The sole reason she’d resisted was the knowledge that Chastity had on her.
“You’re a terrible actor.” Janet slurped at the rim of her martini glass, the miniature apple bobbed in it, an obscene fishing lure in a lake of alcohol.
“Don’t you forget what I know about you either, little girl.” Chastity placed the flute on the wooden table between them and let out a sigh of indifference.
“He’s falling for her isn’t he?” Real anxiety entered Janet’s tone. “He’s falling for that slut.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny these allegations.”
“Christ almighty, will you stop talking like a lady out of a Pride and Prejudice novel? You’re so fucking pretentious.” Janet glugged more of the apple martini.
Chastity allowed rage to wash over, then calmly glanced from side to side. The lounge was relatively quiet on a Monday evening, the other socialites had moved off into a private booth.
Chastity leaned forward slowly and slapped the drink out of Janet’s grip. The dregs of the martini splashed the floor and the glass shattered with a fantastic crash.
“Don’t ever talk to me like that again,” she commanded, without raising her voice and Janet gaped, bristling with outrage.
A waiter appeared to clean the mess and replaced the martini with another.
“Calm down and listen carefully to me,” Chastity spoke up once the waiter had obfuscated himself. “You need to keep your head and do what needs to be done. This woman cannot come between you and Chase.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“Then why aren’t you doing anything to stop this? You’ve let this tramp come waltzing in out of nowhere and steal ‘your man’ as you so aptly put it.” Or ineptly put it. The redhead was about as capable around Chase as a rubber hook on the end of a fly-fishing line.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He won’t answer my calls, he won’t reply to my messages, he doesn’t even greet me when he sees me. Something strange is going on.”
“I believe it’s called ‘moving on’, Janet. He’s doing it quickly. You’re losing.”
Janet stuck out her lower lip in a childish pout of insolence. “I am not!”
“Remember what’s at stake here.”
“I need to know more about her.” Janet wrung her hands and reached for her martini again.
“I have two pieces of information which could help you: her name is Emily McDonald and she used to be a stripper. The rest is up to you.”
Janet perked up and pasted a smile on those ghastly pink lips. “McDonald did you say?”
“Yes,” Chastity said, drawing it out, suspicious of Janet’s sudden change in behavior. “Why? What do you know?”
“Oh, nothing yet, but I think I know someone who does.” She pushed the drink aside and rose, slinging a lurid pink and orange tote bag over her shoulder. It set off the orange in her wavy hair.
“What are you up to?” Alarm planted itself in Chastity’s solar plexus, but she didn’t let it show.
Janet’s grin widened into obscene proportions.
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The atmosphere was the same as it’d been a few months ago, vibrant with twanging guitar and a drum beat which matched her heart. It was a haven for her.
A couple at the table opposite theirs leaned in and made out over their drinks. Emily switched her attention back to her margarita and slowed her breathing.
Being here with Chase was torture. Her feelings for him hadn’t changed, only the level which she’d show them. She couldn’t lose her cool like that ever again.
She’d ripped out a stripper’s extension for God’s sakes!
“You’re quiet tonight.” Chase twirled the stem of the glass between his thumb and middle finger. They were on the juice as always, dulling the tension with alcohol. Or were they dulling their desire?
He wore a V-necked shirt and tight jeans which showed the definition of his legs. That nose, that jawline, it was too much to process over fajitas.
She didn’t trust him, so how come she wanted to climb over the table and rip that shirt right off his back?
“Em, come on, it’s like having dinner with a mute.” He tapped the table and wiped invisible crumbs off the cloth.
“Sorry, I’m preoccupied.”
“With what?”
“Thoughts, worries, confusion.” Emily smoothed the tight purple mini-dress she’d picked out for the evening. She’d gone all out this time, maybe because she wanted to give Chase another chance.
“Can you give me more to go on that that?”
“I’m not sure we should do this.”
“It’s dinner not a proposal. And frankly, I’m fucking sick of these excuses.” The couple at the table paused their tonsil hockey for a second and frowned at Chase.
“Pardon?” He was angry. It was a change from his usual understanding businessman act. That was probably what it was, an act to get into her pants then leave her in the lurch.
“Emily, when the hell are you going to accept that this is meant to be? We were meant to meet, kiss, date, the works.”
“Just because we’d make a cute couple doesn’t mean we’re destined to be together.” She was too scared. She had to get her kids back and he was a distraction. She didn’t know enough about him, and that mystery was more of a threat than anything else.
Curiosity would kill her if she kept digging for answers he wouldn’t give up.
“Actually, that’s exactly what it fucking means. Wake up! This is special.” He got up walked around to her chair and dragged her upwards.
“What the –”
Chase brought his lips down on hers and kissed her with such heat and passion that her entire body went tight with desire. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, she existed, caught in the kiss, in the taste of his lips and his soft caress, the rough grip and the tautness of his chest muscles against her beating heart.
Hot tears spilled forth, burning into her soul.
“You taste so good,” he whispered, breath tickling her wet lips.
“No. Please, I can’t do this.” Emily didn’t have the strength to push him back.
He nuzzled her neck and sighed. “What don’t you understand, Emily?”
“I – I don’t know how to do this.”
The restaurant had evaporated around them, they were caught in each other’s gravitational fields, planets drawn inwards, orbiting as if they were worlds and suns and galaxies wrapped into a grand moment. There wasn’t an escape from this either.
She couldn’t tear free. She didn’t want to.
“Why can’t you be here with me?” Chase whispered into her hair, breathing her in, stroking her bare back. “Your heart, my heart, we’re part of the same soul. Can’t you feel it?” He placed his palm over her heart.
“I’m afraid. Too much has happened.”
“You don’t think I’m scared?” His voice grated with emotion. “I’ve been through a lot Emily. I lost two people I loved very much three years ago.”
“Who?” She leaned back to get a look at his face. It was expressive, caught up in pain and remembrance.
“My parents. They died in a car accident.”
Emily’s lung deflated. She placed both hands on his cheeks and melted for him. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like it’s your fault,” he joked feebly. “But you get it. I’m afraid of feeling and losing again. I’m afraid of loving you.”
Emily glanced at the bustling restaurant, a few of the diners had quit their Mexican to study their conversation instead. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s go back to your place.”
“Yeah, good idea.” He threw three hundred dollars onto the table, and tucked his leather wallet into the pocket of his jeans. The sight of the bills brought money back to Emily’s thoughts.
“Hold on a sec. I’ve got to make a call.”
“Oh?” Chase studied her expression and slipped
his hand into hers.
Emily whipped out her new smartphone and dialed the number.
“Bitch, where you been?” Big Nick growled into the phone. She could’ve easily run from him, disappeared into the city and left the debt unsettled. But she wanted assurance that this creep wouldn’t reappear in her life again.
“Around, Nick. I’ve got your money.”
Chase gave her a thumb’s up and led her through the restaurant and out into the street.
“Bullshit.” Big Nick didn’t sound too happy about it.
“No bullshit, you walking dildo.” Emily grinned at finally saying how she felt inside.
“Where is it then? You gonna come drop it off at the club?”
“No, you can email me your banking details via [email protected]. Of course I’m going to drop it off, and you can bet I’ll be bringing a couple strong friends with me. Then we’re settled, right?”
Big Nick grunted in reply. “Fine. Yeah, if it’s all there.”
“Great.” Emily answered. “Oh, and Nick. If you ever contact me again, I will have you arrested for assault, battery and intimidation, kay?”
Click. She hung up on him this time.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“I’m drowning for you.” Chase’s tone was gravelly.
They were on his maroon sofa again, sitting on opposite ends, building the tension with the distance because being close meant an explosion for both of them.
She had to ease into this.
“You told me about your past, so it’s right that I tell you more about mine.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It is. You have to know what you’re getting into here. I was married, I had kids, and my husband was abusive.” Emily stopped. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him the rest yet. It was so much pain and fear, and what if he didn’t believe her innocence? What if he dropped her?
They hadn’t been together properly, but the pain would be as complete as if they had.
“That’s enough.” Chase leaned in and leather squeaked under his weight. “The past is the past. Let’s move forward together. You don’t have to accept help from me, but you have to know I’m here for you. I’m not afraid of you having kids, or wanting custody, or even your deranged ex. I want you for you. All of you.”
Emily’s shoulders shook from withholding sobs. There were a finite amount of times you could cry in an evening without ruining it.
“Worst date ever, right?” She wiped a tear and showed it to him.
He chuckled. “So it was a date then?”
Emily considered it. The pain, the fear, the need she had for this beautiful man in front of her. A man who’d showed her that compassion and kindness still existed, that it was safe to let go and trust sometimes. A man who’d helped her when nobody would and without a promise of payment or personal gain.
In fact, she’d been a lot of trouble.
“Yeah, it was a date.”
Chase’s chest rose and fell rapidly and he shifted on the sofa.
“I want you, Emily.”
She licked her lips, the night sky visible through the window behind him was starry and open, but for the skyscrapers lit with a twinkling of lights.
“In what way?”
“In every way.” They hadn’t moved an inch, but an invisible caress ran through her soul.
Emily did a final crawl, an encore, over the sofa cushions towards him, into his arms.
“I love you.” He tickled her nose with his.
“Ditto.” Emily climbed into his lap and took his kiss, accepted his love into her mind and spirit, swallowing the joy and incorporating it with her own.
Those lips tasted sweeter this time around, softer even. His tongue massaged her and he slipped the straps of her dress from her shoulders, exposing her breasts. Emily gave a low gasp of pleasure and backed off slightly, studying his desire.
Chase giggled his satisfaction, grabbed hold of her breast and gave her nipple a playful flick.
This time she liked it.
She ran her fingers through his hair, pulled it lightly and kissed him again, sinking deeper into him, pressing herself against him. Chase’s need for her was obvious.
“Are you ready?”
Was she?
“Yes.”
He wrapped his arms around her and started to lift her from the couch – to take her to the bedroom? – but stopped mid-stride.
“What’s wrong?”
Chase’s front door swung open, and Janet stormed into the living room, her hair in total disarray and her eyes flashing with rage.
“Having fun, I see.”
Chase deposited Emily on the ground and stepped in front of her to shield her modesty. She slipped the straps of her dress back over her shoulders and positioned herself at his side again.
“Janet, what the hell are you doing?”
“I think the more appropriate question, is what the hell are you doing, Chase?”
Emily glanced between them, a glacial sense of dread spread in the air around her and solidified.
“Janet, you need to leave.” Emily stepped in. The woman obviously had a crush on Chase, but this had gone too far.
“No, sweetheart, you need to leave. Wanna know why? Because Chase is my boyfriend.”
“What?!” Emily searched for the truth in Chase’s expression, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“And let’s not forget the more important fact here, of course,” Janet flailed her horrid orange and pink bag around, “apart from the fact that you’re cheating on me with a stripper.”
“And what fact is that?” Chase spat it out.
“Your dearest Emily McDonald, sorry, Emily Ross,” Janet paused, and terror replaced the dread, “is a convicted felon.”
Chase stumbled back and turned to her, finally. There was betrayal written in the lines on his forehead, in the manner in which he plumbed the depths of her soul, seeking desperately.
“Emily, is this true?”
Utter silence reigned in the apartment. Emily McDonald took a breath.
“Yes.”
TO BE CONTINUED
WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Part Two of the Never Say Never series is available on Amazon:
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V7AVNK8
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00V7AVNK8
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Also by Melissa Shaw
Brave (A Romantic Suspense Serial)
Puppy Love (A Short Sweet Romance)
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About the Author
Melissa Shaw lives in the land of Prince Hamlet in a gorgeous suburb of Copenhagen, and uses the surrounds to craft romances which touch on the truth behind humanity. She likes strong female characters, flawed men, and strong bourbon. When she’s not hunched over her laptop, she’s wandering the streets searching for inspiration or sipping coffee at the local shop. Mostly she’s just writing. That’s what she does best.
A SNEAK PEEK AT BRAVE
Here is a sneak peek at the first chapter of my romantic suspense serial Brave.
Real estate agent Chloe Sheldon has a secret. On the run from a painful and abusive past, she has stayed away from love and focused on making the most of her new life, tucking the darkness away. But her new boss Jonathan Maynard seems like everything she ever wanted in a man: intoxicating and brimming with charm, reminding her there is more to life than fear. In spite of everything, Chloe feels a strong attraction and a desire for something more.
As Chloe tries to let go of her worries, she sees cause for both hope and caution. Getting to know Jonathan on a deeper level shows he has a darker side of his own--enough to make her question if he can be trusted as anything but a colleague, if even that. And the untimely arrival of a person she has tried to forget, stalking her every move, proves that the nightmares of her own past aren't ready to let go of her yet.
Never Say Never, Part One (Second Chance Romance, Book 1) Page 7
