Free Bad Boy (An Indecent Proposal) by J. C. Reed, Jackie Steele Page B

my heart breaking as I spoke the words I had prepared.
      “It was just sex, Chase,” I whispered. “We fucked. We had a good time.
And then I left. People do it all the time. Get over it. Maybe last night I was
ready to repeat the experience with someone else, and the guy just wasn’t that
into me.” I shrugged as I stared him down.
    His blue
eyes turned into icicles. If looks could kill, he’d have me pinned to the
ground fighting for my life.
    “I know
you. You might be a lot of things, but you’re not that. ” His voice came low, definite. I had never seen him so angry.
Then again, his anger was no match for mine.
    What the
fuck was ‘a lot of things’ supposed to mean? And why not ‘that?’
    How could I
fight against his overconfidence when it became a lost battle the moment I let
him be my first?
    How could I
fight with myself when my feelings pushed me to do things my mind didn’t want
to?
    “You don’t
know me at all, Chase,” I reminded him.
    “I believe
I know you better than anyone else,” he said coldly. “Correct me if I’m wrong,
but when we were stuck in that elevator, you told me secrets you’ve never told
anyone else.”
    My jaw
dropped, and then closed again.
    My whole
being was on fire, twisting, shaking, as I watched him stand.
    “Get
dressed, Laurie. I’ll pick you up for lunch in an hour.”
    An order.
Cool. Composed.
    Fuck it. He
was hot as hell.
    I stared at
him. “Why do you think I’d ever do what you say?”
    “Because
you want to get rid of me.” That rendered me silent. “I’ll only leave after
telling you why I did what I did. Beside bailing your pretty little ass out of
jail, it’s the least I can do for you.”
    “I didn’t
need your pity. I’d have—”
    “Stop being
difficult,” he cut me off and wrapped his arms around me, pressing me against
him, so close I could barely breathe. “I owe you an explanation, okay? So
you’ll get one. And then, only then, I’m going to leave because that’s what you
want. Deal?”
    I drew a
sharp breath, ready for another snarky reply, but no words came out.
    His words
had affected me in more ways than I cared to admit.
    No, scratch
that.
    His
presence pulled at all my strings. Everything about him did. His gaze. His
breath on my skin. The way his eyes seemed to brush over my lips, leaving them
tingly and in dire want of his kiss.
    Cradled in
his arms, with my head leaned back to glance all the way up into his eyes, I
could feel the heat eradicating from his body. I could feel the layers of my
anger melting and my resolve slowly fading.
    His gentle
touch on my arm was a direct opposite to the cold stare he gave me.
    “So, I
gather I have no choice?” I asked.
    “No.”
    I sighed,
my chest strangely heavy, my voice choked. “Just answer me this: Who are you?
Is Chase really your real name?”
    Hesitating,
he let go of me, his blue eyes shimmering like an ocean in the morning sun
focused on me. He was fighting with himself, probably wondering whether to
disclose the truth or how much to tell me.
    “Not here, Laurie,”
he whispered. “I’ll pick you up at twelve. And wear the red dress.” The tone of
his voice was strangely soothing and built an unnerving contradiction to the
grip he still had on my upper arm. And then he let go of me and walked out,
closing the door behind him.
    As if I was
the one intruding on him.
    For a long
time, I stood frozen to the spot, my mind processing.
    The truth
was, I wanted to know. I wanted more. And yes, my pride and ego were standing
in my way, as well as my fear that giving in could mean I might lose myself
again—that I might get lost in Chase’s eyes, in his being, in everything
he had to offer.
    I felt a
strong need to call Jude even though she wouldn’t know what to tell me because
no one could possibly understand just how torn I was. She sure wasn’t the one
fighting the arrays of emotions inside me; she didn’t have to cope with the
fear of being lied to again in the