Taken by Chance (4 page)

“You really don’t
know what the story is?” she said, grabbing his hand. He stopped and turned
around to find her eyes wide and expectant, like she’d just asked him the most
important question she could think of. “You really haven’t seen the pictures?”

Damn. Pictures. He
didn’t need details. If they were at all the kinds of pictures he was thinking
of, he could understand why she’d be suspicious of men who suddenly wanted to
get to know her.

Obviously someone
had done that
to
her. She wasn’t a
fame whore; she was fucking traumatized.

“Jesus,” he said.
She flinched, and he struggled to figure out how to make it better. “I
meant…shit, Lena, no, I haven’t seen any pictures. I have no idea what happened
to you, but if it messed you up this bad, it must have been terrible. I’m not
going to see them, either. You tell me about when you’re ready, but as far as
I’m concerned, you’re just the girl next door, you understand?”

They had stopped
under the trellis that covered the walk from the garage to the main building,
and the warm California light was falling on her face in shifting patterns,
twisting and turning in the slight breeze coming in off the water. Every time
he looked at her, she was more beautiful. He was twisting up inside, just
trying to keep himself from thinking about how much more beautiful she’d be
when she came, pissed at himself for having a dirty mind with a woman who’d already
been sexually violated once this week. That was the last goddamn thing she
needed.

He was determined
to be the good guy this time. He’d have to be all Dom with her. See how she
reacted to what was going on inside, and take it from there.

“The girl next
door,” she said, with a kind of sad smile. “I’ll take it.”

“Was that one of
your questions?” he said, unable to help himself. He wanted to see that pure
smile again.

“No, you don’t get
off that easy.”

She had to use the
phrase “get off?” Chance shook his head, and it was just as ineffectual as the
last time. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. Look, let’s at least get inside,
then you can grill me all you want.”

Lena looked at him.
“I will.”

chapter
3

Lena tried not to
pry, as a general rule, but this was the new Volare club. Everyone wanted in,
nobody knew would be in and who would be out, and here she was.

It was amazing.
The club must have bought six lots, all contiguous, maybe more, and turned the
whole thing into a walled compound.
Some of the houses had
been rebuilt
,
some had been torn down
. There
were landscaped gardens and water features, a pool, a hot tub—Lena’s mind
lingered there for a while—a spa, hammocks swinging in the trees, all of
it shielded from outside view. The whole place looked absolutely blissful, and
she hadn’t even been inside yet.

And Chance…

The man’s presence
just overrode every rational thought in her brain. It was like she kept
slipping into the moment when he was around, forgetting what was going on in
her life, just enjoying herself. And then with a start she’d remember, and she
didn’t know whether to be suspicious or embarrassed or…well, turned on.

Whenever he gave
an order—and they were definitely orders—she was positively turned
on.

She couldn’t help
it. She doubted any woman in her position would be able to keep her head
straight, but she wasn’t
most women
. She knew better
than most how risky it was to trust anyone.

Yet she could feel
herself looking, searching,
yearning
for a reason to trust
this
man.

Totally
nuts.

“You ok?” he said
again. He was holding the door open for her. She must be such a distracted
mess.

“Just grand,” she
said, and stepped inside.

Holy…

She had expected
something serene and private. Instead they had just entered a great room that
was buzzing with activity. There were dozens of people running around, clearing
out furniture,
setting up giant sculpture lights that looked
like…sea
creatures, maybe? It looked like every crazed party planning
process she’d ever seen. Like a wedding, only with a lot less lace and a lot
more leather.

Oh my.
What was
that
contraption?

Lena looked at
him. “Dude.”

Chance laughed
again. She loved to hear it—it was like warm gravel, somehow. She didn’t
even know what that meant. He was actually making her lose it.

He said, “Yeah,
this stuff isn’t really my thing. I’m more about the actual party.”

She could imagine.
Do NOT look back at that equipment.

“I didn’t know you
guys had opened, officially.”

“We haven’t.
Tomorrow night’s a special preview for special people. You wanna come?”

Lena tried to hide
her reaction. Well, if she hadn’t believed him before when he’d said he hadn’t
seen the pictures, she did now. Because if he had seen them, claimed not to,
and then he’d invited her to an obviously BDSM-themed party, he would be kind
of a jerk. And whatever else was going on, she had confirmation that, at the
very least, Chance Dalton cared about doing the right thing.

“I don’t know if
that would be such a good idea,” she said. “Under the circumstances.”

Chance flashed
those dimples again. “I think you might change your mind. And there’s always an
open invitation for the girl next door.”

Awkward moment.
Made even more awkward when Lena saw someone she actually knew from real life
in the milieu:
Adra
, her agent’s former assistant.
She hadn’t seen Adra in months, but had always liked her, especially in
comparison to Lena’s sleazebag agent, Dan. The guy kept trying to get her to
“cash in” on Richie’s leaked photos. He’d even wanted to know if there was a
video. Lena had just stopped taking his calls, which maybe wasn’t the smartest
career move, but it wasn’t like she had a shot at the career she wanted now,
anyway.

And she really
didn’t want to talk about all that with someone who had probably seen her naked
in the last two days.

“Chance, can we
maybe go somewhere with fewer people?” she said.

The moment Lena
recognized
someone,
the crowd of people began to press
in on her. All she could think about was that they all knew. What they all
thought of her. What they’d all think of seeing her here, with Chance.

And then her inner
cynic thought,
Maybe that’s what he
wanted all along. Maybe he is just trying to drum up publicity for the club
.
Or maybe I’m just a fun conquest.

She
hated
her inner cynic. But it didn’t
matter. Inner cynic would speak, and Lena would be unable to ignore her,
because her inner cynic was almost always right. And now all the progress she’d
made—getting comfortable with Chance, getting comfortable with
anyone
who wasn’t Thea—seemed to
evaporate.

Chance looked at
her with those blue eyes, and she felt transparent.

“Yeah, come on,”
he said, and led her to a stairwell.

They climbed
forever in the dim light of the back stairs, Lena doing her best not to watch
Chance’s ass in those jeans. When they finally emerged, it was on a roof deck,
but not the dry, arid concrete of most Venice roof decks. Someone had
landscaped this one. It was just as green and lush as the gardens downstairs,
and felt just as private, with vines and flowers and even one tiny tree.

Chance walked over
to the wall around the edge of the roof, most of it covered with honeysuckle,
and took in the view. When he turned back to Lena, his smile was dazzling.

“This better?”

Did this man have
any idea how beautiful he was? It was almost harder to look at him than it was
to look directly into the sun. He stretched out his arms and threw his head
back, just an animal happy to be out in the world, and oh God, there was that V
right over his hips again, the bottom part of what Lena knew would be an eight
pack, leading directly down…

Her inner cynic
went nuts.

“What are your
three biggest fears?” she blurted out.

Chance snapped his
head down to pierce her with those eyes again. Lena felt her embarrassment
rising from her toes up, like she was a freaking mercury thermometer measuring
the level of social awkwardness. But she couldn’t help it. The more she felt
drawn to this man, the more vulnerable she felt, and the more vulnerable she
felt, the more her defenses kicked in. She was freaked out because for some
reason she wanted to please him, and she was desperate for a reason to trust
him, or at least a reason to feel like she knew him, even a little bit.

Because her heart
already felt like she did. And her inner cynic knew her heart was a moron.

And it was her
stupid, idiot heart that was threatening to take over, her heart that was
beating dangerously fast as he walked over to her with his square jaw clenched
shut, his brow furrowed, his eyes worried. He stopped just short of her, and
she almost willed him out loud to just touch her. There was some kind of field
between them, something that pulled at her core,
something
that she wouldn’t be able to resist for much longer.

What
was
it about him?

“Three is
cheating,” he said. “I’ll give you number three. Then it’s your turn.”

“Ok,” she
breathed. He was so close. She could smell him. No cologne, no spice,
just…male. “You already know your third biggest fear?”

“I had some bad
nights after I came back from Afghanistan. I got ‘em ranked already.”

Lena immediately
felt horrible, but Chance didn’t seem bothered. Not even a little bit. She could
feel
his eyes on her, unwavering,
intense, raw. What was he thinking?

Did he feel this,
too?

“I’m sorry,” she
whispered, looking down.

“Not your fault.
It’s always a little different, and half the time it doesn’t make any sense,
because dreams are crazy. But it’s always someone I love dying, and always
because of something I did. Something I screwed up.”

“Oh God…”

Ask a personal question
,
get a personal answer
.
She couldn’t believe he’d told her that. Like she deserved that confidence.

“Hey,” Chance said,
and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. That voice again.
Commanding. “There’s nothing for you to feel bad about. And you owe me an
answer.”

“Yes, sir,” she
said, trying to make it a joke, like maybe that way he wouldn’t see the effect
he had on her.

Instead something
flashed in Chance’s eyes.
Something hard, and hungry.
It
burned where their skin touched, and Lena wanted more of it. She wanted
whatever she’d just seen. The hunger hit her like a blow to the chest, flooding
her body, making her breasts swell, her nipples harden, her clit ache, and she
sucked in her breath.

For a moment, he
seemed lost in it, too. Then he snapped awake and took a step back.

“What’s your
name?” he asked. “That’s my first question.”

“Oh wow,” Lena
muttered. “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you my name.”

“Tell me.” He said
it quick, rough. His tone made her clench, drove the ache even deeper, and she
took a deep, calming breath.

Why had he walked
away? Why did she care? She should be terrified of what this represented, of
what Chance
was
, after what she’d
been through with Richie. Richie had convinced her to finally explore the kinks
she’d always fantasized about, and then he’d used it to hurt her. Chance was
into the same things. She hadn’t known if the rumors were true, but everything
about him said that he was dominant in everything. She should want to run away.
She
did
want to run away, in a way.
But her body wanted to run right into his arms. It was only all the years of
heartbreak and scar tissue that kept her still.

“Lena Simone
Maddox,” she said. “I use my middle name professionally, though.”

“I like Lena.”

She smiled weakly.
“Me, too.”

“Your turn, Lena.”

Her mind was
spinning. She felt light-headed—high, even. All she wanted was for him to
come close to her again. She wanted his hands on her, she wanted his mouth on
hers,
she
wanted him to help her stop thinking herself
in circles. That’s what she’d been doing the past two days, and it was killing
her, and she was still afraid of taking the plunge.

“Why did you help
me, really?” Lena said.

“Lena,” he said,
looking down at her. “Here’s the truth. I don’t like men who pick on women. And
seeing you smile is the best part of my day. That’s it. That’s all of it. I
don’t want anything else from you, and I don’t have much else to offer you.”

Oh God.

The best part of his day…

…Much else?

That did it. Lena
closed her eyes, hard, and when she opened them back up she knew what she
wanted. She told her inner cynic to shut up and sit down, took a deep breath,
and decided to take the plunge.

“Chance?” she
said. And then she froze. What was she going to say?
Oh, hey, Mr.
StupidlyGoodLooking
, for some
reason I feel like I want to just throw myself at you? Even though, like, an
hour ago I was swearing off all human beings in general? And since that’s
obviously pretty weird, I figure the best course of action is to just explore
that. See where it takes us.

“Yes?” he said,
turning to pin her with those eyes again.

So. Blue.

“Ok, really
quickly, because in a minute I’m going to chicken out,” she said, the words
tumbling out of her faster than she thought possible. “Have you ever felt like
your life was just spinning entirely out of control?”

Chance tilted his
head slightly, waiting for her to explain herself. Only she had no explanation.
This was, hands down, one of the weirdest days of her life, and now she was
just going with it. Because if Chance had shown her one thing so far, it was
that she felt better when she took control of what she wanted. And she wanted
him. She didn’t want to have to think about tomorrow, she didn’t want to have
to worry about the future, she didn’t want to have to hope for forever with
someone who was going to turn around and stab her in the back. She wanted one
thing that was just…hers. One thing that would prove to herself that she wasn’t
entirely broken, that she wasn’t used up, wasn’t damaged.

One
time with Chance Dalton.

Just
one, incredible time.
With Chance.

She walked up to
him, shaking like a leaf. His eyes tracked her, burning bright, but he didn’t
move.

“I know what that
feels like,” he said slowly. “It can make you do crazy things.”