Surprise Seduction (5 page)

Not that she had noticed any of those things about him.

She hadn’t.

Of all the men in the world, he topped the list of men she shouldn’t, wouldn’t, and couldn’t dream of.
 
Too much rode on her imperviousness to his charm to permit fantasies.
 
Besides anything starring Chase would be X-rated.
 
She’d never been that kind of girl.
 
The handholding and lip pecking she’d done hardly qualified as PG 13.
 
Her life would seem tame to the large busted blow-up doll who’d just floated out of the room.

“I bet they’re fake,” she muttered as she shoved her wayward thoughts about Chase and the women he spent time with to the back of her mind.
 
She had work to do.

“What did you say?”

Adrienne jumped, glancing back at the doorway.
  
The man she’d
not
been fantasizing about stood there.

“I’ve a headache,” she answered in a tone that could only be called irritated.
 
She immediately pretended to be engrossed in her work, hoping against hope he’d buy her poor cover-up.

Chase leaned casually against the doorframe once again, like a cat lazily eyeing a mouse just before it pounced.
 
She hadn’t realized he’d been watching her.
 
She’d have sworn he’d gone into his office.
 
Apparently not.

Darn the man.

“That’s what I thought you said.”
 
The mischievous look in his eyes told her he thought no such thing.

Chuckling, he disappeared back into his office, closing the door firmly behind him.
 
Darn man.

The total irony of the situation got to her.
 
She’d pretended to be gay to keep Chase from possibly seeing her as a sex object.
 
What she should have been doing was planning to keep her from seeing him as one.

But how could she have known the one man she shouldn’t be attracted to would be the only one who had ever made her get hot and bothered with just a glance?

Chapter Three

After closing his office door, Chase walked to a window overlooking the Charles River to stare at the barges trudging through the murky water.
 
Often when he needed to work through a problem he stood in this exact spot.

Adrienne was a problem.

Not one he was used to having, either.

When he’d stepped out to ask her a question about the Miller file, she had such a look of longing he’d been intrigued to know what played through her mind.
 
Something on her heart-shaped face made his chest tighten and his mouth go dry.
 
He’d leaned back against the doorjamb to watch her quick succession of expressions.

Beneath her out-dated glasses, those almond-shaped, hazel eyes had taken on a far-away look.
 
Her naturally rosy lips had actually puckered for a brief second as if she imagined a kiss from some lover only she could see.
 
His almost overwhelming urge to give her a real kiss to erase her fantasy lover’s touch caught him off guard.
 
Oh, who was he kidding?
 
It shocked the hell out of him.

He just didn’t do this.
 
Ever.

Not to mention Adrienne Morris wasn’t his type.
 
Besides, he absolutely, under no circumstances messed around with co-workers.
 
Even if he did, she wouldn’t give him, or any man, the time of day.

Which was a good thing, because he knew the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
 
He’d inherited too much of his father’s traits for his own good.
 
He adored women.
 
As in plural.

Fortunately, he had enough sense not to marry and have a family.
 
Unlike his own foolhardy father.
 
Charles Aaron broke his wife's heart when she’d walked in on him having sex with his secretary.
 
Chase had witnessed his mother's tears one time too many during his childhood and teen years.
 
Until her death, she'd mourned her marriage’s demise and cried herself to sleep.

His mother's pain ingrained the need to avoid commitment.
 
He had too much respect for her memory to repeat his father’s mistakes.  Too much intelligence to ever risk being put through what his mother had dealt with and been able to get past.
 
Chase’s type of woman looked for a good time here and now.
 
A woman who knew the score, like Starr.
 
He avoided commitment-minded women almost as diligently as he avoided involvement with co-workers.

Fortunately, Adrienne’s dreamy look had quickly changed to a scowl.
 
Pure determination and something akin to distaste had shimmered in her eyes.
 
He’d somehow known her imaginary lover had been replaced by thoughts of his lunchtime diversion.

She’d obviously been anything but approving of his imagined lunchtime activities.
 
Chase grinned in spite of his current frustration.
 
You feed a few women in the privacy of your office and the rumors flew faster than the Concorde.

Adrienne plagued him.
 
Intrigued him.
 
Flustered him.
 
He thought about her at the strangest times.
 
And, that bugged him.

He’d finally gotten what he wanted, an assistant who ignored him as a man, and he wondered what she looked like under the tents she wore.
 
What was wrong with him?

He frowned, slapped his hand against his leg and went to his desk to put his secretary’s appearance and sexual preferences out of his head.

 
He had a lot to do this afternoon.

“Adrienne, these files aren’t the ones I requested.
 
Phone Mrs. Gray and find out what’s going on.”
 
Chase didn’t look up from his desk when Adrienne entered his office late the next morning.

“Yes, Sir.
 
Anything else?”
 
She took the rejected files with only a brief glimpse at him.
 
He looked good, but then, he always did.
 
And, his smell, she fought a sigh.
 
She shouldn’t be thinking about how he smelled, despite the fact his scent intoxicated her senses.

“Yeah, order me something for lunch, please.
 
I’m going to work straight through.
 
I need to be out of the office by six tonight.”
 
He glanced up long enough to waggle his dark brows at her.
 
“Hot date.”

Never mind that most everyone else went home at five anyway, she mentally scoffed.
 
Rarely did he leave before six, and often the clock read after seven before he exited the building.
 
She ignored his date remark and focused in on the safer subject.
 
“What would you like for lunch?”

His pen paused mid-sentence.
 
He leaned back in his chair, and flashed a quick grin.

“You decide.
 
You’ve ordered enough meals to know my preferences.”
 
His tone took on a challenging quality.
 
“Surprise me, Adrienne.”

So much for the safe subject.
 
Just what did he mean by “surprise” him?

“Adrienne?”

“Yes, Sir?”
 
She met his gaze.

“Order something for yourself, too.
 
We’ll have lunch together.”

Flashes of what he’d been doing during his lunch hour the previous day scalded her mind.
 
She closed her eyes to escape his mischievous green gaze.

The unbidden image of “lunch” with Chase set off a chain reaction.
 
Her mouth watered.
 
Her stomach contracted.
 
Her nipples strained against their Ace wrap bondage.
 
Her cheeks burned.
 
She opened her eyes and met his amused gaze.
 
“No, thanks.
 
I have other plans.”

“I wasn’t planning to have
you
for lunch.”

She could hear the playful, teasing in his voice.
 
Heat radiated as she turned to leave his office without another word.

His laughter followed her out of the room.

It would serve him right if she fed him crow.

Five minutes later, Adrienne punched the down arrow on the elevator.
 
Frustration boiled in the pit of her stomach.
 
She’d learned so much in the short time she’d worked with Chase, yet not near enough.

If she told Chase the truth, how would he react?
 
Would he help her?
 
She sighed.
 
She couldn’t risk it.

If she told him and he didn’t help her, Drew might learn of her intentions.
 
He’d stop at nothing to prevent her.

So why the longing to tell Chase everything?

Because he makes you feel alive.
 
More alive than you’ve ever felt.
 
You want to interact with him as Adrianna Morrigan
.
 
An annoying voice taunted.
 
For him to know you prefer men.

That you prefer him.

Stop that.
 
She ordered.
 
The man is a sex-crazed pain in the butt.

Disgusted with herself, she stepped into the elevator to travel down to George Weston’s office.
 
She liked the portly gentleman in his late fifties.
 
She understood how her father and he had remained friends for so many years.

From the time she’d hired on, George had taken a shine to her.
 
Had he recognized her?
 
She didn’t think so.
 
Why would he even suspect Adrianna Morrigan would do something as outlandish as go undercover as Adrienne Morris just to learn the inside workings of Weston’s?

Adrienne sighed.
 
Why think about Chicago?
 
At the moment, she had bigger problems.
 
She rolled her eyes at her sarcastic thought.
 
She had to choose something for Chase to have for lunch.
 
Besides her.
 
The corners of her mouth curled, despite the unease in her stomach and the heat suffusing her cheeks.

The first week, he’d been serious and hadn’t relaxed in her presence.
 
He’d been testing her, waiting for her to pounce on him, which, of course, she hadn’t.
 
After two weeks of no fluttering eyelashes or photocopies of her naked rear-end, he had accepted she wasn’t interested in him.
 
Or any man.