Free Sweet Obsession: Windy City Kink, Book 1 by Kelly Jamieson Page A

has a suite here, doesn’t he?”
    “Well, it’s not his, but yeah, the bank does.”
    “How long have you been seeing Eric?”
    Oh yeah. She looked down at the food in her hands. “He sold you this condo, huh? That’s funny.”
    “How long?”
    She met his eyes, giving him what she hoped was a none-of-your-business look. She held his gaze for about six seconds and then, “That was our second date,” somehow slipped out of her mouth.
    He nodded. “Are you going to see him again?”
    “If he asks me.” She said it as a joke. She knew Eric wanted to see her again. She wasn’t quite as sure if she wanted to go out with him, but she didn’t have any good reason not to. He was a nice guy, polite, well-groomed, successful career. Not much of a sense of humor, but there were worse things. Way worse.
    Jack grunted and it sounded as if he was displeased. She picked up a French fry and bit it.
    “He said you needed business.”
    Her eyes flew open wide again and she stared at him. “He did?”
    “Yeah.”
    Her mind scrambled for an answer. She didn’t want Jack to know how much she needed him. “I’m always looking for business. That’s what you do. You should know that, a successful entrepreneur like you.”
    “True.” He nodded.
    “Why did you move your business to Chicago?”
    He chewed his food and it took a moment for him to answer. “I wanted to come home,” he said simply.
    “Why did you leave?” Shatner. She shouldn’t have asked that. It didn’t matter to her why he’d left.
    He gave her a long look. “You have to ask me that?”
    “Never mind.” She knew her parents had freaked out and had kept Jack from seeing her, but he didn’t have to run so far away. He’d made it too easy for them, when she’d been broken-hearted and humiliated. Like star-crossed lovers, she’d had some juvenile romantic fantasy that they’d be together despite the wishes of her parents, but as time had passed, that had turned into anger at Jack for giving up on her so easily, for giving up on them, for running away, and even anger at him for wanting to do the things they’d done, the things they’d been caught doing, that had so shocked her parents and embarrassed her.
    “I guess you managed to finish high school even though you ran away,” she said. “Your bio online says you have a degree in computer science.”
    He lifted one eyebrow. “You read my bio?”
    Damn! “Of course.” She tossed her hair back. “You’re a prospective client.”
    “I don’t think you need to do a background check on clients.”
    “You’d be surprised,” she said. “My last big client ended up in the slammer.”
    “What?”
    She told him about Eckhart and the Cangelo case, which of course he’d heard of—it had been a national news story, but he hadn’t known Eckhart had been one of her clients. She did not mention that she’d never been paid a dime for the job and the impact on her business.
    “So,” she said, “I’ll need a substantial deposit upfront from you.”
    Again, he gave her that steady, inscrutable look. “I’m good for the money, Sasha.”
    She nodded. “I know you are. I don’t mean to imply that you’re not trustworthy. It’s just business.”
    “Of course.” He lifted one shoulder. “It’s not a problem. Just tell me how much you want.”
    “Well, I haven’t even done estimates so I don’t know right now.”
    “I’ll give you a check anyway. Just as a show of good faith.”
    “That’s not necessary—” But he’d already stood and walked past the long kitchen counter and into the room he’d showed her was his office. He returned with a checkbook and he sat back at the table, pushing his plate aside. With his lefty scrawl, he wrote a check, then ripped it from the book and handed it to her.
    “You really don’t have to…” She glanced at it. “Holy Shatner. Jack, this is way too much.” He’d written a check for a hundred thousand dollars.
    “Whatever. I want this to be