Chase’s perceptiveness had certainly worked to her detriment. She didn’t want him to know, didn’t want anyone to know, about her past. It had been a while since she’d had a flashback, and she knew that Chase’s kiss had triggered it. Panic swamped her, and the room closed in on her. Suddenly, Anna couldn’t breathe and the need to flee overwhelmed her.
She grabbed her briefcase, yanked the door open, and practically ran to the elevator.
* * *
Deeply concerned about Anna, Chase dressed hurriedly. He threw on a pair of denim cargo shorts and the first shirt he pulled out of a drawer, which turned out to be the Bugs Bunny T-shirt that Hayley had given him last Christmas. He dragged a comb haphazardly through his damp hair and then headed back to the living room.
The door was wide open, and Anna was nowhere in sight.
“Anna? Anna!”
Stepping outside his door, he saw her standing in front of the elevator, repeatedly hitting the down button.
“Anna, that never works,” he said softly. “Where are you going? We have a meeting, remember?”
Anna whirled around to look at him, her face white with anger. Her green eyes glittered, reminding him of emeralds. “That was before you kissed me. I don’t think we can do business now.”
Chase knew better than to mention that she’d been enjoying kissing him. It would only make her angrier, and she’d leave for certain. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. Look, can we just start the day over? I promise that I wasn’t trying to take advantage of you. It’s just that you’re so damn beautiful, and you were flirting with me. So, I thought—”
He shut his mouth when he realized that he sounded like the awkward teenager he used to be instead of the confident, skillful seducer of women he’d become. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, regaining his center.
“You know what? None of that matters. You’re here for business reasons, so we’ll keep it professional. Just let me grab my phone, and we’ll go upstairs for our meeting, okay?” he asked.
He held his breath, thinking that it was a sure bet that she would tell him to go screw himself and leave. Patiently, he waited, and he was rewarded. The anger left Anna’s eyes and her pallor improved.
She nodded a little. “All right, but I don’t want to talk about what just happened.”
He knew that she wasn’t talking about their kiss. “Okay.”
As he ran back to his bedroom to grab his forgotten phone, Chase told himself not to do or say anything that would make him look like an ass again.
By the time he arrived back at the elevator, he was back in control again. He locked his door and joined Anna on the elevator, which she was holding for him. Normally, he just ran up the one flight of stairs to the roof, but he wasn’t going to mention that.
As the elevator doors closed, he looked at Anna, who regarded him shyly. “Miss Spencer, prepare yourself for Creative Day.”
Chapter 4
Anna wasn’t sure what to make of Chase’s return to his former playful behavior. His grin reassured her that he would respect her wishes about not discussing the embarrassing scene in his living room. She still felt shaky, but her fear was beginning to abate.
“Creative Day?”
“Think of it as an all-day brainstorming session that’s a lot like a party,” Chase said as they stepped off the elevator.
“Okay.”
When they reached the boardroom, Chase raised his arms in the air and shouted, “Hi everyone, we have a visitor today.”
The seven people gathered around the table called out a greeting.
“This is where the heart of Horizon is,” Chase was beginning to explain, but then a section in what Anna had thought was an actual wall of tropical plants separated at the far end of the table, revealing a large TV screen. Chase froze when the Skype alert went off, announcing that The Warden was calling.
“Meeting time,” Chase shouted.
He patted the empty chair next to him. “Anna, sit here, it’s one of my partners calling.”
Anna sat down and straightened her blouse while she tried to bring her pulse under control.
“Aw, shit! Tyler’s gonna bitch if he sees me in this,” Chase said, looking at his T-shirt. “I thought Rick was running the meeting today, so I just threw this on. He doesn’t care about my attire as much as Ty does. Oh well. Can’t do anything about it now. Anna, get out your stuff and start passing it around. Pretend that we’ve been looking it over.”
“Do you mean Tyler Jeffries is calling?” she asked as she opened her briefcase. She’d heard that he was no-nonsense and a real bastard in the boardroom. Her heart rate rose again as her nerves jangled.
“Yeah, but his bark is worse than his bite. He just doesn’t understand how I run my team, and it annoys him sometimes,” Chase said.
I don’t, either, Anna thought. But she kept her mouth shut and did as Chase asked.
Anna schooled her face into a serious expression as Tyler Jeffries appeared on the screen.
* * *
Chase smiled at Tyler. “To what do we owe the pleasure, compadre? Where’s Rikki Tikki Tavi?”
“He got an unexpected call from Doug Mitchell, so he asked me to take the meeting. I actually don’t have a whole lot to discuss with you. Seems like things are going fine on your end, so I’m just checking in since I haven’t talked to you guys in a couple of days.”
Val waved at Tyler and then pointed to her engagement ring. “Guess who got engaged last week?”
Tyler grinned. “Congratulations, Val. Charlie’s a lucky guy. Did you set a date yet?”
Val shook her head and cracked her gum. “Nope, but whenever it is, you-know-who is going to sing at the wedding.” She hooked a thumb in Chase’s direction.
Tyler laughed. “I’m sure he won’t mind a bit. You know what a big attention hog he is.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny,” Chase said. “Ty, this is Anna Spencer from Innovative Graphics, and she’s got some great stuff here.”
Chase saw Anna stiffen a little when Tyler looked at her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Anna. I’m looking forward to seeing what you came up with,” he said.
Anna opened her laptop. “I’ll email the pictures to you so you can look them over.”
“Great. So, is Chase behaving himself?”
Anna’s eyes shone with humor. “More or less.”
Chase smiled at her response.
Tyler chuckled. “I guess that’s the most we can hope for.”
Chase was glad to see that Anna seemed to have gotten over her earlier fear. “It’s hard, but I’m really trying to keep myself in check. Hey! I have something for you, Ty.”
He picked up his cellphone and attached a couple of audio files to an email. “I just sent you an email. I think you’ll really like it.”
“Okay. Let me check.” Tyler looked at his phone. “Audio files?”
Chase sat forward a little in anticipation. “Yeah. Play one.”
Tyler gave him a suspicious smile. “Okay.”
In a moment, guitar music started and then Chase’s voice joined in as he sang Rock-a-bye Baby.
Tyler’s face settled into a soft smile. “Oh, my God. I could kiss you.”
“Now you can play it for TJ whenever you need it,” Chase said.
Tyler blinked a couple of times and rubbed his eyes.
“Are you crying?” Chase asked, smiling.
“No. My eyes are tired. I’m tired. Emily’s tired. But even though we’re tired, we’re happy. I love him so much, and Hayley is such a good big sister. She likes to help with TJ and hold him and—shit. I’m rambling. Sorry.”
Chase loved how becoming a family man had somewhat softened Tyler’s sharp edges. “Nothing to be ashamed of. You’re allowed to love your family.”
Tyler took a deep breath. “I know, but you guys don’t want to listen to me go on about them. Okay. You have things under control, Chase. I’ll let you guys go. Anna, it
was nice to meet you.”
“You, too, Tyler,” she said.
Everyone said goodbye to Tyler. When the screen showed that the call had ended, Chase broke into laughter. “Those kids are a godsend in more ways than one. Just mentioning them is enough to distract him from business. It goes right out of his head.”
Anna asked, “Don’t you need to talk to him about work?”
Chase patted her hand. “Allow me to educate you, Grasshopper. Ty is your typical A-type personality. He’s on top of everything, and if I miss a deadline for something, he’ll ride me about it until it’s done. He hates the way I dress and my management style.”
Anna cocked her head a little. “What exactly is your management style? I can’t figure it out.”
Chase said, “I don’t think of myself as a boss. I’m more like a team leader. We all have a job, and we work together for the common good of the company. So, it’s more of a collaborative effort instead of one person being more important than another.”
“But how do you make decisions?”
“We take a vote, and the majority rules.”
B-man, short for Brian Blackburn, his second in command said, “Like right now, I’m making a motion that I call the cafeteria to order breakfast.”
Chase raised his hand as his stomach rumbled. “I second that motion.”
Smitty said, “All those in favor, say aye.”
The aye vote was unanimous, and B-man got on his phone to place their order.
“Anna, what are you gonna have?” Chase asked.
“Oh, I’m fine, thank you,” she said.
“C’mon. They serve everything.” He rattled off a litany of breakfast foods as he watched her internal struggle.
Finally, she rolled her eyes. “Okay. Pancakes and sausage.”
“Excellent,” Chase said. “Place that order, B-man.”
When that task was done, Chase got down to business, carefully looking over Anna’s mockups. He was very impressed. It was obvious that she’d paid close attention to him last week. There were several different themes that would pander to people from various walks of life.
Smitty said, “Anna, it’s great that you included the military. I’m a marine, and sometimes I feel like us veterans aren’t thought of very much in the investment world.”
Anna smiled. “Well, my father is a retired Army lieutenant, so issues related to the military are near and dear to my heart.”
Smitty grinned. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” He looked at Chase. “My vote is for Anna.”
“Ditto,” Val said, holding up a brochure depicting a young family. “Just look at this stuff. Totally rocked it!”
B-Man nodded. “I like the hook you used to convince college students to start thinking about investing.”
One by one, each person at the table cast their vote for Anna. Chase sat back, listening carefully to his team members’ reasons for choosing her. Although she modestly thanked them, Chase glimpsed pride in her eyes, and he knew that she’d put in long hours on the project.
When everyone looked expectantly at him for his vote, Chase didn’t bother making Anna wait for his decision. He didn’t play games in business, instead shooting from the hip. “Looks like it’s unanimous. Congratulations, Anna. Innovative Graphics is our new promotional material supplier.”
The group clapped and cheered while Chase smiled warmly at Anna and held out a hand to her. When she slid hers into his palm, Chase closed his fingers around it and shook it firmly yet gently. It felt so nice in his, and he didn’t want to let it go, but he released her.
“Well, Miss Spencer, it’s gonna be a pleasure doing business with you.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. “I’ll set up the contract meeting with my boss and call you to schedule it.”
“Sounds good.”
Their breakfast came and the food was quickly doled out. Chase enjoyed watching Anna eat, but it also aroused him. Every time she licked maple syrup from her full, luscious lips, the need to kiss her grew. That he couldn’t was a sublime torture. He stifled his desire so that he didn’t get an erection in front of his team.
When breakfast was over, Anna said, “Thank you so much for breakfast. Your cafeteria cooks are amazing.” She wiped her mouth. “I have to get going, though. I have to get to work on my new client’s account.”
“All right. I guess we held you up enough.” He stood up. “Allow me to escort you out. Will you guys start working on the Emerson account? I’ll be back shortly.”
Smitty said, “You got it. It was a pleasure to meet you, Anna. Don’t be a stranger.”
The rest echoed his sentiment and waved her and Chase goodbye.
* * *
Elation flowed through Anna as she got on the elevator with Chase. Securing Horizon’s business would give her company an influx of cash, and hopefully she’d receive a bonus for all the work she’d put in over the past week. That money would help her keep ahead of Greg, who had no idea where she’d fled when she’d left Chicago last year. Regularly moving cities took money. She squared her shoulders, refusing to let her past intrude on her happy moment.
Chase leaned a shoulder on the wall of the elevator car, looking at the floor. How he managed to look sexy in a T-shirt depicting such a silly cartoon character, Anna didn’t know, but he did. His hair had dried naturally in the L.A. heat, and it was slightly wavy.
“Why do you wear your hair so long?” she blurted. “I mean it seems out of place in the business world.”
Chase turned towards her and smiled. “It’s a small nod to my heritage.”
Anna felt like an idiot for asking. “It’s just…unexpected. I mean I’ve never seen an investment banker with long hair…”
Chase chuckled. “I’m not like other investment bankers you’ve met? I like that. Most of them are jerks. I speak my mind and take risks. But I’m also a lot kinder about it than most business people. I don’t like being rude or acting like a son of a bitch unless someone swings at me first. Then all bets are off.”
Anna decided to indulge in her curiosity about him since he was being so forthcoming. “And the way you dress?”
His rich laugh filled the elevator. “I’m not sure you’ll like my answer.”
She smiled, even more curious. “Tell me.”
He pushed off the wall and moved a little closer to her, suddenly the hunter instead of the affable good ole boy. “Are you sure you want to know?”
The heat in his eyes captivated her. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
“I hate clothes. The less I have to wear, the better. I hate suits, and I’ll get out of wearing one any way I can. Besides, formal attire is so boring. I can’t be myself in it,” he replied. “But most of the time, being myself means walking around buck-naked when no one else is there.”
Anna’s mouth went dry as she remembered the way he’d looked earlier that day when he’d answered his door practically naked. The vision of all those wet, gloriously tanned muscles rose in her mind, and she wanted to see everything that had been hidden by his towel. Her eyes lowered from Chase’s to his supple, talented mouth.
“Anna, you’re giving me mixed signals here. I know that you enjoyed kissing me this morning, and that look on your face just now says that you want me. You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who plays games, so why are you running hot and cold with me?” he asked.
Anna wanted to kick herself for being so transparent. Normally, she was in complete control of her emotions and kept her cool. Chase’s ability to get under her skin so easily was disconcerting. She wanted him intensely and that scared the hell out of her.
She never thought she’d be attracted to a wealthy hotshot who took great pleasure in defying social convention. She’d always preferred the steady, stable sort of man. Someone she could count on and build a future with, not an unpredictable, wealthy, peculiar, cyclone of testosterone and fun like Chase.
After her research on Chase, she knew that he was the love ’em and leave ’
em type. His social media was full of pictures of him with various beautiful women. One of her team members had done some digging and had ascertained that Chase was the kind of guy who temporarily satisfied his appetites and then moved on to the next helping.
And that’s all she’d be to him. A brief fling, a mere blip on his radar of sexual appeasement. Even with her trust issues, Anna didn’t want that kind of relationship. There was still a tiny sliver of her heart that longed for something real, deep, and meaningful. She doubted that Chase’s interests ran in the same vein.
Dredging up a smile, she said, “I know you’re used to women falling all over themselves to get to you, but I’m not one of them. You’re gorgeous and charming and fun, but I just don’t want to complicate our business relationship with sex. Plus, you’re really just not my type.”
A sexy smile curved Chase’s lips as the elevator stopped and he stepped back a little. “Not your type, huh?” His warm, dark chocolate gaze heated. “Pardon me for saying so, Anna, but the way you kissed me back today, and the way you were just looking at me like I was an ice cream cone you wanted to lick, says otherwise. You want me, and you damn well know it.”
The elevator doors opened and people boarded the conveyance, preventing her from responding. Chase asked someone to press the button for the eleventh floor and chatted with a couple of people as they descended.
As they reached the twelfth floor, Chase regarded her dispassionately. “I just remembered that I have to talk to Ginger about something. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Spencer. I’ll be expecting your call about setting up that meeting. Have a good day.”
Anna hid her anger at his cool dismissal behind a stiff smile while her eyes shot daggers at him. “I’ll be in touch. Goodbye.”
The doors opened and he left the elevator without a backwards glance at her. Anna told herself that it was for the best to have squashed any impulse either of them might’ve had to let things go beyond business. Then why do I feel like crying and miss him already? Because you’re an idiot.
Want Me (Coopers Creek Book 3) Page 4