Chase (Lakefield Book 4)

by Jennifer Vester

  His tongue teased against my lips.

  “What do you mean? Where do I belong?” I whispered.

  “With me,” he said gruffly.

  I looked at him in confusion. “I’m too young, you said so. Plus, you’re really old and egotistical. And a player. You play games, flirt too much, and look like you need to go model in a GQ magazine. I like ugly men, very, very ugly men.”

  His chest started rumbling before I heard him laugh. “Sweetheart, you’ve never been with a man first of all and second, I don’t give a fuck anymore how old you are. I haven’t played games with any woman who didn’t want to play them and there have been a few.”

  I scowled at him, not entirely sure I wanted to hear that.

  He kissed me roughly then pulled back. “I’ll own up to being a little flirty in the past but not since I met you. That’s been over for months. I’ve been too busy with you on my mind to look at anyone else.”

  “Which proves my point. You’re busy trying to figure me out for now. Then you’ll go right back to flirting with someone else after I’m no longer a mystery. Let go. I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “You’ll figure it out eventually Andi. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Let go. We need to get back.”

  He sighed and let go. “No fucking flirting or I will beat someone and haul you out of there thrown over my shoulder. Ass hanging out and all.”

  I had seen him hit someone before. It was months ago before Kate had run off to Colorado to forget about Logan. She and I had nearly been accosted in a hallway at a bar and Brock had thrown a punch at the man. It had landed solidly and with precision.

  I nodded in agreement. “That’s fine. I wasn’t flirting. They approached me.”

  He frowned slightly and looked almost lost for a moment. “I know, and I also know that they couldn’t help it. You’re the most beautiful woman in any room. I guess I don’t have to worry that much since they’re all old too.”

  I considered that for a second and ignored his compliment. “Gabriel seems younger.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to piss me off? Trying to get someone killed?”

  “No,” I replied innocently. Maybe a little.

  He stretched his neck and it popped. “Don’t fucking tempt me.”

  I shook my head. “Bathroom. Then I’ll be back in, for my covert mission to eavesdrop.”

  He looked annoyed. “Yeah. That. I don’t want to deal with that shit right now but we’ll get this done, then you and I are going to figure shit out.”

  “Okay,” I shrugged. What could he really do? I would be leaving when this was over. It was becoming more and more clear that leaving was really the best way to keep Drew and I safe.

  He looked over my face again and seemed to linger for a moment.

  “You are beautiful, Andi.”

  I nodded my acceptance of his words, even though he probably told every woman the same thing. It felt good to hear it from the first man I had ever really been in intimate contact with as an adult. At the same time, it felt hollow because of his past exploits and the fact that he didn’t know who I really was.

  This was just a face and a body. Would he think I was beautiful if he knew the truth? Would I disappoint him? I knew a lot of solid and good things about myself. Knew I could handle a lot of things on my own but there was a small part that always felt like I was going to be a disappointment to people. A tiny part but it was there. I thanked my parents for that one.

  I felt his hand slide up to my jaw and he lifted my face to look at him.

  He titled his head and gave me a concerned look. “You just went somewhere. Where was it?”

  I shrugged, feeling vulnerable. His thumb rubbed over my cheek in a tender gesture.

  He sighed when I didn’t answer. “Don’t do that. Your face looks like you were thinking of the worst thing imaginable. I told you that no matter where you go I would find you. If that means following you into that head of yours then I will. I’ll drag you back out, kicking and screaming if I have to.”

  My eyes slipped down to his jaw and I nodded.

  Brock turned around and poked his head out the door, then drug me quickly into the hallway. There was no one around in the corridor and no one had seen us come out. I could hear the conversational buzz and light music coming from down the hallway where the party was really getting started.

  He turned back to me, his face set and firm, “Bathroom, then you better get in there. Five minutes before I come looking for you. Do what I ask, Andi.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned toward the bathroom. I swung my hips a little and turned back to him over my shoulder. “I may be there in five. Maybe not.”

  “Five, Andi!” he barked.

  I smirked over my shoulder. I may not want much to do with a relationship with him but I sure did like irritating the shit out of him. Such a control freak.

  A blonde woman came out of the party and started walking down the hall towards us. She gave me a once over and apparently didn’t like what she saw. Her eyes narrowed and she gave a dismissive sniff.

  “Brock,” she said in a husky voice.

  He turned and looked at her. “Angela, how are you?”

  Her eyes darted to me again for a brief second, then she gave him a huge smile that was more like an invitation rather than a greeting.

  My hackles rose even though they had no reason to. We weren’t together and this was probably just another woman in the long line of women he had been with.

  I turned, ignoring their conversation and walked into the bathroom.

  I did my thing, fixed my makeup as best as I possibly could without any foundation on me and put some red gloss on. Looking at the time on the phone I noticed it was exactly five minutes after I had left him.

  Stepping out of the bathroom I saw him stalking down the hall toward me.

  I held up my hands and gave him an annoyed look. “Five minutes. I’m coming.”

  He didn’t touch me as we walked back into the room. I noticed that his hand flexed several times like he was tamping down the urge to but he didn’t.

  There were over a hundred people in the room in the middle of conversation and drinking. The tables had been set for dinner and were already filling up.

  “Stay close to me,” Brock said.

  He maneuvered me gently in the direction he wanted to go. Only touching my lower back a couple of times to move me around other people or away from people. Several people spoke with him as we passed by but he didn’t linger long. Their eyes scanned me but I remained impassive and aloof. He introduced me only a handful of times as his assistant. I smiled when appropriate and nodded.

  He was always behind me, hovering like a protector and on more than one occasion I felt him brush against me subtly. I could tell it was purposeful in the way that he wouldn’t look at me. As if he would give something away if he did.

  Those times reminded me that he had threatened to leave me wanting. He had definitely done that. My body was alive with the awareness that he was near me. It was like it was calling out to him, reaching for what he could give me.

  He always had the same smell to him, a certain musky scent that mixed with a cologne I couldn’t name. I took a deep breath when he got near and it blocked all of the other smells of perfume and alcohol around us.

  He moved me away from an overly curious woman and her husband that were both trying to draw us into a longer conversation. His hand brushed over my ass and I let out a small moan. I was getting wet again and could feel it on my thin panties. It seemed like because he had to refrain from touching me, it was more of a turn on than not.

  I saw the edge of his mouth turn up and his eyebrow arch but he still didn’t look at me. He knew what was happening to me and he was probably enjoying every moment.

  He led me to a chair at the outer edge of all the tables. There was a podium set up in the front. The beautiful blonde woman from earlier, Angela, walk
ed up to it and tapped the microphone. Her manicured nails made a clicking noise when she did.

  “If everyone could take a seat. Thank you,” she said, and glanced over at Brock. Her look was a little obvious to me but it wasn’t something that seemed to be affecting Brock. His eyes moved away from her and over to the crowd without any recognition that he had seen her.

  People shuffled to their seats, the volume of conversation decreasing.

  Unfortunately for Brock, Gabriel was sitting across from us at the round table. There were several other people that I chatted with for a moment, then noticed Angela take a seat beside Brock. She put a hand on his shoulder in order to sit down in her tight red dress. If her breasts squeezed into anything tighter they would have been spilling out.

  “Brock, thanks for joining us at the table. I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to drag you in here by your tie or not,” she said in a singsong voice that sounded so fake it was like nails on a chalkboard to me.

  “I only needed a few minutes. It’s not like you couldn’t handle everything on your own.”

  Her hand went back to his arm and she lowered her voice. “Aww that sounds like a compliment if I’ve ever heard one, Mr. Fleming. You look incredible tonight by the way. Have you been working on the project that Aiden mentioned or have you been relaxing by the pool?”

  “I’ve been working on a few things.”

  She lowered her voice even further and leaned in so much that I could see her blonde hair over his shoulder. “Let me know when you want to enjoy some of the amenities around here. I’m sure we could explore some together. Just to give Aiden some feedback of course.”

  I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach when I thought about her touching him. It was almost like jealousy but I couldn’t pinpoint why I felt that way. One thought kept rolling around in my head. His statement about playing games with women that were willing. She was obviously one of those if it hadn’t been clear in the hallway earlier.

  Gabriel eyed me openly, “Did you get everything you needed done?”

  “Yes, thank you,” I said, while taking in the settings of the table. Formal place setting, meaning several courses. I wasn’t sure if I would last several courses with the blonde bimbo yabbering at Brock and Gabriel trying to make light conversation while eyeing me speculatively.

  Did he know I was pretending?

  “So, do you work at the tech center?” he asked, as the waiters came in with the soup and salad course.

  I thanked mine and said, “Hmm?”

  Brock spoke up as his hand shifted to my knee under the table. His fingers grazed lightly up my leg then dipped to touch my inner thigh.

  I coughed to try to cover a small whimper.

  “She works remotely. I can’t keep her at the complex. She’s a busy woman working with Aiden as well.”

  Gabriel chewed on his food for a minute, absorbing that information.

  The woman beside Brock started talking to him again and his focus was drawn back to her but his hand didn’t move from my thigh. It actually became more active as he circled a finger around and inched even higher on my leg.

  He casually spoke with a couple of other people around the table while I tried to retain my composure. I could feel my cheeks burning but I kept eating and trying not to look at him. When I did glance his way, he had a passive face as if nothing was happening. Not one emotion on his face to reveal what he was doing.

  My breath hitched when our waiters returned to deliver the main course. Brock turned slightly over his right shoulder to talk to one of them and his hand slid higher on my thigh. His palm went under the hem of my skirt and he pushed at my legs to get them to separate.

  I bit my lip and tried to stare at my plate like I was studying it for an exam. I jumped when his fingers found my center and started rubbing.

  “Fuck,” Brock murmured suddenly and his hand was gone.

  Another woman was making her way to the table in a blue flowing dress. Brunette, manicured and groomed just as much as the blonde. Boobs just as prominent.

  Brock stood up to greet her. “Maggie, nice to see you. Glad you could make the retreat.”

  She smiled at him like she knew him well. “You invited nearly the whole company. Why wouldn’t I make time? Everyone gets to relax for a few days and mingle with good friends.”

  Brock nodded absently and his eyes slid to mine briefly.

  “Have you met my assistant, Andi? She’ll be with me the entire trip.”

  The way he said it was interesting. Like we were going to be joined at the hip, literally.

  Angela looked at me around Brock and had a deep frown of confusion on her face.

  Maggie eyed me in the way a snake would look at a mouse. Except I was anything but a mouse.

  “Andi,” she nodded.

  I inclined my head and turned back around like I wasn’t interested at all in her. I took a bite of my food and looked up to find Gabriel watching me again. His eyes were looking at my face then they slid up to Brock and Maggie.

  I tried to drown out Brock’s conversation with her. My gut clenched.

  Brock sat back down and leaned in to whisper, “She’s a VP in sales and one of the ones I need to watch. She has access to a lot of things.”

  I nodded.

  His hand moved back to my thigh and I nudged it away from me.

  “Another one of the women you’ve played games with?”

  His jaw ticked. “No.”

  I arched my eyebrow. “Looks like she wants to.”

  “Maybe. But I’m not interested and never will be.”

  He tried to touch my leg again and I moved it away again.

  “Andi.”

  An older man approached the table to greet everyone. He turned to Brock to say something then his eyes slid to me and he looked surprised.

  “Claire?”

  I swallowed hard and tried to look confused. My mother’s name was Claire. Fuck, who was this guy?

  Brock looked at the older man and back at me.

  I shook my head at the man.

  He chuckled for a minute. “Sorry, you look like someone I knew once a long time ago. Much younger though. Spitting image, uncanny. My name is Robert Hensworth.”

  Brock turned back to him and my stomach felt like it had been punched several times. I looked like my mother? Who was he?

  “Robert, nice to see you. When did you get in from New York?”

  Robert was still eyeing me. “Yesterday. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name miss.”

  I clamped my mouth shut. New York. My parents had worked in New York. Had he known them well enough to know my mother’s name?

  Brock turned back to me and my eyes pleaded with him not to say anything. He didn’t catch my silent plea or just didn’t care. “This is Andi, Robert.”

  Robert coughed and looked like he had gone pale as he stared at me.

  “My God. Andromeda? I thought you were missing.”

  Brock’s eyes darted to mine.

  Everything happened all at once.

  Maggie was back at our table and trying to get Brock’s attention rather loudly.

  Robert started asking questions. Gabriel began to stand up and spilled his drink on the person sitting beside him. Someone tapped on the podium microphone.

  I inhaled a huge shuddering breath and brushed Brock’s reaching hand off my leg again. While he was trying to get Maggie to go back to her seat I slid out of my chair and quickly walked out of the room. I broke into a jog when I hit the hallway. Cursing my choice in shoes the entire way

  I had to go.

  Chapter Eight

  I caught my breath at the valet desk. What was I going to do? My keys were still upstairs.

  The man smiled at me expectantly.

  “Brock Fleming’s car please. I’m his assistant,” I said on a whim and looked around the parking lot. There were several luxury vehicles and sports models everywhere.

  “It’s right here up front, miss.” He poi
nted toward a white Audi R8 with a license plate that said “Hacker”.

  My eyebrows shot up. I didn’t know much about cars like Drew did but I knew that specific car. It had been my dream car when I was younger. My dad had owned a red one.

  This was a much newer model. I was going to make this baby purr.

  He handed me the remote and I unlocked the doors. Sliding into the leather seats I turned the car on and revved the gas a few times.

  The engine gave a throaty sound. Sex on wheels. That was an R8.

  The valet was eyeing me now and I smiled like I was stealing it. Because I was.

  Brock came running outside as I revved the engine again. He gave me a scorching look, then one that told me he was going to throttle me if I left.

  I put the car in gear and squealed out of the parking lot. I slid around a corner and gunned it, headed in the opposite direction of Lakefield. I just wanted to drive at the moment. I slowed down significantly once I got to the highway and thought of where to go. I would need a destination for both of us. All of our papers were at the apartment.

  I passed by different cars, picking up speed in the dark. I looked in my rearview and saw another car’s headlights gaining fast.

  There was a ringing inside the car that I ignored the first time but it rang three more times. I looked at the screen on the dash and I pressed the button on the steering wheel to pick up the call.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Andi pull over right now. I’m right behind you,” Brock barked.

  My eyes shot up to the mirror and I saw the car flash its lights.

  “No. Leave me alone. I just need your car for about an hour so I can figure something out. I just need some time and we’ll be out of everyone’s life. I promise you’ll get it back.”

  “Baby, just pull over and we’ll talk about this. You don’t have to leave anything. I don’t care about the car, I just want to talk.”

  Speeding up I changed lanes around a corner and the back end slid to the side. The car behind me retreated slightly.

  “Andi! Damnit, slow down! You’re going to kill yourself!”