Surprise Seduction (15 page)

“What’s wrong?”
 
Sheila stood from her desk, concern evident on her face.

“Chase.”
 
The lone word came out as almost a sob.

“What’s he done this time?”

“He fired me.”

“Fired you?” Sheila gasped.
 
“For being late this morning?”

“Can you believe the nerve of the man?
 
He fired me from my own company!”

“He fired you?”
 
Sheila repeated, then gasped, her gaze averting to the chair in front of her desk.
 
The occupied chair.

“Hello, Adrianna,” George Weston said as he turned to face her.

Adrienne closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then met his gaze.
 
“How long have you known?
 
Since I barged in here and announced it like an idiot?”

“I’ve known since the first day I saw you.
 
You’re the spitting image of your mother.”

“My mother would never have been caught in the sacks I’ve been wearing or without make-up on.”
 
Adrienne walked over to the chair next to his and sank into it.
 
George knew.
 
“Why haven’t you said anything?”

“I figure you have your reasons for being here and would let me and everyone else in on them when you’re ready.”

Adrienne met his gaze.
 
“I want to keep Drew Steinberg from running Morrigans.
 
I’m willing to do just about anything to keep that from happening.”

“I came to that conclusion the day I learned you were working incognito as Chase’s assistant.
 
That’s the part I haven’t figured out, though.
 
Why work at Weston instead of Morrigans?”

“Drew would never have let me.
 
He’d have sabotaged any effort I made to learn the ins and outs of the business.
 
Weston is Morrigans largest holding.
 
My father trusted you and Chase.
 
You’re both on the board.”
 
She shrugged. “It seemed the logical place for me to turn.”

“What are your intentions?”

Did she trust him?
 
Could she tell him everything?
 
Her gaze met Sheila’s.
 
Sheila shrugged.

“I want to take my father’s place.”

George’s white brow rose.

“I need your help.”

“Anything you ask,” George instantly answered.

“You know I’m already in up to my neck.
 
I’m behind you one hundred percent,” Sheila said.

“I overheard a phone conversation Drew was having.
 
He mentioned Weston several times.
 
He was talking to someone who works here.
 
I think this person is feeding Drew inside information.
 
I don’t know what or why, but my gut instinct is that something big is about to happen.”

George frowned in thought.

“We have lots of projects coming up.
 
The biggest one is a new cancer med currently being researched in our Philadelphia lab.
 
It promises to be revolutionary, but it’s been kept hush-hush as everything is speculation at this point.
 
None of the human trials are in yet.”

“Any thoughts on who might be Drew’s rat?”

George’s face wrinkled in thought.
 
“It could be anyone, but for the person to have access to restricted information, he’d have to be in high management.
 
If I had to bet, I’d put my money on one man.”

CHAPTER TEN

Chase leaned against the doorjamb watching Adrienne pack her personal items in the empty cardboard copy paper box on her desk.

“You’ll find another job.”

She looked up, squinted her eyes at him with barely restrained anger, then returned to her chore.
 
He’d hoped she’d have calmed down some so he could explain
why
he’d had to let her go.
 
Despite the guilt that had kicked him in the rear when he’d fired her.

He couldn’t have kept her on.
 
Not after what she’d done.
 
What kind of example would he have been setting if he had?

So why did he feel as if a piece of him were being torn away with every item she shoved in the box?

“Yes, I know,” she muttered between gritted teeth.

He studied her rigid profile as she meticulously sorted through the items in the top drawer.
 
When positive she’d removed all her belongings, she closed the drawer and opened the second one.

“Stay away from Mel.”
 
He grimaced.
 
Was he trying to provoke a reaction from her?
 
If so, it worked.

Her head popped up.
 
“I no longer work for you.
 
I can do as I please.”

Ouch.
 
He deserved that one.
 
The skin on his face pulled tight over his cheeks.
 
Damn, she was beautiful when she was angry.
 
He chuckled.

“Was it all an act, Adrienne?
 
The whole mouse bit?”

“Huh?”

“The whole submissive thing and the frumpy clothes.
 
Were they part of the act?
 
I’ve always known there was a sassy mouth lurking beneath that front you put on, but I hadn’t realized just how deep it ran.”

She didn’t answer him at first.
 
Just stared at him with those amazing eyes of hers.
 
Eyes she hadn’t bothered to hide behind those glasses she usually wore.
 
Had they been a facade too?

“Whatever I did, it worked, didn’t it?
 
You hired me, and I did a fine job.”
 
She tossed him an impudent smile.
 
“You sure can’t complain that
I
threw myself at you in overwhelming lust like your previous assistants.”

No, he’d wanted her to, though.
 
Still wanted her to.
 
Not that now was a good time to mention that.
 
She was already ticked at him.
 
Majorly ticked.

What had she expected him to do?
 
Ignore the fact that she’d
lied
to him?
 
That she’d snuck into his office with another man?

A knife twisted in his gut.

Without a word, he rounded her desk.
 
His heart pounded against his ribcage.
 
Remembering how she’d felt when he’d held her Friday night, he pulled her to him in one swift motion.

A thousand fires lit in his soul.
 
In his body.

He was tired of wondering what those lying lips tasted like.
 
Damn tired.

“Guess you need a taste of what you’ve been missing out on.”

With those words he covered her mouth with his.

All the fantasies Adrienne had ever had of being kissed came true in Chase’s first touch, in his initial caress of her lips.

Her eyes closed.
 
Her left knee reflexively bent.
 
Her insides melted, starting at the very center of her being and spiraling out in sweet waves of hot pleasure.

She gave in to his caresses, to his tongue’s demanding thrusts.

She couldn’t help herself.

She pressed herself as close as she could fit, forgetting all the reasons she had to shelf her desire for Chase.
 
Reasons that weren’t negotiable for her and George’s plan to work.
 
Still, her traitorous body welcomed the enthrallment of his masculinity.

Her fingers found their way into the rich brown hair at his nape, playing with the sun-lightened tips.
 
She breathed in his heady, musky scent.
 
Spicy.
 
Sexy.
 
Chase
.

The one leg she stood on shook.

He’d proved his point ten-fold.
 
She had been missing out
.
 
For weeks, months, years--her whole life.

Missing out on Chase.

This was why women threw themselves at him.

It didn’t have a thing to do with his looks or his money.
 
It didn’t even have a thing to do with his dimples or his twinkling eyes like she’d once thought.

It was the magic of his touch.
 
Because of the way he made a woman feel when she was in his arms.
 
Totally feminine--and glad of it.

Someone cleared his throat.

What was she doing?
 
Adrienne jerked away from Chase.

“I suppose turn about is fair play.”
 
Mel sounded amused.

Embarrassed at her abandoned response to Chase’s kiss and mortified Mel had witnessed it, she struggled to regain her composure.
 
Mel was the last person who needed to see her kissing Chase.
 
Damn.
 
The most wonderful kiss of her life had been horribly timed.

“Am I interrupting?” Mel asked.

“Nothing important,” she answered her date for the evening.
 
“Chase just kissed me goodbye.”

“Get lost, Sheppard,” Chase advised.

Mel’s eyebrow rose as his gaze traveled over the packed box on her desk.

“Kissed you goodbye?” he asked, ignoring Chase’s remark.
 
“What’s going on?”

“He fired me this morning for our little adventure in his office Friday evening.”
 
Adrienne gave a nonchalant wave of her hand as if it were of no consequence.
 
She hoped Mel would buy her act.
 
And an act it was.
 
Her mind buzzed from the effect Chase’s kiss had reaped upon her body.
 
White lightning!