Well, there was nothing to say to that, but at least they weren’t discussing Chase’s privates.
“Say, did you see that new movie about that big robot?” Grandma Olive asked, and she and Chase fell into a ten-minute conversation about science-fiction movies, which ended with Olive hanging on his arm and laughing so hard she had to hold her dentures in.
Jane’s heart beat hard as she watched the scene play out. Mac put his arm around her shoulder. “If Grandma Olive likes him, maybe you should keep him around.”
“I was thinking just the opposite.”
“Good point.”
She leaned her head into his arm as the shade of the trees darkened into dusk.
“He’s a nice guy,” Mac said. “I like him.”
“Me, too. But I’m not sure he’s what I’m looking for.”
“I thought you might say that.” His arm squeezed her closer.
Jane sighed. Mac was good at that—offering silent comfort and no judgment.
“Sometimes, baby, you’ve got to stop thinking and go with your gut.”
She kept her eyes closed and her cheek pressed to his chest. It was good advice. Except that her gut had always been the thing telling her to run far and fast to escape her beginnings.
Now she had no idea what to do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
JANE WATCHED the office clock count toward five-thirty. She still couldn’t figure out if she was imagining the ticking of the second hand or if it had always made noise and she’d never noticed it before. There was a perfectly good digital clock on the computer. Maybe she should throw the ancient, ticking menace in the Dumpster out back.
Still, throwing it out wouldn’t stop time. The day was over. Her executioner would be walking through the office door sometime in the next half hour.
Jane could help Jessie, but she couldn’t save herself. She was resigned to that. There was no way to put that dirty little genie back into the bottle. All she could do was try to soften the blow and mitigate the impact.
Strange, but she felt fairly calm in the face of her worst fears coming true. Her pulse didn’t even quicken when she rose to knock on her boss’s open door.
“Mr. Jennings?” she said. “I need to speak with you.”
“Hey,” he murmured as he clicked around on something in his drafting program. Jane sat on one of the chairs in front of his desk and waited patiently. A few moments later he looked up, frowning.
“Jane, what’s wrong?”
She took a deep breath, clutched her hands together and leaped. “The reason I’ve been out of the office is that my brother was arrested for larceny. He’s going to plead no-contest tomorrow and start serving his nine-month sentence. Also, my stepfather is an ex-con. So is my real father. And before I turned eighteen, my name was Destiny Alexis MacKenzie. I changed it on my eighteenth birthday.”
Mr. Jennings didn’t move. He watched her as if he were waiting for more.
“That’s who I am,” she said softly.
His brow furrowed. “Okay.”
“I wanted to tell you the truth. I acted out as a teenager. I wanted to leave that behind, so I changed my name.”
“To Jane Morgan?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” He shook his head, frowning harder. “So…that’s the truth about the past, but Jane Morgan is the truth now.”
Her heart twisted. “Yes.”
“I don’t understand. Were you afraid to tell me this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Why? Because despite her earlier calm, she felt as if she was going to throw up and cry and run away, all at the same time. “Because nobody knows.”
He smiled at that, a wide grin that stretched across his face. “Well, I’m glad you trust me, then. I won’t tell anyone. You’re not going to ask me to hire your brother when he gets out, are you?”
“Oh, God, no!”
“Do you need tomorrow off to go to his hearing?”
“Just an hour or so.”
He nodded. “All right, then.”
And that was it. She’d done it. She’d told Mr. Jennings the truth. It hadn’t been terrible at all really, but it was just the beginning. Three people in Aspen knew the truth about her now. More would find out. Things were going to change, and the harbinger of that change was walking into the office with a disarming smile when she closed Mr. Jennings’s door behind her.
“Hi, Jane,” Greg said so cheerfully that she was struck with a moment of vertigo. He was trying to blackmail her into sex, so why did he look ready for a real date?
Jane stared at Greg, forcing her face to stay impassive. “One moment,” she said as she sat down and picked up the phone to take care of the last bullet point on her to-do list. A phone call to her least favorite surveying manager. The man was rude and foulmouthed, but for once she didn’t want the conversation to end. She waited until the contractor hung up and the line began to beep before she set the receiver down.
“Are you ready?” Greg asked. His eyes swept down her plain black jacket, and the sight tightened his mouth a little, but he didn’t say anything. Had he expected her to wear something low cut?
Arrogant dog.
“Are you really going to do this?” she murmured.
His smile betrayed no hint of guilt. “I’m just trying to reconnect with my girlfriend. What’s wrong with that?”
Jane got up and stepped around to the front of her desk so there was no chance of Mr. Jennings overhearing them through his door. “Just a few days ago you made clear I wasn’t good enough to be your girlfriend. I’m trash, remember?”
“Oh, I remember,” he said happily.
Great.
Greg’s eyes slid toward Mr. Jennings’s office. “Are we going out or not?”
He couldn’t threaten her with Quinn Jennings now, but Jane grabbed her purse and headed for the door regardless. She needed to get this over with before she chickened out, but her blood was singing with alarm.
This was dangerous. It was real. She was furious and afraid and hurt. But her face was blank as glass as she walked to his car. She could feel the cool stiffness.
He opened the door for her before circling around to the driver’s side. “I’ve missed you,” he said, still looking pleased with himself as he leaned in to peck her on the lips.
She felt nothing at the kiss, not even disgust. Maybe she could salvage something. Maybe this didn’t have to get ugly. “Greg, I am so sorry. Honestly.”
“It’s all right,” he said easily. “I forgive you.”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean I’m sorry that I had to end it, but I’m not in love with you. Please don’t do this.”
His jaw tightened.
Heat washed over her face. “Whatever I’ve done, it doesn’t give you the right to threaten my brother.”
He shrugged. “You were in my bed two weeks ago. It’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal. It’s blackmail.”
His smile was gone as if it had never existed, and a flush of guilt crept up his cheeks. “You made me wait for months, and that guy…Were you sleeping with him when you were with me?”
“Who? Chase? No, of course not.”
“So you made me wait, but not someone like him, huh? Not some fucking low-class criminal loser? I’m not as good as him?”
“It’s not…Chase isn’t a criminal.”
Greg snorted. “He’s just as bad as the rest of your family, which is probably what you like. Lucky for him he got caught before he was eighteen.”
“Wha—?” She cut off the word and snapped her mouth shut, hoping he hadn’t noticed her shock. What did he mean?
“Ready?” Greg asked, flipping the car keys around in his hand.
“No,” she whispered.
“Just drop it, Jane,” he snapped. “I don’t know what kind of game you were playing with me, but you certainly haven’t been restraining yourself since we broke up. Now that I know what you are, I want anothe
r taste. So let’s stop pretending it would offend your morals.”
“It would!”
“You were my girlfriend, Jane. It’s no big deal. Let’s just have a good time.”
“Or what?”
He started the car, ignoring her. “I should’ve known what you were the first time I saw that body. It’s in your fucking blood.”
Jane clutched the edges of her purse harder. “I’m saying no,” she insisted.
“No, you’re not.”
“Or what?”
“Let’s go out and have a few drinks. It’s nothing you haven’t done before. Your brother’s hearing isn’t until tomorrow. Things could still go wrong.”
“I see. Just one night, then? That’s all you want?”
“No. You’ll go out with me until I’m ready for it to be over. And in return, I’ll keep your secret safe.”
Jane took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm of rage and hurt tumbling in her chest. “It’s too late. I already told Mr. Jennings the truth.”
Greg’s eyebrows flew up. “Really? You told him about your past?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Well, let’s be clear that you won’t be banging him while you’re with me, all right?”
“He wouldn’t—”
“But that wasn’t what I meant. I meant that none of your old classmates know your new name, Ms. Morgan, and I’m sure you’d like to keep it that way.”
The world lagged, as if this were a slow-motion scene in a movie she was watching. This was exactly what she’d feared her whole life. People pointing, sneering, calling her trash. Seeing through her facade of Jane Morgan to the sick, worthless girl inside. Men looking at her and seeing someone who deserved to be used.
That was what Greg was thinking. She could see it in his eyes. You’re going to sleep with me because that’s what you’re good for. She’d seen that look often enough to recognize it. You’ll do it because you have no pride.
What a complete bastard. “This is blackmail and it’s illegal.”
“Blackmail?” His face paled a little, but he smiled and shook his head. “Hardly. Come on, Jane. You’re single, I’m single. What’s the harm of meeting up for a few drinks?”
“You threatened me.”
“With the truth? You are Dynasty MacKenzie. You’re the one who’s been lying to everyone. You’ve been dishonest and sneaky.” Greg watched her for a long moment. “You lied to me throughout our whole relationship.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “I can’t just let it go and pretend it never happened.”
“I’m sorry,” Jane said, reaching for the door handle. She was halfway out of the car before he had time to react.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She slammed the door just as Greg opened his. “Get in the car, Jane.”
“Nope.”
“I’ll tell everyone.”
“Do it.”
“I’ll stop your brother’s plea deal.”
Hand on the door to her office, Jane froze. She turned back toward Greg and measured the distance between them. Ten feet. That was safe enough. “No, you won’t. You won’t do anything like that. You’re going to be too busy fighting for your job.”
He sneered. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means there’s a nifty little cell-phone program that works like a mini recorder.” She tugged the phone from her purse and held it up. “You’re on tape. And you’re never going to bother me again.”
All the color in his face blanked to a sick white. “What? You can’t…You didn’t really—”
She opened the door. “Us white-trash sluts are sneaky. It’s our nature. Goodbye, Greg.”
“If you send that to my boss, I’ll—” The door closed and she locked it from the inside, just in case. His face was like a mood ring now, skin flushing from white to magenta as she watched. She flipped her phone closed as Greg was tugging his from his suit pocket. When her phone began to ring, she turned it off.
She could no longer hide from Dynasty. But she was Jane Morgan now, and she was determined to prove it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHASE RANG THE DOORBELL, then stepped off the small front step to wait for Jane to answer. It was eight o’ clock. Her porch light was on, so hopefully she was home.
Though he’d spent the previous week with her, he’d seen her only at the barbecue since then, and he felt strangely nervous about dropping by.
The barbecue had been nice, though. For some reason, spending the evening with her without going home with her afterward had felt…good. Evidence that there was more between them than sex. Of course, Jane hadn’t meant to spend time with him at her family party, but that was too bad. She’d done it, and he’d enjoyed every second of it, even with Grandma Olive calling him a pansy.
He’d had paperwork to catch up on, so Chase hadn’t minded giving Jane some space, but now he was ready to move forward.
Jane finally opened the door, and Chase’s body tingled with happiness at the sight of her wearing workout shorts and a T-shirt with her cute black glasses. “Hey, I’m just in time for boxing.”
Jane cocked her head. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
Ouch. “I have something important to tell you.”
She glanced past him before nodding. “Okay. Come in.”
Chase looked over his shoulder as he stepped inside. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine. I’m glad you’re here, actually. I wanted to talk to you, too.”
That was more like it. “About what?”
She hesitated, lips parting for a moment before she shook her head. Her ponytail bounced, distracting him into thinking about how soft her hair felt when he made love to her.
“You go first,” she said, waving him toward the couch.
“All right.” He dropped onto the couch and she sat down next to him. “My father heard something yesterday, but I didn’t want to say anything until he’d confirmed it. The police have another suspect.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know his name. They’re keeping it quiet because they haven’t brought him in yet.”
Jane looked down at her hands. “All right. It’s great to hear, though. I’ll let Jessie know.”
“Yeah, hopefully they won’t be looking in your brother’s direction again. But don’t say anything that might tip off the suspect.”
“I’ll wait a few days.”
Chase took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “Are you okay? You look tired.”
She shrugged.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“I…” Frowning, she looked down to their hands. “I need to…”
Jane was worried about their relationship again. It was easy to see. But he’d meant what he’d said about falling for her, and he wasn’t going to let her go easily. He’d made that mistake with his ex-girlfriend. This time he wasn’t letting go without a fight.
Chase leaned close, and when Jane looked up, he kissed her. He knew how to work her. He knew when her neuroses were about to overwhelm her real feelings. And he knew full well that he was her weakness, and he was pretty damn thrilled about that.
Though she didn’t pull back, her lips were cool against his for a moment. And then they weren’t. Then they were soft and hot and opening for him.
She kissed him back and let him keep it slow, which was unusual for her. They tasted each other for a long minute, and then he pulled away. “What’s wrong, Jane?”
Her fingers dug into his hand, she took a deep breath…but then she shook her head, denying she was upset. “Do you want to watch a movie?”
“A movie?” It was nine o’clock and he had to prep a site at 6:00 a.m…. “A movie sounds perfect.”
Jane got him a Coke—a real Coke, as if she’d gone shopping for him—and poured herself a glass of red wine. Then she turned on a romantic comedy, snuggled close to him, and Chase was back in heaven.
At first he thought they�
��d re-create Saturday night when they’d watched a movie in platonic relaxation. But he’d already seen this movie, and he hadn’t touched her in so long, and her lips looked rosy and red from sipping the wine.
Soon enough, he found himself stroking her knee, then the inside of her thigh. It felt like years since he’d touched her there, and he was rock hard and aching within minutes. Jane sipped her wine and laughed at the movie while Chase closed his eyes and thought of the way he’d licked her last time. The way she’d screamed in pleasure.
Shit. He forced his eyes open and tried to watch the show, but there were other scenes playing behind his eyes.
Holding his breath, Chase slid his hand higher, and Jane’s thighs eased apart.
Thank God. He gave up any pretense of looking at the TV and turned to her. She kissed him and tugged him close. He laid her on the couch or she pulled him down, but somehow he ended up over her, kissing her, pressing his whole body into hers.
God, he’d missed the taste and feel and sound of her. Her sweet mouth and soft hair and greedy sighs. Jane’s hands ran up his chest, stealing the breath from his lungs. She shoved off his shirt and he knew then that she was as hungry as he was.
He touched her everywhere, running his hands over her skin, dragging off her shorts, pushing up her shirt. “Jane,” he murmured over and over again. “Jane.”
In no time Chase was slipping on a condom and sliding deep inside her.
“Ah, God, Jane,” he whispered as she wrapped her arms around him. Every inch of her body touched his as he took her, plunging slow and hard.
Her nails dug into his back, her sighs turned to moans. His whole world was Jane beneath him, surrounding him.
He shifted higher on her body and Jane cried out, her nails dragging down to his ass. He felt her rising into him, her sex tightening around him. She shuddered beneath him, her scream a mixture of pleasure and tears. Just as her cries faded, Chase was pulled deep into the vortex of release, the world giving up all its light for one spinning moment.
Before he’d finished spinning, Jane went stiff beneath him. “We have to talk,” she said, pushing at his chest.
Oh, Jesus. Seriously? He couldn’t even feel his legs.
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