in the sight of Zara as she walked over to him. His eyes closed when her fingertips swiped across his forehead, brushed a few strands behind his ears with a soft smile. “It went well. You both will be sore for a few days and then I can take you both home.”

  “That’s great,” he sighed, and let his body sink into the bed. “I’m hungry.”

  “Me too. I think they gave me some of your stomach too.” Cassia giggled from her bed, groaning from the pain.

  “You both should be hungry. You’ve been in and out of sleep for a day and a half already. You were in separate ICU rooms until this morning. I think the nurses took pity on me.”

  He smiled, noticing the dark circles under her eyes and her unkempt appearance. “You look tired. Beautiful, but tired.” Reaching out for her hand, Caine relaxed against the bed when her fingers tangled with his. “Climb on up and get some sleep.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not going to be responsible for you popping your stitches.” She laughed and squeezed his hands tighter. “Raincheck though.”

  She winked and Caine thought he might end up in a very uncomfortable position in front of his daughter. “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “Knock, knock!” Brenda came through the door holding a bag that smelled like heaven, her husband, Lyle, shuffling in behind her. “Hello, you both, how are you feeling?”

  Cassia smiled and let her grandparents wrap her into crushing hug. “I’m fine, a little sore but I already feel better.”

  Caine smiled to himself, happy to hear he’d been able to help his kid in such a monumental way. It didn’t matter what happened now that Cassia had what she needed to change the world someday.

  “How about you, Caine?” Brenda came and gave him a motherly hug, kissing his forehead and performing the same moves Zara had. “Your color is good, how’s your pain?” She fluffed his pillow and pulled his table close while Zara lifted the bed.”

  “He’s hungry,” Zara answered for him, sticking her tongue out at his glare.

  “Perfect, because I brought food. The doctor said when you were out of the ICU you could eat outside food as long as it’s healthy. It is,” she said proudly, and pulled several containers from the bag.

  Caine couldn’t help but smile at all the warmth in the room. This family had accepted him as one of their own and he’d never felt so loved. Certainly not from his own parents. “It smells so good, Brenda,” he groaned, but it quickly quieted when she set a Caesar salad in front of him. “I really do love you, Brenda, would you adopt me?” He blinked playfully and she gave him a blushing smile.

  “I have a feeling you’ll end up my son one way or other. But I’ll never tire cooking for a handsome man.” She winked at him and it was Caine’s turn to blush.

  “That’s why she loves cooking for me,” Lyle said, shaking his hand with a smug smile. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, son, you had Zara pretty worried with that fever on the first day.”

  He looked at the woman in question, who had suddenly found a mediocre watercolor painting extremely fascinating. “What fever, Zee?”

  She turned around, brown eyes full of relived fear and unshed tears. “For a few hours your fever spiked and they had to cover you with ice. It broke after three hours and you’ve been perfectly fine ever since.”

  He could see, even now, just how terrified she’d been for him. “Thank you for watching over me, Zee. You’re my angel.”

  She sent him another affectionate smile. “You won’t say that when I’m hounding you to eat more vegetables and go for a walk.”

  He smiled. “Probably not, but then we can remember this moment fondly.”

  “Especially when we’re eating cauliflower mashed potatoes,” she shot back, fighting hard to bite back a smile.

  “I think you mean potato-less mashed not potatoes.”

  She quirked an eyebrow as if to say, “Same difference,” before giving him a placating pat on the shoulder and ducking out of the room.

  Caine wondered where she was going but he was able to relax and drift into another healing sleep, knowing that wherever Zara went she would always come back to him.

  ~

  By the time Zara showed up at
the hospital, Cassia and Caine’s room had filled up with people and food. “Is my invitation in the mail?” she asked by way of a greeting, smile beaming at all the smiling faces.

  “You don’t need an invitation, Mommy. You’re always invited!” Cassia was so happy and fully of energy and it had been less than a week. Zara felt such a sense of relief wash over her, a weight lifted from her tired shoulders. “Ms. Ellis brought a few friends and peanut butter cupcakes. I said thank you and they were very delicious.”

  She smiled at her precocious daughter. Determined to give her the best life possible, she’d made sure her daughter didn’t lack basic people skills that affected many highly intelligent people. “Very good, honey. It was very nice of your teacher and friends to come for a visit.” Judging by the way Ms. Ellis inched closer to Caine’s bed, she’d guess the woman had been rewarded accordingly.

  “It was our pleasure. Class just isn’t the same without Cassia.”

  Zara smiled politely, dropping a kiss on Cassia’s forehead before checking on Caine. “How are you feeling today?”

  He shrugged. “Not bad but kind of tired. They’re keeping me a couple more days,” he said, everything about him projecting the clear disappointment he felt.

  “I spoke with the doctor before coming in. Cassia’s going home today,” she told him quietly, unable to shake the guilty feelings racing through her veins.

  He nodded but those green eyes told her so much about how he felt. “I’m glad, kids shouldn’t ever be cooped up inside a hospital room.”

  “No one should,” she told him, her voice full of sympathy. “You’ll be home soon enough, Caine, don’t worry.” She sat beside him, talking quietly for nearly an hour before Cassia’s classmates finally made their exit.

  “I’m ready now, Mommy, but,” she leaned over the bed, whispering, “is it alright to leave Dad alone?”

  Zara smiled, picking up the little girl and sitting her beside her father. “I don’t know if it’s alright, but he’s strong enough to last a couple days. Aren’t you?”

  Caine smiled big and bright, pulling Cassia into his arms until her sweet little girl giggles filled the room. “I’ll miss you like crazy,” he told her, slightly out of breath from all the movement, “but I’ll be there soon enough so you’ll need to rest up. I’ll need both of my nurses full of strength.”