Lead Me On. Victoria Dahl
of the night? He’d paced for a few minutes, then pulled on jeans and rushed out to look for her.
Nothing. He had no address. She hadn’t left so much as a note, and her phone call showed on his cell as “blocked,” something he hadn’t had the attention span to notice when she’d called and invited him out.
With no way to contact her, Chase had stayed awake for hours worrying. The next morning, when the newspaper hadn’t reported any injured or dead or missing women, Chase had let his worry turn to anger.
Unbelievable. He’d been used.
Okay, he’d known he was being used, but he hadn’t known he was being used used.
Chase shifted, rolling his shoulders back. He felt…strange. Uneasy. As if someone had slipped something into his drink and, well…taken advantage of him.
Ridiculous, of course. He’d been fully aware and more than willing the whole time. But he’d thought they were having a genuinely good time together. And then she’d yanked the rug out from under him. While he’d still been naked and basking in the afterglow.
In Chase’s opinion, that had been uncalled for, and he deserved an apology.
The digital numbers of the dashboard clock jumped from 8:14 to 8:15 a.m. Jane was late. He’d arrived before eight on Friday and she’d already been working. Suddenly his worry was back, though he tried to beat it down.
Jane Morgan was fine. She was just a stone-cold bitch.
His mouth twitched at the lie. No. She wasn’t cold. She’d rocked his fucking world on Friday night, and if he was being honest with himself, that was part of the reason he was so pissed. When he’d stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, Chase had been downright giddy. Exhausted, but giddy. Like a goddamn little girl.
“Shit,” Chase muttered, running a hand over his eyes.
At the very moment he decided to salvage his pride and drive away, a car turned into the lot. A little white BMW zipped past him, Jane Morgan at the wheel. She didn’t glance in his direction. In fact, she seemed totally lost in thought, brow furrowed as she pulled straight into a space and jumped out of the car.
By the time Chase got his door open, she’d already unlocked the office and slipped inside. Being late probably didn’t sit well with a girl like Jane.
And the sight of her, all prim and proper again in a dark gray suit, wasn’t sitting well with Chase. She looked the way she always did. Unruffled. Unmoved. Cool and composed as she turned on lights and moved toward her desk. She looked as if Friday night had never happened.
Until Chase walked through the door.
Jane’s eyes flew wide as she swung toward him. “Oh!” she yelped. “What are you doing here?”
She sounded so absolutely incredulous that Chase felt a jolt of fury. “Seriously?”
“Well…” He watched her gather up all her shock and will it away to nothing. It took only a few moments before her expression settled into calmness, and she was prim Jane again. “Yes, I’m very serious. What can I help you with, Mr. Chase?”
“Look at my face, Jane. I’m not in the mood for this. You took off in the middle of the night. While I was in the shower.”
“Er…” Her face stayed impassive, but she had the grace to blush, anyway.
“First of all, I was terrified something had happened to you.”
She shook her head, drawing his attention to the way she’d rolled her hair under at the nape of her neck. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you were out walking in the middle of the night!”
“It wasn’t the middle of the night. It was nine-thirty. In Aspen.” When he opened his mouth to cut her off, she raised a hand to stop him. “I only walked the two blocks to Main Street, and I had a can of mace with me. I grabbed a cab as soon as I reached The Lodge.”
He crossed his arms. “And how was I supposed to know that?”
A flicker of confusion crossed her face, and Jane dropped her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“Secondly,” he growled, uncrossing his arms and moving forward until his thighs hit her desk, “that was really fucking rude, Jane.”
“I… I suppose it—”
“Kind of cruel, as a matter of fact.”
“Cruel?” she whispered.
“I was okay with being your little birthday gift to yourself. Use me. Fine. But I don’t appreciate being treated like a worthless piece of garbage afterward.”
“I’m sorry. I… I thought you’d be glad I was gone.”
“Now, that’s just a lie, Jane. If you thought I’d be glad, you would’ve stuck your head in my bathroom and said, ‘Thanks for the ride, stud. I’ll call you sometime.’ Instead you waited until I’d turned my back and then snuck away so that you wouldn’t have to speak to me after you fucked me.”
That brought more color to her cheeks. He felt a moment’s happiness that he’d gotten to her, and then the unthinkable happened. Jane Morgan began to cry.
Not really crying, Chase scrambled to assure himself. Her eyes just got a little…wet. She sniffed.
“Oh, shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re right.” She sniffed again and swiped at her eyes. “I was beyond rude.”
“Okay, but I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You have every right to be mad. I was… I told myself it was okay because you were a man, but it wasn’t okay. It was unkind. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
“All right, apology accepted. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
She put her shoulders back and took a deep breath, seemingly calming herself, but a tear still escaped and slipped down her cheek before she swiped it impatiently away. “I had a tough weekend. It’s not your fault.”
“Bad birthday?”
“Oh, boy,” she said on a laugh, but the laugh turned into a little hiccup.
“Aw, Jane,” he murmured, edging around the desk to pull her into his arms. He half expected her to resist, but she stepped into him and pressed her forehead to his shoulder.
“I’m okay. Really.” She actually sounded a little better. He’d expected her to break down, but she took a few breaths and relaxed. “All right,” she whispered, but she didn’t push away.
“Tell me nothing bad happened to you.”
“No, nothing. I’m just stressed out and tired. I had trouble sleeping last night.”
Good. Now he could enjoy the chance to touch her. He recognized the scent of her shampoo already. It had been imprinted permanently on his brain on Friday night. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you. I’m really sorry, Chase.”
Chase was busy with thoughts of the last time he’d touched her, so it took a moment for the noise behind him to register. He was just lifting his head when Quinn walked past.
“Hey, Chase,” Quinn muttered. “Morning, Jane.”
Jane jumped back, jerking violently away before Chase could drop his arms. Inhaling sharply, she slapped a hand over her mouth as if to stifle the sound, her eyes flying to her boss’s back. But Quinn walked on, head down, totally absorbed in the papers in his hand. A few seconds later he disappeared into his office and closed the door.
“Oh, my God,” Jane whispered. “Chase, you’ve got to get out of here. Oh, God.”
“All right,