A Debt Repaid (1)

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  “You don’t have to thank me.” The sound of his voice made her lungs do that weird seizing thing again. “Just show up at eight-thirty and come ready to work.” He extended his hand toward Lori, a business card hanging between two of his long fingers.

  Lori hugged the business card to her chest, smiling. “Thank you so much. You won’t regret this. I’ll give it my all, I promise.”

  “Are you guys done, yet? ‘Cause if not, I might have to ask for more money.”

  Lori gasped, staring down at her son with a glare that promised severe punishment.

  The masculine chuckle that came from Aria’s left hit her like a knee aimed at her gut. It was deep. Kind of awkward, as if rarely used.

  Sexy.

  I’m hopeless.

  It was official and undeniable to her at that point: she was attracted to Chase Blaine in a way she’d never been to anyone before.

  She was so out of her depth. Aria had no clue how to control it, deal with it—get rid of it.

  Do I have a weakness for dishonorable men?

  Except, dishonorable man number two had just handed Adam another thirty bucks. He was in the process of telling Lori how those negotiating skills the kid had were going to come in handy one day.

  And there was something behind Chase’s words when he said it , that was almost warm, and his praise of Adam made a weird sensation unfurl inside Aria.

  Lori thanked Chase one more time, as if to further add mass to Aria’s growing ball of doubt.

  He’s an asshole.

  Isn’t he?

  Adam grabbed his mom’s hand and placed all the money Chase had just given him in it. “There you go, mommy. This will help, right?”

  Blinking back the hot rush of tears that had flooded her eyes, Aria stood just as Lori pulled her kiddo into her arms.

  She was beyond confused. Doubting her own beliefs about Chase, throbbing deep down with a yearning that she was smart enough to understand , but too much of a coward to face—she had to get away from Chase.

  GETTING AWAY FROM CHASE was impossible, it seemed.

  Lori and Adam finished eating, and then they left. Lori promising to call Aria on Monday , so she could drop off Adam in the morning. Aria had almost offered them a place to stay right there. The thought of them returning to the shelter irked her.

  Sadly it wasn’t that simple for Aria. Taking care of Adam one day was one thing. With Douglas still coming and going, and things as they were at home, having Lori stay with her would just make it all that much more complicated.

  She didn’t want to put Lori and her kid in an awkward situation just because her husband was a worthless prick.

  That meant that the man following her back behind the counter was the only one in any real position to offer Lori help. But why had he done it? And why the hell was he following her?

  Aria pushed open the door leading to the service hallway and stopped, waiting for Chase. She crossed her arms and whirled around to face him, indignant and ready to give it to him good.

  One second passed. Then two. She blinked. He’d been following her. There was no way she could mistake the feel of him at her back.

  Chase walked out a second later. He shrugged into his blazer, looking like a sex icon compared to a regular man. His vest and dress shirt tightened across his chest as he adjusted his suit jacket.

  Aria’s arms dropped to her sides.

  He came to a stop before her and stared her down with a concentrated, closed-off stare.

  She swallowed hard, feeling lost in the shade of that look. Consumed, actually. The hallway—all fifty feet of it—was too small. Chase was too close.

  He wasn’t close enough.

  She was so damned confused.

  Aria wanted to bash her own head into the wall.

  Chase’s lids fluttered. The slow perusal he gave her body seemed almost angry. He was too serious and that expression on his face bordered on becoming harsher by the second.

  “You don’t have to go on that date with me. I won’t force you…and I’ll stick to my word about—” His eyes dropped to her left hand, where her wedding ring still sat on her finger. “Husband.”

  Aria held in a gasp, feeling her stomach bottom out. He was letting her off the hook, so to speak. Releasing her from their fucked-up agreement.

  Promising to uphold his end, even if she didn’t uphold hers.

  It was what she’d wanted. What she’d been freaking praying for.

  So why wasshe disappointed? The cold sensation in her gut could be described no other way.

  “Why did you offer to help Lori out?” Aria blurted out. There was no stopping it. She needed to know. Her hands were cold and sweating. She clenched them into tight fists at her sides and watched his expression for any change.

  There was a change, but not what she’d been expecting. A flicker of frustration momentarily twisted his features, then it was gone.

  “She needs help, Aria. From what I gather, she and that kid are in a shelter. No one is going to hire a bruised, stitched-up woman, no matter how impressive her resume or skills are. She needs a job and I’m in the position to give it to her.” Chase glared at her. “I’m not that much of a bastard that I’d turn my back on her. I know that’s what you’re thinking. I’ve already told you many times: I know what I did to you was wrong.”

  Aria’s lips parted.

  Chase clenched his fists, obviously fighting with himself. “Aria… you don’t have to go anywhere with me. I won’t press charges on Douglas. And you can just…just forget everything.”

  Her mind was in a void of confusion when he turned and began to walk down the hall.

  Right toward the exit leading out to the street.

  Her racing thoughts went into warp-drive. He’d just freed her from her end of their bargain, and wasn’t going to go after Douglas.

  He’d offered to help Lori out of her situation.

  Chase had to be the most confusing, intriguing, and fuck it all to hell, attractive man she’d ever met.

  And he was about to walk out that door.

  “Chase, wait!”

  Chase jerked to a stop, one hand braced on the door.

  Aria. What the hell are you doing?

  His shoulders rose and his back tensed, but he didn’t turn in her direction.

  He was willing to back out of their agreement and stick to his end of it , without getting anything in return. Douglas had stolen hundreds of thousands, if not millions, from his company; he deserved to go to jail and Chase was willing to let him go free. All for her.

  It seemed fair that she’d go along with what she was planning to do. At least, that’s what Aria told herself as, heart racing, she took a step toward him. “I’ll go.”

  That had Chase’s head spinning in her direction. “What?”

  She opened her mouth, desperate for some air. His expression was almost frightening. But she wasn’t scared. She dared to poke and squint at the emotion she was feeling, and recognized it for what it was. Exhilarated. Excited.

  She was starting to feel like an adrenaline junkie.

  “I–I said I’ll go.”

  He started walking back toward her, each step slow and methodical. Brows hard. Eyes dark. He studied her, piercing straight through her with that hard look.

  Aria felt exposed.

  “Why?”

  Taken aback, Aria blinked rapidly. “I… because, I…” Jesus. Fuck. It wasn’t fair. Chase was like a huge vacuum, sucking all the air and the closer he got, the less she could breathe. “I—”

  “Why, Aria? You were so angry that I blackmailed you into it. Why would you go now?” That last part was asked in a low, soft tone. He stood a few feet away from her now.

  Too damn close.

  She couldn’t think straight.

  “Aria.”

  “It’s fair. You’re willing to leave Douglas alone. I should stick to my end of the deal.”

  He ignored her blurted out excuse with a shake of his head.


  An inch. That’s all that was left between them.

  Chase’s hands shot up, and he cupped her face between his large palms. The feel of his skin kick started her entire system. She gasped as air rushed through her windpipe. His scent made her throat close right back up.

  Her body throbbed.

  Painfully.

  He pulled her closer, eliminating the last bit of space between them. “Tell me the real reason why.” He took deep breaths, his face tilted toward hers. His eyes probed hers.

  Too deep. She couldn’t focus passed that stare—his scent.

  “Aria.”

  “Chase, I…” She pressed her hands to his chest. She had to push him away. Now.

  She couldn’t. Everything inside her was shaken. Everything about her was fluctuating wildly, realigning in ways she couldn’t understand. Her atoms seemed to tremble.

  For him. Her body was liquefying for him.

  Chase cupped the back of her neck with one hand. His thumb stroked her. The sensation barreled through every nerve ending in her body.

  “I wish I was strong enough, Aria. I fucking do,” he mumbled, voice gone hoarse.

  Aria didn’t have a chance to ask him what he meant.

  He leaned down. For a split second, she was convinced he was going to kiss her.

  And she wanted it so fucking bad. Her entire body opened up, softening in preparation for that kiss.

  Chase stopped an inch away from her lips, eyes heavy-lidded as he focused on her mouth. He was panting.

  She couldn’t think. His full lips were right there. All she had to do was lean up on her toes. Less than an inch and she would know if he tasted as good as he smelled. If those lips felt as good as—

  Chase tilted his head and pressed his cheek against hers. He nuzzled her, his jaw sliding across her own with the movement.

  Aria stared over his shoulder, trapped by—what? Arousal? Confusion? Disappointment?

  Oh God.

  He let loose a deep groan that stole all the sensation from her legs. With a gasp, she clutched at his shoulders.

  “So warm. Soft,” he whispered, so low she almost didn’t hear him.

  Against her God damned will, she felt her focus zero in and become all about him. She had to extricate herself. Get away. But her body wasn’t obeying; her nails had become claws determined to keep him right where he was.

  No, Aria. You have to stop this. You have to.

  She didn’t want to. She wanted more. More of his scent, his smooth cheek pressed to hers, more of him. His lips. His—

  “Ch–Chase.” She pushed at his shoulders. Her attempts were pathetic. Her body wanted, with a desperation it had never wanted with before, and it was determined to have. “I… I…”

  Chase’s hand tightened around the back of her neck, holding her still so that he could murmur right up against her cheek. “Aria.”

  Fuck. The feel of his lips. His breath.

  The freaking way he kept saying her name!

  “You have yet to answer my question.” His bottom lip slid across her skin and his tongue touched her as he spoke.

  That’s because I can’t, you jackass. Oh, if only those words would leave her mouth.

  She had no idea what the answer to his question was. All she knew right then was the feel of his tongue as it flicked her skin. The feeling palpated across her flesh, sliced through the layers , and slid in deep.

  She fisted his blazer, feeling faint. Suddenly, he backed her up, driving her right into the wall behind her. Aria felt her back hit the wall; she expected him to press that large, sculpted body of his into her right after.

  God help her, she wanted him to.

  He didn’t, remaining inches away from her, with those lips still pressed to her cheek.

  “You want me to answer the question for you, Aria?”

  Dread raced through her at his low, heated question. She knew that whatever he was going to say, it would hit her too hard, too deep, and way too truthfully.

  “I’m going to tell you what I think.”

  Please don’t. She knew right then how obvious her body’s reaction was. It was too God damned obvious.

  “I think,” Chase paused, brushing her skin lightly with his lips.

  Aria shook her head, choking on everything he was and everything he was making her fucking want.

  “You feel this between us, Aria.” He kissed her cheek one more time, lingering just enough to drive her wild. “As wrong as everything has been so far… You. Feel. This.”

  Chase pulled away from her and stormed down the hall.

  The sound of the door slamming open and closed reverberated through Aria, mixing with the maelstrom churning in her body.

  She sagged against the wall.

  “YOU FEEL THIS BETWEEN US, Aria. As wrong as everything has been so far…You. Feel. This.”

  Aria hated him. That’s what she felt. Utter, undiluted, purified hate.

  Yeah right. That’s why she was riding the elevator, the same one she’d ridden the day she’d gone to confront him in his office.

  What are you doing here, Aria?

  She was there to see Lori. That’s what she was doing there. Just stopping by to check up on her, and see how her new job was treating her.

  Sure, this visit has nothing to do with what you read online.

  Aria chewed on her thumbnail, watching the numbers on the display rush past.

  Oh, God. What she’d read. She couldn’t get the words out of her mind. The old newspaper headline.

  “Samantha Blaine, Wife of John Blaine, found dead at the bottom of stairs in family home.”

  She pulled her nail out of her mouth, inhaling hard, blinking ever harder, and trying her best to stop herself from remembering—

  “Mr. Blaine, active CEO of Blaine Medical Technologies, claims accident. Chase Blaine, 5, son of John and Samantha, claims otherwise.”

  Fuck.

  “He did it in front of the boy. Didn’t he?”

  “How...how did you know?”

  “I recognize that look.”

  He’d watched. Whatever had happened to his mom, Chase had seen it go down. She couldn’t get the images she’d conjured to stop playing. All Aria could see was the cute little kid she’d seen online, with his big gray-blue eyes, watching his mother die.

  His father was acquitted. Proven innocent.

  Yeah, okay. Because that meant something. Maybe his father had been innocent, maybe not, but either way, Chase saw his mother die when he was no more than Adam’s age.

  That just proves it. He’s fucked up. Or human.

  She’d known something wasn’t right and this proved it.

  Who in their right mind blackmailed a woman whose husband had stolen from them just to get her on a date? He was one of those people who’d had something bad happen to him and it’d scarred him, warped him.

  He was sick, possibly gone evil from the trauma he’d experienced—and he’d given Lori a job because he’d felt bad for her. A great paying job from what Aria had heard. A job she’d hoped was treating Lori well, which was why she was there.

  The elevator doors slid open on the top floor.

  Aria was so not there just to see Lori.

  She was desperate to catch a glimpse of Chase. Going insane, her mind twisting, and turning on a constant loop that revolved around him.

  Aria was fascinated by a man that she should have been running far, far away from.

  Maybe the same thing that had happened to Chase as a child was happening to her. Everything she’d gone through over the last week might be screwing her up. There was no other explanation.

  “Aria?”

  There went any chance of escape. Still, Aria was aware of the tragic downward spiral she was riding at full-speed, and when the elevator doors began to close, she just stood there, letting it happen.

  A hand appeared, sliding between the two closing doors, and activating the sensors that would command them to slide open again.

&nbs
p; Fuck.

  “Aria?” Lori stood in front of her, in a white blazer and skirt, her left arm wrapped around files. Her eyes were wide, blinking.

  Yeah...Aria’s were probably the same.

  “Aria, what are you doing here?”

  “I came by to see how you are.” Mm-hm. Yeah.

  The disbelief that shown on the other woman’s face was enough to make Aria want to run away again.

  “Why didn’t you just call me? I’m passing by to pick up Adam later, too.”

  Obviously, Aria hadn’t thought through her decision very well. “Right, yeah. I knew that. I’m still picking him up from school later. I was just nearby, and it struck me that I could just come and check out the place, see how it’s treating you. I hope you’re liking your new job, and I—” Just stop talking, Aria. Now. Aria snapped her mouth closed and pressed her lips together.

  Lori nodded, but the way she did it just had “Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay.” written all over it. With a shrug, Lori stepped to the side. “Well, would you like to come out of the elevator?”

  Kill me now. Blushing, Aria rushed out, and then just stood there, tugging on the hem of her cream-colored sweater.

  “Well,” Lori said, ignoring Aria’s stupidity. “I have to deliver these files to the other Mr. Blaine. Want to walk with me?”

  Seeing Chase’s brother didn’t seem like a good idea. Brent would tell his brother that she’d been there, and after the embarrassment she’d just gone through with Lori, seeing Chase was no longer on her agenda.

  But, she’d gone there to see Lori. Who was standing there, waiting for Aria with that expression on her face, like she somehow knew what was going on inside of Aria. “Sure. Lead the way.”

  Aria fell into step besides Lori as they made their way passed the main reception area, and down the white, steel accentuated hallway. The sound of Lori’s heels clicking echoed down the hall. “So, how’s it going?”

  Lori stared at Aria out of the corner of her eye and smiled. “Surprisingly well.”

  Aria returned her smile. “That’s great. I’m so happy things are working out for you here.”

  Lori paused mid-stride, forcing Aria to do the same. Hugging the files she’d been holding to her chest, Lori chewed on the corner of her lip and stared at the floor.