Surprise Seduction (23 page)

That’s why she’d pulled herself out of bed without hesitation this morning.
 
She would not cower, nor fade into the background because she’d made love to Chase.

The emotions he’d elicited gave her the strength, the reality that she alone chose the path determining her future.
 
She wouldn’t sit back and let life happen to her ever again.
 
Somehow she’d force this situation with Mel and Drew to a head soon.

During the long hours she’d lain awake, she’d decided to fly back to Chicago as soon as she could arrange time off.
 
She’d meet with Roger, hopefully enlist his help and give him back his ring.

It irked that she still possessed his ring.
 
Not that she’d worn it since leaving Chicago.
 
She hadn’t, but she needed to return it.

In her heart, marrying Roger was a promise she’d never committed to.
 
She shuddered to think of what might have been if her stepfather hadn’t kissed her that day.
 
If she hadn’t overheard his conversation.
 
Probably with Mel.

She gave her image one last look in the mirror.
 
A part of her wished she could finish her business in Chicago today.
 
Instead she’d do the responsible thing, go to work, talk to George and fly out as soon as arrangements could be made with Roger.

She wouldn’t go to her mother’s to stay, but there were some things of her father’s she wanted.
 
Heirlooms that had been passed down for several generations.
 
She wanted to pass them to any future child she might have.

Warmth invaded her.

She hadn’t given the slightest consideration to birth control last night.
 
Had Chase not put the condom on, his baby might be growing within her this very morning.
 
The thought wasn’t repulsive.
 
Maybe it should have been after the way he’d left so abruptly.

He’d never made any false promises.
 
He was a love ‘em and leave ‘em man.
 
She’d witnessed his prowess with women first hand over the past few weeks.
 
He hadn’t attempted to deceive her.

But Mel’s words had played through her mind during the night, too.
 
The history of competitiveness between the two men.

Had she somehow become a trophy to be won?
 
Seemed unlikely within the short confines of a mere week, but she suspected Mel’s attention played a role in Chase’s interest.

“You okay in there?”
 
Sheila called through the bedroom door.

“Yes.”
 
Adrienne opened the door.
 
Sheila stared curiously into her bedroom at the neatly made bed.

“No one’s in here with you?”

Adrienne’s eyes widened.
 
“Any reason there should be?”

“Your dress is in the floor, like it was taken off the moment you stepped inside the apartment.
 
I assumed Mel stayed the night.”

“No.”
 
Heat suffused her face.
 
How could she have completely forgotten about her clothes?

“No?” Sheila persisted.
 
“You can’t leave me hanging like that.
 
Was he fabulous or what?”

Adrienne closed her eyes as memories of Chase’s hands and mouth on her body assailed her.
 
The memory of his powerful release as they both fell over the brink.
 
She sighed. “Better.”

“Adrienne!” Sheila squealed.
 
“I’m so glad for you.”

“Me, too,” she admitted.
 
Even if she only got the one time of being the center of Chase’s world, what an experience it had been.

“Mel is a lucky man.”
 
Sheila stared expectantly.

“I wasn’t with Mel last night, but you already know that.”

Sheila smiled, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

“So Chase
was
still here when you got home.
 
Looks like he didn’t have to ‘chase’ you too far judging by where you’re dress landed.”

“Why did you leave him alone in our apartment?”

“What was I supposed to do?
 
Bodily throw him out?
 
He wasn’t budging until you came home.”

She knew first hand just how stubborn the man could be when he wanted something.
 
Last night he’d wanted her.
 
Until he’d had her.

“The man’s impossible,” she agreed.

“When are you seeing him again?”

“Today at work, I imagine.”

“Enjoy the sex, but just remember not to let your heart get involved.
 
Chase isn’t the kind of man to give your love to.”
 
Sheila advised as they left.
 
“Your body, yes.
 
Your heart, no way.”

Too late.
 
What she’d shared with Chase had entangled her heart so securely there couldn’t be any unraveling of the ties that bound her to him.

Chase stared out the window of his office at the river off in the distance and contemplated his relationship with Adrienne.
 
And whether he’d meant to or not, he did have a relationship with her.

He was involved with a coworker.
 
Damn it, how had that happened?

On Monday, he hadn’t been able to stand the thought of her date with Mel.
 
Not after that hot kiss he’d shared with her.
 
She’d had him harder than a rock with just one kiss.

But man what a kiss.

He’d taken her lips in frustrated anger.
 
But with the first touch of her soft lips, he’d been gone.
 
His stomach had constricted to a quivering mass when she kissed him back.

When had a kiss ever turned him on so much?

Just thinking about her responsive sweetness made his groin rise to attention.

His feet shifted.

Damn, it wasn’t even nine A.M. yet.
 
He shouldn’t be turned on at the memory of just a kiss.

Especially not at the memory of Adrienne Morris’s kiss.

He frowned as he thought over the previous night’s events.

Waiting for her to return from her date had been torturous.
 
The moment she entered the apartment, he’d known she hadn’t slept with Mel.
 
Her pureness radiated, both scaring him and drawing him deeper into her spell.

The thought of Mel possibly taking her virginity had driven him crazy.
 
He’d had no right, either, but he’d wanted her.

Wanted?
 
Hell, he’d had to have her.

Now, he felt guilty as sin.

He’d done exactly what he’d been trying to protect her from.
 
Instead of Mel taking advantage of her pureness, he’d been the one to taste her innocent nectar.

Taste it?
 
He’d devoured every drop of her heavenly body.

He shouldn’t have taken her virginity.

He shouldn’t feel like a seventeen year old boy dying for his next lay.

Only, not just any woman would do.

He wanted her
.
 
Just her
.

He didn’t like it one bit.

He couldn’t recall a woman who’d caused him such agony, such loss of self-control,
such absolute fulfillment
.

Thoughts being inside Adrienne shredded his reason.
 
His stomach fluttered.
 
If he didn’t know better he’d think his stomach had just quivered.

Stomachs did not quiver.

He couldn’t free his head of how he’d felt when she’d opened her body to him.
 
Of how she’d kissed him.
 
Met him thrust for thrust.

Why should he?

She wasn’t his assistant anymore.
 
Nor was she a virgin.
 
He’d taken care of both of those obstacles.

He ignored his snippet of guilt that he’d subconsciously removed the barriers with calculated precision.

Of course, the nagging worry she’d equate great sex to love and a need for marriage still presented a problem.
 
But, she’d told him she understood.

Marriage and Aaron men didn’t mix.

But beautiful, sexy women were right up their alley.

Adrienne Morris was both beautiful and sexy and this Aaron man wanted another taste.

He was starving.

Wonder what she had planned for lunch?

Adrienne instinctively knew the moment Chase walked into the cafeteria.
 
Did he have some type of homing device that warned when Mel came within five feet of her?

She’d called and invited Mel to join her for lunch.

What was Chase doing here, anyway?
 
He didn’t take his meals in the employee cafeteria.
 
She could only recall one instance of him doing so the entire time she’d worked at Weston Financial.

So why today?

She tried not to stare, but found it impossible.
 
Her mind screamed that only last night he’d been naked and inside her, pleasuring her.

How did a woman ignore a man when her brain kept having flashbacks like those?

She clenched her fork.

Mel noticed and glanced in Chase’s direction.
 
His curious gaze skimmed over her heated cheeks.

“You must be upset he fired you.”

“I have a better job now, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’d like to pay him back for firing me.
 
The man is so arrogant it’s a wonder his swollen head fits inside the building.”

“It would have been nice if something had been open in legal.”
 
Mel regarded her curiously.

“I would have liked that.”
 
She smiled, trying to look at him as she would Chase, hoping Mel couldn’t see right through her.

“Saving me a seat, honey?”
 
Chase slid into the empty chair opposite Mel, sandwiching her between them.

Honey?
 
It wasn’t what Adrienne expected to hear.
 
Not after his hasty retreat the night before.
 
Exactly what she’d expected, she wasn’t sure, just not that.